Re: Unwanted Audio Ads (why not just turn speakers off?)

From: Brian Shepherd <Brian.Shepherd_at_TechnologyReview.com>
Date: Fri 13 Jul 2001 10:58:22 -0500

BRIAN SHEPHERD <Brian.Shepherd_at_TechnologyReview.com> WROTE:

>* * * why don't you simply turn your sound off
>before you go surfing to entertainment sites on company
>time, or keep it off altogether?

BRANDI JASMINE <bj_at_brandijasmine.com> RESPONDED:

>Given that people do NOT think of such things in advance
>- do you want to take the risk of embarrasing and
>annoying your potential customers? Surely you do not
>have the naieve assumption that this bit of common sense
>will take hold? Or that people, once caught in the trap
>you set will blame themselves and not you for the
>red-face moment?

Well, I guess if I were an entertainment site that
relied on sound as part of the overall experience of
coming to my site, then I'm not worried about
embarrassing and annoying my potential customers, because
any such people ARE NOT potential customers. Again,
I'm using hypotheticals here, and not encouraging people
to put up loud sounds on their sites. I personally
don't visit such sites. What I'm doing is defending
the right of the site owner to do whatever they want as
long as it's legal and not harmful to anyone's well-being.
As for the fact that people do not think of doing things
to prevent themselves from being embarrassed is not my
(or a site owner's) problem. I guess it only takes once.
How many people click on those Anna Kornikova attachments
before they learn not to click on attachments that end in
".vbs"? My guess is that once, maybe twice if the
person is really forgetful. I do not think it's fair
to ask site creators to be responsible for compromising
their site experience, because people are too lazy to take
precautions. If it's really a big deal, figure it out.

- BKS

********************************************

Brian K. Shepherd
Technology Review, Inc.

Director, Online Sales and Marketing
EMAIL: brian.shepherd_at_technologyreview.com
PHONE: 617-475-8030
http://www.technologyreview.com



Received on Fri Jul 13 2001 - 10:58:22 CDT