Poll: Do you use an adblocker? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#41

Post by bh42222 » Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 5:54 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #15

Nope, never have. I have 99 problems but an ad ain't one.

I am very surprised to hear this given your expertise.

I would have imagined you visiting every website with at least two browser at the same time, at least one of them blocking all ads and then some.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#42

Post by johanjessen » Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 5:54 PM UTC

It's funny. Since I removed flash from my main browser (Safari) the internet is much less annoying. Also, on the iPad it's fine to browse around (alas without any ad-blocker)

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#43

Post by dutom » Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 5:54 PM UTC

I block ads, and am seriously considering putting ads on my next website. My only defense against hypocrisy is that there's nothing stopping users blocking ads too. Obviously if enough people did block ads, I'd have to rethink the biz model.

I don't feel this is particularly evil - just trying to get by...

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#44

Post by st3fan » Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 5:55 PM UTC

m_myers wrote: post #23

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…

1.5 * 10 = 15 MB, not 150 MB. So you can actually fetch 166 such pages unmodified. Roughly how large is a TechCrunch page with Ghostery?

Yeah I'm still on my first coffee. Good morning and thanks for the math :-)

Example:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/03/siri-experiencing-its-first...

Without: 275 requests, 2.85 MB transferred

With: 76 requests, 1.72 MB transferred

Here is the shocker: ACTUAL ARTICLE SIZE: 163 words, 971 bytes. That is a 0.034% of what was actually downloaded.

I know that browsers cache stuff. But a lot of these are dynamic resources that get loaded anyway. There is also the fact that caching on both the iPad and Android is horrible. So this really adds up on a mobile device.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#45

Post by bobds » Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 5:55 PM UTC

First I used AdBlock and FlashBlock.

Then I used AdBlock and NoScript.

Then I stopped using AdBlock. What a shock that was. NoScript would still catch the nasty stuff and block those talking Flash ads, but it was much less noticeable.

I don't use an adblocker now because it makes me feel out of touch with the reality of the regular user. I've been reconsidering lately, due to the proliferation of web crapware like Facebook like and Tweet buttons.

Ideally, I'd like something that blocks the incessant tracking of my web usage, uses aggressive caching and placeholders to boost performance but still lets me see the web as the regular users see it.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#46

Post by gnosis » Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 5:57 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #15

Nope, never have. I have 99 problems but an ad ain't one.

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.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#47

Post by citricsquid » Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 5:57 PM UTC

Advert revenue is what pays my bills, I would be a hypocrite to ad block, however even before I made money from adverts I didn't use an adblocker and don't really consider them much of an issue. So no, I don't.

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#48

Post by djbender » Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 5:57 PM UTC

No. ClickToPlugin? yes.

http://hoyois.github.com/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#49

Post by bradleyland » Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 5:58 PM UTC

bh42222 wrote: post #41

patio11 wrote: post #15

Nope, never have. I have 99 problems but an ad ain't one.

I am very surprised to hear this given your expertise. I would have imagined you visiting every website with at least two browser at the same time, at least one of them blocking all ads and then some.

I'm puzzled that you'd couple "expertise" and ad blocking. Why do you feel the two go together?

Re: Poll: Do you use an adblocker?

#50

Post by patio11 » Wed, Dec 07, 2011, 5:59 PM UTC

bh42222 wrote: post #41

patio11 wrote: post #15

Nope, never have. I have 99 problems but an ad ain't one.

I am very surprised to hear this given your expertise. I would have imagined you visiting every website with at least two browser at the same time, at least one of them blocking all ads and then some.

I am totally mystified as to how that workflow would improve my life. It sounds like a lot of work for no gain. Can you explain to me what you find attractive about it or think I would find attractive about it?