Do you know how to complain effectively?
I would just like to comment about "congratulations you have just won our hourly prize" animated advert. I know it may not be flash but it is so annoying that even if I wanted to buy the product I would deliberately go elsewhere to buy it! I wouldn't be surprised if it caused an epileptic fit in those prone to such ailments. On a site that promotes good design why does about.com do it?Unfortunately, I can't print it in the location it was submitted (as it doesn't answer the question) and I can't do anything about the question either (because I don't control the design or the ads on this site).
Have you ever done that? In other words, have you felt frustrated by something and found the first text field you could find and entered your complaint there? As a Web designer and webmaster since 1995, I can tell you that many people do. Unfortunately, most of the time, entering a complaint like that will just get your message deleted. Some companies try to forward them on to the right places, but most are just too busy.
If you design forms for your websites you need to realize that more than just spammers will fill up your mailboxes with answers you can't use. Do you have techniques you use to get people to fill out forms so that they get the help they need?
Oh, and if you're wondering how you should report complaints about ads to About.com - use the Customer Care form found on the Help Center page (linked at the bottom of every page of About.com - "Help"). I don't write the HTML or design the About.com pages. I just write about HTML and Web design for them.
Yes, such a complaint is a waste of resources for both sides, unless forwarded correctly, I think.
Otherwise, I do hate those flashy seizure-prone ads (that are present on most websites), and to avoid a headache, I usually cover them with my hand or scroll them out of view (I think I’ll get a flash blocker add-on).
(And I doubt most site owners are aware of all the ads that pop up in their pages, once they subscribe to an ads service, though I’m probably wrong about this one. )
I know that people like to complain about everything. Luckily, most are too stupid to fill out forms – so they don’t get on my nerves
Well, I can say that I’m not aware of all the ads that show up on the About.com pages. Because they are delivered in different ways. I visit my site daily and so I might see a particularly annoying ad all the time (like those really heinous “1 secret to weight loss” ads) while people who visit less frequently don’t see it as often.
OTOH, About.com has told its writers that ads that might cause seizures or other problems shouldn’t be displaying on the site. So if you see them, reporting them to http://webdesign.about.com/gi/pages/pform.htm is a good idea.