I hate drop and pop downs and drop/pop ups when I am trying to read something, especially an article, on an Internet website. They are as unwelcome as an uninvited guest at a party.

And to get these drops/pops to go you have to search and search to find the little ‘x’ that is hidden somewhere to touch and push with your mouse.

To get an unwanted guest to go putting a mouse on the floor might work, too. And probably half of the people you want to stay.

And just as bad are drop down menus that suddenly appear.

Even worse is the sudden banner ads that appear, often complete with something the perpetrator believes is music.

No wonder I end up Googling “how to block ads”.

If you do that, however, yo may miss informative site messages that you need, especially if you are trying to pay for something online.

The trouble, too, with the block-ads software is it cannot differentiate ads from the legitimate.

Now if all websites were designed to not have drop down menus that might help. However, most websites need advertising to survive. The alternative is to make people pay to go onto your website.

That wont happen. Not yet, anyway.

We pay to watch a movie before we’ve seen it and won’t get our money back if we didn’t enjoy it. Why not a website. We could have a subscription service…… Unless everyone does it it’s not going to work.How much money is generated by news outlets who charge for their news on the Internet?

Very little.

It’s not just the Internet websites. A friend of mine was complaining to me that when he wanted to watch a play back of a football/soccer game last week on his iPad that lasted 14 seconds, he had to endure a 30 second ad! He couldn’t even remember what the ad was about.

I’m afraid the advertising-supported model online is broken, and is threatening the whole online content experience with it.

I read recently Ev Williams, CEO of the respected journalism site Medium, denounced the current ad-driven model. He said:

“…..it’s clear that the broken system is ad-driven media on the internet. It simply doesn’t serve people. In fact, it’s not designed to. The vast majority of articles, videos, and other ‘content’ we all consume on a daily basis is paid for —  directly or indirectly  —  by corporations who are funding it in order to advance their goals. And it is measured, amplified, and rewarded based on its ability to do that. Period. As a result, we get…well, what we get. And it’s getting worse.”

He promised a new business model.

I have, as yet, not seen it.

So Drops and Pops are here to stay.

Grrr!