Several sites that I visit often have decided to place 4 (some sites more) ad spots on every single page. Every single one of those ad spots is filled with a flash animation that not only cheapens the look of the site, it also slows down everyone’s browser. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for placing ads on websites. I know that it’s how people make their money. But there’s a point where it just gets pathetic.

There’s one ad in particular that really got me to think about this. The ad for the new XBox 360 Slim. It spins around and uses so much of the computer’s resources that I can’t even scroll until this stupid animation is finished. Microsoft has a lot of explaining to do with this one.

Normally I hate using AdBlock Plus, the extension for several browsers that maintains a list of ads to block, but now I’m really considering turning it on. Just so that I’m not barraged by ads that do nothing to entice my interest in the product except slow down my browser and annoy me with animations.

There was one series of blogs that I thought were immune to this retardedness, but alas, no. The Gawker Media group of blogs, which include Gizmodo, Lifehacker, io9, etc, have just instituted the reverse order comments. This has to be the worst decision they have ever made with their comment system. They did it once before, but there was a big backlash and they changed it back. Now all of a sudden it’s fine? Sounds like the West Australian government regarding Daylight Savings. They say it fits in line with the way Facebook does things. Really? I have never seen comments in backwards order there. Yes, news feeds should be published with the latest at the top, comments are not and never will be news feeds.

I have to say I am very disappointed at the Gawker Media Group. As such I will not post any comments until they come to their senses. At the moment, their comment section is pretty illegible. There’s no way I’d even be able to post a comment in that mess.