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An open message

March 28, 2008 by Michael Boyle

Dear users of Snap.com,

Please stop!

It is annoying, provides me (your reader) with no benefit, and in fact makes it radically less likely that I will read your post – the stupid pop-up windows obscure your text and make it difficult to read the pearls of wisdom you are trying to communicate.

Best,
Michael

Tags: Advertising, Readable, Usability

Comments

  1. hugh says

    March 28, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    dear users of snap.com,

    since you have said to me, as a reader, “fuck you,” let me return the favour: “fuck you, too.”

    thanks,
    hugh.

  2. nicolas says

    March 29, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    thx for taking the time to write down what everyone was thinking !

  3. mikel says

    March 30, 2008 at 11:33 am

    I should add that Patrick showed me (after I wrote this) the opt-out function that Snap provides – but 99% of people will never find that on their own. Opt-out sucks in general. If Snap really believed they were providing a service that people wanted, they’d turn if off by default (and trust that users would opt-in on their own).

  4. blork says

    March 30, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    Word!

    That op-out function you’re talking about is from the reader’s perspective, right? Well how about the blog writers?

    Snap is enabled by default on WordPress hosted blogs (i.e., name.wordpress.com) which explains why we see it so much. Blog owners can turn it off, but they have to KNOW that they can turn it off, and how.

    Here’s how: in the Dashboard, go to PRESENTATION > EXTRAS and uncheck the item that says “Enable Snap Shots on this blog.”

  5. blork says

    March 31, 2008 at 10:26 am

    Hey, your post inspired me to write up the instructions for people with WordPress.com blogs on how they can turn Snap Shots off, as well as for how the rest of us can prevent Snap Shots enabled blogs from popping up those windows.

    Here it is.

  6. mikel says

    March 31, 2008 at 12:18 pm

    Cool – great work Blork. I gave it it’s own blog post!

  7. Joe says

    May 13, 2008 at 8:08 am

    Great post the snap is the most repulsive thing I’ve seen on a web page.
    Thanks

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