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Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

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Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#551

Post by eatsyourtacos »

cortesoft wrote: post #421
eatsyourtacos wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>how do you think you should find out about it? Word of mouth, basically. Or searching for something that I need . What I hate most about advertising is it just shoves everything in people's faces and makes people think they need this and that. I find myself somewhat immune to ads (as much as one can be I guess), maybe I just programmed myself to ignore them growing up in early internet days. But it's so obvious the…

Word of mouth requires someone to learn about a product initially. Also, searching for something you ‘need’ presupposes that you know there is a product that addresses a need. You would never find improvements to things that you didn’t realize could be improved.

I'm not sure how you found this website then.. I don't recall seeing superbowl ads for Hackernews.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#552

Post by skrowl »

Larrikin wrote: post #18
bloopernova wrote: post #5

Firefox for Android with ublock origin makes my mobile web browsing sane again. Highly recommended.

The experience is so awful when I browse on my iPad, instead of my Android phone with Firefox+UBlock. I really don't understand how most people can stand to browse with all the ads. The modern web is so much worse than the pop up ads of the old web.

Take a look at Samsung Tab S8 Ultra. I love mine!

Having a choice in web browsers along with emulators and real file system access were major reasons why I'll never go back to iPad.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#553

Post by BbzzbB »

xorcist wrote: post #222
BbzzbB wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even then, most apps are just thinly veiled webapps for which the site (with Firefox and uBlock) provides the same or superior experience, ad-free.

Except when said web site detects your mobile web browser, and serves a page telling you to download their app instead.

That's half of the point of having uBlock Origin. Use the zapper to disappear an element for the session, use the picker to poof them forever. They really work on making their webapps as unbearable as possible, but you can get rid of it to make them webapps great again. Can even add sites/pages as home app icons.

Which makes Firefox the obviously better mobile browser, Chrome seems like a pretty strong case of defaults' power. Tho gotta add the "Google Search Fixer" select addon because they sure doesn't want you to get summary cards, financial charts and other goodies if you use a competitor browser.

Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and co without the ads circus. Duolingo without daily activity limit for some reason.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#554

Post by squeaky-clean »

barbazoo wrote: post #542
j1elo wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is Youtube's fault, as they could (should) require video creators to identify the start and end timestamps of sponsor segments, and then their player should just skip those automatically for logged-in, paying subscribers.

Only if video creators get a cut, otherwise it won't work.

Video creators do get a higher amount of money per-minute-viewed from YT Premium subscribers than the do from free users with ads. But the sponsorship slots from NordVPN and the like can pay just as much as the video earns in youtube revenue, so youtube would have to pay a lot more.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#555

Post by squeaky-clean »

j1elo wrote: post #541
squeaky-clean wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is Youtube's fault, as they could (should) require video creators to identify the start and end timestamps of sponsor segments, and then their player should just skip those automatically for logged-in, paying subscribers.

While I like this idea in isolation, I think it would just lead to sponsor insertion which is hard to skip. Like product placement in movies.

You can't skip the sponsored segment if literally 100% of the video has HelloFresh boxes in the background, or if an important part of the video happens while the creator coincidentally eats a bowl of Keto cereal.

Or what about those LinusTechTip videos where Intel gives them $5k to build a dream system for an employee (Intel based, of course). I find those entertaining but they're really just 20 minute long Intel advertisements.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#556

Post by BbzzbB »

judge2020 wrote: post #374
NavinF wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Er no, most iOS apps are not thinly veiled webapps. Have you ever used iOS?

Most apps are moving to React Native especially if they're targeting Android and iOS, but that's still a far cry from being a wrapper around a webapp.

Sorry I didn't express that clearly FWIW, didn't mean that literally.

It's just that most apps people use are pretty much the same as their respective websites. All of FAAMG's websites work as perfectly fine replacement to the apps, even better, IMHO, when you get rid of the ads apparatus.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#557

Post by [deleted] »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #548
LesZedCB wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the majority of the best information on the web is free

I don't think I agree with that. Not even Stack Overflow nor Reddit are free in this context since they make money through ads. I don't think any of my staple websites would be around if all we could rely on was their charity, and frankly that's not the internet I want to force on people. I want the people who enrich my life to be able to dedicate their time/energy to that end.

[deleted]

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#558

Post by LesZedCB »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #548
LesZedCB wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the majority of the best information on the web is free

I don't think I agree with that. Not even Stack Overflow nor Reddit are free in this context since they make money through ads. I don't think any of my staple websites would be around if all we could rely on was their charity, and frankly that's not the internet I want to force on people. I want the people who enrich my life to be able to dedicate their time/energy to that end.

do you think archive.org is immoral/unethical then..?

print books were published by publishers who sell physical copies and run ads, tours and stuff.

yet pretty much every modern published book (within reason) is freely available to any person who is able to get a library card. similarly those people could use the computers to access archive.org and browse all online content.

how is that not free?

i'm not even going to get into equivocating "reddit" and "best information on the internet"

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#559

Post by blacklight »

I've been using pihole on my home server for a while. Exposed as a DNS over a Wireguard VPN. And all of my clients are connected to that VPN. I haven't seen a single ad on any of my devices in a couple of years, regardless of where I connect, and I don't even need a browser extension or an external VPN service that Google can easily block.

Re: Google cracks down on VPN based adblockers

#560

Post by raxxorraxor »

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?

That does not work. The equilibrium would be that you pay for content and be served ads.
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