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Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

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61–70 of 183 posts

Re: Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

#61

Given that advertising pays for a lot of the services we all use, the use of Adblock and similar programs constitutes defection in game theory terms - the more people who do it, the worse off we all are - which means even if you choose to do it yourself (I personally don't), it is against your interests to encourage other people to do it. Also, given that computing is one of very few areas of technology in which our…

If we make it difficult for services to be ad funded, perhaps alternative methods of funding will emerge. Perhaps alternative methods of service delivery will emerge too which don't require large companies to build their own data centres (peer to peer, distributed).

I don't get rid of ads on my systems because they're annoying. I do it because they introduce massive single points of failure, they add massive centralised attack vectors which have in the past been exploited, and will be in the future too, and because they slow down web browsing.

If you care about security, you use an ad blocker.

Re: Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

#62

Given that advertising pays for a lot of the services we all use, the use of Adblock and similar programs constitutes defection in game theory terms - the more people who do it, the worse off we all are - which means even if you choose to do it yourself (I personally don't), it is against your interests to encourage other people to do it. Also, given that computing is one of very few areas of technology in which our…

If we make it difficult for services to be ad funded, perhaps alternative methods of funding will emerge. Perhaps alternative methods of service delivery will emerge too which don't require large companies to build their own data centres (peer to peer, distributed). I don't get rid of ads on my systems because they're annoying. I do it because they introduce massive single points of failure, they add massive centrali…

The problem is that the alternative to ads is a paywall.

Re: Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

#63
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of people get the opposite feeling. HTTPSB lets you see everything in the matrix and toggle what you want to show. If you want the carefree experience you can use this strategy[0] to unblock everything and only rely on the blocklists to which you subscribe. I currently use this method and I all I really want now is a block list for cookies (and one as good as Ghostery's list). [0] https://github.com/gor…

But I don't want to use a strategy, I want to click a button and have adverts blocked.

Then HTTPSB is not the right extension for you.

Re: Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

#64

Given that advertising pays for a lot of the services we all use, the use of Adblock and similar programs constitutes defection in game theory terms - the more people who do it, the worse off we all are - which means even if you choose to do it yourself (I personally don't), it is against your interests to encourage other people to do it. Also, given that computing is one of very few areas of technology in which our…

If we make it difficult for services to be ad funded, perhaps alternative methods of funding will emerge. Perhaps alternative methods of service delivery will emerge too which don't require large companies to build their own data centres (peer to peer, distributed). I don't get rid of ads on my systems because they're annoying. I do it because they introduce massive single points of failure, they add massive centrali…

Then again, maybe the alternative methods of funding won't emerge and AdBlock will destroy the web as we know it.

Re: Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

#65
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not encourage people to pay for services they use and enjoy? The ad-supported services have mixed motives at best and tend to compromise on privacy when it affects their bottom-line. Also, there are other reasons for blocking ads besides simple annoyance. They tend to be hosted by 3rd party domains that can track browsing history across sites.

Micro-payments are a bad idea because making decisions costs mental energy, and the energy cost declines more slowly than the amount, so if you have to decide to pay a couple of cents to read an article, you end up spending more than a couple of cents worth of mental energy making the decision. It's a dead loss. Advertising is a better business model all around.

I like what Blendle is trying when it comes to micropayments and newspaper articles. I've heard quite a few people talk about how they'd use it, and it's only just open to the public.

The most fascinating thing about Blendle to me is that most mainstream papers seem to be giving it a try. It not just niche publications.

Re: Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

#66
post #30

HTTPSB just isn't userfriendly enough for me. I run Adblock (not plus though) + Ghostery, and perhaps they use more memory and CPU, but if they do I've never noticed nor cared about it. Their userfriendliness is amazing though. HTTPSB randomly cripples sites, much like NoScript, and I really can't be bothered to deal with that anymore. With Adblock + Ghostery I feel completely in control. If I want to enable the Disq…

I first had problems with it too. You have to disable matrix filtering on all sites.

Re: Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

#67
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we make it difficult for services to be ad funded, perhaps alternative methods of funding will emerge. Perhaps alternative methods of service delivery will emerge too which don't require large companies to build their own data centres (peer to peer, distributed). I don't get rid of ads on my systems because they're annoying. I do it because they introduce massive single points of failure, they add massive centrali…

The problem is that the alternative to ads is a paywall.

That's only a problem as long as ad funded versions exist. Get rid of the ad funded versions and it's no longer a problem, as the non-ad-funded versions will no longer have to compete with them.

Plus, many useful services will still have free versions, and then provided paid upgrades.

Plus, many useful services will stop being centralised, distributed, free, peer to peer versions will be created that cost nothing to host, and they will be popular, because there are no ad-funded versions to compete.

Re: Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we make it difficult for services to be ad funded, perhaps alternative methods of funding will emerge. Perhaps alternative methods of service delivery will emerge too which don't require large companies to build their own data centres (peer to peer, distributed). I don't get rid of ads on my systems because they're annoying. I do it because they introduce massive single points of failure, they add massive centrali…

Then again, maybe the alternative methods of funding won't emerge and AdBlock will destroy the web as we know it.

The web is already full of stuff that is free and is not ad-funded. There are already many services that have free versions with paid advanced versions.

If everyone used ad-block, it would change the web. In some ways for the better, in some ways for the worse. It wouldn't destroy it.

Re: Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

#69

Given that advertising pays for a lot of the services we all use, the use of Adblock and similar programs constitutes defection in game theory terms - the more people who do it, the worse off we all are - which means even if you choose to do it yourself (I personally don't), it is against your interests to encourage other people to do it. Also, given that computing is one of very few areas of technology in which our…

If you are sufficiently caring or savvy to use Adblock and the like, then you aren't the target audience anyway.

Re: Show HN: Where Adblock+ injects 20K CSS rules, HTTPSB injects one

#70
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we make it difficult for services to be ad funded, perhaps alternative methods of funding will emerge. Perhaps alternative methods of service delivery will emerge too which don't require large companies to build their own data centres (peer to peer, distributed). I don't get rid of ads on my systems because they're annoying. I do it because they introduce massive single points of failure, they add massive centrali…

The problem is that the alternative to ads is a paywall.

I will happilly pay for the service, as much, as advertisers earn on me. Sounds fair, and I doubt it will be a large sum, based on how often I click on ad's.
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