Aside: I thought I heard a while back that Chrome and Safari were changing their browser extension APIs such that it would make it difficult to truly block ads / 3rd party scripts / blacklist domains. Did this ever come to fruition? Was it overblown? Never heard where that went.
Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
401–410 of 710 posts
Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
#402Why is this even at the front page of HN? I give them credit for the brilliant marketing. This is an ad disguised as an article targeting the "tech savvy" by bundling HN and Reddit (a truth + a lie makes the statement more true), a common clickbait tactic > This makes sense especially considering how difficult it is to install an adblocker on Chrome, the most popular browser on mobile devices. Nope, it is really easy…
It says it's difficult to install on mobile
Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
#403Why is this even at the front page of HN? I give them credit for the brilliant marketing. This is an ad disguised as an article targeting the "tech savvy" by bundling HN and Reddit (a truth + a lie makes the statement more true), a common clickbait tactic > This makes sense especially considering how difficult it is to install an adblocker on Chrome, the most popular browser on mobile devices. Nope, it is really easy…
How do you install extension on mobile Chrome? The link shows button to install on Desktop.
Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
#404Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Explains why Reddit promotes it so much It must be very disheartening to work on reddit's mobile site. Not only is it deliberately made a miserable experience by forcing you through AMP via Google and insisting you "continue in browser" every time, but then you're greeted with a banner that outright says "this page is better in the app".
> It must be very disheartening to work on reddit's mobile site. If they cared that much about whether or not what they were working on made the world better or worse they'd never have taken a job at Reddit.
Literally this, it's hard for me to even consider a job at Reddit without the companys' reputation coming to mind.
Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
#405There is a German movie about the system that is used to gather TV ratings. It's a special box that some users get which reports what they are watching. Small sample size goes into a big statistic (not sure how accurate the portrayal of the system in the movie is). These boxes are given to the people who pay the German public TV fee, which excludes i.e. students (they don't have to pay) and some other groups. This gr…
> Maybe we should engage in large scale AdWords fraud. You may like the "Google will eat itself" idea. https://www.gwei.org/index.php
Isn't this just investing the results of ad fraud into Google? Probably a profitable idea, but I'm not seeing the "Google eating itself" aspect.
Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
#406Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple literally built an API for ad-blocking. How is that worse?
Are you referring to the "content blocker" API? Because that basically forces plug-ins to supply a list of blocked domains. Just like Google's upcoming changes. Neither allow you to run your own engine for blocking like what uBlock Origin does.
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Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
#407I am amazed at how non-techy people use the internet. I teach college and I will sometimes have students go to some web site. I am amazed at how few use adblocking and just accept all the ads and popups and overlays and crap. Even more than that, I will see them using something like google docs and google will put an overlay for some new feature and they don't click the X to close it. They just type away with that ov…
I don’t use adblocking because if a site is so revolting that it requires adblocking to make it usable, I just don’t visit the site at all. I used to use adblocking but the tiny site Distrowatch made an impression on me. The owner rigged something so that those using adblock also would not see non-ad images. He said it’s really not fair to visit a free site and then block the thing that allows it to be free. Also, I…
Adblock is like having a bodyguard running ahead of you, making sure the neighbourhood is still safe to walk, just in case someone shady moved in. Added bonus is he drags you along on a rope so you can move faster and bring more groceries from the store.
Adblock makes my slow computer and phone bareable to use on "modern" homepages. Without them the load times multiplies.
Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
#408I'm surprised the number is so low. I would expect it to be way higher for this specific group.
Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
#409I expected these numbers to be higher. However, an even more interesting metric is the 88% block in Firefox. Firefox may not have a great market share, but based on these numbers it's market share may very well be eight times higher than your analytics report. This can change the argument of "it's only 3% of our users so we don't need to test on FF" to "it's a quarter of our user base, we should at least test it", de…
The reason Firefox is higher is probably because it's the easiest one to block ads on mobile. Most people I know who use Firefox on mobile do so specifically to have ublock origin. I personally use chrome on desktop but Firefox on mobile.
The reason Firefox is higher is probably because users who choose it are more educated about the internet and are probably the ones who know how to use an adblocker. So it is unlikely that the proportion of users who use Firefox globally is higher than what stats give us.
Re: Tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics
#410Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who has been in one or another meeting with German TV stations I can assure you this is not completely far fetched. The people deciding what is running at these stations are of the mindset (a translated quote): > Our average viewer is 65 years old and watches TV while doing the dishes, we must not show things that cannot be understood by them and then they will serenade about how they would "love to have a…
Well, you say that, but isn't that exactly why Netflix got rid of ratings? All the documentaries were getting really high ratings, so would display highly in searches, but not many people actually watched them. It's the same for most content, I read a huge amount. I do read some intellectual books, but only occasionally. The rest of the time I read utter, thoroughly entertaining, trash. I don't want to read about an…
That is how it is with documentaries. Just because they are getting lower viewing numbers doesn't mean you shouldn't keep promoting them. Certainly there should be a mix of entertainment and public interest stuff, but following audience preferences for entertainment creates a feedback loop that damages society.