How We Detect Adblock • Hacker News Board

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#21

Post by wingspan » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 5:19 PM UTC

ToastyMallows wrote: post #18

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.

This brings up another case for detecting AdBlock: if you think your users are receptive to whitelisting non-annoying ads, you could detect the plugin and let them know that you strive to incorporate ads in a non-intrusive way and kindly ask them to disable AdBlock.

Edit: sounds like this is what reddit does. Props to them!

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#22

Post by alayne » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 5:20 PM UTC

debacle wrote: post #15

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

He's talking about being in the ad block circumvention business, not being in the ad business.

However, I don't like Google's business model either. Being profitable isn't a measurement of making the world a better place.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#23

Post by ams6110 » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 5:20 PM UTC

kamjam wrote: post #9

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.

We won’t bore you with complaints here though; hopefully you’ve now got enough information to understand what’s going on in the background when you sign up to use our free adblock measurement service. From the homepage: Measure: How many of your visitors are blocking ads and how much does it cost you in advertising revenue? etc etc. They are selling a service.

While I get the point, you can't claim revenues you never received are a "cost."

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#24

Post by alyandon » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 5:20 PM UTC

AdblockPlus, NoScript and RequestPolicy are my tools to control the content my web browser displays. My general rule is that I'll only disable ad blocking on a few trusted sites and never on a site that uses a third-party advertising network.

Most advertising networks have intrusive or annoying ads that actually block my ability to read a site by using pop-overs if my mouse cursor accidentally touches a keyword, divs that obscure content until I've paid sufficient attention to locate and click the "X", etc. If that wasn't bad enough, these third-party networks also present a security risk and have been used in the past as delivery vehicles for malware.

In the end if a web site relies solely on intrusive advertising for support and they plead with me to disable adblock, I'll most likely choose to stop reading/participating on the website rather than make an exception for them.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#25

Post by vezzy-fnord » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 5:21 PM UTC

I find AdBlock to be superfluous.

I just block advertising websites from my hosts file.

In particular, using this: http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#26

Post by r0h1n » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 5:21 PM UTC

wingspan wrote: post #10

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…

Can anyone else confirm this? Personally, I've always used AdBlock, but never used a Javascript blocker because it is substantially more effort and I am lazy. I do use Disconnect, though, to block that certain flavor of JS.

I use Adblock, NoScript and Disconnect. Been using the former two in conjunction for years.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#27

Post by slig » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 5:21 PM UTC

I know several people (me included) that installed AdBlock because of YT annoying pre-roll ads. Google seems to be shooting themselves in the foot.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#28

Post by PhasmaFelis » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 5:22 PM UTC

Kiro wrote: post #13

"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.

These days, it's a good idea to test your site with AdBlock the same way you test it with multiple browsers. When a page appears to be broken the first thing I try is temporarily disabling AdBlock; the second thing is loading it in IE.

It does suck that you have to jump through these hoops because flagrantly intrusive ads have poisoned the well for innocent site-owners. I wish it were otherwise.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#29

Post by clarry » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 5:23 PM UTC

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…

I hope you're right, but I fear the people who block scripts are a minority that'll be ignored. Both by those who think doing all in Javascript is "The Way", also by those who want more control over the user.

More and more sites are requiring JS to display content that could be served just fine (if not better) as a static document. I don't know how much of that is done with the intent of having control over the user, but I've witnessed at least one web developer admit to making JS non-optional because of an advertising contract -- the idea being that users will allow scripts on an all-or-nothing basis, so to view the site, they'll also run the ad scripts.

Re: How We Detect Adblock

#30

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 5:23 PM UTC

pagefair wrote: post #4

philjackson wrote: post #2

Is there somewhere I can go to see an example of Pagefair in action?

You can check out this article on Destructoid to see how they used the tool (fyi- we used to be called "Block Metrics") http://www.destructoid.com/half-of-destructoid-s-readers-blo...

[deleted]