Geocities, Geopops and you.

Sue's HTML Help

Geocities, GeoPops and You...

A typical GeoPop

Things sure have changed here in Geocities since I first moved in way back in July of 1996. Back then all we were required to do was have a link back to Geocities on every page. Now, we've been plastered with advertising, in the form of the original, browser crashing Java-based Geoguide, then the ill-fated "test" of the Geostitials, along with continual email from Surplus Direct telling us about their "specials." Then after many weeks of complaints, Geocities came up with the "Popups," known as GeoPops, to replace the Interstitials, which crashed browsers, stayed in a loop, and so on. Everyone understands the need for Geocities to make money through advertising, but the main problem seems to be with the GeoPops, and the way they're working. I don't like to see this every time I visit a page in Geocities, and with me, I do see them on every page, every time, since I cruise the Web with cookies disabled, and refuse to accept any cookies at all, period.

What is a "cookie?" It's a request sent by a server (for example, Geocities), to store a piece of information on YOUR computer's hard drive, to keep track of your movements around the site. The "cookie" may remain there for any length of time set by the server, even into the next millenium. I'm sorry, but I'm a firm believer in my privacy, and refuse to accept a cookie, or anything, that tracks my movements around the web. Sometimes, they are necessary, and in that case I will accept them. Some programs require then for access (I have an updatable online calendar on another site that recognizes you by the cookie, and will not let you log on without it), due to being based on a "username" type script, and those I will accept. But I do not want to be forced into accepting them, just for the sole purpose of advertising. Nor do I want to turn off any visitors to my Geocities' sites by forcing them to view the Geopop on every page, or by suggesting they accept the cookies so they'll only see it every twenty minutes.

Have a cookie

What does this have to do with GeoPops? Well, to make "sure" you don't see the GeoPop every page you visit, you have to accept the cookies. This supposedly notes the time you arrived, and you will (again, supposedly), only see one once every twenty minutes or so. Unfortunately, like everything in Geocities lately, that doesn't always work too well. If you back up to a page (using the back button) you're likely to get served another one. And another thing that the "staff" at Geocities recommends you do to avoid some of the bugs in the script, is to go around with your browsers "Show javascript" setting disabled. That's all well and good, but I again, don't want to be forced into turning off something I like to leave on, and how on earth can you tell the visitors to your page that they have to turn off javascript? You can't. You don't know ahead of time who's going to show up.

Just say no...

So, how do we get rid of these annoyances? Well, there are a couple of ways. One, you can purchase GeoPlus for $4.95 per month. That's actually the best way, as you do get 20 MegaBytes of space for your pages, and the price is reasonable. But you need to go into that with the understanding that you're really just paying for the space, and not the "perks," as the additional "scripts" you get to use with GeoPlus don't work. The main advantage is you get a shortened "Vanity" URL, so you don't always have to type
http://www.oocities.org/YourNeighborhood/Suburb/1234/
When you sign up for GeoPlus, your page address automatically becomes
http://www.oocities.org/~membername/
Unfortunately, like so much in Geocities, that "vanity URL" often doesn't work, so don't panic if it doesn't. One trick is to always add a slash (/) after your membername, as it seems to help.

A Geoguide

The other alternative to "avoid" the Geopops, is to have the GeoGuide on each and every page. The problem with that, though, is if you miss a single page, you will still get the popup. And when you're dealing with frames, it has to be on the index page, which isn't even seen, and every page that you have. And if you're doing vertical frames, what then? That throws off the frame size. The other disadvantage, is this is where the cookie acceptance issue comes into play. You can have GeoGuide plastered all over your pages, but if you (or your visitors) don't accept the cookies, you will be served a GeoPop instead. In my opinion, this is "coercion," i.e., "accept the cookie or we'll just keep slamming these pops in your face on every page."
Another issue with the GeoGuide, is that Geocities wants you to put it at the top of the page, right after your body tags. Well, guess what's showing up in the search engines under your page description? "RANK MY SITE," TAKE A TOUR," "PAGES LIKE MINE" is what's showing up! You're using META Tags, so it shouldn't matter, right? WRONG! A lot of the search engines ignore the META tags, and instead take the first few words off your page as the description of it when someone does a search. And we're not talking rinky-dink search engines, we're talking the major ones, like Lycos.

What's the Solution?

You will not find a GeoPop on these pages. If you do, you'd better e-mail me and let me know, since I might have missed a page. You will also not find the Geoguide on these pages. You will find a link to Geocities main page, or the SiliconValley main page, which is what I agreed to when I signed up. How do I do it? Well, I've added a simple tag to all the pages, and have eliminated all the Geopop codes from these pages. I strongly recommend you get an offline editor, such as EditPad, or use NotePad, as the GeoPop code will not show up in the Advanced Editor at Geocities. Because this is frowned upon by Geocities, you need to be warned it may result in your pages being pulled at some point. If mine suddenly disappear, you know what happened. Also, I will not post the solution on these pages, but will require an email to me for the purpose of getting directions on how to do it. But remember, I can not and will not be held responsible if doing this results in your pages being pulled without warning by Geocities. If you add the tag to your pages, you are doing so at your own risk.