You click a link to a news site, to read an article that seems interesting.
On the page that loads there is the article, but also, somewhere on the right, often near the bottom, there is a small video player. Inexplicably, it was not blocked by your ad-blocker.
It is auto-playing a news video that is not connected to the article. Sound is often on.
You:
@rysiek I just close pages that do this, even if I wanted to read the article. If I REALLY want to read it, I'll drop the URL into archive.md so I can read it without all the extraneous BS :)
There's usually a way to close or at least stop the video, so it isn't eating my CPU cycles -- but I wish there was some way to take back the click so it wouldn't be included in their viewing stats.
...or better yet, add a negative click. Or a million negative clicks. Sensory distraction as an eyeball lure needs to be sharply discouraged.
@woozle @encarsia @rysiek yeah I block autoplaying of audio/video in my Firefox prefs, but of course sometimes a manipulative UX tricks me into clicking, thus “permitting” media playback. That’s another reason I often just close pages that pop up literally anything over the content. I don’t like being manipulated and taken advantage of… I basically see it as a form of psychological abuse, even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition (tho maybe it does!)…
@amatecha @woozle Absolutely agree to you both.
I just don't want to put more effort into it than what it's worth.
If something starts annoying me with whatever (video, overlays, whatnot) my essential thought is: it's not worth stealing my attention and time. How important and interesting can an article wrapped in this whole b*shit be? Exactly.
@woozle I don't care if I could stop or mute the video (muting the tab might be the most simple way). I don't want to give in to an acoustic intrusion I didn't ask for.
I nope out. That's it.
@amatecha @rysiek