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posted by martyb on Tuesday November 06 2018, @05:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the limited-abuse dept.

Chrome 71 will block any and all ads on sites with "abusive experiences"

Google is promising to punish sites that offer what the company calls "abusive experiences." Chrome 71, due for release in December, will blacklist sites that are repeat offenders and suppress all advertising on those sites.

The behaviors deemed abusive cover a range of user-hostile things, such as ads that masquerade as system error messages, ads with fake close boxes that actually activate an ad when clicked, phishing, and malware. In general, if an ad is particularly misleading, destructive, or intrusive, it runs the risk of being deemed abusive.

Chrome already takes some actions against certain undesirable website behaviors; it tries to block popups, it limits autoplay of video, and it blocks certain kinds of redirection. These measures have been insufficient to prevent misleading or dangerous ads, hence Google taking further steps to banish them from the Web.

Also at The Verge, 9to5Google, Engadget, and Search Engine Journal.

Previously: Google Preparing to Filter "Unacceptable Ads" in 2018
Google Chrome to Begin Blocking "Non-Compliant Ads" on Feb. 15


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Pino P on Wednesday November 07 2018, @03:35AM (3 children)

    by Pino P (4721) on Wednesday November 07 2018, @03:35AM (#758816) Journal

    These are called "exit intent pop-ups". The Better Ads Standards page for pop-ups [betterads.org] links to an interpretative advisory [betterads.org] stating that the following experiences haven't yet been tested properly:

    Exit pop up ads that occur after a user has ceased active engagement with content, and which occur
    (a) when the user starts to leave the page (without interfering with the user’s departure);
    (b) if the user has been inactive or idle for more than 30 seconds on a page that does not contain video content;
    (c) once the user has reached the end of the first article on a page; or
    (d) if a user purposely navigates to another tab and then returns to the open page.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Informative=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Wednesday November 07 2018, @03:13PM (2 children)

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 07 2018, @03:13PM (#758986) Journal

    These are called "exit intent pop-ups".

    Calling them rocketships does not give them enough thrust to reach orbit. See the following:

    Exit pop up ads that occur after a user has ceased active engagement with content

    This is a lie. While they might come up when "engagement" is not as "active" as they like, they also come up in a wide variety of irrelevant situations or conditions as I described in my previous post.

    [and also] (a) when the user starts to leave the page (without interfering with the user’s departure);

    You, dear scummy delayed popup purveyor whoever you may be, have no idea when I am going to leave the page, because you are not watching my fingers closely enough to see whether they are getting near Ctrl+F4. Moving my mouse just means I am moving my mouse. My usual workstation desktop is 5760x1080 and spans three 40" monitors. My casual research shows that you have *no clue* what I am doing with it. Don't be so full of yourself.

    (b) if the user has been inactive or idle for more than 30 seconds on a page that does not contain video content;

    First of all, "inactive" can mean reading, attempting to refer to your page content in one window while writing an article in another, or opening your page in one of my three or four dozen usual tabs because I want to read it shortly. Your abusive ads short circuit any of these. I just close your site and move on, there are too many sites for me to put up with your site's abusive behavior.

    (c) once the user has reached the end of the first article on a page; or

    You don't have the technology to know what I have "reached" in terms of semantic content, and if you did, that does not indicate that it would be acceptable for you to HEY! LETS COVER UP ANYTHING USEFUL WITH THIS USELESS AD!.

    (d) if a user purposely navigates to another tab and then returns to the open page.

    If I open your tab for my purposes (I have ADD, and can't take the medicine that works for it anymore due to a heart condition), and you bait-and-switch to something else, then (a) you are a jerk, and (b) I move on to a different site. Life is too short for me to spend it working to circumvent your semi-creative but workflow-disrupting and annoying nonsense. If your content didn't raise my interest, I assure you that annoying me won't do what you want either.

    The Better Ads Standards page for pop-ups links to an interpretative advisory stating that [these] experiences haven't yet been tested properly

    They don't need too much testing; they fail quickly and consistently to deliver a positive user exper---WAIT! DON'T GO! SIGN UP FOR SOME POINTLESS SPAM LIST! YOU KNOW NOW THAT WE ARE SCUM, WHY NOT FILL YOUR LIFE WITH OUR NEWSLETTER OF STILL MORE SCUMMY CONTENT!!!

    • (Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday November 07 2018, @05:24PM (1 child)

      by Pino P (4721) on Wednesday November 07 2018, @05:24PM (#759055) Journal

      I agree with you that exit intent pop-ups are a scummy practice. I was explaining why Google hasn't yet blocked them in Chrome and deranked them in Search.

      • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Wednesday November 07 2018, @06:05PM

        by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 07 2018, @06:05PM (#759071) Journal

        I do appreciate your explanation--I modded you "informative"--and was arguing against the world in general, not with your helpful and correct information.