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No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

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121–130 of 221 posts

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know of a way, say in the JavaScript console (I'm guessing?), to reset scroll behaviors? I'm not clever enough with JS or CSS to have figured it out. Deleting the modal using the inspector is what I do but I can't get around the scrolling...

This will solve the problem for you on most sites: document.getElementsByTagName('html')[0].style.overflow = "scroll"; The css property you're looking for is "overflow," usually on the body or html tag.

Thank you, I didn't know the property name and it wasn't obvious (to me). :)

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#122

Publishers should approach everything from the point of view of a person on the street: if it wouldn’t be acceptable in real life, WHY is it acceptable online!? The equivalent of a pop-up newsletter modal is somebody on the street PULLING you aside, standing directly in front of you and preventing you from going any further until you answer their question. All without bothering to observe what you were doing beforeha…

You mean like a bouncer checking IDs at the bar? If I don't want to give my ID to a stranger, then I just don't visit that bar, or find one with more lax security..

I don't think those have much in common. You know the bouncer just wants to see your ID and won't bother you after that. They're not trying to push you into signing up for an annoying newsletter you don't care about or to buy something you don't want.

Also, in many states, just looking like or actually being over 21 isn't good enough. The liquor license people require that every person in the bar or drinking be able to prove with a valid ID that they're over 21, no matter how old they look or actually are. They're not checking that you're over 21; they're checking that you have a valid ID on you that proves you're over 21, because they get in trouble if you don't.

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#123
post #47

Yes, I want to subscribe to your newsletter! Automatically with a browser plugin, with an address that will even accept your mails. Unfortunately no human will read them in the end, but I'm sure your metrics will be great. I might even accept a cookie so you know I'm already subscribed to your great newsletter. Now if everybody were to do that...

What browser plugin do you use?

Just saying I want to, I'm not actually doing it. I hope somebody develops such a plugin now so we can fill their pretty little mailing lists with all the millions of subscribers they want and deserve.

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this, people are too worried about the size of their list as opposed to actual engagement. If they don't open your emails they're just costing you money with your ESP. If you have good content people will search hard for a way to get on your email list if necessary, i've done it before.

this is why it's good to require a credit card for a free trial. it will kill the top of your funnel but the bottom will actually get fatter because those who do sign up for the free trial actually want to demo your software.

I will not sign up for a demo that requires I provide real information unless I have no other choice. It's not that I'm not serious about buying. Rather, I have no patience for spamming or harassment from salespeople.

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#125
I would be quite content if the Web became something more akin to a "Reception", i.e. that there was the opportunity to meet/chat with a Real Human, instead of automated software.

Is it not true that automatic things are better when experienced at the hands of a human, than a machine? I think this factor is at play here ..

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#126
It seems to me that all these sites use the same basic code. It was some developer--one of us-- that came up with this, which has since been replicated by evil managers and complicit web developers around the globe.

What we need to do, even if for purely symbolic purposes, is find the developer who coded the original modal popup and kill him (or her).

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#127
post #106

I use Safari and I almost always click/tap the reader view icon as soon as the page loads. This: 1) Shows the text even if a modal has already tried to obscure it. 2) Ensures a legible font and contrast. 3) Undoes stupid scroll jacking. Yay, the text scrolls smoothly again. 4) Fixes the scroll bar so that it provides an accurate indication of how far through the page I've read, since the non-text crap I don't care ab…

With many sites you can just hit Esc before the page finishes loading and you avoid all the crappy ad pop-up scripts / "please turn off your ad blocker" messages.

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's about all user intent. Will you bring value? For you I'd advice experimenting with a pop-up when the user is about to leave. "A popup designed with exit-intent – in laymans terms it means that the popup only displays when you are about to leave the site." Results? "an increase of sign-ups by 600%. They went from typically 70-80 daily new subscribers to 445 – 470 new subs per day."

How would you go about detecting when a user is about to leave your site? Other than responding to a click on an external link? The two ways I typically leave a site are a) typing a URL into the address bar and b) closing a tab.

Well, if the user is like me then having just put up a big content-obscuring popup is an excellent sign that the user is about to leave.

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#129
I'm irrationally annoyed by these popovers to the extent that I'm tempted to just start locally blocking every site that has them. Just need a handy button to add the domain of whatever page I'm viewing to hosts.deny and preferably fire off an email to the site's admin telling them I prefer never visiting their site again to having to be subjected to their method of promotion.

Re: No, I Don’t Want to Subscribe to Your Newsletter

#130
post #106

I use Safari and I almost always click/tap the reader view icon as soon as the page loads. This: 1) Shows the text even if a modal has already tried to obscure it. 2) Ensures a legible font and contrast. 3) Undoes stupid scroll jacking. Yay, the text scrolls smoothly again. 4) Fixes the scroll bar so that it provides an accurate indication of how far through the page I've read, since the non-text crap I don't care ab…

I use the safari reader view mode as well. It is decent, but the black/grey setting with white text still looks a bit off.

I prefer the Evernote 'simplified article' mode through safari or chrome extentions. It provides a simplified article, background colour similar to HN, and enables highlighting and brief comments.

That being said, the safari one works fine. I use it for 99% of articles, and on the 1% I go back to Evernote if I want to save the article, make a couple of highlights, or leave a comment.

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