I thought c|net was beyond having to have bad ads…but, today I found they’ve employed the “click here first” advertisement method.
And, they don’t make it real obvious. Shoved at the very top center is the following links in something like 8pt font…
If you click the “About This Ad” link, it tells you this:
This full-screen announcement is an introductory message from one of our premier marketing partners. It will appear no more than once per day. To go directly to CNET, click on the 'Continue to CNET link. For questions, e-mail advertisingfeedback@cnet.com.
BTW: It looks like you can view the above statement anytime by jumping out to this link:
http://www.cnet.com/html/Ads/common/allaccess/about_cnet.html
At least (unlike other sites that employ this method), they are up-front about it.