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Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

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Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#411

Post by tehjoker »

sempron64 wrote: post #379
q-big wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well, you say that, but isn't that exactly why Netflix got rid of ratings? > All the documentaries were getting really high ratings, so would display highly in searches, but not many people actually watched them. This rather shows that ratings do work, but are used wrongly for giving recommendations: If you want to create suggestions for a user, in many case the wrong answer is "suggest what has really high ratings…

Predicting exactly this was the premise of the famous Netflix Prize, one of the first open machine learning challenges https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_Prize

I remember my professor talking about the ensemble approach the competitors were taking in a data mining class I took. I was saddened when Netflix ended up not using it because it was too slow and expensive or something.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#412

Post by tristor »

tmslnz wrote: post #200
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?

I found NextDNS to be relatively convenient and easy to set up even for a lay audience. Definitely easier than a PiHole or a custom `dnsmasq` setup, and it offers mobile configuration client apps. What I do not know is if it will work also when apps begin using DNS over HTTPS… I suppose not?

NextDNS offers a DoH endpoint and is a selectable TRR in Firefox. Unfortunately that doesn't help with apps doing DoH to bypass DNS blocking. The current state of the Internet / computing is a bit problematic, but there are ways forward.

What I do and recommend everyone to do is:

1. Run an edge network device using network access controls and filter which devices on your network get outbound network access (in my case just the gateway device). Block all inbound traffic except what you choose to pinhole, block all outbound traffic except ports you choose to add to the allow list.

2. On every client device run a local application firewall (I like Vallum and Little Snitch on MacOS as examples) and filter applications by domain + port on outbound requests, block all inbound requests.

3. On every client device force it through a VPN to a gateway device internal to your network to get internet access, anything that falls off the VPN is then blocked from the internet. The gateway device can forcibly route traffic and perform additional filtering

4. On every client device, configure it to use an internal DNS on your network with a fallback to a trustworthy external provider, have the internal DNS use a trustworthy external provider over DoH. Block outbound DNS at the edge device (blocks all non-encrypted lookups).

It's kind of a pain, and a mess, but it does greatly restrict the damage that rogue IoT / Smart devices can do.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#413

Post by chungy »

Mindwipe wrote: post #106
deergomoo wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Explains why Reddit promotes it so much It must be very disheartening to work on reddit's mobile site. Not only is it deliberately made a miserable experience by forcing you through AMP via Google and insisting you "continue in browser" every time, but then you're greeted with a banner that outright says "this page is better in the app".

> It must be very disheartening to work on reddit's mobile site. You can probably cross "mobile" out of this entirely. Reddit have spent three years now building sites that are worse in every way than the decade old junker it's trying to replace.

It's ironic that I find old.reddit.com to provide a vastly superior mobile experience than the mobile-focused replacement is supposed to be.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#414

Post by lodovic »

ignoramous wrote: post #123
dgudkov wrote: post #110

It amazes me that over the last 10-20 years an astonishing amount of money and intellectual capital have been invested in adtech and crypto but nothing in micropayments. Ads are evil, but it will remain a moot point until we have working micropayments. We have (and will have) ads with all their downsides exactly because we don't have micropayments, because ads basically work as a substitute to micropayments.

Cryptocurrencies, ironically, enable micropayments. Orchid.com did an extensive write-up on how they achieve this ( https://www.orchid.com/assets/whitepaper/whitepaper.pdf Chapter 5, Nanopayments) The Brave Attention Token is another example. Although, I am not convinced micropayments would save the Internet from this ad-winter: It is hard to beat free at scale.

Not if the transaction cost is $10

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#416

Post by mywittyname »

sidibe wrote: post #333
jeroenhd wrote: post #140

I expected these numbers to be higher. However, an even more interesting metric is the 88% block in Firefox. Firefox may not have a great market share, but based on these numbers it's market share may very well be eight times higher than your analytics report. This can change the argument of "it's only 3% of our users so we don't need to test on FF" to "it's a quarter of our user base, we should at least test it", de…

The reason Firefox is higher is probably because it's the easiest one to block ads on mobile. Most people I know who use Firefox on mobile do so specifically to have ublock origin. I personally use chrome on desktop but Firefox on mobile.

Ad Block Plus browser on Android is easier. I use both but don't bother blocking ads in FF since I use reader mode 99% of the time.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#417

Post by mywittyname »

Moru wrote: post #407
massysett wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t use adblocking because if a site is so revolting that it requires adblocking to make it usable, I just don’t visit the site at all. I used to use adblocking but the tiny site Distrowatch made an impression on me. The owner rigged something so that those using adblock also would not see non-ad images. He said it’s really not fair to visit a free site and then block the thing that allows it to be free. Also, I…

Adblock is like having a bodyguard running ahead of you, making sure the neighbourhood is still safe to walk, just in case someone shady moved in. Added bonus is he drags you along on a rope so you can move faster and bring more groceries from the store. Adblock makes my slow computer and phone bareable to use on "modern" homepages. Without them the load times multiplies.

My phone isn't even slow and ad blockers are required for most sites to be usable.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#418

Post by travisgriggs »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #117
turbinerneiter wrote: post #15

There is a German movie about the system that is used to gather TV ratings. It's a special box that some users get which reports what they are watching. Small sample size goes into a big statistic (not sure how accurate the portrayal of the system in the movie is). These boxes are given to the people who pay the German public TV fee, which excludes i.e. students (they don't have to pay) and some other groups. This gr…

"large scale AdWords fraud." Be carefull - fraud is a crime. But I am under no obligation to provide AdWords any data, let alone true and reliable data. Considering the tracking and spying, and my legitimate interest in privacy, there is no room for fraud argument here. PS: this would be probably a Hoax

Correct, fraud isn’t the correct term here. The op grabbed the first word that probably presented itself, and others nearly ad nauseam (lowercase) have discussed its merits as the term.

What’s needed is a better term.

I propose either AdTurfing (hat tip AstroTurfing) or AdLighting (hat tip GasLighting). My personal preference is the second.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#419

Post by dylan604 »

cm2187 wrote: post #205
turbinerneiter wrote: post #15

There is a German movie about the system that is used to gather TV ratings. It's a special box that some users get which reports what they are watching. Small sample size goes into a big statistic (not sure how accurate the portrayal of the system in the movie is). These boxes are given to the people who pay the German public TV fee, which excludes i.e. students (they don't have to pay) and some other groups. This gr…

Don't modern internet-connected TV boxes snitch on what people are watching? Surely we don't need a sampling anymore? Just thinking that the elderly population is probably the least likely to use those boxes (though I am not even sure of that), whereas they constitute the (dying) core of traditional TV viewership.

So does your cable provider's set top box. So does your Roku/Fire/AppleTV/etc, except it is at the app level.

Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics

#420

Post by tehjoker »

belter wrote: post #304
geraneum wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally prefer boring news backed by quality journalism and funded by people rather than sensational, outrageous and superficially controversial news! If I want the excitement I watch a drama or action movie. I think the news articles/pieces work like clickbait; the more head-turning they get, the more viewers they acquire which results in higher profits.

I am not talking about sensational or misleading like in FoxNews or CNN :-) I am talking about boring as in....very serious persons, on a serious background, reading very serious the Reuters or Ap news of the day. As the service was paid and it has to provided ;-) A better model would be instead having to provide good analysis or quality content otherwise your audience will go somewhere. As in for example, the FT or…

Audience engagement chases entertainment (and thus reproduces CNN/MSNBC/Fox etc). You won't get what you want by tweaking that metric alone.
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