French publishers join Swedish 'Block Party' to pester ad refuseniks French publishers are joining the “block party” - by taking aggressive collective action to thwart ad-blockers. In August, around 80 to 90 per cent of Swedish publishers will participate in a co-ordinated campaign to nag readers using ad blocking software that they really shouldn’t use ad blocking software. Le Figaro suggests …
A farce, indeed, when one can equate "easier to fire" and "easier to employ" while keeping a straight face.
It is the truth though. I work for a US company that, when it starts a new project/product, hires many developers, in various places (US, UK, Ireland, India). If the project isn't successful some of those developers are redeployed, some are laid-off. Granted the US lay-off approach is brutal in execution, but few of those that I know spent more than a month or two unemployed before getting rehired.
All except the French branch, where laying people off takes 6-9 months, and the layoff comes with a lump sum, a package of 6-9 months retraining, a year's health care, and at least one month's salary for each year of seniority. all paid by the company.
There, the US managers' attitude is simple. No more hiring in France, it's simply not worth it in an uncertain market. The unions expect "jobs for life", and no sensible (non-French) company will pander to them. Hence the high French unemployment rates, and huge black hole in pensions, health and welfare budgets. If it's too hard to lay people off when the going gets tough, companies simply invest in jobs elsewhere.
All except the French branch, where laying people off takes 6-9 months, and the layoff comes with a lump sum, a package of 6-9 months retraining, a year's health care, and at least one month's salary for each year of seniority. all paid by the company.Total bollocks. Learn what a CDD is.
Total bollocks. Learn what a CDD is.
I know perfectly well what a contrat à durée déterminée is. It's a fixed-term employment contract which can be used only to hire someone for a precise and temporary task, such as maternity leave cover. It has very strict legal limitations, and can be renewed at most twice. As for being bollocks, I've gone through the process several times so far, and I can assure you it is an accurate description. I also know that my US-based managerial colleagues simply refuse point-blank to even consider hiring in France because of it.
"I also know that my US-based managerial colleagues simply refuse point-blank to even consider hiring in France because of it."
And to balance this, I know some Europeans that were pink slipped when the company decided it had what it wanted from the employees - as in here's your pay, note the pink bit of paper, get out - and as such they refuse point-blank to work in the United States.
Whereas in America, the black hole in pensions is blamed on "unenforceable" contracts made in the "golden age" promising "too much" in terms of retirement benefits.
But is actually caused by the administering organization not funding the financial instruments upon which those benefits were calculated for years upon years.
See: New Jersey State Govt., Wisconsin State Govt., [insert state name] State Govt.
Caveat: Contracts to deliver bonuses to junior officer ranks and above in the Banking sector are considered "Extremely Enforceable" and not subject to debate even by the people called upon to fund such bonuses when the said officers prove incompetent in the highest degree.
> All except the French branch, where laying people off takes 6-9 months
Your company's French managers may want to brush up on their French contract law, as there are a number of different types of contract to cater for precisely this situation (and I submit that many projects are indeed successfully and profitably started and concluded in France every day).
Exactly which contract is a better fit depends entirely on the situation at hand, in some cases a contrat à durée déterminée (as mentioned below) may be appropriate, when it is exactly known between which dates a given resource will be needed, in other cases a contrat de prestation de services may be more appropriate, or even a contrat à durée indéterminée. All of these impose certain rights and obligations on both parties, which rights and obligations are known so their relative merits can be judged and their cost can be fairly accurately estimated and budgeted for since day zero.
In other words, from your description your company's HR people are rubbish. Either that or they expect that because in the US things work (or fail to work) in a certain way, it must be the same all over the world.
your company's HR people are rubbish. Either that or they expect that because in the US things work (or fail to work) in a certain way, it must be the same all over the world.
Both true, and both irrelevant. Why hire in a jurisdiction where change is difficult and expensive, when you can hire in one where it is neither?
Your companies hr department is rubbish and doesn't understand foreign employment law
Where did I say that?
My company's French HR department understands French law very well, and applies it rigidly. The company, however, is international. It's used to being able to hire staff for a project, and if all goes well it expects to keep them and grow the team. If, however, a new product doesn't do well in the market and is, after a few years, cancelled, the company expects to be able to redeploy, or if necessary lay off, the staff working on the now-cancelled product. That is not difficult in most places, but French law makes it painful, slow and very expensive. So, managers choose not to hire staff in France. It's nothing to do with not understanding law, they understand it only too well, it's simply a case of sensible planning. The recently proposed changes to French employment law would have considerably eased the problems, but the unions won't play. Seems they prefer to have record levels of unemployment, rather than take a risk on a job being less than 100% certain. It's a very "franco-francais" attitude.
Posting stupid? Post anonymous....
Says the anonymous poster.
but the unions won't play
For the record, the unions are negotiating unimportant details of the law while the vast majority of the population demands its unconditional withdrawal. In other words, the unions are playing along with the government.
Seems they prefer to have record levels of unemployment
Indeed, we prefer to have record levels of unemployment rather than record levels of poverty among the population as is the case in the US. People's well being comes before corporate profits.
For the record, the unions are negotiating unimportant details of the law
I'm not sure they'd agree with that, when the more moderate unions "only" want « le retrait de la barémisation des indemnités prud’homales », i.e. the removal of limits on lay-off packages (despite the fact that the prud'hommes themselves have said that the proposed limits are only formalizing general practice) ) and the removal of almost all the relaxation of the 35 hour week rules. They're happy to go along with the pro-worker stuff like the CPA, not much else. Meanwhile the usual more militant suspects in CGT, FO etc, are calling a strike next week for "pure and simple withdrawal" of the whole thing.
while the vast majority of the population demands its unconditional withdrawal
Yes, 67% of French people still seem to think that money grows on trees. No wonder the Euro zone is such a bastion of mediocrity.
> It's used to being able to hire staff for a project, and if all goes well it expects to keep them and grow the team. If, however, a new product doesn't do well in the market and is, after a few years, cancelled, the company expects to be able to redeploy, or if necessary lay off, the staff working on the now-cancelled product.
That is exactly what many French companies do, day in and day out.
Now, I'm not saying that French employment law is not in many cases a complete arse, or that the unions do not love to shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly, working solely towards their own interests and not those of their members. However, all that is a known quantity and in practical terms, not a major impediment to actually adjusting headcount for anyone who knows what they're doing. Trust me on this.
You ask why companies would hire in France as opposed to other places. From my experience I can suggest, for example: 1. France has, by some measures, the highest productivity rate of all of Europe, in terms of GDP/work hours. 2. Certain fields of expertise are well developed in France which makes it easier/possible to find competent people at reasonable rates (e.g., the aeronautical and nuclear industries). 3. Some contracts may simply stipulate that you open an office in a certain location or hire people from a certain region.
Do not get me wrong, I hate France as much as one is supposed to, but the attitude of your company does not seem particularly productive.
Why hire in a jurisdiction where change is difficult and expensive, when you can hire in one where it is neither?
I rather like the irony here. We have a ban on hiring anyone of US origin, holding a US passport or anyone who can be classed as "accidental American" (no, I didn't make that up, it is an actual term - look it up).
All of these impose certain rights and obligations on both parties, which rights and obligations are known so their relative merits can be judged and their cost can be fairly accurately estimated and budgeted for since day zero.
That's sound theory, but in practice market success is difficult to predict, so that any such budget needs to allow for the potential costs and risks of eventual failure, to make sure that one failed product doesn't bring the whole company down. In a country with rigid, old-fashioned labour laws (like France) such costs tend to be much higher than in more flexible countries (like the UK or Ireland).Fixed-term contracts for aren't going to interest people looking for a career, they do tend to send the message "we don't expect this to last", can be a self-fulfilling approach.
> But it isn't "coordinated". Liberation are not on board with this suicide pact.
I was going to say, I've just come from over there so was a bit surprised to see this. I haven't tried any other French news sites. They tend to be paywalled anyway (well, and one I am actually a subscriber).
> in their national/linguistic niche there won't be an alternative for you to switch your (non-)custom to
Until someone sees the business opportunity. :-)
Inflicting shit ads on the consumer is the lazy man's way of funding their online presence. More savvy businesses use a number of other methods, less intrusive and occasionally more attractive to the user. El Reg appears to be one such example, with their partnerships with other businesses such as Outlaw.com and various consultancies.
Agreed. the most horrendous site I have seen is the Independent. Constantly straining on the seat attempting to deliver it's excrement. It is actually unusable at some times and you have to wait until a straining cycle is over before it decided to give you the content you have clicked on.
Resource hungry adds and added vectors to infect the machine are unwanted on my part.
the most horrendous site I have seen is the Independent.
Just came from there, with ScriptBlock and uBlock Origin engaged. I never go online without them. There is a lot of white space on the Independent home page now, but it's possible to read their typo-ridden content without wading through visual noise.
Torquay Herald Express
Yep, they need an intervention.
That's not a foghorn you're hearing, Herald Express, it's the sound of silence when ad- and script-blocking add-ons hit your site. Wow, your home page loaded in a snap. Lots of interesting stuff to read about kangaroos, foghorns, piglets and a gas works. Your pages look a lot better with ads blocked than a few of my local news sites, I'll give you that. But I turned off uBlock Origin and ScriptBlock when I started writing this reply, and the page took for-freaking-ever to load. And enabling scripts for your domain opened the door for 11 scripts from other domains. No way, Torquay!
Even some retail sites misbehave with a sane blocking regime, so I keep a separate unblocked browser just for affected valued retail sites, but for all other sites which misbehave I'll either add more blocks to remove their blocking overlays or just permanently firewall blacklist them at my router, like have done for some stubborn newspapers and magazines, to avoid wasting my time later.
Exactly. The law of unintended consequences...
It's hard to believe, but there are a lot of people out there who do not know that ad blockers even exist. Let's face it, a lot of people have no idea that their web browser is not "the internet", or that there are other browsers. It's not just the elderly relatives, it's a surprisingly large number of 'generation smartphone' as well.
Yeah try explaining to someone that the monitor is in fact a monitor and the box everything connected to is the computer.
The computers not working?
Have you turned it on?
Yes the light on the front is on.
On the screen?
Yes
What about that big fucking box where all the wires go, did you think it was there and connected to the power just for fun?
Oh. It is now.
My gran will get it one day. Bless her.
I can top that. Not only does my wife consider the monitor to be 'the computer' but I have given up (after 20 years) trying to explain how a thermostat works.
Apparently the radiator is 'on' or 'off'. If it's cold - it gets turned up, if it's hot it gets turned down.
Apparently the concept of setting the thermo-valve such that a median temperature is maintained no matter whether it's generally colder or warmer outside doesn't compute.
Point-in-case: I come home the other day - all the windows in the living room were open, and yet the radiator was on full blast. When I asked why, my wife said that she had turned the radiator down a bit (but not off) never expecting it to keep on getting hotter the colder the room got. Arrrrgggggggghhh!
These days I just bury my head in a bottle of spirits straight away - it saves time :)
This just worked temporarily for me (thanks Reg posters, you are really my kind of people):
Clear browser caches (chrome and FF)
Install Ad-block Plus (I already used a hosts file, but not good enough)
Install Easylist subscriptions
For a brief moment, I could read what I wanted.
But it only worked for two tries, and now I'm really annoyed. Sometimes the anti-adblockers get confused when you come in through a VPN, but they can eventually figure that out too.
Perhaps a sandbox background-browser emulation will be the way forward. May the smartest, most motivated win.
Escalation, escalation, escalation.....
As things currently stand ad blockers are a necessary security requirement to anyone with the slightest sense. If the ad slingers get their own house in order and stop spewing malware then maybe they might get some eyeballs back. Until then they go ram a rusty implement up their ringpiece!
Whole online ad system is a joke anyway as noted many times here, ads sold and placed by bots then viewed by bots only. Time for the publishers to follow the print model and embed something relevant to the site content not constant ads based on one Amazon search back in 2008 as they typically serve now.
Several years back I had a flight that went through Manila and I had a 1-day delay due to monsoon season at the destination, so searched for places to stay for the night. One ad network now just spams me with video-based, blinking ads for "Meet Filipino Girls Now!" or other SE Asian dating websites.
I use Google Contribute because I'd rather directly pay for content than be advertised to. What is annoying is when sites don't sign up for this service and then complain that my blocking their ads is so horrible as if there were no alternative available to generate money from me...I'll pay directly thank you very much.
"I use Google Contribute "
You might want to conribute more data to Google, as far as I'm concerned they can fcuk off. Along with the idoits that link to Google fonts (and the like) instead of putting the miniscule files on their site and caring for other people's privacy. Their shite sites can die as far as I care.
At least the content doesn't jump around like a mexican bean whilst all the ads are loading.
One of the most annoying things I find these days is when I try to click on a link, and it's hopping about due to the page changing layout mid-load - you never know what you end up clicking on.
Well, yes, there's no contract requiring you to consume advertising. There's also no contract requiring them to give you the content for free. What there is is a business model: they provide free content on the assumption that you'll at least sometimes look at the ads, and if you don't want to play along and give them what they want then they're within their rights to try to stop you from from getting what you want.
... then good luck with that. If you don't want me to see your "quality journalism" without at the same time accepting you to push in-your-face jumpy noisy annoying ads down my throat, then I might not be part of your target group.
Good luck with those remaining visitors who apparently don't see a correlation between the advertising behaviour and the quality of the "journalistic" content that is trying to sell these ads.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
