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Google paid AdBlock Plus to get its ads whitelisted

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Re: Google paid AdBlock Plus to get its ads whitelisted

#151

Post by md224 »

bpatrianakos wrote: post #149
md224 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sincere question: do you feel that you, personally, have gained useful information from advertisements? Was it about a new kind of product or service that you didn't previously know about, or just a brand that was better than the ones you currently knew about? Your point about product discovery is well-taken. In the case of discovery of new product types, it seems to be a valid issue. For product types that a person…

I think that's a difficult question for most people but I can honestly say yes. Sometimes its hard to tell what exactly motivated you to buy a certain thing. My first car was a Volkswagen Jetta. The advertisements made me aware of the brand and its personality. That sounds superficial but its a real part of the appeal of a lot of products. It's hard to be zen and take your ego out of buying decisions. Sometimes it ca…

Thanks for the honest answer. Definitely food for thought.

Re: Google paid AdBlock Plus to get its ads whitelisted

#152

Post by ubojan »

gcb0 wrote: post #65
jpdoctor wrote: post #6

Quick ref to get rid of Google Ads (and some others too) on Adblock Plus: FOR CHROME: Go to "Settings" Find Extensions in the list on the left Find AdBlock, select "Options" Click the tab "Filter Lists" Uncheck: "Allow some non-intrusive advertising" FOR FIREFOX: Go to the Firefox menu in the upper left corner Select "Add-ons" Select "Extensions" Find Adblock Plus, select Options. Find the "Filter Preferences" Button…

Still shocks me that people on this site uses those lame extrensions (which are a security risk no less) someonewhocares.org/hosts_zero/ Save this hosts file in your house's router and be safely free of advertising, shock sites, tracking.... On ALL devices With no added attack vector as with an extension and not limited to one browser in one device

it's useful to have extension if you want to disable it and temporarily see ads; also it's easy to whitelist ads on particular sites/pages - there are non intrusive and useful ads.

Re: Google paid AdBlock Plus to get its ads whitelisted

#153

Post by chc »

nwilliams wrote: post #150
chc wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That hardly seems relevant. The fact that they do not unblock every ad you consider not to be invasive and annoying is unsurprising. They entered into an arrangement with Google where Google agreed to meet certain standards and be vetted; Bing and Yahoo have not.

That is very relevant here. chez17's comment implied that the whitelist applies to non-invasive and non-annoying ads, while there are a number of new qualifiers here, including a payment which you have omitted from your post. >They entered into an arrangement with Google where Google agreed to meet certain standards and be vetted; Bing and Yahoo have not. ..and perhaps most importantly, have paid for it. The whitelis…

> chez17's comment implied that the whitelist applies to non-invasive and non-annoying ads, while there are a number of new qualifiers here, including a payment which you have omitted from your post.

Because it is not relevant. What you said here is true, but no bearing on the thing chez17 and I are walking about (that the ads are not invasive or annoying). I don't have anything against them making money. As long as they are not letting through bad ads, why would I object to them profiting?

> ..and perhaps most importantly, have paid for it.

> The whitelist standard is not just about non-intrusive ads as the title of the setting implies to users, it's about a payment too.

And the relevance is…? Nobody said the transaction did not involve money. A whitelist can only include unobtrusive ads and also charge money for inclusion — those ideas are not at odds. The statement "they are charging money" is 100% compatible with "they are only whitelisting non-invasive and non-annoying ads."

Re: Google paid AdBlock Plus to get its ads whitelisted

#154

Post by dendory »

I suspected something like that when I realized Google Ads were now showing up on my screen a few weeks ago. I went to the Adblock Plus forum and all it said was that those ads had been added to the list, no reason why. I personally find it appealing and hope everyone switches away to an Adblock fork, if only by principle. Sure it's the extension' maintainer's right to take bribes, but the consequence should be that no one trusts the extension again.

Re: Google paid AdBlock Plus to get its ads whitelisted

#155

Post by dendory »

bpatrianakos wrote: post #145
md224 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that people are upset about Google being able to pay to get their content around certain barriers, when this is essentially what Google AdWords is: a system for advertisers to pay to get their content displayed in prominent locations rather than relying on position in organic search. And yet nobody really takes it seriously as a Real Problem. Not trivializing your complaint, btw... just pointing out…

I don't want to live in an ad-free, review-only world myself. Advertising and reviews serve two different purposes. The one gets the word out about a product or service and lets the creator point out why their audience would like it. A review's purpose is to let others know if the product or service lives up to the advertising and lets you gauge how good a fit a given product is in relation to competitors or on its o…

But that has nothing to do with this. Reasons don't matter here. If someone is using Adblock Plus, it's because they made the choice to use their technical knowledge to not see ads. There's no question here that by doing this, Google and the extension maintainer knew full well that this was going against user wishes.

Re: Google paid AdBlock Plus to get its ads whitelisted

#156

Post by dendory »

Apocryphon wrote: post #43

Mozilla's main source of revenue is from Google, as well. Are many of these non-profit entities dependent upon Google funding?

Except Mozilla doesn't try to hide that fact, and it can be argued to be in users interest by providing a search bar, instead of no search function at all. Here, someone who uses Adblock Plus decided to block ads. Adding them behind their backs is dishonest.

Re: Google paid AdBlock Plus to get its ads whitelisted

#160

Post by danielweber »

drdaeman wrote: post #84
3pt14159 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they could be updated and now your whole browser is pwnd. This is how sites like Compete.com get their metrics.

Disable automatic updates and review the code before installing any updates manually.

I agree with "disable automatic updates," unfortunately.

But "review the code"? You have no chance.

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