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I Block Ads

coryd.dev

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Re: I Block Ads

#71

Post by guu »

mgbmtl wrote: post #18
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.

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…

[deleted]

Re: I Block Ads

#72

Post by jjbinx007 »

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 don't think I have ADHD but trying to read a news website without an ad blocker actually triggers me a little. The content keeps moving around as the ads are pumped in, and then a video (often unrelated to the article) begins to play, and it's often impossible to close it.

I'm unable to concentrate on the article. And then the ads change and a new batch is rotated in. Some of them try their best to obscure the content, they are all demanding my attention like screeching birds in the nest.

Firefox has an absolutely fantastic reader view (f9) which turns the page into something resembling an ebook with the ability to resize the font and adjust the pagination. All the distracting fluff is gone. Bliss.

Re: I Block Ads

#73

Post by dheera »

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 agree with you aesthetically, though if it was a privately-owned, publicly-accessible space, I wouldn't go as far as to commit vandalism, as bad as it may look. (If it was placed by a member of the public without consent of the owner I'd agree with taking it down.)

That said, I've been waiting for a good set of widely popular AR glasses to come out so I can write a real-life ad blocker for them.

Re: I Block Ads

#74

Post by [deleted] »

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"?

[deleted]

Re: I Block Ads

#75

Post by lostmsu »

MSFT_Edging wrote: post #58
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.

I'm almost afraid that if the userbase of effective ad blocking gets big enough, large firms like google will put even more resources into the anti-ad blocking like what is happening with Chrome's new plugin api. I feel like letting people enjoy the ads if they don't know any better is a little smoke screen for people who do know better.

Isn't it already "big"? Over 25% in US according to https://www.statista.com/topics/3201/ad-blocking/#topicOverv...

Re: I Block Ads

#76

Post by alex_lav »

alyandon wrote: post #46

I block the page visibility API. I'd love to find out more information on how to prevent web pages from knowing if they are visible or not.

I didn’t check, so they may have already accommodated me, but I’d really love a detailed write up of how the person that wrote this blog post solved each listed problem.

Re: I Block Ads

#77

Post by V1ndaar »

ollien wrote: post #63
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

Might you explain /why/?

Re: I Block Ads

#78

Post by Nextgrid »

judge2020 wrote: post #52
Nextgrid wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UTM is Google Analytics and also helps Google do ad targeting even if they don't want to admit it.

UTM tags in that sense are collected on the client side by tag manager or google analytics, which would be blocked by an ad-blocking extension anyways. UTM tags can/often are collected by the website themselves to do first-party near-100% confidence campaign analytics.

So what you're saying is that there is plenty of other spyware (some of it server-side) that freeloads off those UTM query params? Sounds like another good reason to strip them?

Re: I Block Ads

#79

Post by omginternets »

dheera wrote: post #73
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 agree with you aesthetically, though if it was a privately-owned, publicly-accessible space, I wouldn't go as far as to commit vandalism, as bad as it may look. (If it was placed by a member of the public without consent of the owner I'd agree with taking it down.) That said, I've been waiting for a good set of widely popular AR glasses to come out so I can write a real-life ad blocker for them.

>I agree with you aesthetically, though if the ad was placed by the owner of the space I wouldn't go as far as to commit vandalism. (If it was placed by a member of the public without consent of the owner I'd agree with taking it down

I get what you're saying, but I'm sort of beyond this now. The invasion of personal space has reached a point where I'm prepared to fight dirty, too.

Here's a novel idea: advertisers might put a modicum of care into selecting the time, place, and manner in which to present products to the world.

Re: I Block Ads

#80

Post by bombcar »

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.

I've got good news for you!

Currently, four states—Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine—have prohibited billboards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard

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