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uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

addons.mozilla.org

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Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#121

Post by marssaxman »

toastercat wrote: post #62

How do ya'll feel about the idea that adblock can be morally equivalent to theft[1]? I see this argument pop up from time to time in relation to people who use alternative clients to services such as YouTube. But if you're using uBlock Origin, you are probably browsing many, many sites that rely at least partially on ad revenue, so it's a similar case. [1] https://twitter.com/LeaVerou/status/518154828166725632

I am not responsible for the mistaken assumptions underlying other people's hopes for their business models.

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#123

Post by telchior »

frankharv wrote: post #63
telchior wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Have a thought for the maintainers of the various lists. These lists are everything. This can't be emphasized enough." So you can fund the project -- by donating to the lists it relies on.

While I agree on supporting the things you use. I don't think "the lists are everything". Quite the opposite, Its the blocking features. For me I like uBlocks disabling Javascript with an easy click and the other granularity (popups, multimedia) it allows on a site by site basis.

I'm thinking of it this way. A guy builds a flamethrower to burn away the creeping slime that threatens to overtake your house. Someone else then supplies the fuel. You want to donate, but the builder says no. "The fuel is everything."

That's pretty much correct from one perspective. The flamethrower is built, just needs a bit of maintenance now and then. But its everyday slime-burning power comes from the fuel.

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#124

Post by zamadatix »

CSMastermind wrote: post #102

It would be nice if browser makers started bundling ad block by default.

Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, and I'm sure others have built in ad blockers and even have it enabled by default. Firefox and Safari do not (they stop at built in privacy tracking).

Of course every single built in blocker is vastly inferior, either intentionally (like Chrome) or just because uBlock Origin is that much better (like Vivaldi).

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#125

Post by vehemenz »

mancerayder wrote: post #85

What kills me is even paid subscription sites like WSJ, Bloomberg, Seeking Alpha, show you ads even when you're a paying member. Why is it a war on our attention?

I find this ironic too. I get NYT via my institution, and on the actual app there are ads, but when I browse on the website, logged in with uBO, there is nothing.

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#126

Post by airstrike »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #112
planetafro wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer DNS filtering over extensions as they generally want all permissions to essentially impersonate you at the browser level. Am I wrong?

You're not wrong. We're all placing immense amounts of trust in uBlock Origin. I often say that the blockers should be fully integrated into the browsers themselves in order to solve the trust problem. It's sad that it can't happen due to conflicts of interest.

> the blockers should be fully integrated into the browsers themselves in order to solve the trust problem

s/solve/transfer

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#127

Post by vmaurin »

dvtrn wrote: post #50
dotcoma wrote: post #30

The most popular extension, and the 2nd most popular, just like the 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th most popular, are ad-blockers. I guess it's only marketers that love targeted ads...

I sometimes wonder if adtech devs also use adblockers.

I have worked in the ad industry for 10+ years. Firefox, strict mode but no ad blocker for web. What I would not do though, is using an android or ios phone (or anykind of smartphone where I don't know what the system nor the application do). I am not sure that people realize how many power and data are used on these phones, for things totally unrelated to their personal usage

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#128

Post by epmatsw »

toastercat wrote: post #62

How do ya'll feel about the idea that adblock can be morally equivalent to theft[1]? I see this argument pop up from time to time in relation to people who use alternative clients to services such as YouTube. But if you're using uBlock Origin, you are probably browsing many, many sites that rely at least partially on ad revenue, so it's a similar case. [1] https://twitter.com/LeaVerou/status/518154828166725632

“Hey, viewing this ad is the price of getting this product I’m offering” “No thanks, I’ll just take it”.

I don’t think it’s an incorrect argument. We’re free to seek out ad-free content, or paid content, or whatever, but unilaterally rejecting the implicit terms of an interaction is ethically grey at best imo.

Edit: this would mainly apply to sites that detect and block ad-blocking. Other sites are a little less clear imo.

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#129

Post by gaius_baltar »

bambax wrote: post #25
lalaland1125 wrote: post #2

I think it's only a matter of time until adblock is legally banned. The current situation, where the vast majority of the internet relies solely on ads and an increasing number of people use adblock year over year is unsustainable. The system can support a certain number of free riders (people who consume the product but don't contribute back in ad eyeballs), but at a certain point the math will no longer work. Event…

I too fear AdBlock will eventually fail, not because it will be legally banned (on what basis??) but because Chrome will kill it and other browsers will die. You seem to welcome it; I think it would be a great catastrophe.

This can be a new selling point for Firefox: "the browser that allow you to block ads"

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#130

Post by AlexandrB »

runjake wrote: post #52

What do people use to block garbage domains from their Google results? Google results, especially for developer stuff, is so awful -- cluttered with junk sites ripping off content from blogs and Stack Overflow, etc. I've been trying to figure out some rules for uBlock Origin, but haven't gotten there, yet. Edit: Multiple fantastic options in the replies, below. Thanks, people!

I've noticed this getting worse recently. We went through a sort of "golden era" where most results would be stack overflow, mailing lists, or blogs and now we're almost back to the "expertsexchange.com" days of spammy results for programming queries.
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