Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 17 July 2001
Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.

From: Ian
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Mouse Chaser's

Two words on the Herald mouse chaser advertisement java
thingy.

Pathetic.

Boycott.

I will be until it returns to normal. It's hideous.




From: Chris Brewer
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: It's not just NZHerald...

stuff.co.nz also has the annoying pointer-follower script
for Telstra. I normally go there every day to browse over
the headlines, but as soon as this thing popped up, I was
out of there.

They used to have the region links near the top on the
right below the search box, but now that's been shoved
right down the page because they've shoved a huge ad in
that spot. That didn't bother me too much as it was just a
minor hinderance to scroll down, but start mucking about
with my pointer and I am not coming back in a hurry.

As somebody who knows about the spyware also known
as "Comet Cursor", it's caused me to have a bad impression
on anything on the net that does "clever" things with the
pointer.




From: Robert
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: what the herald told me

This is the reply I recived after filling out the feedback
form .. Firstly I have to take my hat off to the herald. It
is refreshing to get such a promnt reply if you get a reply
at all.

Dear Robert,

Thank you for your feedback regarding the automated
attachment to your cursor. This is a part of a trial
advertising campaign which we are experimenting with.
Whilst it may interfere with your experience, and is
potentially distracting, we must explore opportunities such
as this to generate revenue, as we provide a free news
service for users. The internet medium is still in a
developing phase , and I'm more than certain that there
will be many new worldwide ideas which are introduced to
highlight advertisers messages.

The cursor attachment is only effective on the Home page
and is removed on all other pages.

We hope that you can appreciate our point of view, and
continue to visit the NZ Herald website. We appreciate you
taking the time to communicate your thoughts as they
provide valuable feedback for future initiatives.

Kind regards,

Conrad Blind
Product Manager


The following feedback has been sent from the feedback page
of the NZ Herald Web Site:
-----
From: Robert
can we get rid of the message chasing the mouse around from
the web site . a tad childish !!




From: Stanford
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: NZ HERALD REPLY

I think they are getting more than a few feedback(s)????

Cos I received the same reply, word for word.




From: Nik
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Herald mouse games

The Herald mouse pointer is so insanely annoying I have now
put NZ Herald in the sin bin and disabled all
java/scripting/activeX code on their web site. I thought my
system had been infected with spy-ware, but it turned out
to be that a little Java app that dealt to my mouse pointer.

Wake up and smell the roses Herald, the best way to lose
your audience is to bug them. Soon we might all start
filtering *.doubleclick.com.au on our personal & corporate
firewalls .... how will the revenue streams look then?
Now Have Your Say