How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers • Hacker News Board

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#61

Post by Nextgrid » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 7:03 AM UTC

dannyr wrote: post #5

crakenzak wrote: post #2

Interesting article. I don't blame Facebook for doing whatever they can to properly show ads tho, they provide a "free" service and in exchange serve ads. It's not free to support a company their size and its expected they do everything they can to monetize the site properly. What do you guys think?

I dislike Facebook but using it means you should agree with how they monetize their business.

Facebook using my computer to run their code means they should play by my rules. After all, I'm the one paying for the bandwidth, hardware, and any financial or psychological consequences of seeing or interacting with their ads.

Maybe I'd have less of a problem with their ads if they actually took responsibility for what they're pushing and cleaned up any eventual mess (like promoting weight loss scams or outright illegal services).

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#62

Post by Nextgrid » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 7:06 AM UTC

paggle wrote: post #20

fruffy wrote: post #11

I always wonder about the person that is responsible for designing these kind of schemes. What is their daily job like? What are they thinking about their work? It might even be fun because you are essentially competing against ad-blockers in cleverness.

It’s like being a poker player, but you probably get paid more.

At least poker doesn't have a negative effect on society, given you're only playing against people who opt-in by playing the game.

This in comparison is fighting against people who just want a bit of peace and less sewage being dumped in their Facebook timeline.

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#63

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 7:17 AM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #62

paggle wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s like being a poker player, but you probably get paid more.

At least poker doesn't have a negative effect on society, given you're only playing against people who opt-in by playing the game. This in comparison is fighting against people who just want a bit of peace and less sewage being dumped in their Facebook timeline.

[deleted]

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#64

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 7:18 AM UTC

jameshilliard wrote: post #24

oferzelig wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's tricky even for Javascript.

Not really, you just need a recursive filtering algorithm such as this: https://github.com/tiratatp/facebook_adblock/blob/master/src...

[deleted]

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#65

Post by babuskov » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 7:41 AM UTC

I actually don't mind Facebook ads. If I'm on Facebook already, there's no additional javascript loading and hogging my browser with dozens of megabytes of tracking scripts. From performance point of view, browsing FB is a better experience than your average web site these days.

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#66

Post by jvzr » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 7:42 AM UTC

a13n wrote: post #52

notafraudster wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"do everything they can to monetize" Except, evidently, allow users to pay money to not be subjected to ads.

Wouldn't work. Users who are willing to pay to make ads go away are the most valuable audience for advertisers because they have money to spend. Therefore FB would have to charge a TON of money to make up for their billions in lost ads revenue, and nobody would pay that amount anyway.

I am willing to pay, but I very strongly despise ads. I'm not sure I have value for advertisers, as I never click on ads. In fact I'm pretty sure advertisers are wasting money on me, and Facebook is quite happy to continue charging them anyway

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#67

Post by commoner » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 7:44 AM UTC

dannyr wrote: post #5

crakenzak wrote: post #2

Interesting article. I don't blame Facebook for doing whatever they can to properly show ads tho, they provide a "free" service and in exchange serve ads. It's not free to support a company their size and its expected they do everything they can to monetize the site properly. What do you guys think?

I dislike Facebook but using it means you should agree with how they monetize their business.

Users of Facebook are not required to agree with Facebook's business practices, and there is no reason that they should do so. It is perfectly acceptable to use a company's product and criticize how the company operates at the same time.

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#68

Post by mesarvagya » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 7:44 AM UTC

Or you can use Pi-hole and remove any and all ads :)

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#69

Post by npsomaratna » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 7:45 AM UTC

abhiminator wrote: post #56

1propionyl wrote: post #53

I'm surprised I haven't seen a single comment say what ought to be the obvious: the easiest way to never see Facebook ads is to just not use Facebook. I should hope I'm preaching to the choir, I'm sure, but... quitting really isn't as hard as you tell yourself it is. It's not as essential as you think it is.

Cannot agree more. Quit Facebook and its sister service completely (talking about WhatsApp; never really got around to using Instagram) after the 'View As' feature exploit last year that led to 50 mil user accounts' data being exposed [0], and I must say, I've never felt more calmer, tranquil or better, mental health wise. I feel our brains could do much better with a little less of constant bombardment of highlight-…

Amen to this. I stopped using Facebook due to the same reason. If anything, my quality of life has gone up since then.

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#70

Post by tsimionescu » Tue, Dec 03, 2019, 7:47 AM UTC

abhiminator wrote: post #56

1propionyl wrote: post #53

I'm surprised I haven't seen a single comment say what ought to be the obvious: the easiest way to never see Facebook ads is to just not use Facebook. I should hope I'm preaching to the choir, I'm sure, but... quitting really isn't as hard as you tell yourself it is. It's not as essential as you think it is.

Cannot agree more. Quit Facebook and its sister service completely (talking about WhatsApp; never really got around to using Instagram) after the 'View As' feature exploit last year that led to 50 mil user accounts' data being exposed [0], and I must say, I've never felt more calmer, tranquil or better, mental health wise. I feel our brains could do much better with a little less of constant bombardment of highlight-…

Quitting Facebook itself would help with what you are saying, but I am curious what you replaced WhatsApp/Messenger with.

For example, I have good friends in other countries, and sending pictures and short texts is one of the best ways to stay in contact. We do talk over the phone occasionally, but not having a simple way to send pictures or links would pull us much further apart.

Sure, email could be an option, but WhatsApp is just so much more convenient.