Your delayed Pop-Up ads are killing the internet!

I tried to add a popup, but got lazy and made the one above

I started noticing a reoccurring theme with websites. They aren't (from what I can tell) the most popular websites. I mainly stumbled across them via a web service called StumbleUpon - Yes, the pun was intended. So these websites are good, you visit them. All seems okay, and then boom! You've been on the site for 30 seconds (this is an average in my mind) or you scroll a few hundred pixels down the page and then you get this annoying popup, a shameless ad, or an attempt to get me to sign up for something, something I see as a stain on your website. 

I lose a lot of care to be on your website when I am hit with these ads. I decide very quickly I don't want to come back, although to be fair, with StumbleUpon, I probably won't return anyway - but it ruins it for me.  

"Killing the internet" might not be true, but it is losing you views. It may be gaining you revenue or hits, or even sign ups through sheer annoyance.

Firstly, Google has now started moving your website down in priority if you have a popup ad. I mean, if that doesn't worry you then I don't know what will. My website doesn't have the best SEO, if you search my name, you definitely don't get my website as the first result...

Side note - Go do that and see what the results are, I'll wait... ... ... ... You're back? Not the best thing to have associated to my name but there it is.

Not being the first result for me is annoying, but such it is. I'm working on it. If I started adding these ads, then I would get bumped down, which would make it worse. 

Secondly, I'm not returning. You hit me with a popup, and that is it. Thank you for the 30 seconds or 200pxs it has been nice, but that's it. I'm not the only one though. I know people that find these popups annoying as well. It breaks concentration, and flow. By flow, I mean, if you're reading an article, and skimming through it, then you get hit, you lose your spot in the article. It's an unnecessary frustration. 

I understand a lot of websites bring in revenue through ads, I get that, but you can have more subtle ads than this, and it annoys people who are genuinely interested in the content that you are offering them. 

I'm a critic of these popups, I really am. I admit, I had to build one of these popups for a client, it was a survey on how the website was for them. The majority tone of the responses to the survey were positive, but there were a few negative responses that really hit home. I felt terrible for this. One response in particular really got to me. It haunts me even now. It was "Pointless asking if I found the information I was looking for if you make the survey before I enter the site. I hope you didn't pay some half-wit for this". 

This was a massive thing for me, other people kept telling me it was nothing, and I tried to believe that, but it still hits home in a particular way. The reason this hit home was because it specifically mentioned the developer. It didn't name me specifically, but I knew I was the developer that created this so it was me. We very quickly changed the design, we added a bar to the top of the web page, which had a link to this survey, and 98% of responses after this were positive. 

I like to think that the above is justified reason for me not liking them, as well as the annoyance I get from them. I can't solve the issue by changing the current sites with it, but the least I can do is make others see what I feel about it. 

Au Revoir,
J