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How We Detect Adblock

blog.pagefair.com

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Re: How We Detect Adblock

#11

Post by kamjam »

anon1385 wrote: post #6

>We then carefully observe what happens when a page loads. onLoad and onError events tell us if they’re successfully retrieved or if requests have been blocked Unfortunately for them many Adblock users also use Noscript or Javascript Blocker. Circumventing Adblock this way will just drive more people to prevent untrusted websites running code on their machines. A net win for web security but probably not the intended…

If a website popups up a message "we detected you are running adblock, please whitelist us to continue" I will press that little x button and move on. My feeling is they are most likely trying to spam me with something or malware me.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#12

Post by fleitz »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7

You guys should take a look at piracy and how well that worked out for content creators. They still get paid, but it'll always be whack-a-mole. I have a comfy six figure IT job, and I'd still spend a few hours for fun just to figure out how to work around your javascript. Now think about how much time someone determined will spend on it. Pivot and go do something with a higher possible success rate.

The question is not whether this will be 100% effective, the question is whether people will pay for it.

I'm not arguing that content distributors are killing their own biz with these techniques, however, the companies selling the tech are doing quite fine.

The more people hacking their products the better, if they have a client and the ad rate goes down, who do you think the client is going to call? And of course the client would love upgrade to the latest version that defeats that technique.

Do you think McAfee is upset or happy that people continue to write viruses?

They're selling arms and you're starting wars.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#13

Post by Kiro »

"Filter lists also name particular files for which requests should be blocked regardless of domain; for example any javascript file called ads.js"

We have a file called that which has nothing to do with showing ads. If that's correct it will effectively break the service for anyone using AdBlock.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#14

Post by PhasmaFelis »

So has anybody ever tried to address the root cause of adblocker use, i.e. ads are really fucking annoying? I don't like ads in general, nobody does, but that alone wouldn't be enough to make me bother to install and maintain AdBlock. What does it is strobing "YOU MAY HAVE ALREADY WON" and animated "one weird trick" scams and softcore porn. This shit is everywhere, even on allegedly respectable news sites.

If you want me to turn off AdBlock, you need to insist on reasonable, non-offensive, non-animated ads. If your ad provider doesn't do that, get a better one, or lean on yours until they do. If this industry spent one-tenth as much energy pushing ad services for better quality standards as they do wringing their hands about ad blocking, shit would happen.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#15

Post by debacle »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7

You guys should take a look at piracy and how well that worked out for content creators. They still get paid, but it'll always be whack-a-mole. I have a comfy six figure IT job, and I'd still spend a few hours for fun just to figure out how to work around your javascript. Now think about how much time someone determined will spend on it. Pivot and go do something with a higher possible success rate.

I agree. Google's business model doesn't seem sustainable and I doubt they'll ever be profitable.

\s

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#16

Post by donohoe »

Destructoid reported an ad-block rate of 30-45%. In general the wider estimate is 30% of ALL ads across the web are getting blocked.

http://www.destructoid.com/half-of-destructoid-s-readers-blo...

At Quartz we're lucky - it appears to be 13%. I've used Ad-Blocker for years in the past. Not sure why I stopped (new computer, never installed?) but its been a few years at least.

However now that I work more on the ad side of things (how to make site experience better and maintain reading experience) I can see that blanket ad-blocking is harmful to sites bottom line.

I'm not sure what the answer is, its still Users right to manage their browser VS site operators trying to stay in business

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#17

Post by wingspan »

To all the bashers: detecting AdBlock or other plugins like Disconnect is sometimes necessary for ad-free sites as well. Some sites malfunction when the user has such an extension installed, and it is a great user experience when the developer is thoughtful enough to put up a banner at the top of the page saying "This site may not work correctly if you are using AdBlock". (sorry for the "some sites"; I was browsing recently and saw such a banner, but cannot recall where). Of course the better option is to test your site under AdBlock and make sure it works regardless, but sometimes the detection is needed.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#18

Post by ToastyMallows »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #14

So has anybody ever tried to address the root cause of adblocker use, i.e. ads are really fucking annoying? I don't like ads in general, nobody does, but that alone wouldn't be enough to make me bother to install and maintain AdBlock. What does it is strobing "YOU MAY HAVE ALREADY WON" and animated "one weird trick" scams and softcore porn. This shit is everywhere , even on allegedly respectable news sites. If you wa…

Webdevs reading this: it does work. I whitelist all sites that have responsible ads on their pages, reddit being a prime example. They have ads in a couple predetermined spots on their pages, and they're never intrusive. I've actually clicked on a couple (something I never do). Be responsible and open about your ad policy and I'll listen.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#19

Post by swanson »

Is it really worth potentially breaking your site for innocent, non-adblock folks in order to serve ads to a user who has explicitly and deliberately taken steps to not be served ads?

Take the reddit approach: put a humanizing message kindly asking users to disable it and then don't make offensive/hostile ads. And then make some percentage of the ads a "thanks for whitelisting us, we really appreciate it" message.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#20

Post by pagefair »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #8

What does PageFair do, exactly? I mean, they're very proud of themselves for detecting Adblock, but it's not clear what they do with that information.

PageFair lets publishers reach out to adblock users: to explain why ad revenue is necessary to keep the site running, and ask them to support the site by whitelisting it so ads appear or by making a donation towards the running costs.
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