Vaguely related: I’ve been using NextDNS for a while now, and it’s wonderful. I subscribed to a paid plan just to support the company. Recommended, if you haven’t already checked them out.
Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web
501–510 of 844 posts
Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web
#502Earlier quoted context omitted.
I type "reddit" after the query and Reddit usually has good recommendations. Yes, advertisers can and do try to invade subreddits posing as "real" users to promote sham products. But I haven't seen this actually working: sometimes Redditors recommend products which are way too expensive (still good quality, but the extra price really isn't worth it), but if someone recommends a genuinely crappy product, they get down…
> Yes, advertisers can and do try to invade subreddits posing as "real" users to promote sham products. But I haven't seen this actually working Would you know if it did?
so far all of the products i’ve bought have been decent. Also i see products i know are good recommended, and ones i know are bad people say to avoid
Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web
#503Earlier quoted context omitted.
It requires a strong character to throw away things when they don't work well. I bought the cheapest drilling machine and it is so bad I end up borrowing one from a neighbor when I need to drill something. But I can't make myself to throw away the useless one.
Where I live, Craigslist works really well for this situation - someone will take it away for free for sure and you might even be able to get something for it.
This is what I do. I just put in "first email I get gets it" people will be at your house in an house or less to grab it. I'm always honest like "The bearings seem a little wobbly to me, but if you want it, it's yours if you can show up and pick it up today"
Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web
#504Earlier 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…
I never used an ad blocker. I think ads are a symptom of our time, and although I understand that not everyone would (or should) follow this idea, I will neither ignore or treat a symptom but rather watch it closely as one should with enemies. Most people on this planet is not using ad blockers so there's an inequality issue, and hiding the effects (ads) of a problem will further stop us from taking systematic action…
Reminds you to keep your anger hot. Better than what I'm going to do, which is block ads with extreme prejudice until the one day when google/apple/mozilla flips the switch and adblockers don't work anymore.
Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web
#505Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You can't even buy appliances designed perform their function well You can't research good appliances either online, because the SERPs are stuffed with SEO-ed blogs and sometimes industry magazines, monetized with Amazon affiliates or other networks, with titles like "5 best dishwashers in 2022". Unless you know someone in the industry or offline with knowledge you don't know what to buy. This is noticeable in many…
"This is noticeable in many other consumer goods verticals, e.g. good luck researching decent home gym equipment that is durable and not overpriced with fat margins." I agree with you but there's a simple shortcut you can employ: purchase commercial/industrial models that you see being used in industry . Gym equipment is a good example: your local, serious weightlifting gym is probably using Hammer Strength plate-loa…
Agree with others, great advice. I suggested this once for my partner - she needed a laptop and loved her work laptop, so I suggested she look for a refurbished version of her work laptop for personal use, as business laptops often are fairly cheap after their warranty expires and the original owner returns it. She still uses it to this day.
Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web
#506Earlier quoted context omitted.
I ran ad blocking on Youtube for years, and I've been a Premium member since it came out (as Red back then). I can't stand ads and avoid them like the plague. Some ads still sneak into my world though. My current peeve is when going to a restaurant and they have "the game" on full blast. I'm perfectly fine with people watching/listening to the game - and half the time the restaurant is considered a "sports bar", so I…
The gym that I go to (and pay for) have ads on most of the displays (some are running TV programs). Ads for local businesses and “upgrade your membership TODAY”. It irks me. I don’t want to be distracted by these flashing screens. But I guess there is no law that says that patrons should be shielded from ads. And I don’t think they would listen if I gave them a complaint (why would they give up a source of revenue?).…
If there is another gym in the area with fewer ads, cancel your current membership, let them know the reason why, and go to the other gym. Let the new gym also know why you are switching to them.
Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web
#507Earlier 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…
> It corrupts and twists everything it touches into a constant hustle for eyeball-cash This cannot be overstated. Everything today is a battle for eye-balls and ad money. The corruption is insane. You can't even buy appliances designed perform their function well. Instead you can buy cheap junk for less than cogs because they make money selling your data to ad companies instead of making money by making products that…
You can't even pump gas without having an auto-play video start at the pump after you've started filling up your tank. I know I can choose not to watch the video, but I can't avoid hearing it play as I stand there waiting for my tank to fill up.
Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web
#508Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the article, 27% of users; this is higher than I thought, and not negligible anymore. Note: I tried a few google search to find accurate data, but it goes all over the place; is there an accurate estimation somewhere?
Finding out if someone is running an ad blocker is not easy. After all a good ad blocker tries to be stealthy about it. (anti ad blocker leads to anti anti ad blocker)
There are plenty of websites that detect that I'm using an adblocker. It's mildly annoying, but then I get to decide if what I was about to read was worth it.
Most of the time it's journaldemontreal.com (and other Quebecor-related websites) that prevents me from reading their articles with my adblocker. Which is a blessing in a way, because it's basically a glorified tabloid with a lot of articles of dubious quality.
I'm on Firefox with both AdBlockPlus and uBlock Origin.
Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web
#509Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just curious, if you owned YouTube with an overhead of tens of millions of dollars per year, how would you monetize it without ads/commercials, just to even keep up with operational costs?
Alas! Your question reveals how capitalist production is both for the consumers but at the same time must contradict the interests of the consumers. I'm waiting for the day when we can solve these ills of private property with technology.
People seem to invoke the word capitalism whenever things aren't a utopia for everyone involved. Still, even without capitalism, you'll have to contend with the issue of how to cover operational expenses. Say some, more centralized, agent decides YouTube is worthwhile - how would it get paid for? A state sponsorship made possible by a tax of some sort? Perhaps it would transition to be completely pay-to-play?
The employees and servers are expending real energy keeping YouTube operational. Meaning, whether it's through ads, a more centralized body stepping in, or some other less pervasive, opt-in business model - the thing needs to cover its own costs. I don't think a lack of private property would solve much there.
Re: Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web
#510Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they didn't know what they could be looking for, perhaps they didn't really need the thing in the first place. If the product is good enough, then it should grow in usage through word of mouth.
I'm very anti-advertising but I think from a production standpoint this is yes and no. Without advertising, it doesn't make sense to put in the capital expenditure to create new products that require a high upfront cost because there's no demand for it. Advertising is used to create demand. Under a different economic model, this feature of the production environment would not be as necessary.
Perhaps the capital expenditure shouldn't have been made in the first place. Our earth is careening towards an environmental cliff. We don't need people finding more ways emit CO2 into the atmosphere. If people really need the thing they'll find it and word will get around.