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Adblock Plus now sells ads

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Re: Adblock Plus now sells ads

#361

Post by thr0waway1239 »

sliverstorm wrote: post #286
thr0waway1239 wrote: post #164

A missing factoid via the corresponding WSJ article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/adblock-plus-is-launching-an-ad-... "Advertisers will not be able to target ads via the Acceptable Ads Platform using the granular behavioral data many have become accustomed too, however, to preserve user privacy and security. Rather, they’ll have a limited set of information with which to target their ads, including the domain on which…

Aren't those somewhat indispensable pieces of technical info though? - what language do they speak - what regional market do they shop in - what is the compatibility of their client browser to render your ad

Your comment actually sent me on a bit of a wild goose chase trying to see where exactly ABP folks talk about the statement I quoted from WSJ. I couldn't find anything relevant.

For now, I am going to assume that WSJ is correct and either got this information from someone other than ABP, or they know more than what has already been announced.

Ignoring massive news sites who are probably not that concerned about the devaluation of their content, ABP is really pushing this solution as a boon for small blogs and medium sized publishers [1]:

"Looking ahead, the chief improvements the AAP will offer are its feedback mechanism, the way that mechanism will turn real-time bidding (RTB) on its head and how the AAP will be an especial boon to small blogs and medium-sized publishers."

Let us just consider the relationship between ad profitability and how much data is indispensable: is the issue actually poorly solved BECAUSE people have been taking tracking for granted (including the readers)? What about using all the content on the website for better ads? Sure, it would be REALLY lucrative if you, the site publisher, could also show an ad for a product I just browsed on Amazon.com, but it is also super creepy and at some point devalues your site in my eyes.

I really wish we could hear from someone who has built an ad network which helps small publishers.

[1] https://adblockplus.org/blog/new-acceptable-ads-platform-lau...

Re: Adblock Plus now sells ads

#362

Post by majewsky »

Intermernet wrote: post #134
burkaman wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever watched American TV? This reads like someone who turned on Bravo at 2PM one time and decided all TV must be like that.

I think what they're commenting on is the sort of editing time-line encountered on such shows in the genre similar to "greatest ice-road vintage trucker sale digger catch". These tend to be, in a 30 minute slot: Which gives 8 minutes of original footage stretched over 30 minutes, with 15 minutes of ads and 7 minutes of rehashing. This format, although now popular in other countries, is a "modern-classic" of US televi…

What's even more hilarious is when you watch these "documentaries" syndicated in Germany. Our usual ad format is one 7-minute ad break every 30 minutes instead of 2 minutes every few minutes. But you still have the artificial dramatic buildups before the missing ad slot, that you can see resolve into nothingness immediately.

Re: Adblock Plus now sells ads

#363

Post by stevesearer »

themartorana wrote: post #185
stevesearer wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out the site in my profile, would love to hear your feedback - I sell and self-host all of my own advertising. Because I have that control the ads end up being both high-quality and targeted to the content (and the reader by association).

Hey! This is great, although I imagine difficult to do when it's your business, and harder to do as a hobby. But I'd love to hear about your experience with this. In any case, if I turn on uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger, I still end up with 15 things blocked: https://cl.ly/0l2r0d440G05 Some are recognizable - Facebook integration, for example. But I noticed that your domain is actually in the yellow for uBlock Orig…

It actually is my full-time work and has been for 3-4 years now.

No idea what my domain being in the yellow means. Can you elaborate?

Re: Adblock Plus now sells ads

#364

Post by majewsky »

danneu wrote: post #306
snowfield wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is way too much content. If your company can't turn a profit without selling ads and selling user data. Maybe it shouldn't exist.

Not every website is Forbes. What about all the small websites, from creative to forums, that aren't big enough to graduate from ads but can pay their own rent with them? Seems like a net loss for humanity to lose them from the internet while keeping only the large businesses online.

Are these sites a thing (small sites that can subsist on their ad revenue)?

If I couldn't pay the bills for one of my services, I would rather introduce a paid tier, or at least a paid ad-free version. Or I would ask for donations whenever the money runs out, like Wikipedia does.

Re: Adblock Plus now sells ads

#365

Post by majewsky »

tedmiston wrote: post #69

If you think about it, it's like responsive design for your ads. The "responsive" case being to show the nicer ads and the default case being to show the normal obtrusive ads (depending on the user's level of ad blocking). I'm not saying I outright support, but some ads are useful — The Deck is one example. Amazon's "people who purchased this also purchased" is (kind of) another.

I wouldn't think of "people who purchased this also purchased" as an ad. An ad is characterized as not relevant to the current activity, but these recommendations usually are (except when they are hilarious, but that's another thing).

Re: Adblock Plus now sells ads

#366

Post by majewsky »

Nursie wrote: post #21
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #11

Why don't more people use hosts files and apps like gas mask to switch them?

Element hiding, selective re-enablement and the like. Not that the hosts file thing is wrong, it's a bit of a sledgehammer approach though.

Agreed. But I'm still using domain-based blocking on my router as an additional line of defense for clients that cannot malware-block.

Re: Adblock Plus now sells ads

#367

Post by 4ad »

kobayashi wrote: post #344
4ad wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't, use an ad blocker that uses the native content block API, rather than JavaScript.

Why, though? I haven't found any content blockers to have done even as good a job as the unmaintained uBlock, let alone a better job.

I get about two more hours of battery life on my laptop. My laptop doesn't get warm anymore, and fans don't spin.

Re: Adblock Plus now sells ads

#368

Post by Grishnakh »

stincity wrote: post #299
pc86 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then pay for content. Ads are how people who provide free content make money. Yes, they are often offensive (visually, not necessarily the content), slow to load, and contain or utilize some of tracker or retargeting mechanism. But if you can remove those and you basically just have a PNG telling you about a product or service, that is the very definition of acceptable. But to freely consume content from someone (whe…

I blanket block every ad (or whatever the list currently has). If a site has ads, I'll manually block those too. I'll go into their code and find their ad service url and add it into my list. I'll do whatever it takes to remove them, regardless if its simple or not. I do not want to see them and I will continue to visit those sites. I just wish a good adblocker would come to mobile because I'd use it there as well.

>I just wish a good adblocker would come to mobile because I'd use it there as well.

That's been done for a long time: uBlock Origin for Firefox has been around for ages, and Firefox has had an Android version for quite some time.

Re: Adblock Plus now sells ads

#369

Post by NosliwPilf »

Pretty soon competition in ad-blockers will result in advertisements.

The first guy to invent the Ad-blocker-Blocker will be rich. That is, until someone creates the Ad-blocker-blocker-Blocker. Then that is the guy who will be rich. That is, until the....

Re: Adblock Plus now sells ads

#370

Post by gorhill »

hackernews2000 wrote: post #291
KORraN wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, uBlock Origin comes from original author of uBlock. Some time ago he said that he doesn't have time to develop Origin and passed project to other guy. Unfortunately, that guy didn't make any big changes in code (except adding himself as an author) and asked for donations. After quite big drama, original author came back, but he wasn't able to get back his project so he called it uBlock Origin.

It's worth noting that it all started on APRIL FOOL'S DAY (2015). That was the convenient day the author of the project decided to say in the comments for a random Github commit "hey, anybody wants to take this over? I'm out", without any previous discussion or announcement. Users assumed it was a joke but it was for real. Literally the first person to reply took over the entire project, and when the developer who wa…

> ... can't be trusted to be here tomorrow. He can just have a tantrum ...

"Tantrum" exists only in your head. Be judgmental as much as you wish, bottom line is that you know nothing of me or my private life.

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