Dawn of the Geeks

People steal music for the same reason they turn off ads on web-sites. They assume they have no intention of supporting the provider anyway. Well now that I force javascript to be enabled in order to download files from the larger portions of IcarusIndie.com the Dev Center/Drivers/Ringtones stats have gone up from 43% enabled to a little over 50% enabled and climbing. They actually share the same database entries. 52.4% of visitors to the main icarusindie.com page have Javascript enabled now. That number started at below 50%.

Ad revenue has also gone up. But what’s interesting is that the number of visitors hasn’t gone up. So am I just getting more visitors who aren’t afraid to click on an ad they find interesting? Or are the visitors who assumed they would have no interest in what was being advertised actually finding out that once they see the ads that they are interested? Most likely the latter.

People make a lot of assumptions. They sometimes assume that any site that uses Javascript is only using it for evil purposes like pop-ups and personal information collection. They believed the hype and failed to realize that javascript plays a very important role in many web-sites. Google’s email service relies on Javascript for the interface. Their AdSense account management pages rely on Javascript and AdSense itself relies on Javascript. Citibank’s account management site will stop working if you turn off javascript. It’s used for their interface. Just like my site, their server detects if you have it enabled and if not, shows you an error page and tells you to enable it.

It’s a very powerful tool. Sometimes people just need a reminder that sites do actually have legitimate uses for it and that it needs to be enabled. If a site is abusing javascript then stop going to it. The internet is not out to get you. Blocking out everyone from making use of a technology because some choose to abuse it is a little silly.

So turn on javascript, let the ads show. They keep this site running.