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Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

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Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#481

Post by heavyset_go »

Tryk wrote: post #471
onion2k wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developer wages would crash through the floor and all the way down to the centre of the Earth if ad blockers really took off without users also accepting micropayments or subscriptions for web services at the same time. Maybe we should be a little bit glad that the main thing keeping massive amounts of money in tech is accepted by users. The key thing that most people in tech don't appear to grok very easily is that…

> The key thing that most people in tech don't appear to grok very easily is that the overwhelming majority of web services like search engines, social media, ad-driven news websites, etc are all things that users place practically zero value on. People accept ads because they're a way of paying for things without really thinking about it. If you start asking users for actual money they suddenly decide that all these…

Reminds me of the web in the 1990s and early 2000s before owners of sites and services really found ways to monetize every single second and click their users made with ads.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#482

Post by heavyset_go »

lazyier wrote: post #371
onion2k wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developer wages would crash through the floor and all the way down to the centre of the Earth if ad blockers really took off without users also accepting micropayments or subscriptions for web services at the same time. Maybe we should be a little bit glad that the main thing keeping massive amounts of money in tech is accepted by users. The key thing that most people in tech don't appear to grok very easily is that…

Advertising is a type of propaganda. One of a myriad of different forms of propaganda. One leads to the other easily. For example taking advertising money for television commercials or magazine adds leads to "Native Ads". Native ads are sort of like product placement except that it's pretending to be a news story or whatever. Like when people on CNBC or CNN start talking about Taco Bell menu items or new type of drug…

The term for advertising used to literally be "propaganda".

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#483

Post by squeaky-clean »

bastardoperator wrote: post #435
xhrpost wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, even paying for content will often keep ads around. NYTimes and WSJ come to mind.

Youtube premium is ad free.

I know this isn't technically youtube's fault, but pretty much every video I watch has a 30 second sponsor segment (Hello Fresh anyone?).

There's Nebula for some creators and Patreon for others, but not everyone has an ad free way to watch them. Also Patreon can really begin to add up.

And yeah there's that extension that can skip sponsored segments but that's blocking ads, not paying to avoid them.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#484

Post by sfvegandude »

mdavis6890 wrote: post #365
disintegore wrote: post #178

I categorically reject ads. I want them completely abolished. I will do everything that's in my power to get them out of my machines. If I had just a little bit more courage I would go out at night with cans of spray paint and deface billboards.

"I will do everything that's in my power" Will you pay money for the content you consume?

This is not a path forward. The people with the money to pay for the content are the same people with the money to buy the products that advertisers make money by advertising.

You can’t outrun the incentive alignment. Nobody can. Case in point - Apple is shifting hard into the ad space after laying low and crafting a premium brand.

The money is just too good.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#485

Post by ornornor »

onion2k wrote: post #347
alexb_ wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

95% of users have no idea what any of this is.

Developer wages would crash through the floor and all the way down to the centre of the Earth if ad blockers really took off without users also accepting micropayments or subscriptions for web services at the same time. Maybe we should be a little bit glad that the main thing keeping massive amounts of money in tech is accepted by users. The key thing that most people in tech don't appear to grok very easily is that…

> web services like search engines, social media, ad-driven news websites, etc are all things that users place practically zero value on.

I wonder if that’s the truth or if it’s this way because there are free alternatives.

If one search engine starts charging a monthly fee, users will just go to another one that pays for itself with ads and data.

But if the prevalent model for search engines is monthly subscription, then people will start paying for it and the value for the user won’t be 0 anymore.

Why would you pay for ice cream from the ice cream stand if you can get it for free next door for the “cost” of them keeping track of how often you come to the stand and what flavors you like, and selling that info to others?

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#487

Post by Jason_Protell »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #278
Jason_Protell wrote: post #72

Firefox Nightly + uBlock Origin seems to work well on Android

You don't even need nightly, ublock works great on the production version too

I use Firefox Nightly because I also run Bypass Paywalls Clean (c)

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#488

Post by api »

Tryk wrote: post #471
onion2k wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developer wages would crash through the floor and all the way down to the centre of the Earth if ad blockers really took off without users also accepting micropayments or subscriptions for web services at the same time. Maybe we should be a little bit glad that the main thing keeping massive amounts of money in tech is accepted by users. The key thing that most people in tech don't appear to grok very easily is that…

> The key thing that most people in tech don't appear to grok very easily is that the overwhelming majority of web services like search engines, social media, ad-driven news websites, etc are all things that users place practically zero value on. People accept ads because they're a way of paying for things without really thinking about it. If you start asking users for actual money they suddenly decide that all these…

> Imagine a human-curated web.

The OG Yahoo! was ahead of its time?

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#489

Post by jotm »

onion2k wrote: post #347
alexb_ wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

95% of users have no idea what any of this is.

Developer wages would crash through the floor and all the way down to the centre of the Earth if ad blockers really took off without users also accepting micropayments or subscriptions for web services at the same time. Maybe we should be a little bit glad that the main thing keeping massive amounts of money in tech is accepted by users. The key thing that most people in tech don't appear to grok very easily is that…

They wouldn't. If anything, they'd go up since people would have to actually use their brains and set up real targeted marketing (even ads) instead of the current "show 20 ads, rake the CPM cash and hope we get some leads, too, YOLO".

There was a short period where it seemed like it would happen - context aware ads, links and affiliate products, each page was served different ads or none at all, with no privacy stuff it could also be very effetive.

Alas general ads won, and they do make more money for the platforms since they can show the same ads for stuff you have already bought/installed.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#490

Post by laundermaf »

smileybarry wrote: post #162

I started using NextDNS years ago and it's been a blessing. Blocks almost every ad on a DNS level on mobile devices, and on PC I still augment it with uBlock Origin. Per-device logs also let me debug connectivity if something breaks, and it's great for mapping local device names without mDNS debugging or some dnsmasq resolver lying around.

I regularly find websites that don’t work until I disable the Adblock, usually on mobile. This isn’t intentional generally.

How do you deal with that? Are you just not going to buy a plane ticket on the airline’s website just ‘cause?

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