31–40 of 161 posts
I was on a fresh setup recently and caught a glimpse of the raw internet on my way to install uBlock Origin and uMatrix. There are still fake download buttons everywhere. I can't understand how the non-ad-blocking world tolerates that stuff - no choice and no voice I guess? The amount of autoplaying videos was disturbing as well.
How many people actually disable their adblockers when sites don't allow you to access them if you have one enabled? It's just much easier to close the tab.
So... tab gets closed, site loses my eyeballs completely.
With ad blocking, some sites present you with an overlay, preventing you from accessing content. A really nice Chrome and FF extension to scrub overlays is named Behind The Overlay: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/behindtheoverlay/l...
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/behind_the_ov...
90% of the time I just close the tab, if the content I want isn't immediately visible without jumping through hoops. If the content is hidden by a newsletter popup, the percentage is 100.
I think this article downplays the downsides of ad blockers too much. If ad blockers become the norm, much of the current web will no longer be viable. Facebook, YouTube, Google, Reddit, StackOverflow, and countless other sites are fundamentally based on advertising and can't survive without it. The article tries to address this a little bit with the "Ad blockers do not block all advertising" section, but I don't thi…
But really, you are conflating "the web" with "megacorps flushed with cash able to hire (tens of) thousands engineers building unprecedented surveillance tools and networks". And the end of the latter
How many people actually disable their adblockers when sites don't allow you to access them if you have one enabled? It's just much easier to close the tab.
Ever since then, I just close the tab when a sites asks me to unblock. It is not worth the risk.
I think this article downplays the downsides of ad blockers too much. If ad blockers become the norm, much of the current web will no longer be viable. Facebook, YouTube, Google, Reddit, StackOverflow, and countless other sites are fundamentally based on advertising and can't survive without it. The article tries to address this a little bit with the "Ad blockers do not block all advertising" section, but I don't thi…
There are better, more efficient ways to monetize than ads. Ads are one of the most destructive and socially wasteful ways to monetize content; it's just technically easy. If we make ads nonviable, you can expect things like micropayments to become more common (and I'm happy to make that trade).
Micropayments are generally considered to be unviable for the general population (edit: business model wise, not tech). People are unwilling to pay even pennies for an article[0], because now users are facing the burden of choice, constantly thinking about how their browsing is racking up pennies. Not to mention, it boxes you into the pay-per-article model. Sites like Twitter or Facebook don't make sense in this world.
I also think it adds significant barriers to entry, since micropayments aren't accessible, at all, to younger people, or the poor. Information should be as free as possible imo.
If the market decides all ads should be blocked, then sure, things will change, but please don't pretend this won't have huge ramifications - things will not be remotely like they are today. For the news at least, it'll likely just be the expensive megacorp publications that survive.
[0]https://www.cjr.org/analysis/reuters_digital_news_report.php
I think this article downplays the downsides of ad blockers too much. If ad blockers become the norm, much of the current web will no longer be viable. Facebook, YouTube, Google, Reddit, StackOverflow, and countless other sites are fundamentally based on advertising and can't survive without it. The article tries to address this a little bit with the "Ad blockers do not block all advertising" section, but I don't thi…
How many people actually disable their adblockers when sites don't allow you to access them if you have one enabled? It's just much easier to close the tab.
uBlock Origin + DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials is the combination I am using.
I think this article downplays the downsides of ad blockers too much. If ad blockers become the norm, much of the current web will no longer be viable. Facebook, YouTube, Google, Reddit, StackOverflow, and countless other sites are fundamentally based on advertising and can't survive without it. The article tries to address this a little bit with the "Ad blockers do not block all advertising" section, but I don't thi…
Instead these sites just whine and do nothing. When some ad is malware or very poor quality? They just offload blame to the ad networks like it's not their problem. Users don't like the tracking? They just say they must have tracking for ads to work, which is a lie since ads existed before the internet.
So I will continue blocking ads. Their greed and incompetence is not my problem. If this makes lots of websites go out of business then so be it. Maybe the next generation of websites will learn and start treating ads properly as part of their website content.
I was on a fresh setup recently and caught a glimpse of the raw internet on my way to install uBlock Origin and uMatrix. There are still fake download buttons everywhere. I can't understand how the non-ad-blocking world tolerates that stuff - no choice and no voice I guess? The amount of autoplaying videos was disturbing as well.
I kept forwarding Worldometers’ COVID-19 data site [1] to friends and families, then later realized it’s full of banner ads if viewed without ad blocking.