Are Popups Ethical?

The most important fact to understand about the internet is it is one huge communication device. Plain and simply, that is all that the internet is and it is all that it does - communicate.

Thus, an effective website communicates to it's audience and, oftentimes, the audience communicates back. In other words, an effective website is defined simply in a single sentence: it communicates well with it's intended audience. Period.

Now, if your intended audience is people who need a certain kind of widget, and you get those people to purchase your widgets, then your website is a success.

It does not matter if the "non-target" audience doesn't get the communication (and hence does not purchase). They are not the target!

Now, folded into this equation is the matter of ethics. In order for a society to exist and it's members to prosper, rules are agreed upon for civilized conduct. Thus, you can expect that you can drive down the street without getting a rock through your window or a bullet in your back (at least in California). Civilized people have agreed that this is inappropriate behavior.

There is an even higher plain of ethics, where you decide to follow a code which is "higher" than that agreed upon by society. It is very interesting that there is a direct
correlation between a person's ethics and his long term success. More ethical people tend to survive better than less ethical people (in the long term). I am not referring just to money here (although that is part of the equation). This is overall quality of life. While Howard Hughes certainly was very rich, for example, I do not believe that in the later part of his life anyone could claim he was happy - his final years struck me as miserable. He was highly unethical, and this caught up with him.

So the questions come down to: do you communicate effectively to your target audience, and do you present this communication in an ethical manner?

As an example, suppose you run an adult website. A person with ethics would not show adult pictures on the splash page, would require proof of age, and would advertise the site only to consenting adults. An unethical site might plaster hard core
pictures everywhere without a care in the world, have weak protection against viewing by minors, spam everyone and embed every scum method of popping up, under, over and so forth that has been invented.

The unethical site might very well make money faster than the ethical site, but would these people be leading happy, productive lives? Or would they wind up eventually with their sites closed down, perhaps in prison, with their money seized and so on? Would they be able to live with themselves or would they consume vast amounts of alcohol and drugs to cover up the pain they were feeling for the pain they were giving out?

In this example, both sites do communicate (and well) with their target audience. The unethical part is the communication that spilled over to people who may not desire it or who may not be entitled to receive the communication (underage for example).

Another, more obvious statement, is that you don't want to scream fire in a crowded theater, unless, of course, there is indeed a fire.

Are popups, unders and so on unethical? It depends on how they are used. If popups are blended with the site well so that they help deliver the communication to the target audience, then they do serve a purpose. If they are controlled so they do not
FORCE the communication upon people who do not desire it, then they are ethical.

In other words, if I visit your site I might expect to see one popup (or under) informing me of an opportunity or giving me some other communication. I should be able to close this without fear of additional popups opening up. The popup should
be related to the site somehow (otherwise it is an interruption, which is considered rude in most conversations). Under some conditions (the ad for the camera which appears all over the place, for example), I should be able to opt-out, and my privacy should be protected. There are certainly additional ethical considerations to be taken into account.

By being ethical and communication well, I am delivering my viewpoint to the target and not offending the non-targets. That means the non-targets may return at some time and become targets of the communication. In addition, they are less likely to become offended or even become enemies.

That's my 2 cents (well, perhaps my quarter).


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About the author.

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