A Short Note About The Necessary Evil of Pop-Up Advertisements
If you made it this far, you've no doubt
had to suffer the distraction of a pop-up advertisement. These usually
spring forward every 3rd time you access a new page. I don't particularly
like it, but I don't have much choice in the matter. Tripod, the
free website provider on which my pages reside, gives me two options --
use pop-up ads that occur about every 3 "clicks", or display banner ads
at the top and bottom of ALL my pages. Because I believe ever-present
banner ads are distracting, annoying and only slightly more visually appealing
than a pile of garbage, I have opted for the pop-up option on behalf of
the users.
For those of you who have used this
site from the beginning (in 1993), you'll recall that the pages used to
reside on my University's server. While I was a student, this served
everyone very well. There were no advertisements, no expenses incurred
and I could easily update the material. However, after graduating
in 1995, it become increasingly difficult to update and maintain the material
remotely, which was necessary as I now had only limited access to the University's
servers. So, I decided to move my site to one of the free web-service
providers and, ultimately, decided to go with Tripod.
While I'm now able to update and maintain
my site with a regularity that I had not enjoyed for quite a while, I also
must succumb to Tripod's need to make money. Everybody loves free
content, but very few wish to help pay for it all (including me).
I would much rather endure the occasional pop-up ad, though, than see the
end of a "free" internet.
