Stupid ad for Tron blocking Explosm.net

I'm a fan of Explosm.net, but their history with advertising has been nearly as colored as their comics.  At one point, they were blocked as a hazardous website due to a malware site being linked from their page.  I went there today looking at random comics, and saw the following:

You'd have to pay me a whole fuck-ton of money to let someone else block my content just to advertise their move.  The worst part is that it's blocking what I came there to see, but it's also hilariously poorly placed on the screen.  Why the hell would you make an ad that expands in size to block what the user wants to see, only to make it so poorly positioned that you can't read it?  Initially, the ad was small, and contained in a box, but just moving my mouse over it made it to expand into this fucking catastrophe.  I'm not sure who decided these ads were a good idea, but both the ads and the twisted mind behind them need to be shit-canned.

The Death of Discourse.

I've noticed lately that nearly any discussion is hijacked by people who "Don't want to hear it."  Often people see an argument and assume that it it negative and needs to be stopped.  Why aren't people allowed to argue anymore?  Isn't that what allows us to make progress in policy?  Wouldn't alcohol still be illegal if people hadn't argued?  Wouldn't segregation be the norm if people hadn't argued?  What happens to Gay Marriage and open homosexuality/bisexuality in the military if nobody argues?

Worse still is the tendency of online communities to try to make sure their users conform to the topic.  Many discussion arise from the original topic that aren't necessarily relevant.  Almost every community I've seen has the option to ignore certain people, but people never use it.  Why is it the norm to threaten or exile people who disagree with you?  I, for one, welcome different opinions.  I certainly won't excise someone from my social circle or an online chat I control simply for disagreeing with me, or mentioning a different topic.  If they are disrupting the channel of communication (such as blasting an air horn or pasting lines sand lines of text) I can see kicking them out, but booting them for disagreeing?  Why is kicking out the dissenting opinion acceptable in groups?

F1r5t P057!

Yeah, I'd hate me for that title too.  Modern life has some nice things.  The internet is one of them.  So why do people have to go and fuck it up with stupid shit?  Why do some advertisers think it's a good idea to make ads that get in your way?  Why should accidentally mousing over something make it fill your screen?  Why do computer companies think it's OK to release bad drivers? (I'm glaring at you, Broadcom and ATI.)  Why are all these super advances in technology marred by ass-hattery?   Should I really have a Blockbuster Application that I can't uninstall on my new Droid 2 Global?  Should Verizon be able to shove that shit down my throat?

I can already tell that a few of you are going "Well, he just dropped a bunch of names.  I bet he got paid."  The truth is, I wish I got paid for this.  Maybe I will at some point.  But right now, if you see me dropping a name on this blog, it's likely to complain about the lack of vision and incredible intrusion they force on my life.  On rare occasions, I'll point to companies, websites, and other media that I like.  Usually it's because it's unobtrusive.  Today, we'll start out with my favorite web-comic. Jeph Jacques, the artist responsible for all of the awesome on QuestionableContent.net really hits the nail on the head.  He has a couple of small banner ads on his page to pay his bills, and some of them are simply ads for things he himself sells.  None of this "OMG LOOK AT ME I POPPED UP AND BLOCKED THE CONTENT!" bullshit.  His comic is awesome, and his ads are unobtrusive.  Way to go Jeph! Keep up the awesome work!