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We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

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Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#251

Post by _cenw »

int_19h wrote: post #235
grugagag wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too but expect this to stop working though.

Why? Apple has a vested interest in keeping ad blocking working in Safari - it hurts Google, which is their primary competitor.

They adopted declarativeWebRequest as the exclusive option for "content blocking" years ago, which requires an actual extension update to change blocked URLs. It allows for some optimizations that look nice on benchmarks, but in reality uBO makes the web faster by getting rid of a lot of tracking requests and javascript. Nobody in the ad industry cared, because Safari's share is so small and plastering Safari users that use this basic adblocking in ads probably would've made them move elsewhere.

Chrome doing this however changes the value of working around adblockers, because they now lack the ability to rapidly respond or match with code (that's not regex) or even reading a bit of the response.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#252

Post by sdoering »

sssilver wrote: post #64
sdoering wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would communism be the end of the spectrum? I actually don’t understand the thinking process behind that inevitability. Mind to elaborate?

Because when you're the sole owner and provider of goods, advertisement loses all meaning. I grew up in the Soviet Union. There was one type of milk on the shelf, it was called "Milk", and I don't remember the label saying anything else. Compare with "HORIZON ORGANIC DHA Omega-3 Supports the Brain Health organic Whole Milk" dressed in bright red and contrasting yellow, with typography that begs "please look at me, I'…

Yeah but dropping advertising (or regulating it) does not necessarily imply a monopoly in terms of who provides what.

That what I wanted to understand. I understand the other way around, that a socialist panned economy with monopolies in terms of who produces what is shit. And leads to advertising not being necessary. But the other way round is what still trips me off and what I am still not able to wrap my head around.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#253

Post by autoexec »

AStonesThrow wrote: post #225
antfarm wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing wrong with paying for a commercial service. I rather pay with money than indirectly by losing time and being annoyed in the best case and manipulated in the worst case. With the sites that I choose to not visit (Facebook, X, TikTok, Instagram) this is not possible, as the attempted manipulation of users is an integral part of the business model. Also, your attempt of being funny is not working, neither is you…

> not working No, my friend, what is reprehensible to me is freeloaders who believe that they can just play cat-and-mouse wars by installing software and then scrape whatever web content they want, without giving the company their due expected revenue. This is cheating of the cheapest cheapskate order. It's dishonest, it's disingenuous to say "please send me your web content but only the stuff I like". Perhaps you fe…

> "please send me your web content but only the stuff I like".

That's the deal. Publishing something on the public internet does not entitle anyone to decide if/how I choose to consume that content. There's no reason to complain about people who choose to not download a bunch of ads, or those who replace fonts, or those who use custom CSS or userscripts, or those who use a screen reader, etc. If you publish something to the internet be grateful that anyone consumes any part of it. That's all you'd be due. "expected revenue" is not a right. It's not ripping off companies. It is not a victimless crime, because it isn't a crime at all.

> But people with adblockers? They are ruining it for everyone

Ads are "ruining it for everyone". If ads were all respectful, honest, safe, and non-obtrusive, ad blockers wouldn't have so many fans. The ads shot first. Blaming people now for making ads "worse" has strong "look at what you made me do!" vibes.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#254

Post by autoexec »

tastyfreeze wrote: post #73
gonzo41 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just propaganda. Our society is more like kings and serfs that capitalist these days.

This is absurdly false. The serfs can become kings as evidenced by newly minted millionaires every year. However, the reverse is also true as there are plenty of fortunes lost as well.

The serfs can become kings

The odds of a poor person becoming a rich person in America is extremely low and socioeconomic mobility in the US is getting worse all the time. I'd guess that most poor people have better odds of getting hit by lightning. A lot of new millionaires are property owners. Anyone who gets their money from real estate is not a serf.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#255

Post by genewitch »

int_19h wrote: post #238
AStonesThrow wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> not working No, my friend, what is reprehensible to me is freeloaders who believe that they can just play cat-and-mouse wars by installing software and then scrape whatever web content they want, without giving the company their due expected revenue. This is cheating of the cheapest cheapskate order. It's dishonest, it's disingenuous to say "please send me your web content but only the stuff I like". Perhaps you fe…

Me personally, I think it's hilarious. It's only unfortunate that it doesn't translate to any significant economic harm to those companies, but every little bit helps, so do your part and help your neighbor block ads, as well.

The extension ad nauseam hurts them. When it blocks something "clicks" it. Every time it sees it.

It also keeps track of estimated cost to advertisers from using it, mine shows ~$25k/yr in ads clicked.

Most stuff I do on the internet is "free", for everything else there's active jamming.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#256

Post by genewitch »

netsharc wrote: post #182
ujkhsjkdhf234 wrote: post #90

I have been groaning about income inequality a lot but it is amazing how much of this can be explained by it. People do not have the disposable income to spend on services so you make people pay with attention. Give them the carrot for free so they don't notice. On top of that, the product is free so there is no expectation of support for the end user. You're getting it for free so what are you complaining about?

In the ancient times there was an ISP selling Internet access where the catch is, you dial up via their program, and this program would have an always-on-top window showing ads... Then again, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube started "You pay for it with your attention (and your data)" and only later have they implemented payment for being ad-free, although with Zuck's properties, the EU forced it.

It was called NetZero, although there may have been another one. I set it up for people all the time.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#257

Post by genewitch »

corytheboyd wrote: post #204
grumbel wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money alone wouldn't fix this, as a Web where every page has a paywall wouldn't be much better either. Which in turn would concentrate most of the Web in a few services just as it is today and enshittyfication would bring the ads back sooner or later, even if you pay for the service.

> bring the ads back sooner or later, even if you pay for the service. This has already happened for subscription TV services. Your previously ad-free subscription now has ads, but you can get rid of them again by upgrading! It’s fucking gross. It’s also of course just going to work, and become the new normal.

I got rid of ads on Netflix et al by cancelling my subscriptions.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#258

Post by genewitch »

Sophira wrote: post #118

One thing I've noticed is that Reddit is very, very aggressive about how it implements its telemetry. Not only is the endpoint that it uses for collecting events randomized each time you load a page, but it also happens that every event collector URL is a valid API endpoint that is used for other things. You can't block any of them with regular ad blocking tools unless you're okay with blocking the corresponding API…

I don't see ads on reddit. Where are they? I use pi hole and ad nauseam extension. Everything is default. I also have RES I think, but I'm not even sure what that does anymore, I've just had it for a decade.

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#259

Post by jama211 »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #245
Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #189

I think the problem is, I feel like most ads are so empty,hollow & fraudful on the internet... I am okay with ads, if they aren't all the above. But I don't know what the Algorithm overlord serves me as an Ad, so I use Ublock Origin. I actually think ads should probably be changed from paid promotion to actually use that money on such a good level of ad that even if you release it as a standalone video for example, p…

Why would you spend any amount of time at all on a website that you’ve observed to serve known fraud ads for more than a week or two (and hasn’t sacked their advertising provider)?

If you actually lived your life like this you wouldn’t be on any website other than Wikipedia. Surely you don’t _actually_ live your life like this despite your tone that suggests it would be crazy to live your life any other way?

Re: We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]

#260

Post by jama211 »

colecut wrote: post #59
stefanfisk wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

uBlock Origin as linked.

@antfarm: https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/24/google_v2_eol_v3_roll...

I’m also going to add for now you can still manually install ublock on the latest chrome by downloading it from GitHub and installing it under manage extensions. For now.
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