This is missing what in my opinion is the biggest reason: advertisers create perverse incentives where pages are rewarded based on visits and ad-clicks rather than quality of content. This results in extreme forms of clickbait, misleading extreme headlines, and shallow low-information-density content.
Should I Block Ads?
61–70 of 161 posts
Re: Should I Block Ads?
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
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).
(Disclosure: I work for Google, but not in Ads) 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 T…
> micropayments aren't accessible, at all, to younger people, or the poor.
This is a purely technological problem, not some sort of fundamental problem with the concept of micropayments.
If advertising were really the only way young or poor people could generate value (this is not actually true, but for the sake of argument I'll go along with it), there could be dedicated websites where people intentionally look at ads in exchange for credit in their micropayment accounts (whatever that looks like, be it Bitcoin Lightning or some service from Square). Of course, once you phrase it this way, it becomes more clear that using ads as an indirect monetization strategy kind of doesn't make sense. It's better to have people perform mechanical turk style tasks (the monetization strategy of Captcha clones).
As a parent, I'd be happy to put a few cents in my child's micropayment account so they don't have to get their brain flooded with garbage whenever they use the internet.
Re: Should I Block Ads?
#63I 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…
Web site owners brought the wrath of ad blockers upon themselves.
If ads were limited to a simple image, MAYBE a non-obtrusive animated GIF, it'd be fine. Honestly, I thought Project Wonderful[0]'s ads were fine and even had an exception in my blocker for them.
But no, advertising networks allow advertisements to run JavaScript, auto-playing videos with sound, and create malvertising that hijacks my browser and even attempts to install malware or exploit browser vulnerabilities.
In short, fuck 'em. If your business isn't viable without being hostile to your users, then it isn't viable.
Re: Should I Block Ads?
#64So the reason I block ads, or at least started is a book I read called Pre-suasion by Robert Caldini. In it he points out that internet ads are dismissed and ignored by our conscious mind but because of that often will produce an effect on our unconscious mind. Think like the subliminal messaging type thing. People who were shown Kodiak ads on a webpage in an experiment couldn't recall seeing any Kodiak ads simply be…
Your imperfect recall of the brand name "Kodak" makes your cautionary message about the insidious effects of ads deliciously ironic. Or is that repeated misspelling actually part of an astroturf campaign to ensure that the notoriously detail-oriented minds of Hacker News readers latch onto the apparent typo, firmly embedding it in the forefront of awareness?
Re: Should I Block Ads?
#65> Do ad blockers stop sites from making money? The honest answer to this is “Yes!”, not a 7-paragraph non-answer.
Adblockers stop sites from making money from those third-party ads.
They obviously don't stop a shopping site from selling products or from GitLab.com registering users for GitLab services etc.
If the way a site makes money is by abusing the visitors, adblockers stop the abuse and the money from that* side of things, which may be all the income they get, but not necessarily.
So, this is not a simple yes/no situation.
Re: Should I Block Ads?
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
This probably an important reason people would rather browse Facebook or Instagram on their phone. It's literally a much better experience.
Those are also full of unblockable ads, and spyware to boot. I don’t think that is a better experience at all.
It still has ads, but it is also a better experience.
The web ads tend to bed more intrusive and outside the UX, more irrelevant, and more malware like.
I don't like those apps either, but the UI is definitely better.
I'm not sure why Firefox just doesn't build adblocking into the browser as a first class feature - maybe because they rely on the Google funding?
All of the "ad-supported business model supports creators, ad-supported businesses allow more people to access to the content" just feels like after the fact rationalization.
The same with how good targeting is because the ads are relevant.
If your content is valuable then charge for it. If browsers actually blocked all the ads like users wanted (and made a better product) then sites that couldn't support themselves without ads would die.
Wouldn't that be nice.
Re: Should I Block Ads?
#67Firefox running add-ons on Android made me switch to it on the mobile phone.
It makes the mobile experience way better than Chrome and Brave.
Re: Should I Block Ads?
#68I 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…
> Facebook, YouTube, Google, Reddit, StackOverflow, and countless other sites are fundamentally based on advertising and can't survive without it.
Can’t wait! Did you mean for this to talk me out of it?
For the most part, the ad industry is toxic. If their service isn’t worth anything to it’s users, why prop it up by through ads?
First party advertising is more acceptable in my mind. Eg. Facebook selling ads to other businesses to show on Facebook. Where it tends to go wrong is that they are incentivized to track everyone everywhere through pixels on other sites, in mobile apps with Facebook logins, and buying credit card data. Some companies manage to sell high quality ads on their site without resorting to this behavior. If that was the norm, I’d turn my blocker back off.
Re: Should I Block Ads?
#69Can I possibly be the only person here who doesn’t use an adblocker? I like buying things. I like seeing ads that interest me. I don’t care who tracks me or monetizes data about me that is 100% worthless to me. I like not paying money out of my own wallet to read websites and watch videos.
You'll notice that the essay doesn't build its argument around "ads bad" or "privacy good" or any of the typical shibboleths. It builds its argument around crap like fake download buttons, fake FBI warnings, coin miners, and ads that break the website. These are the reason why University of California and Edward Snowden recommend ad blockers, and they're the reason why I recommend them too.
Yes, but the "ads bad" arguments hold up to scrutiny as well, even though it's not what this site focused on.
Re: Should I Block Ads?
#70I've had better luck with AdGuard for Safari than 1Blocker. I use AdGuard on both macOS and iOS, and I just use their content-blocking Safari extensions, not any of their other products. I had paid for 1Blocker but found it increasingly let ads through. I wanted a product based off of EasyList instead (which AdGuard filters are).
I used to use AdGuard until they switched to an Electron app that needs to constantly run in the background…now I just have a homegrown content blocker I whipped up once and should polish and release someday but am just too lazy to finish.