• by Mark Kecko  @scoopseven, March 7, 2002

Recently there has been much debate over Gator. This small personal wallet application remembers user names, passwords, and contact and credit cardinformation to aid users in logging in to websites and filling out forms. People loved the functionality of the application but weren’t necessarily willing to pay for it. So in order to stay afloat Gator needed to find a way to generate revenue. By selling branded advertisements through its application it was not only able to make cash, but also delivered excellent click-through rates—as high as 26 percent in some cases. Many advertisers and publishers have complained that Gator’s business practices have been less than professional, going so far as to accuse it of stealing impressions from online publishers. But is Gator the real threat?

Programs like AdSubtract and Popup Killer are the real nightmares for online publishers and advertisers. Take AdSubtract, a program that wipes out banner ads on websites for only $29.95. It claims to dramatically reduce the time it takes to download a web page and effectively wipes out pop-up and pop-under ads as well. The problem here is twofold. First, the publisher may be counting up impressions it isn’t really serving. AdSubtract sometimes hides banner images without deleting ad statistics tracking, so the delivery mechanism stays in place while the image is hidden. Second, the company touts its ability to speed up Internet connections, a highly desirable service to most web surfers. However, this claim is just a marketing ploy, since most respected publishers keep advertising creative sizes to a minimum in order to accommodate all connection types, including dial-up modems.

Popup Killer is far worse than AdSubtract, on the publishers’ side anyway. While Popup Killer doesn’t fudge up your ad-tracking statistics, it does destroy any JavaScript code that attempts to open a pop-up window. So any website that depends on pop-up windows for a glossary of terms or other functionality will seem broken to an unsuspecting user. If you still want this feature, the same functionality offered in Popup Killer exists in most browsers, so you can enjoy your subfunctional Internet experience without having to download a separate application.

I’ll be the first to admit that Gator’s ads, which pop up in my workspace while I’m trying to rent a car, can get annoying, but at least they’re deals on car rentals; I’m not force-fed another Classmates.com banner. Publishers and advertisers alike should be more concerned with software that destroys ads, not companies that create new advertising opportunities.