NoScript is the answer to a need, no more a spawn of the devil than you, says a subscriber. July 29, 2008
Posted by Robert Puddy in : Business , trackbackIs it?
Or does it cater to paranoia from people who should know better…
Try reading this
is noscript more pain than its worth
Or this
NoScript makes google analytics slow down considerably
There is a whole bunch of cool stuff you cant use if you don’t know how to operate no scripts properly. And i have to say most of the stuff no scripts is supposed to protect you against can be combated with much less intrusive methods. The continued use of no scripts will over time blank people out from a whole lot of cool stuff.
The real story here though is this…
Every single person in Internet marketing is here to make money and build lists get sign ups etc. that’s the bottom line and this add on is absolutely without question a barrier to that end. I know the problem so I know how to combat it, I put things in place to circumvent the barriers in an efficient way to maximise my sales process.
can the same be said for all the little guys out there struggling to get sign ups and make sales, if they don’t have both sides of the story, if they have to resort to inferior marketing methods because of a simple script that was supposed to make them safe (instead of rich) is that a good thing or a bad thing?
The most needy are the most vulnerable to its side effects, and ignorance in this case is not bliss
If your already struggling to compete and you don’t realise the side effect of noscript then you just made it 10 times harder for the little guy to make any headway. Does it effect me yes somewhat i get a little irritated when i see a support ticket from someone who is bitching because they missed the one time offer because the screen went blank. But that sale (or potential sale) was probably going to an affiliate who worked hard to send the customer to me and lost out on his affiliate commission because of an add on script that someone blindly told that person to use without telling them the side effects.
Your affiliate commissions are smaller (or non existent) because of no scripts
this isn’t about me and my loss, its about you and your losses. I know on average the stuff that’s blocked by no script is much more efficient in producing sales and subscribers so i play the percentage game, but affiliates generally lose out on hard earned commissions when it loses those sales.
Playing safe rarely turns a profit worth the effort
Comments»
Hi robert, this is going to run and run
but worth discussing. Are there going to be any uk meetings this year?
Yes play safe that will surely turns a profit worth
Robert,
I agree, the answer lies in education.
-> Marketers need to realise the impact that NoScript has on affiliate pages that rely on scripts, and how to resolve these problems - even if it is as simple as putting a html entry along the lines ‘ this function requires scripts to be enabled to work ‘ - the surfer is then empowered to make that decision to either allow / deny the page. They can give the entire page temporary permissions in the latest version if they so desire, so allowing them the ’security’ of not having scripts enabled globally, and the ‘functionality’ of being able to use your page the way you intended it to be used.
Equally, (and I seem to have failed to make this point clearly enough before)
-> NoScript surfers need to be better educated as to the impact of allowing / denying scripts has on their surfing experience, and how NoScripts (and scripts in general) interact with the sites, their browsers, and their computers at large.
Better informed surfers and marketers will (hopefully) make better informed judgements. There will be disagreements between individuals as to what should and should not be allowed, but this is inevitable as it involves personal choice, which is unique, and not always predictable or ‘logical’ - after all, “because I like it” is a valid reason for many a decision
Richard
Another silly question…
How does one know if they are suffering form the Malady of
“No script”?
I don’t have a clue if I have it or Not, and where does I find such a beast
After installing noscript I had it running for about 20 minutes before I gave up in despair and uninstalled it. It’s more of a pain than it’s worth.
I haven’t even bothered with noscript… everything I’ve heard about it told me to leave it alone. LOL
Hey Chuck why not install the noscript plugin just to see if your affiliate commissions (YOUR affiliates) commissions get lost, if one time offer pages make the screen go blank, etc. Then uninstall when you’re done.
NoScript is used by a very small percentage of web savvy users. I’d also imagine that a large percentage of NoScript users are also AdBlock Plus users. Your fears are greatly exaggerated, because these users are among the least likely to click ads, or generate referral revenues. I have never purchased, or signed up for a website because of an advertisement.
You must understand that we, the user, ultimately has the choice as to which content we download and view. We control our web experience. I abhor advertising in all forms, so I use AdBlock. I use NoScript because I don’t want Google Analytics (or other trackers) associating my IP address with my browsing history.
Whether NoScript slows my browsing experience, or makes it more difficult to view content is nearly irrelevant to me. If you spend just a small amount of time configuring NoScript, it rarely infers with your browsing experience. As a web programmer, if you can’t deliver a good user experience without Javascript, you need to go back to the basics. Amazon and Newegg make plenty of money without relying on Javascript.
Todd
Your exactly the reason why noscript is a problem, you see it isnt actually your call about the experience, because im not invading your space your invading mine
Its my website and if you want to use the facilities there you better show up with the right pary hat on or I dont want you showing up. All your doing is getting a free ride, the owner of the website has the right to expect people to view their ads in return for giving you the facilities in the first place.
Why are you even in internet marketing in any form if you dont believe in marketing, advertising etc?
Why make this blog comment with a link back to your website?
And Java script is only going to grow in usage over the next few years online, including Amazon who already use it, incidently as you bring up Amazon they make a huge amount of money from there marketing and advertisments.
But the upshot here is this dont download or use any free content online ever, because you are just sponging off of website owners. Most websites are up to make money from ads, the free resources are there only to attract potential customers
If you aren’t a potential customer your reneging on your side of the bargain, that makes you a leech
Robert,
Attempting to dictate the user experience to a web user is neither possible nor desirable. You’d better just realize this and move on, because it’s reality and it’s not going to change. To use your party example, sure, this is your party, you provided the place, the music and the beer. But you can’t make your guests have fun, you can’t make them dance, and you certainly can’t make them sign up for your party mailing list. As it stands, this is a public party, you provide HTML, CSS, and Javascript for free download, and you have absolutely no control over what a user does with that content once it’s on their machine. If I want to read straight HTML, that’s my choice. If you don’t like this, require subscriptions for your blog, and then you can enforce whatever type of party hats you like. You can’t provide free beer and then reasonably complain about people drinking. To further this analogy, let’s say you have an ad for your professional services hanging over the keg of free beer, you can’t force people to look at your ad. Web users are not a captive audience.
What about users who are using mobile browsers? They may not be able to view your content exactly how you desired due to device limitations. What about someone who uses a text based browser like Lynx? You won’t be able to show ads to these users. What about a 56k user who disables all images to make web browsing a reasonable experience? Again, no ads. What about a parent who doesn’t want pornographic ads (or ads in general) shown to their children. You may think that you can dictate the user experience, but ultimately this is futile. You should be satisfied knowing that 95%+ of your visitors will view the website as you intended, and do your best to convert these viewers into customers. There are so many more important issues to discuss than NoScript, that it’s humorous to me that someone wrote an ebook about it.
I linked back to my blog because I appreciate the ability of the web to serve as a networking tool. This type of marketing, IMO, is opt-in. No one is forced to view my website, and providing a text-based link doesn’t increase the cognitive load on the user. This is one of my primary arguments against web advertising, it makes the pages look cluttered and distracts users from the real content. Luckily, AdAware cleans this clutter up quite nicely. I’m in web programming because I like programming and like creative endeavors. Yes, web design is always part marketing, and as I make websites for small businesses, I certainly realize that marketing is one of the primary uses of the web.
I have no doubt that javascript usage will continue to grow. I program extensively with AJAX, and I greatly appreciate the type of dynamic interaction that AJAX provides. I have nothing against Javascript, but this is my computer, and I control what scripts are run on it. No one else controls my computer.
I use plenty of free content online, and I don’t feel like a free loader at all. If someone provides free beer, they can’t complain when people drink it. I read news for free at reddit.com, and I watch videos for free at youtube. I also happen to mute commercials when I watch television, again, I control the user experience. When I buy a magazine, I rip out all double page ads. I’ve already paid for access to the TV, the magazine, and the Internet, therefore I control the experience. Are people who fast forward through commercials using PVR leeches? Of course not, they just have better things to with their time than be solicited. Having to watch a commercial every 10 minutes is the equivalent of allowing a travelling salesman to enter your living room and pitch products. Very few people would allow this type of privacy invasion, and I see most other forms of advertising the same way.
Ultimately it’s about freedom, and if marketers can’t sell their products and services without annoying their potential customers, then they’re bound to fail anyway. If enough people start using AdAware and NoScript and it really does start hurting revenues, then perhaps selling subscriptions to premium content will be the way to recover this lost revenue. But I don’t see AdAware or NoScript ever being used by more than 1% of the web population. If you want something to complain about, let’s start with upgrading IE6 users to a standards-compliant browser.