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Comment by volaski | Hacker News Reader

I'm more annoyed with these sites than the app install sites. "Install our app" is annoying but still trying their best to send us where we will have better have better experience (at least that's what they think). These "subscribe to our newsletter" sites do it for their own good and couldn't care less about visitors. They do it so they can spam them with their emails

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My favorite is when I click a link in an e-mail newsletter (I'm on one for a local news site) and... get a popup asking me to sign up for the newsletter.

They should send the better experience to where you are.

They'll never learn

Those are particularly annoying when im halfway through reading and they popup out of nowhere. I'm surprised it's an effective tactic at all to annoy readers (it has to be effective if they're doing it).

To play the devil's advocate, if it's coming at all, I'd rather it be halfway through the article than right as I load the page. Presumably if I've read half an article, I'm at least partially interested in what's on their site. Nautilius seems to do an embedded newsletter ad halfway through the article, no pop up, just enter your email if you're interested or keep reading. Very happy about this (though I still didn't subscribe).

> "Install our app" is annoying but still trying their best to send us where we will have better have better experience

Not always, apps give them the ability to have push notifications plus the fact that having the app icon in your app tray is a constant reminder of their service.

Not to mention that an app potentially has access to a lot more information about you from the device.

Given all the app security failures, I tend to avoid apps.

Being nagged to install another black box has, for me, nothing to do with a "better experience."

No one said these app download guys are awesome. My point was that these newsletter guys deserve much more criticism. A lot of them are pretty famous bloggers, and they know they're being an asshole but do it. The thing is no one criticizes them because they don't want to offend an influential person. It's sad because I used to have respect for many of them.

You have cause and effect backwards. How do you think they got to be so famous and influential :)

Not really, if Seth Godin started doing this tomorrow on his blog, I will lose all the respect I had for him. He knows that and that's probably why he doesn't do it. And that's why I lost respect for those who do--because it's a sign that they are one of those people who only can see short term and follow what other people say they should do (This practice is pretty much industry standard among shady marketers and "growth hackers" nowadays)

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