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I Block Ads

coryd.dev

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Re: I Block Ads

#61

Post by alexhsamuel »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #10
gaudat wrote: post #2

If you ever heard your friends complaining about the amount of ads they get on their phones and computers, gladly spend a while to help them install something like Ublock Origin. Let the less techy public know there is a way out.

Or they could boycott sites and services with the most intrusive ads. Ad blocking just encourages escalation, whereas a boycott of the hosting site sends a stronger and more ethical signal.

I disagree with the implication that there is anything at all unethical (so that anything else could be "more ethical") about blocking ads.

Re: I Block Ads

#62

Post by trvz »

rexreed wrote: post #12

Good list. Is there anything not included on this list that should be?

I block hostile websites at the DNS level. (This includes news websites that are dishonest or wrong, so almost all.)

I block web content with certain keywords from loading. (How nice would your life be if you never ever again heard about Trump?)

I block channels on Youtube.

I block ads in the real world on my AR goggles. (Soon.)

Re: I Block Ads

#63

Post by ollien »

submeta wrote: post #43

Whenever I'm sitting in front of a computer that isn't using ad blockers, I'm shocked to see how polluted websites are, practically yelling at me, vying for my attention. How can folks concentrate on an article without ad blockers? Then there are those ads in YouTube videos and blog articles purporting to offer the reader something valuable when, in fact, they're packed with falsehoods ("xyz changed my life, and if y…

I haven't used an ad blocker in years. The short answer: you get used to it. Banner blindness is a real thing

Re: I Block Ads

#64

Post by anonporridge »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #60
anonporridge wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No communication with me without my consent That's not practically possible unless you choose to live alone in a controlled box. Even the infrastructure you're forced to interact with is a form of communication that manipulates you into certain behaviors. But then, maybe that's where we're headed as a society with the explosion of one person households, remote work, and delivery services. It's increasingly possible…

You can get pretty close. Turn on do-not-disturb and ignore your mailboxes. Become unreachable. Become ungovernable.

And become irrelevant and uninfluential to the Human Colossus.

https://waitbutwhy.com/2017/04/neuralink.html#part1

The tradeoff to extricating yourself from being influenced without your consent, is that you lose the ability to you yourself influence how society and civilization progresses.

Re: I Block Ads

#65

Post by dheera »

submeta wrote: post #43

Whenever I'm sitting in front of a computer that isn't using ad blockers, I'm shocked to see how polluted websites are, practically yelling at me, vying for my attention. How can folks concentrate on an article without ad blockers? Then there are those ads in YouTube videos and blog articles purporting to offer the reader something valuable when, in fact, they're packed with falsehoods ("xyz changed my life, and if y…

Yeah if I click on an interesting article title and the first thing it pops up is some stupid "do you agree to cookies" and "do you want to subscribe to the newsletter" at the same time on top of each other I usually just click out. I'm lazy. If they aren't watching their bounce rates, their loss.

I use blockers too, but they don't catch all of them, especially the stupid cookie popups.

Re: I Block Ads

#66

Post by numbsafari »

I was stuck at an airport. I downloaded a free backgammon app on my iPhone, to kill some time.

It showed me ads between every game.

The ads were mostly for other apps. Most of those apps were games. Games that involved implied incestuous rape, non-consensual voyeurism, and other highly repulsive things.

I just wanted to play backgammon. I uninstalled the app (thankfully, that's an easy thing to do on iOS, for now...).

My main reason for blocking ads at this point, is because the ads that get served on what should be otherwise inoffensive websites, contain vile imagery or otherwise offensive content. Seriously, I get that they put one ad for toe fungus next to the ad they really want you to click on because the toe fungus draws your eye in, but I don't need this shit in my life.

Re: I Block Ads

#67

Post by uoaei »

chasebank wrote: post #3

Advertising is so completely intertwined with everyday life, it’s impossible to block them. The worst kind of ads, IMO, are the non-intrusive, organic looking articles / news stories placed there by PR. The ultimate brainwash. Most of HN and Reddit content is advertisement whether you realize or not. Front page CNN, outside of weather events and sports, it’s closing in on 100%.

This is the business model of Business Insider, CNBC, MIT Tech Review, etc. There are many more we could list. Then there's the obvious manufacturing-consent style truthmaking like you see in The Economist, Financial Times, NYT, WaPo, etc.

I've found immense value in studying media criticism to improve my literacy of what is "genuine" journalism (of course still colored by someone's ideology, just maybe not one so hamfistedly handed down from above) and advertising dressed up as "news" or conveniently shaped and styled narratives that mislead the public into believing something that will only be true if enough people believe in it.

Re: I Block Ads

#68

Post by rahidz »

morning-coffee wrote: post #28
rexreed wrote: post #12

Good list. Is there anything not included on this list that should be?

Would love to see links to information on how to block some of the particular avenues mentioned. Some I haven't heard of yet. I use a pi-hole and uBlock Origin, but am always up to learn more...

I pay for AdGuard (not an ad, I promise!) for Android. Other than that unlock Origin like you said, plus SponsorBlock on mobile and PC. ReVanced patch of Twitter and YouTube on mobile to block ads there (though I also pay for YouTube Plus), and "Orange TV Ad Free" for Twitch.

Re: I Block Ads

#69

Post by omginternets »

jurassicfoxy wrote: post #57
omginternets wrote: post #53

I occasionally tear down ads in public spaces. I'm sure many will disagree with me, but I do think we should be able to move through public spaces without the incessant assault on one's attention and head space. I haven't been caught yet, though I'm sure I someday will, at which point I'll pay the fine and keep doing it anyway.

I find highway billboards and store signage to be a particularly awful display, and I'd be overjoyed for them to be banned entirely. I have often thought about cutting down highway billboards, although I'm not quite intense enough for that.

Quite.

Also, here in the US, gas stations have begun to play particularly loud/obnoxious video advertisements at the pump. I cannot stress how angry I am about this. One of the last places where I could just day-dream has now been deemed "up for grabs" by the lowest form of shit-peddler in the modern world.

Pause for a second to consider the absurdity of being blasted with advertisements while paying for a product. Talk about double-dipping...

Suggestions welcome.

Re: I Block Ads

#70

Post by mgbmtl »

judge2020 wrote: post #35
mgbmtl wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep (and be pragmatic/emphatic, a lot of this stuff can seem obscure to non-techies). My partner/wife is a long-time iPhone fan. I never tried to convert her, but she is on the point of switching to Android because she can't use Firefox on iOS. It's completely absurd too - to discard a perfectly fine device otherwise, just because it cannot block ads, or at least, cannot run uBlock Origin (for blocking cookie-banners…

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/firefox-private-safe-browser/i... ? Or is it not "can't use Firefox on iOS" but "doesn't have x feature from Firefox on Desktop"?

Last time I checked, it was just a Safari webview, and missed a lot of features compared to Firefox on Android. Has that changed recently?

Other nice thing of Firefox on Android: being able to listen to Youtube videos even when the screen is turned off.

(I'm sure there are solutions, but many seemed sketchy or didn't work well)

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