Slowman,

I recommend testing it for 1 week. Then collect more data from us. Personally, I use either Firefox or the Google tool bar, so pop-ups aren't a problem for me.

JohnA

Based on the debate, I find myself strangely interested in checking out this pop-up ad closely.

Hey, wait a minute, am I being taken in by stealth marketing again? (Just kidding-I think.)

Whatever helps keep the site going. I'll even click the dang thing if it helps ;)

Holy Crap I never knew those were links. Ha ha. Thanks!

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"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country" JFK - Replace 'country' with the company you work for, friends, family, and strangers and the world will be a much better place.

You might send a link to this thread to your ad guy, and suggest that he pass that along to AmEx. This is likely a better focus group assessment than AmEx could hire a million dollar consultant to assemble for them, all done in the space of a few hours. And it might help steer them away from the hated pop up / under. Which would be good.

"..........in general i don't allow pop-ups, but i have an ad sales agent who asks for an exception just in this AmEx case."

I say go for it....on one condition; Whoever clicks on an Amex pop-up ad from Slowtwitch is automatically entered into a sweepstakes to win a super-mega-deluxe Triathlon bike. For instance; for every 1000 clicks, one bike is given away.

You do the math, but when people ask me for exceptions I impose conditions.

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**All of these words finding themselves together were greatly astonished and delighted for assuredly, they had never met before**

I understand the need for advertising, so do what you have to do. Personally I get really annoyed with em, which is why I have the blocker.

While popups (unders) suck, that is so far outweighed by the coolness of you asking permission! Life without a popup blocker sucks anyway. Go find one.

Your thread got me thinking we should negotiate here - bring back the original hottie thread and we'll approve :)

In general I am not opposed to advertising that supports something I'm not paying for. Indeed, I tend to think positively of advertisers associated with Web sites I frequent and even intentionally pay their wares attention.

That said, I despise pop-unders even more than pop-ups and block them accordingly. AmEx would be ill-advised to do this in my case, and I'm already a pretty good customer of the company. It will lower, not increase, my opinion of AmEx.

The only thing pop-whatever-wise you could do that would lower my opinion of Slowtwitch and make me less likely to visit is to do a Slowtwitch pop-whatever.

Thanks for asking.

Dave

Let it run and we can all judge at that point if it is or isn't an overwhelming annoyance. I don't personally see an issue with it; any minor inconvenience for the privilege of being here shouldn't be a big deal.

Greatly appreciate the query Dan. However, I hate pop-ups. Would I stop using visiting the site if you allowed one for advertisement? Probably not.

How many new guests do you have register in a week or month? Are the same people going to be blasted with the advertisement on a daily basis? That could get to be old new very quickly. I don't think I visit any site on the web more then this one. But I do dispise those sites that have ads I have to close or sites that run a banner ad on the top for 30 secs before the page loads.

Dan,

Tough call, but sporting of you to actually ask the "subscribers" their opinion. I am trying to think of a paralell in the print advertising world, but I am coming up empty handed. We seem to get those smelly fragrance inserts whether we like them or not and I am not in the habit of asking the readership if of whatever publication I have been repping if they would be bothered by advertiser X.

The beauty of being on-line and immediatly interactive.

I say go for it.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Last time I checked www.slowtwitch.com did not qualify as a "not for profit entity". That being said, I don't like pop-ups but I appreciate and acknowledge the fact that advertisers pay you (handsomely in an ideal scenario) for the privilege of accessing this err, um, ah, UNIQUE demographic :)

Unlike many websites, ST is free to us because you allow advertising. So while I'm not a fan of pop-ups I definitely feel that it's the lesser of two evils. I'd rather deal with pop-ups on a free ST than no pop-ups on a "subscriber-only" version of the forum.

Thanks for actually considering our feedback.

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Michael in Fresno
"Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man" V. Corleone

Promise we won't see Karl Malden in Speedos and it's cool.

This is your site and if this is what you need to do to make a buck on it, go for it.

Somehow, I think we will manage to deal.

I hate pop-ups, and will visit sites less frequently that have them. For slowtwitch, I am constantly in and out of it during the day, so I would be getting the pop-up a lot. It will be annoying to me. I can't run a pop-up blocker at work.

Absolutely can't stand them.....since you asked.

Go for it. I, too, hate pop-ups, but we're all adults that appear to be fairly resourceful w/a computer ( so download a pop-up blocker). I appreciate you asking though! If it helps your bottom line then go fot it.....

Do what you have to do. your income keeps this thing going. i say it's fine.

Mr. Burns

I appreciate you asking us, that's very thoughtful.

I don't mind a popup every once and awhile, it takes half a second to click it away. And with your agreement not to have them all over the place, one seems fine. Fine with me.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

put me in the in the camp that says this is your dojo, party in it however you want. it's not like it doesn't happen on sites we all go to like (orbitz, cnn, etc.). nice of you to ask.

Thank you for soliciting our input.

Here's mine.

Pop ups(unders) are annoying and negatively affect the users overall impression of a website.

Pop ups... nicht!

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

Dan,

I hate pop-ups, but if it helps the business, do it.

Mike

No problem. You should profit from this great site.

you gotta pay your bills, do what you gotta do