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Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#171

Post by gnosis »

scott_s wrote: post #164
gnosis wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate ads with a passion. If I had the power, I'd make unsolicited advertising illegal. If I hear or see an ad, I often make a mental note not to buy that product.

Would you prefer to pay for your online content? Without ads, that's the only sustainable business model I can see for things ranging from the NY Times to Penny Arcade.

There's no shortage of free, non ad-supported content out there. I would gladly ditch whatever ad-supported content there is, if that's what it took to get rid of ads.

There are only a handful of industries (like movies and tv shows) which take a fair bit of money to create high quality content (though overwhelming majority of the time the money's wasted on utter garbage). Books, stories, news, and music can be created and distributed on a shoestring budget. They don't need the ad-supported creation or distribution model to thrive. The days of content shortages are practically over.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#172

Post by al_james »

dlikhten wrote: post #112
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.

My thought is: If you can't afford me blocking ads then do one of two things: 1) No flashing ads. No flash ads (cpu time is mine!) No ads that blur content with ads. And I will turn off ad blocking on your site. If ads have sound and I can't block it I will never visit the site. This is why arstechnica has ads turned off for me, autoplaying video and sound. BTW I will not turn off blocking of the +1 button or Like or…

> 2) Don't give free content. Make me pay for it. If I like it I would.

You might. 99% of the population would not.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#173

Post by mike-cardwell »

The three main reasons I block ads:

  1.) Speeds up the web dramatically
  2.) Increases privacy (Ad networks track users across sites)
  3.) Improves security (Ad networks have been known to serve malware)
I also dislike looking at them, but if it weren't for the above three problems, I'd probably skip the ad blocker and just ignore them.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#174

Post by scott_s »

gnosis wrote: post #171
scott_s wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you prefer to pay for your online content? Without ads, that's the only sustainable business model I can see for things ranging from the NY Times to Penny Arcade.

There's no shortage of free, non ad-supported content out there. I would gladly ditch whatever ad-supported content there is, if that's what it took to get rid of ads. There are only a handful of industries (like movies and tv shows) which take a fair bit of money to create high quality content (though overwhelming majority of the time the money's wasted on utter garbage). Books, stories, news, and music can be creat…

From what I can see, there is a shortage of free, non ad-supported news of the level of the NY Times. The only two venues I can think of that qualify are the BBC and NPR - both take government subsidy, and one does do infrequent pleas for money.

Then there are some of the webcomics I like, which has no alternative. If I want to read Penny Arcade, substituting another comic won't help.

So do you not read the NY Times, Washington Post, or any online newspaper that has ads? Do you not read print newspapers because they have ads?

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#175

Post by Natsu »

troymc wrote: post #89

Wow, as I write this, it's 560 points for Yes. and 292 points for No. Lesson so far: If you want to reach the HN community, don't bother with a web advertising campaign.

That's what PR news stories are for. If you do something interesting enough, people will seek out more information on their own.

For example, how many people will admit to having read about the place that was giving out free cows as a signing bonus?

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#176

Post by mike-cardwell »

dromidas wrote: post #160
dlikhten wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thought is: If you can't afford me blocking ads then do one of two things: 1) No flashing ads. No flash ads (cpu time is mine!) No ads that blur content with ads. And I will turn off ad blocking on your site. If ads have sound and I can't block it I will never visit the site. This is why arstechnica has ads turned off for me, autoplaying video and sound. BTW I will not turn off blocking of the +1 button or Like or…

Definitely agree with that. Although I would add a personal #3. 3) I've been using the internet since 1990 and how many items have I purchased from an ad? 0.

You may have unwittingly purchased an item because somebody else purchased it after seeing it on an Internet ad though...

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#177

Post by nupark2 »

scott_s wrote: post #164
gnosis wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate ads with a passion. If I had the power, I'd make unsolicited advertising illegal. If I hear or see an ad, I often make a mental note not to buy that product.

Would you prefer to pay for your online content? Without ads, that's the only sustainable business model I can see for things ranging from the NY Times to Penny Arcade.

> Would you prefer to pay for your online content?

Yes. A thousand times, yes.

As it turns out, we're already inefficiently paying for our online content. Where do you think the dollars for ad budgets come from?

I like to think of it as the country's largest privatized hidden tax system, funding socialized content.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#178

Post by jdangu »

dlikhten wrote: post #112
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.

My thought is: If you can't afford me blocking ads then do one of two things: 1) No flashing ads. No flash ads (cpu time is mine!) No ads that blur content with ads. And I will turn off ad blocking on your site. If ads have sound and I can't block it I will never visit the site. This is why arstechnica has ads turned off for me, autoplaying video and sound. BTW I will not turn off blocking of the +1 button or Like or…

1) The industry is finally realizing that a massive amount of people got pissed by flashing display ads. Up to 14% of the online population uses an ad blocker (much more on HN :). Last month, the IAB published their new guidelines, including max CPU usage for Flash banners: http://www.iab.net/iab_products_and_industry_services/508676... I'm working on a product that helps publishers verify that CPU usage from ads served on their site does not exceed their specs, http://www.clarityad.com Adobe is also investing in this, with their project Adthenticate http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/adthenticate/

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#179

Post by D_Drake »

There are only two websites which I endorse enough to whitelist them in my adblockers.

It's a case of having a finer control over the behavior of your web browser. Once upon a time, you had only rudimentary control, and had to use your eyes to ignore extraneous information. Adblocking gives us a little more automation. It's my hope that in the near future browsers will be able to parse the "real" content out of web pages in order to present it and only it to the user. Wouldn't that be nice? No more sidebars, no more banners or popups or buttons or other garbage, just paragraphs of text you want to read, pictures you want to see, and videos you want to watch, undiluted.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#180

Post by scott_s »

nupark2 wrote: post #177
scott_s wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you prefer to pay for your online content? Without ads, that's the only sustainable business model I can see for things ranging from the NY Times to Penny Arcade.

> Would you prefer to pay for your online content? Yes. A thousand times, yes. As it turns out, we're already inefficiently paying for our online content. Where do you think the dollars for ad budgets come from? I like to think of it as the country's largest privatized hidden tax system, funding socialized content.

I think that's tenable - I actually have an NY Times subscription for this reason. I think it's important to pay for good journalism, and I'm putting my money where my mouth is. But I ask because it's possible there are people who don't want to pay for content, yet want it to be free. I want to understand their thinking. (Assuming, of course, they exist.)
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