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Adblocking people and non-adblocking people experience a different web

imlefthanded.com

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

#611

Post by sebastien_b »

scubbo wrote: post #579
sebastien_b wrote: post #374

I call it a malware blocker, rather than an adblocker - here's my reasoning: One day I was on a classifieds site[1], browsing listings, when after a few pages, I was met with a page redirect to one of those scammy support center sites (taking over the browser), advising that my computer had been infected by a virus (obviously hadn't) and I needed to call in to "Apple's Support Center" immediately. This was on Safari…

I get what you're saying, but I think that's actually counter-productive. To present things like uBlock as malware blockers suggests that "any ad which is not malware is fine". I think it's perfectly justifiable to guard against non-malware ads _as well as_ malware (ads or otherwise).

I guess what constitutes "malware" is based on what the ad is doing - if it's benign, it's an ad and I'm fine with that. If it's hostile/tracking scripts masquerading as an ad, then obviously that's a problem. I call it "malware blocking" because of multiple past experiences like I mentioned above, and the way to avoid them is with these "ad blockers" (though I guess a more generic term, like "content blocker", is perhaps more appropriate).

And I'm sure some would be quick to point out that running uBO as a "malware" blocker just happens to siphon up legitimate ads in the same bucket in the process (which is what I think is your point), and my reply to them is that the blockers typically won't block anything that comes from the same IP/domain as the site (as is explained in one of the linked articles). I think it's up to websites to run their ads in a way that doesn't trigger it to get blocked, because the detection pattern for most blockers is based on past abuse of these techniques.

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

#612

Post by Scoundreller »

heavyset_go wrote: post #600
dylan-m wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube's ads are a colossal mistake waiting to happen. Back in the day, Google was successful because they realized advertising on the web was a problem: ads were trying too hard to grab attention, resorting to hostile tactics that basically forced people to run ad blockers. Google said "okay, what if ads were simple blocks of text that - while not as loud and screamy - got more impressions because they aren't terri…

Google had to use 'better' ads to drive out competition early on, but now that they're the biggest bully on the block, they'll serve whatever obnoxious and high revenue ads they want to.

That’s what’s happening.

Without any html/css/ intervention on my website, Adsense has been able to enable additional ads that stick to the bottom of the screen and another that pops up before going to another page. It’s all opt-in, but through the Adsense portal.

It’s all automagic now, over and above the blocks I had inserted.

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

#613

Post by aembleton »

gpas wrote: post #544
rchaud wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel that there is a generational gap between Youtube users that correlates with whether they will pay for premium or not. People in their late 20s and 30s who remember Youtube as a catch-all location for lo-fi homemmade videos with few ads may not feel that YT premium is worth it, particularly if they already use adblockers, and don't use it much on mobile (where adblocking isn't possible without modded APKs). Thi…

> on mobile (where adblocking isn't possible without modded APKs) What's a modded APK? Firefox and other browsers like Vivaldi have awesome adblocking nowadays. There are alternative frontends like invidious. Newpipe is an oss app, perfect on Android. Vanced is very popular too but I never tried it. But with nextdns I don't need any of those. Only newpipe because, besides the ads, having to keep the display on to lis…

Vanced is a modded APK. It takes the YouTube APK and modifies it to block ads and sponsorship via Sponsorblock and lets you run it in the background with the screen off.

NextDNS doesn't block ads on YouTube because they're served from the same domain as YouTube videos.

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

#614

Post by chki »

mplewis wrote: post #582
sushid wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this pretty confusing. How is showing ads abuse?

I once sent a link to a news article to a friend at work. He became angry at me because the link I had sent him was to a malware-infested shit site. It wasn't, but the ads in the site I had intended to send had taken over his browser and made it indistinguishable from a malware link. That's how showing ads on your site is abuse of the user.

You've just shifted the goalposts significantly and did not really reply in good faith. Showing ads is very different from linking to malware. Especially on YouTube the amount of malware is probably very low since everything is sandboxed.

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

#615

Post by LeifCarrotson »

jerf wrote: post #230
hateful wrote: post #47

Earlier 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…

Another alternative is ask them to turn it down and turn on CC. I wish more of these places would have CC on. Especially if multiple programs are on, you can't have the audio. There's a solution right there , built right in, just waiting.... page in the conversation about how accessibility can be useful to more than just the immediately disabled.

Maybe your sensorium is different than mine, but the motion, flashing, and colors of advertisements are just as irritating as the audio to me. This is especially true in an environment where there are lots of other conversations and sounds to compete with the TV noise.

Unless the volume is turned up annoyingly loud, I find the visuals to be the annoyingly loud part: The subdued hues of the painted walls, tile floors, and wood trim reflecting back to my eyes from the ambient lighting are invisible compared to the 500 nits of flourescent colors jump cutting back and forth.

Turning on CC but leaving the visual assault in place doesn't help my eyes much. I would feel less abused if they'd turn the screen off but leave the game audio over the radio.

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

#616

Post by reaperducer »

notapenny wrote: post #226
Geee wrote: post #129

Youtube, especially, turns into a whole different experience. Ad in front of every video makes it impossible to quickly browse and sort through videos. I might watch just a few seconds and then go to the next one. When ads are enabled, the experience is so painful that I'm not likely to use Youtube this way any more. I have to watch an ad before I've made the decision if I want to watch the video.

Youtube is the reason I installed an adblocker in the first place. I don't mind watching an ad, but at some point they went from an ad every other video, to unskippable ads in-front of every video (love a 1m ad on every 10s video when I'm just browsing clips) and mid-content ads that literally just cut in and disrupt what I'm watching.

love a 1m ad on every 10s video

Christmas 2020 I tried to watch midnight Mass from Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York on YouTube. (Not live; after.)

SIX MINUTES of commercials at the start, and the rest of the program had TWENTY-SIX commercial breaks.

I haven't watched YouTube since.

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

#617

Post by pengaru »

jpambrun wrote: post #583
mortenjorck wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When YouTube was primarily cat videos, it made sense as an ad-supported platform. Now that it's dominated by medium-to-high-production-value content creator stars, a subscription business model would be a much better fit. It's actually amazing that Google has let Patreon eat its lunch on this front, the latter becoming the predominant platform for direct monetization while YouTube continues playing the chump's game o…

Sounds like you ignore that YT has a subscription business model along side the ad-based one..

Subscribing to what amounts to a search+CDN video w/ads service wholesale isn't even in the same ballpark as throwing money directly at the creators you want to support.

The salient point is YouTube/Alphabet has completely missed the opportunity of facilitating Patreon-style commerce, despite being best positioned to do so.

But instead of enabling creators to receive money directly from audiences, an advertising juggernaut like Alphabet would probably rather keep their volunteer content creators incentivized to be shills desperate for advertising dollars.

I predict all the quality creators capable of garnering support via systems like Patreon will eventually abandon YouTube altogether, leaving YouTube to become even more of a raging dumpster fire of advertising upon advertising upon advertising masquerading as content from "influencers".

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

#618

Post by Scoundreller »

no1lives4ever wrote: post #568
dylan-m wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube's ads are a colossal mistake waiting to happen. Back in the day, Google was successful because they realized advertising on the web was a problem: ads were trying too hard to grab attention, resorting to hostile tactics that basically forced people to run ad blockers. Google said "okay, what if ads were simple blocks of text that - while not as loud and screamy - got more impressions because they aren't terri…

I guess the only reason youtube ads exist is to get people to pay youtube to get rid of ads. My parents have a smart TV and the youtube app w/o the paid youtube premium makes it a really bad experience. On iOS devices, I have yet to find a free ad blocker that properly blocks youtube ads after they put in new measures to defeat content blocker based ad blockers.

It also provided some incentive for creators to edit and post video.

I had a problem that I figured out the solution to and put up a video of it that made me a few dollars a month. Then YouTube moved the goalposts and demonetized it because I don’t (and frankly, won’t) have 1000 subscribers.

So that’s the end of my video posting on YouTube. I’ve discovered some “hack” repairs to other devices (common washing machine and MacBook speaker issues), but you won’t see my solutions on YouTube, just 99 videos saying to replace it or fumbling with software settings that aren’t the problem.

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

#619

Post by reaperducer »

parsd wrote: post #130

I've started to think about it differently. I no longer use any ad blockers. I actually want to experience the web (and its decline) the way it is, to take it all in, feel the pain and strengthen my patience in the process. Also, when I visit a website that is truly obnoxious with its ads, I simply leave immediately and never go there. You build your own filter of bad actors, behaviors, and concrete sites. You don't…

I no longer use any ad blockers.

I'm OK with most ads. I understand why they exist.

What I would like is something like an ad blocker that only blocks the tracking and surveillance.

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

#620

Post by reaperducer »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #457
parsd wrote: post #130

I've started to think about it differently. I no longer use any ad blockers. I actually want to experience the web (and its decline) the way it is, to take it all in, feel the pain and strengthen my patience in the process. Also, when I visit a website that is truly obnoxious with its ads, I simply leave immediately and never go there. You build your own filter of bad actors, behaviors, and concrete sites. You don't…

No thanks for me. Advertisements if nothing else consume too much of my local compute resources for zero benefit to me. Why should I give them this free compute?

Why should I give them this free compute?

Why should they give you free content?

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