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IntelliTxt ads are annoying, but comparing them with drug dealing and prostitution is simply absurd. The situation here is simple, as I understand it: Chris feels that his site cannot survive without generating more revenue than what can be obtained through banner ads and paid supporters, as things currently stand. He knows that most us would rather be annoyed by the IntelliTxt ads than lose the site. They were the least obtrusive option he could think of, so he went ahead with them, and even gave us an option to disable them. There's nothing unethical about it, because the damage done is less than the good that it accomplishes for the same people who it annoys, and so far it looks to Chris to be the best feasible option.
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J. Dunlap wrote: He knows that most us would rather be annoyed by the IntelliTxt ads than lose the site.
Does he? Or do most of the "members" turn them off, which does nothing for the revenue situation (since, I presume, the advertisers pay per view).
It just amazes me that someone (like Chris) who is in the "article publishing" business would find such a solution palatable. Or wise - making one's product "annoying" is generally not considered a good business decision.
The unethical nature of the act becomes apparent if one agrees that authority and influence imply responsibility. Young, impressionable programmers on this site look up to Chris, and he therefore has the responsibility to be a good example to them. Some of these young people will go on to design systems for others: Will they recommend clean, simple designs, or "annoying" (but expedient) ones?
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if it annoys some so much there must be a cost to disable it which members have to pay 
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The Grand Negus wrote: Or do most of the "members" turn them off
Maybe they do. At least there's the option. But also consider the fact that to be able to turn them off, you have to be a member in the first place. And my guess is that a considerable portion (maybe even more than 50%) of the bandwidth is requested by non-members.
"For fifty bucks I'd put my face in their soup and blow." - George Costanza ~ Web SQL Utility - asp.net app to query Access, SQL server, MySQL. Stores history, favourites.
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Ashley van Gerven wrote: Maybe they do. At least there's the option. But also consider the fact that to be able to turn them off, you have to be a member in the first place. And my guess is that a considerable portion (maybe even more than 50%) of the bandwidth is requested by non-members.
Even worse! What kind of tasteless person would want a non-member to be exposed to IntelliTXT in the articles? Might as well put up a banner ad that says, "Our articles are ugly and hard to read! Join us!"
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Please, give it a rest. You are worse than a Jehova's Witness.
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I doubt many people will find it a real issue, since they've come to the site to find information that may well be saving them hours or days of hassle. Bear in mind some sites charge membership fees for access to articles. They also have to pay the authors, but I'm sure their bandwidth costs are not that high.
"For fifty bucks I'd put my face in their soup and blow." - George Costanza ~ Web SQL Utility - asp.net app to query Access, SQL server, MySQL. Stores history, favourites.
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The Grand Negus wrote: making one's product "annoying" is generally not considered a good business decision
You should know about this subject very well.
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Please Go To HELL Mr the osmosian order...
now it's clear, i don't like you at all. All you do around here is concentrating people around your own silly person. i know, as an old priest, you like that, but you already know what i think about that (F*ck OFF).
if you cannot integrate to our community the way it already lives WITHOUT you, then go away, far. Create your own site/community, and don't come break my balls with your insanities...
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A bit ranty, but I agree with the sentiment nonetheless.
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i really don't understand what's the problem with him...
maybe he doesn't like to be false sometimes, and never like not to have the last word.
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 I thought this wasn't the Soapbox
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Can we please keep this kid friendly?
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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Chris Maunder wrote: Can we please keep this kid friendly?
Thank you, Chris. I mentioned it in an earlier post 
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There, there. There, there.
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Hey Osmo, thanks for pointing out the IntelliTXT. I've turned it on now. So far with all your yammering about it, you haven't layed out one sensible or reasonable concern about it that is based in fact. Rather you have continually droned on and on about your entirely subjective mistaste for it. Are you a distant relative of the Luddites?
Chris Meech
I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar]
I agree with you that my argument is useless. [Red Stateler]
Hey, I am part of a special bread, we are called smart people [Captain See Sharp]
The zen of the soapbox is hard to attain...[Jörgen Sigvardsson]
I wish I could remember what it was like to only have a short term memory.[David Kentley]
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Chris Meech wrote: Rather you have continually droned on and on about your entirely subjective mistaste for it
The purpose of a sentence is to convey a thought. Color-coding and double-underlining arbitrary words in a sentence hinders that purpose. It is therefore undesirable.
Which part of that is subjective? Which part is a matter of taste?
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The Grand Negus wrote: The purpose of a sentence is to convey a thought. Color-coding and double-underlining arbitrary words in a sentence hinders that purpose. It is therefore undesirable.
Which part of that is subjective? Which part is a matter of taste?
The part where you suggest it hinders. That's purely your own objection to it. I see the double underlines and realize that there could be more for me, if I need clarification.
Chris Meech
I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar]
I agree with you that my argument is useless. [Red Stateler]
Hey, I am part of a special bread, we are called smart people [Captain See Sharp]
The zen of the soapbox is hard to attain...[Jörgen Sigvardsson]
I wish I could remember what it was like to only have a short term memory.[David Kentley]
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Chris Meech wrote: The Grand Negus wrote:
The purpose of a sentence is to convey a thought. Color-coding and double-underlining arbitrary words in a sentence hinders that purpose. It is therefore undesirable.
Which part of that is subjective? Which part is a matter of taste?
The part where you suggest it hinders. That's purely your own objection to it. I see the double underlines and realize that there could be more for me, if I need clarification.
I think you missed (1) the word "arbitrary", and (2) the fact that IntelliTXT ads don't clarify - they typically describe something that is tangential (at best) to the point of the sentence in which they appear. Emphasizing words an author intended to emphasize helps - of course. Providing "footnotes" for unusual or easily misunderstood terms may also be reasonable. But highlighting arbitrary words - arbitrary relative to the intent of the sentence - hinders; it's mere distraction. And that's what IntelliTXT does. Perhaps you're mistaking it for "hypertext" (which, incidently, is also difficult to read)?
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With all of the hatred that spews forth from you, I’m rather surprised that you’re back trolling the message boards here at Code Project. Why not create your own message boards at your website and troll those. I’m sure the legions of users for your umm products would love it.
I'd love to help, but unfortunatley I have prior commitments monitoring the length of my grass. :Andrew Bleakley:
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Since we have no way to change our votes for a given article, how about giving the article author a way to reset the votes for his article. The old article would be copied, thus creating a new article ID, and the old article would be deleted. This would address the "you have already voted for this article" issue, and would give authors a method for improving their articles' scores without having to do a complete re-submission.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: Since we have no way to change our votes for a given article, how about giving the article author a way to reset the votes for his article. The old article would be copied, thus creating a new article ID, and the old article would be deleted. This would address the "you have already voted for this article" issue, and would give authors a method for improving their articles' scores without having to do a complete re-submission.
Sounds good... apart from the crappy article writers will abuse this by resetting their votes everytime they got a low score.
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Exactly
Michael P Butler wrote: John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:
Since we have no way to change our votes for a given article
This will be fixed.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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What about the option of having our articles voted for or not? The showcase articles don't allow for people to vote on the product being presented.
Fixing our ability to change our vote would be nice. There have been times I voted someone down because the article looked crummy, then they go and fix it and looks great, leaving me with the bum feeling of voting them down on an older version of the voted down article.
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John, what article(s) in particular are you refering to where this has been a problem?
I don't agree with the idea of resubmitting an article for voting like this, but here are some alternatives I'd support:
1. Weighting votes, so that someone who just signed up to vote (and has no "seniority", as in no articles, very few message posts, few votes) will have less than a full vote.
2. Deleting the votes of someone whose account got deleted (I assume this does occur for abuse).
Of course, both of these may not be very attractive options for Chris, though, since they may require much more tracking data.
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