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Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

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Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#391

Post by Tom4hawk »

mardifoufs wrote: post #337
rapnie wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and it goes further than that: "Should I add an ad-blocker to your browser for an ad-free internet experience.. it'll only take 2 sec." and they respond: "Nah, not needed". And also "You are using the worst browser available to you (Samsung), shall I install Firefox?" and then "Nah, don't care".

The Samsung browser isn't actually that bad at all. Has some neat features that can't be found in Firefox or even Chrome, like the enhanced video playback tools. Plus it supports adblocking plug ins (though only FF has the much better ublock origin). Keep in mind that tons of website just outright won't work with Firefox mobile too, and it has a very annoying bug that has been known for years where all your tabs will…

> Keep in mind that tons of website just outright won't work with Firefox mobile

I know this anecdotal but I'm using FF on Android (Lineage OS without google apps/micro g etc. - only F-Droid) and the only site that causes issues is google.com. For some unknown reason it servers images in much lower quality. Of course it's not a technical limitation. If you change your UA to chrome everything goes back to normal. That was the biggest reason I moved to DDG.

> it has a very annoying bug that has been known for years where all your tabs will very often reload whenever you switch to another app and come back

I definitely don't have this issue. I have over a thousand tabs opened, it definitely doesn't reload all of them while I'm switching between apps.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#392

Post by ScottWRobinson »

Really curious how this compares to Cloudflare's analytics. I run a site for developers with decent traffic, and according to Cloudflare only about 25% of our readers block Google Analytics. I had always thought it would be a higher percentage, so this seems to make sense.

It's also odd that the clicks from Google Search Console line up very closely with what we see from Google Analytics. I had always thought this data would be more accurate since Google SERPs uses (used to use?) forwarding URLs to track this stuff.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#393

Post by ehsankia »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #35

This is good to hear. I didn't think the percentages would be that high. "Data driven design" is kinda overrated anyway. It's better to actually listen to your users. Stats don't show what people think, and they're often tweaked to show what people want to see.

The percentage is misleading. it's not people intentionally blocking Google Analytics, it's anyone that runs any adblocker, which almost all block Google Analytics. I installed uBlock for my parents and they don't have the faintest clue what GA is. A significant portion of those 58% probably don't care either.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#394

Post by rovr138 »

Bilal_io wrote: post #360
300bps wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With so many options for Chromium-based browsers, is there a reason why you still use Chrome? I personally use Edge on desktop and iPhone because I give so much data to Google by using a gmail account that it lightens the load a little bit to use something other than Chrome. It functions the same as far as I see and it runs all the same plugins.

Not op. I also use Edge on my Android, it has a built-in adblock plus. I prefer unlock origin, but it's better than nothing.

Doesn't firefox on android allow ublock origin?

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#395

Post by account42 »

thinkingemote wrote: post #58

One of the reasons for mobile apps is that adblocking is disabled. Explains why Reddit promotes it so much. Similarly, wrapping websites like Discord or Slack in Electron also gives the website owners full telemetry and tracking that they can't get in a tech savvy browser. Would an always on VPN, a remote pihole be the only way for privacy?

> Similarly, wrapping websites like Discord or Slack in Electron also gives the website owners full telemetry and tracking that they can't get in a tech savvy browser.

Discord, Slack and other similar webapps can (and maybe do) send telemetry in the same connections used for the app's features. You can't reliably block that.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#396

Post by LordRishav »

63 wrote: post #330
jccalhoun wrote: post #299

I am amazed at how non-techy people use the internet. I teach college and I will sometimes have students go to some web site. I am amazed at how few use adblocking and just accept all the ads and popups and overlays and crap. Even more than that, I will see them using something like google docs and google will put an overlay for some new feature and they don't click the X to close it. They just type away with that ov…

Even with an ad-blocker, there are still huge cookie and "join our email list" banners. Banner blindness is just the way things go for most people. Fun little anecdote, in high school I had to work at a pizza joint but the screens where they showed the orders had a gui that looked just like a website. Thanks to banner blindness, I missed important info all the time because it was in places that brain had internalized…

The best way to prevent that is by disabling JavaScript. Generally, JavaScript is what enables such banners to popup and obstruct your vision with newsletter requests.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#397

Post by muglug »

kyazawa wrote: post #375
turbinerneiter wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free Rainer

This movie sounds great and I would love to watch it. It's a shame there's no legal way to watch many international movies like this if you are in the US. I make a point of watching a non-US film on every international flight I take - I find it to be a unique opportunity to watch interesting non-US movies with English subs. I have discovered two excellent oddball comedies from in flight movies (Die Goldfische from Ge…

It's called "Reclaim Your Brain" in the US and you can buy/rent it via Apple TV.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#398

Post by driverdan »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #208

That's why apps are so popular with ad driven properties. No cookie banners, hardly any limitations. And you get to keep users nicely inside the walled garden. Anyway, I indeed use Firefox with ublock origin, multi account containers, etc. I also use Firefox on Android. A lot of stuff people assume they need apps for works just fine in that.

This is why it's important to block ads and trackers at a lower level, such as using a hosts blocklist.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#399

Post by account42 »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #208

That's why apps are so popular with ad driven properties. No cookie banners, hardly any limitations. And you get to keep users nicely inside the walled garden. Anyway, I indeed use Firefox with ublock origin, multi account containers, etc. I also use Firefox on Android. A lot of stuff people assume they need apps for works just fine in that.

> No cookie banners

You still need informed consent in the EU, GDPR is not specific to websites.

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