Continuing Theme: Just Because You Can Do Something, Doesn't Mean You Should

For example, you could eat an entire bag of funions right before your next job interview. Or you could meet the president in your bikini and not pull it down over your butt first. Or you could decide one day to quit your job at age 52 and try to become the next great platform diver, even though you've got lumbago (ok, I don't know what lumbago is, but it sounds awful) and are afraid of heights.

So, many things you can do, not the same as things you should do.

I love WRAL 5 on Your Side. I love that it has an RSS feed, so I can get the videos without watching the local news.

I do not love the latest addition.

They've gone with ad interstitials before the stories. Which is fine, even if the page has 2 other HUGE ads on it, I get it. But the ad disables the volume control.

When the ad is over? Volume control bar works.

Link is here:
http://www.wral.com/5onyourside/video/3388375/

This is the sort of behavior that is just rude.

1)It leads the user to think something is wrong with the site that the volume control isn't working.

2)It just frustrates a user who doesn't want to hear that ad.

3)It doesn't at all actually control whether or not the user listens to, or watches the ad. Hello, Mr. WRAL Web Guy, there's a volume button on the front of my monitor. Hello, there's also this little icon in my tool bar. What you've just done? Since I can't turn the volume of the ad down a little, you've made me irritated, and now I'm just going to mute (dell keyboard, its own button) the whole thing until the part I want is on.

Not only is it rude, I don't think it makes a difference to your buyer.

Is anyone really going to pay MORE for an ad because you take away the volume button? They aren't paying much in the first place, and I can't say trying to sell the idea of forcing people to listen is going to do much with any major ad sponsor. It might make a difference with the guys selling cheap mattresses and used cars, but that's it.

So you get to pick... annoy and anger your users needlessly, or try to suck up (in a way that will make no perceptible difference in their revenues) to the sleaziest of your sponsors.

Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should.