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Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

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Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#201

Post by johnward »

cm2187 wrote: post #21
team_doom wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the wrong way to approach this. You're essentially pirating content now. If you don't like the ads, stop using the site. It's that simple. To take it a step farther, send an email to customer service explaining WHY you're no longer using the site. This sends a much stronger message to them about what makes you unhappy with the service they provide.

I actually end up doing that with websites that block browsers with ad-blockers from viewing the content. It takes a while to change my habits but when they are changed there is no coming back to these sites.

I bet you're talking about Forbes.

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#202

Post by schlipity »

zzleeper wrote: post #155

What do you guys use as ad blockers on mobile? I use chrome on an android and it seems that I would need to switch to FF in order to have adblocking? (Which I might, as there are ads on Chrome that even make the cellphone vibrate and redirect to the store, amongst other things)

Take a look at Netguard on Github. It emulates the hostfile via local loopback vpn and is able to fully adblock your android device without rooting it. It's also available on the playstore, but that functionality is disabled.

Their releases: https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/releases

To enable adblocking: https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/blob/master/ADBLOCKING.md

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#203

Post by marssaxman »

lgas wrote: post #169
bluejekyll wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safari at least added a disable all sound on a tab button. They should probably add or include video as an option too.

I would prefer all tabs start muted and you have to enable sound if you're interested.

That's how I use JavaScript!

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#204

Post by imtringued »

eli wrote: post #178
throwaway2048 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ads appear everywhere immediately when published, very few people are visiting some random hacked blogs. Ads are THE vector of choice for browser malware. You may not be safe from the browser exploit with an adblocker, but you will be safe from the method most exploits are delivered.

I've personally encountered multiple hacked sites and zero malicious ads (so far as I know). Like I said, I'd be really curious if anyone has actual data on different exploit vectors rather than just arguing anecdotes. I think my point remains, however, that if your browser can be compromised by visiting a URL then you are in a bad situation ad blocker or not.

A non-technically inclined person might click on the wrong "download" button.

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#205

Post by tomp »

recursive wrote: post #197
tomp wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's amazing to me that I still actively seek out some legacy ads (flyers in the Sunday paper, Thursday car ads, Wednesday butcher ads) in the local paper Those are not ads. It's legitimate information that helps you, so you seek it out. The vast majority of ads are not informative, but rather use emotional manipulation to get you to buy stuff you don't need, or that you wouldn't buy otherwise.

Why do you think those aren't ads? > Advertising (or advertizing) is a form of marketing communication used to promote or sell something, usually a business's product or service. It sounds like it fits the bill to me.

The biggest difference, in my view, is that ads are forced upon you, whereas you seek out information yourself. E.g. if you browse a clothing magazine and you see a H&M or Zara branded page, that's an ad. But if you're looking through a catalogue of clothes, and there's a section with H&M clothing and a section with Zara clothing, that's information that you explicitly sought out.

Another example are billboards and information boards. If it's in large print, so that you see it passing by, it's an ad. But if it's in small print, so you only see it if you intentionally approach the board to see what's new locally, that's information.

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#206

Post by basseq »

tn13 wrote: post #184
nulbyte wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you hit the nail on the head: greed. This was my tipping point. When sites got so greedy that they stopped caring if anyone read their content, I stopped caring if they got paid for obtrusive ads. Even Google has designed some horrendous ads, especially the Nexus ad that grabs swipes on mobile, keeping you from scrolling past it. If the ads stuck to the meatverse-equivalent style of static but attractive, I…

I don't understand the "greed" part. I worked for a publisher which eventually had to put 8 ad units per page and still could not break even and went out of business soon. I don't think trying to pay salaries of employees is greed and if it is then all of us are greedy. But your solution is right and that is why native ads like Taboola, Outbrain and Revcontent are winning. As times goes by having ads that are not dis…

Maybe the alternative is "desperation". In your publisher example, lets say they needed 12 ad units per page to break even. At that point, you might start losing people to a bad signal-to-noise ratio.

At the end of the day, it's a viable business model. It's not about the money in of itself. But if you can't support yourself and your business with the "right level" of advertising and you can't persuade people to give you their money any other way, your business model is failing, not advertising in of itself.

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#207

Post by basseq »

eveningcoffee wrote: post #17
karterk wrote: post #5

For a very long time, I did not want to use ad blockers. I have used ads in the past to monetize some of my own projects, and I really did not want to stab the creators of quality content. However, last week I finally reversed my decision and started using ad blockers. Why? Frankly, many sites are just greedy. Banners were ugly enough (and I tolerated them) but many sites these days show ads that cover the content, a…

I am with you in this. I saw that people around me started to use AdBlockers and I found first that it is not really fair from them. Until one of the news sites I regularly read was barely usable by always running on 100% CPU, which means it was not possible to open it on multiple tabs without making my computer fully unusable. And until Google started to use video ads in my region. I figured that it would be better…

> PS. Paying for content is also not an option until there is an anonymous way to make a payment and the payments are minuscule.

This is the most important part of your post. I would be glad to find a way to pay for content that I value. I do in other realms (e.g., Netflix original programming).

But to me it comes back to a) ease-of-use and b) trust. On the former, there's a big opportunity in a way to make that seamless. One click and done. And, on the latter, trust is huge. People are using ad-blockers because publishers' sites have malicious ad networks. And now you want me to give you my credit card number!? It just doesn't work.

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#208

Post by SeanDav »

beisner wrote: post #118
SeanDav wrote: post #103

OT: > "...advertisers use to convince us to buy shit." Am I just an old fuddy duddy, or does the use of the word "shit" here jar with anyone else? I understand that many people talk this way, but feel that the written word should hold itself to a higher standard of grammar and vocabulary.

You are just an old fuddy duddy. If I was reading this as prose, maybe I'd agree that an author could have been more creative with word choice. But in this kind of post, the message is vastly more important than the medium, and the use of the word 'shit' doesn't obscure the message.

I kind of suspected I am :)

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#209

Post by chris_wot »

spacehome wrote: post #189
eli wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, first off: full disclosure that my startup is ad-supported business news sites. So feel free to consider me biased, but the reason I started the company with this model is because I really believe news websites work best when anyone can read the articles without paying a fee or signing up for an account. Off the top of my head maybe a good example is http://popville.com/ which is a local DC blog. The guy who ru…

So considered. I have no real issue with people who want to put ads on sites. My tolerance ends, however, when they try to moralize to me about how I render hypertext on my own machine. My attention and mental health are worth more to me than the ad impression ever could ever be to the marketer. Occasionally a site will refuse to serve articles unless I turn off my adblocker, and every time I just close the tab with…

Not only that, but I'd suggest that the parent you are replying to doesn't have highly intrusive ads...

Re: Rise of Ad Blocking Is the Ad Industry's Fault, Says Outgoing FTC Commissioner

#210

Post by 7952 »

eveningcoffee wrote: post #17
karterk wrote: post #5

For a very long time, I did not want to use ad blockers. I have used ads in the past to monetize some of my own projects, and I really did not want to stab the creators of quality content. However, last week I finally reversed my decision and started using ad blockers. Why? Frankly, many sites are just greedy. Banners were ugly enough (and I tolerated them) but many sites these days show ads that cover the content, a…

I am with you in this. I saw that people around me started to use AdBlockers and I found first that it is not really fair from them. Until one of the news sites I regularly read was barely usable by always running on 100% CPU, which means it was not possible to open it on multiple tabs without making my computer fully unusable. And until Google started to use video ads in my region. I figured that it would be better…

My local newspaper downloads >4MB on initial page load. Some of the ads will not even render correctly on my perfectly normal laptop. The ads are a mix of dodgy ad networks and well meaning local businesses. The sad thing is that they probably don't even realise how bad it is and how they are abusing their advertisers.
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