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Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#131

Post by tspiteri »

rgb411 wrote: post #117
paulhauggis wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you also enjoy paying a fee for every single website you enjoy, because without ads, this would be the only way anyone would be able to keep the lights on.

I offered to pay a higher monthly fee in order to watch content on Hulu commercial free. There's no commercial free option, so I cancelled. Bottom line is I hate being exposed to commercials and am happy to pay for content.

I prefer having ads during a film, so that I can get a break and go make tea or whatever. Watching films on the BBC, which has no ads, used to irritate me a bit, as there are no breaks. But I guess you can hit pause on Hulu, unlike on regular television.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#132

Post by Silhouette »

huhtenberg wrote: post #87
st3fan wrote: post #5

I use AdBlock and Ghostery. Ghostery is super useful. It throws out so much crap that I am not interested in. On sites like techcrunch, engadget or thenextweb it usually cuts the number of requests in half. Rant: It is sure getting out of hand in a big way: it is not uncommon for tech news sites to send you 1.5 MB of crap surrounding a simple 200 word story. I am getting so tired of that. Specially on mobile. My iPad…

I wouldn't touch Ghostery with a long pole. Their parent company - Evidon - is suspicious. The FAQ on the site is choke-full of weasel words and wishy-washy statements on how they are not an "ad company" but rather an "ad assurance company". Skimpy on actual details too. They have changed their About summary now, but not long ago it basically said that they are in business of delivering better advertisement experienc…

What exactly is your problem with Ghostery?

I've used it for some time, quite happy to have it block the numerous tracker things that otherwise spy on me and/or add bulk to my downloads.

I've never noticed anything in their privacy policies that gave me concern, and I'm normally quite picky about such things.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#133

Post by danmaz74 »

maggit wrote: post #66
byrneseyeview wrote: post #20

Banner ads pay my salary, so out of professional courtesy, no. It's very easy to voluntarily blind yourself to ads. Plus, if I see something egregious on my employer's site, I can let them know. I use Ghostery to see who's buying data from whom.

> It's very easy to voluntarily blind yourself to ads. So you do block ads, only with your brain ;) Fair enough, but can I ask why this is more courteous than blocking them in the browser? Are ad loads generally causing money to flow? I was under the impression that click-throughs cause revenue, rather than ad loads?

The difference is that from time to time you see an interesting ad and click on it, if you don't have an ad blocker.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#135

Post by davimack »

Adblock never gets turned off and hasn't since I discovered it. When I'm shopping, I'm shopping - the rest of the time, I'm actually doing something and since it's my computer I feel that I can edit the heck out of whatever it is which is served up to me - they're giving it away, I'm letting something censor out the garbage, of which ads are a huge part.

I also use NoScript, FlashBlock, RefControl, RequestPolicy plugins for precisely the same reason: I'm not visiting a page to read some garbage hosted somewhere else (i.e., the pretty pictures and styling you've hosted elsewhere, for some reason), nor for you to do fun things with scripts, nor to see anything move (and, incidentally, spy on me).

The web has become increasingly about hawking wares and doing so based upon observing behavior. I don't like the idea, even if it _could_ tell me about something which I would like to buy: if I _need_ something, I'll hunt for it. If I don't actually _need_ something, though, I don't want to have the equivalent of a dirty-old-man offering me candy from the back of his van if only I'd step inside for awhile. And I certainly don't want that dirty-old-man following me around, observing me, to find out what my favorite kinds of candy are, so that he can entice me into being a statistic.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#136

Post by DrCatbox »

LogEx wrote: post #22
LogEx wrote: post #17

Ghostery, Disconnect, FlashBlock, AdBlock, and in some browser profile: NoScript & RequestPolicy. I whitelist trusted sites. The online ad ecosystem is out of control with surveillance: data collection, tracking, device fingerprinting, aggregation, de-anonymization, etc. (and data volumes). HTTP_DNT=1

Oh yeah... plus hosts file blocking of the most egregious servers and DNS blocking of the most egregious domains.

What are some egregious servers?

Can I have a peek at your /etc/hosts

I have flashblock, adblock with the antisocial filter. Still I see the damn twitter buttons. Is there a way to remove them and g+?

How do I prevent google from tracking me?

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#138

Post by ghostwords »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #34

I'm using ghostery to block pretty much everything, but I'm not happy with that solution. Blocking all advertising isn't what I really want to do. Yes ads are annoying, but I consider them payment for the service. What I cannot accept is ad networks, social networks and anlytics tools tracking me all across the internet. Unfortunately tracking, advertising and analytics are too intertwined to be more selective. At le…

The next major version of Ghostery will come with an expanded "bug"/page element browser that will break down Ghostery's database by category. The goal is to offer the most granular and usable selective blocker, and this will be a big step in that direction.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#139

Post by recoiledsnake »

brianobush wrote: post #114
byrneseyeview wrote: post #20

Banner ads pay my salary, so out of professional courtesy, no. It's very easy to voluntarily blind yourself to ads. Plus, if I see something egregious on my employer's site, I can let them know. I use Ghostery to see who's buying data from whom.

I write porn blocking software, so should I view porn out of professional courtesy?

If the logic follows, you should use the software you make and not watch porn out of professional courtesy. After all, that is what is paying your salary.
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