Live data from Hacker News

Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web

imlefthanded.com

181–190 of 844 posts

Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web

#181
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet! I run an adblocker and it's a cat and mouse game with YouTube ads slipping through. Last breakage, before I reinstalled it, I was getting ad interruptions for the same two stupid adds literally every 45 seconds.

Which ad blocker? I use ublock origin and I never see YT ads.

I agree uBlock origin is the best, but I am running Safari now, so I use both Adblock plus and Ghostery lite.

Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web

#182
Ad blocking is a security issue. When web sites start taking responsibility for their ad content, we can have a discussion on if it is "theft" or not. As long as they farm their ads out to third party providers and wash their hands of any of the security implications and responsibilities, I will continue to block them.

Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't I get paid for my HN posts? Do I owe you for your reply? Do you owe me for this reply? You work out how we commoditize every interaction into tiny micropayments so MBAs are happy with our time allocations and let me know. Ads were tried, and it's been an absolute fucking disaster.

This is maybe the one thing where Bitcoin or another blockchain-based payment network could have been a net benefit in theory (both as a measure to prevent spam and to reward content creators)... but in practice it turned out to be nothing more than a giant planetary heating system.

To my surprise, I discovered proof-of-work was originally an anti-spam solution for email! [0] Pretty interesting stuff.

[0]: http://www.hashcash.org/

Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web

#185
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel zero guilt about ad blocking. There was some period of discussion on the subject back in like 2003 but the ad companies went to war against human civilization and there's been no going back. It corrupts and twists everything it touches into a constant hustle for eyeball-cash and an entire generation has now reached adulthood knowing nothing but that hustle touching every bit of media they ever interact with. W…

The problem I have with BAT is that it tries to give me power over the commercialization of something that I don't want commercialized. It's like someone launched a "Basic Sexual Favor Token" to empower me to take control over the sex work I'm expected to perform every day. I have a hard time being happy that they want to empower me, because I'm too busy being aghast at their assumption that this aspect of my life is…

Could you describe the negative consequence of BAT for a website owner that doesn't want to sell ads?

Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web

#186
I have a list of adblockers I use, hope it helps other people here:

Desktop:

- Pi-Hole (network wide adblocking)

- AdGuard (device wide adblocking)

Web browsers:

- uBlock Origin

- uMatrix (not developed anymore but still works, can also use NoScript)

- SponsorBlock (blocks in-video sponsor segments, intros, outros, filler tangents, etc in YouTube)

Mobile:

- Firefox for Android / Kiwi Browser (both have web extension support so you can install uBlock Origin)

- YouTube Vanced (alternate YouTube app blocks ads, also has SponsorBlock)

- NewPipe (alternate YouTube app blocks ads, also has SponsorBlock via a fork [0], different UI than main YouTube app)

- YouTube++ (for iOS, similar feature set as Vanced)

TV:

- SmartTubeNext (ad-free YouTube)

[0] https://github.com/polymorphicshade/NewPipe

Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run Firefox with uBlock Origin, and spend most of my time on pages like HN and other old-school forums that are mostly just text. My wife runs Chrome with all defaults and spends a lot more time in the mainstream web. Whenever she wants to show me something on her laptop, I think to myself, "how can she subject herself to this all day?!" For me, the experience in her browser is like being assaulted. She doesn't wan…

Sounds familiar. Installed uBlock on hers and whenever a website doesn't work for any reason I get an earfull about my "damn adblocker"... :)

Been there done that. Advertising is a problem most non technical users aren't aware of (as a problem) and often they're used to it, but if you install an adblocker, they indeed see that as a change, therefore "you and your damn adblocker" will get the blame for each and every problem. In my opinion the only options are to either leave their browser as is or just installing Ublock Origin without telling.

Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly the case. Every time someone starts ad-blocking, someone else has to assume that ad watch for them. Of course this isn't 1:1 parity in reality, but the ultimate manifestation of ad blocking is that. Google had a good system a few years ago that I was probably the only sucker who paid them for it (and probably why they stopped it). You could pay a chosen amount monthly, and they would not show you ads…

Which year was this ? Can you share more information regarding this ?

I want to say they stopped it in 2018? I don't remember the name of the program, and searching "google paying for no ads" brings up a ton of unrelated adwords stuff.

I payed $5/mo and they would roll over unused funds. It worked pretty well, except that it would still show where the banners were, just blank whitespace instead of an ad.

Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web

#190

In FireFox I have my ad blockers disabled in Private Mode so nothing is getting in the way if I'm testing or some site is being weird. Sometimes it's SHOCKINGLY different how a page looks with the blockers in place. I really can't believe anyone would user a browser without an ad blocker if they knew how things would look while using one. The web is a much better place with a blocker in place. (Yes, I know, we get a…

>free

You pay, just not with money! (insert evil laugh)

Post reply on HN