191–200 of 218 posts
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I am very surprised to hear this given your expertise. I would have imagined you visiting every website with at least two browser at the same time, at least one of them blocking all ads and then some.
I'm puzzled that you'd couple "expertise" and ad blocking. Why do you feel the two go together?
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The ads usually intend to add value. They just often aren't very good. I don't think advertising is inherently evil (though I respect that some may disagree), I think the problem is that we're still in the early days of Internet advertising. The technique isn't quite there yet.
"The ads usually intend to add value." Maybe in the advertiers' and their bosses' deluded minds. I'd estimate that 90% of ads I saw were lying either directly or by omission. They don't add value, they try to trick you in to buying crap you don't need, that's often no better (or even worse) than the competition, products that can even be harmful (like various prescription drugs that you'd often be better off not taki…
However, I don't think it's fair to say that "HN members defend them" since (as of this comment), there is a 2:1 ratio of blockers vs. non-blockers. OTOH, this survey doesn't distinguish users who block ads AND use them on their own sites.
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I write porn blocking software, so should I view porn out of professional courtesy?
If the logic follows, you should use the software you make and not watch porn out of professional courtesy. After all, that is what is paying your salary.
It's my browser, my computer, and my network connection. Damned straight I'm going to exert my preferences over them.
Your crappy business model is your problem.
Trying to speak reason to HN on this is a lost cause. Look at the results of the poll so far: About 65% of HN use an adblocker. The general online population, only about 1% use an adblocker. HN is heavily heavily biased away from advertising. HN also mistakenly probably thinks it's because they're "early adopters" or more "technical". The truth is more like HN is in a bubble, anti-mainstream etc. If you did a poll on…
Many, many, many moons ago I ran across a page which reported on user display resolution setting as reported via javascript. At a time when low-end equipment generally supported at least 800x600 and likely 1024x768 display, over 50% of users showed 480x640. Which was the Windows default at the time.
Changing your display resolution takes 2-3 clicks: right click on Desktop, display settings, resolution. And "OK". And this was too much for people.
The lesson was: people don't change defaults. So, oh you devs: choose really sane defaults.
As for me? I've hacked my environment a lot over the several decades I've been using it, and I hack it a little bit more every day. Why? Because I become more productive in it, and it becomes more useful to me.
I don't use an ad blocker, but I don't regularly visit any web site with ads. If a website has ads I leave never to return again.
You don't read any newspapers online? Or read any web comics?
I read news, though I don't read any particular newspaper, and news links often lead to pages with ads, but those pages are not sites I visit on a regular basis.
It's very possible I visit sites with ads that I did not see. I don't look for them. If ads catch my eye it's a big sign not to visit that site anymore.