Many major websites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
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Re: Many major websites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
#2Interesting how the response of sites with terrible user experiences caused by ad tech is not to say “oh, how can we change our ads so people will accept them?” but rather to find ways to make their user experiences even more horrible, e.g. popping up new unwanted interruptions accusing you of having an ad-blocker.
Hey big web sites, here is the solution, and I won’t even charge you for it: stop making terrible user experiences. I am not trying to block your ad; I am blocking your carelessly-written malware-laden code, your obnoxious pop-ups, your auto-playing videos, your shove-in-my-face-at-the-worst-time messages, your unreasonable consumption of my mobile data, and everything that is making a simple article difficult to load.
I’ll even tell you how to fix this: make more simple text ads, or images that are not animated and not peppered with distracting colors. Make the first paragraph of every article a nice little blurb telling me more about a company that pays you to advertise for them. Put some cute ads in muted colors inline with the content. Create a couple simple links to things that cost money that could support you (apps, T-shirts or whatever). In short, don’t be a complete jerk to the people you apparently “need” to help maintain the costs of your site.
Re: Many major websites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
#3Interesting how the response of sites with terrible user experiences caused by ad tech is not to say “oh, how can we change our ads so people will accept them?” but rather to find ways to make their user experiences even more horrible, e.g. popping up new unwanted interruptions accusing you of having an ad-blocker. Hey big web sites, here is the solution, and I won’t even charge you for it: stop making terrible user…
Do many sites have that much direct editorial control over the ads they run?
I've only ever done a little ad banner work so I don't know how it is for "large" sites, but I assume the people writing and maintaining the code are not the ones actually selling or creating the ads. I assume those decisions are made between sales and the client.
Re: Many major websites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
#4Interesting how the response of sites with terrible user experiences caused by ad tech is not to say “oh, how can we change our ads so people will accept them?” but rather to find ways to make their user experiences even more horrible, e.g. popping up new unwanted interruptions accusing you of having an ad-blocker. Hey big web sites, here is the solution, and I won’t even charge you for it: stop making terrible user…
You do realize that these websites give zero shits about you, right? “Oh no, this megacorporation is willing to exploit everyone for a profit, but maybe they’ll see the error of their ways and back out of this lucrative revenue model!”
Widen up, dude. These websites don’t care about you as a user. You’re a metric, you’re a fucking dot on a graph at a board meeting where a small number of people in suits decide how best to extract every last red cent from you and the millions of other cattle that only exist to fuel their fucking empire.
Re: Many major websites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
#5Discussion of said paper: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16012403
Re: Many major websites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
#6Interesting how the response of sites with terrible user experiences caused by ad tech is not to say “oh, how can we change our ads so people will accept them?” but rather to find ways to make their user experiences even more horrible, e.g. popping up new unwanted interruptions accusing you of having an ad-blocker. Hey big web sites, here is the solution, and I won’t even charge you for it: stop making terrible user…
Do many sites have that much direct editorial control over the ads they run? I've only ever done a little ad banner work so I don't know how it is for "large" sites, but I assume the people writing and maintaining the code are not the ones actually selling or creating the ads. I assume those decisions are made between sales and the client.
Any site that doesn’t control the content of their ads deserve to be starved out of business as fast as possible by ad blockers. That is: I don’t mind ads, I just don’t accept “adtech”.
Re: Many major websites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
#7Interesting how the response of sites with terrible user experiences caused by ad tech is not to say “oh, how can we change our ads so people will accept them?” but rather to find ways to make their user experiences even more horrible, e.g. popping up new unwanted interruptions accusing you of having an ad-blocker. Hey big web sites, here is the solution, and I won’t even charge you for it: stop making terrible user…
You do realize that these websites give zero shits about you, right? “Oh no, this megacorporation is willing to exploit everyone for a profit, but maybe they’ll see the error of their ways and back out of this lucrative revenue model!” Widen up, dude. These websites don’t care about you as a user. You’re a metric, you’re a fucking dot on a graph at a board meeting where a small number of people in suits decide how be…
Please don't post rageful rants to HN. Some websites may treat their users as cattle, but that's no reason to spoil this one.
Re: Many major websites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
#8Interesting how the response of sites with terrible user experiences caused by ad tech is not to say “oh, how can we change our ads so people will accept them?” but rather to find ways to make their user experiences even more horrible, e.g. popping up new unwanted interruptions accusing you of having an ad-blocker. Hey big web sites, here is the solution, and I won’t even charge you for it: stop making terrible user…
> “oh, how can we change our ads so people will accept them?”
If a single website -- say, your local or regional news site -- overhauled its ad experience to become more user-friendly, how would you even notice, if their ad server was added to your ad blocker's blacklist?
Re: Many major websites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
#9Interesting how the response of sites with terrible user experiences caused by ad tech is not to say “oh, how can we change our ads so people will accept them?” but rather to find ways to make their user experiences even more horrible, e.g. popping up new unwanted interruptions accusing you of having an ad-blocker. Hey big web sites, here is the solution, and I won’t even charge you for it: stop making terrible user…
> “oh, how can we change our ads so people will accept them?” If a single website -- say, your local or regional news site -- overhauled its ad experience to become more user-friendly, how would you even notice, if their ad server was added to your ad blocker's blacklist?
Maybe not use 3rd party banner systems infected with cancer and malware code. Adblock systems are not an AI, they just operate on a database of known, obnoxious and annoying shit.
Re: Many major websites are taking silent anti-ad-blocking measures
#10Interesting how the response of sites with terrible user experiences caused by ad tech is not to say “oh, how can we change our ads so people will accept them?” but rather to find ways to make their user experiences even more horrible, e.g. popping up new unwanted interruptions accusing you of having an ad-blocker. Hey big web sites, here is the solution, and I won’t even charge you for it: stop making terrible user…
You do realize that these websites give zero shits about you, right? “Oh no, this megacorporation is willing to exploit everyone for a profit, but maybe they’ll see the error of their ways and back out of this lucrative revenue model!” Widen up, dude. These websites don’t care about you as a user. You’re a metric, you’re a fucking dot on a graph at a board meeting where a small number of people in suits decide how be…
One can find many examples of corporations successfully making money on things that aren’t good (such as harm to people and the environment). Web sites are merely the latest.
Just because terrible companies exist and are “successful” doesn’t mean that they’re not crappy and it sure doesn’t mean we should give up and not work for something better.