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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

#321

Post by JohnWhigham »

jart wrote: post #222
cjbgkagh wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have always assumed our future fascist overlords will use the curated ad profiles to bootstrap a social credit system. So instead of clicking on any ad I need one that only clicks on regime supporting, pro-social, good citizen ads.

They probably don't have the data. Unless they started monitoring people for jaywalking, driving through crosswalks, smoking on trains, not cleaning up after dogs, buying junk food at 711, etc.

You realize all that is coming, right? Health insurance companies would love to adjust your premium on the fly when they see you buy a 6 pack at the store.

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#322

Post by ouid »

TameAntelope wrote: post #303
copperx wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm tired of the tech hustle culture.

Yeah, I hate it when people believe in the work they’re doing and are eager to talk about it. Just the worst.

You genuinely believe that this guy is passionate about his tracking software and is just eager to share?

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#323

Post by carapace »

openknot wrote: post #244
ssklash wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree 100%. If your company can't survive without exploiting human psychology and contributing to a surveillance infrastructure and monetization scheme, good. Companies survived for centuries without internet ads, tracking, targeting, etc. Just because you can take advantage of technological methods and mental vulnerabilities to pimp your product without the consent of the target, doesn't mean you should.

> “Companies survived for centuries without internet ads, tracking, targeting, etc.” As far back as ancient Rome, vendors still used advertising and marketing. This included word-of-mouth advertisements and billboards (such as in Pompeii before the volcanic eruption). [0] In the 1900s, newspaper advertising was a major source of advertising. Now that fewer people read print newspapers, advertising has shifted to inte…

I was having this argument a couple of weeks ago. ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30418664 ) cut-n-pasting from there:

Organic word-of-mouth referrals and recommendations are waaaaaay more effective than any other form of marketing. If you can't develop and sustain word-of-mouth organically then you have to use other less efficient and more coercive means. There are marketplaces that operate efficiently on word of mouth alone. E.g., there are the various "black" markets. There was no appreciable change in availability, quality, or price before and after pot legalization, for example. The high end of most services and products doesn't need to market, they're "saturated" by word-of-mouth alone.

- - - -

Going further, you can trace the historical rise of modern marketing directly from military propaganda techniques. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays#World_War_I )

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#324

Post by pbronez »

alarmingfox wrote: post #15

I instantly install this extension whenever I work on a new machine as I could not imagine browsing the web without it. For that reason I just went looking for a donate button to help fund the project and it turns out they don't even accept donations https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-accept-...

> I don't want the project to become in need of funding in any way: no dedicated home page + no forum = no cost = no need for funding. I want to be free to move onto something else if ever I get tired working on these projects (no donations = no expectations).

This resonates with me. I'm thinking about spinning up a new open source project, and I really want it to be default-alive. I know that I don't have infinite time and attention for it... I want it to be able to live without constant feeding.

I do think that donations will be part of the picture though. Similar to uBlock, the project will have some dependencies on upstream data providers. I would love to generate revenue and pass it to those upstream providers to support the broader ecosystem.

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#325

Post by hn_version_0023 »

openknot wrote: post #265
hn_version_0023 wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You pay your bookie a vig too? The fact that marketing exists isn’t something I’m debating. The fact it has wormed its way into all aspects of life is a sign that we lead sick lives, to me.

Your point, as written, was: "Marketing is a pox on the human mind that we’d all be better off without.” A reasonable response is that marketing has likely directly benefited your life.

Agreed, it surely has benefited my life. That benefit doesn’t seem to outweigh, in my mind, the dishonesty pervasive in marketing, however.

A thing can benefit me and still be a net drag on humanity. I’ll continue to maintain that “the human mind would be better off without” marketing.

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#326

Post by pmoriarty »

Is there any reason not to enable all the blocklists and filters in uBlock Origin that aren't enabled by default?

And why aren't they enabled by default?

Finally, are there any other quick/easy things that can be done by users to improve uBlock's blocking... like maybe installing some other blocklists that aren't in uBlock Origin at all?

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#327

Post by Corrado »

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...

You know, I don't mind advertisements that are really targeted and would enrich my life in some way. I use Ublock Origin (and others) everywhere I can and it's great. However, there are some things that I want to be told about or update on. The latest superhero movie? Yes, please. A new keyboard or update for my car? Yes, please. A valentines idea for my wife? Yes, please!

The problem is that I (almost) never get these ads. Most of the things shoved into my face are something that I would NEVER purchase or recommend to others. The same truck commercial 100 times? Nope. Alcohol commercial? Nope. Cable sports package? Never.

I was really hopeful that Google, with all of their knowledge about me (and they have a TON of it!) would be able to target advertisements that I might like. Yet, YouTube is chock full of Truck, Beer, and Football commercials; I guess just because I'm a middle aged man and that's what "we" like.

So, I'm forced into blocking everything I can, whenever and wherever I can. The Ad companies are really doing this to themselves. If they were better at their job I wouldn't even know they existed. As it stands, I get bombarded with so much unwanted things that I actively hate the things they spew at me. I will NEVER buy the products that they are advertising; even if it did fit my personality or needs.

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#329

Post by pmoriarty »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #260
boplicity wrote: post #168

I really, truly, sincerely wish more developers put compatibility with adblockers at the top of their priority list. I have so many customer support issues to deal with because some of the SaaS platforms we use are not compatible with ad blocking software. Usually, the first thing I tell people is to turn off their adblocker. This almost always fixed the issue. Yes, I absolutely hate asking our customers to do this.…

> I have so many customer support issues to deal with because some of the SaaS platforms we use are not compatible with ad blocking software. That's amazing. I hope this keeps happening until businesses are forced to fix their sites to make it work with uBlock Origin.

"I hope this keeps happening until businesses are forced to fix their sites to make it work with uBlock Origin."

I very much this is going to happen on a large scale unless there's legislation demanding it.

Businesses want to serve up ads and track their users both because:

1 - it's profitable

2 - it gives them insight in to what their users want, so they can improve their products and come up with new ones

Supporting ad blocking goes directly against these two motives, so for most business it won't be done voluntarily.

Re: uBlock Origin becomes top addon on Firefox

#330

Post by pmoriarty »

ManlyBread wrote: post #77
xigoi wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think they can't tell when a click is automated?

This gets brought up every time Ad Nauseam is mentioned but I have yet to see a proof of concept.

I bet it could probably be done by doing statistical analysis or some AI technique to analyze one's browsing data, and maybe combining it with other information about you that they get from other sources (purchase history, social media participation, etc...).

The problem for them is that even if it works this adds extra processing time, effort, and development time.. which can add up when aggregated over the many millions/billions of users they have.

Much easier to just oppose effective ad blockers.

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