Why do Browsers allow ad blockers to work?

biggles

2[H]4U
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
Messages
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So, I installed an ad blocker the other day to block ads on youtube. It was a pleasant surprise to how well it worked, skipping ads and going directly to the viewable content. While good for the users like us, it seems counter to advertisers and websites and it is frankly surprising that the developers of browsers allow it. For instance, why would Google allow Chrome users to block ads, would that not be against their financial interests?

And while we are on the topic of ad blockers, if you use them suggest whitelisting sites you want to support.

Which adblockers do folks here recommend as most effective? Do folks here use them for different types of devices? As in smartphones, tablets/iPads, Windows PC's, Macs?
 
Probably because not that many people use them in the grand scheme of things, and the ones that do are savvy enough to switch browsers for the option.

So they'd rather you block ads from their browser than from their competing browsers.

Also; Enjoy ad free youtube while you can.
 
This almost a soapbox subject but alas, I will throw my 2 cents in the best I can.

I came from an era when the internet began and so it was that anyone who had the internet had purchased a PC and had a dedicated line for use with a sub to an isp. Everyone who was on it was some form of geek and had an interest in the tech itself. If someone put up a website it was because they WANTED to and had no problem others viewing it and sharing and etc.

Then came companies wanting to show off their wares and products and then came sites that told you about other sites. These sites had no interest in the tech but something else. Money. Over time other places saw that they could make money off the site itself instead of the products they were selling and ads were spawned.

Now everyone is expecting to be paid for just having a site up and this has poisoned what the internet was.

I have been blocking every ad I can since I first saw oneback in the 90's.

I think it should be outlawed and advertising companies banned from the internet all together.

TL;DR…. FUCK ADS. BLOCK THEM ALL.
 
...TL;DR…. FUCK ADS. BLOCK THEM ALL.

Exactly.
If I wanted ad's I'd still be watching broadcast television.

Also; Enjoy ad free youtube while you can.

Are you aware of upcoming changes to counter ad blockers on YT ?
I'm curious if you have any info or links etc ...?

Which adblockers do folks here recommend as most effective? Do folks here use them for different types of devices? As in smartphones, tablets/iPads, Windows PC's, Macs?

On Windows - I use either Firefox or Opera - quite often both at the same time, for no real reason other than I like both and I like to have at least two browsers available (just in case there's an issue with one etc)
re: Opera I use the built in Ad-Blocker, Ghostery and UBlock Origin
re: Firefox I use Ghostery and UBlock Origin

For both I also use Privacy Badger and No-Script - but those aren't Ad-blockers, but may or may not help them. Oh - and Ublock Origin also allows some quite useful content control / blocking using custom rules with the "block element" feature. Watch / read a tutorial if you want to experiment with it and aren't sure quite how to use it. I use that for blocking a couple of things I find annoying on a couple of sites.
 
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I block ads with pfblockerng and ublock origin. And if by a miracle one shows up i can zap it with ublock instantly
 
I use Ublock origin and poper blocker (switched to Ublock and Privay Badger after reading a bit over last hour) for Chrome

Chrome these days is pretty much my only browser, it just works for my needs, simple as that, not had any "issues" if anything, it has helped fix many that was having/wishing did not have to deal with anymore (Microsoft inability to deal with spam, in their own servers and often enough with weird ass name/your name spam)

of course, at least now I can properly filter them massive shit ton of spam my hotmail gets nailed with onslught style monthly, now maybe every day 1-5 vs countless.

might piss off some websites to refuse admission because of popup / ads
however, they also cannot seem to understand most folks not have unlimited bandwidth / cap
most folks are just trying to read something and to have it slow to a crawl because of them popups (which are far far too easy to "bug" ..

nah, if a website I go to blast my ears with full on audio for nothing and/or makes slow to a trickle for a minute or w/e as it loads....FK that noise, I go somewhere else, my time (everyone's time) is far too valuable to get shit slapped in their face and mooshed around just to get a "cookie"

modern world indeed
 
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I was thinking, "Why does the freeway allow your car to go faster than the speed limit?"
 
This almost a soapbox subject but alas, I will throw my 2 cents in the best I can.

I came from an era when the internet began and so it was that anyone who had the internet had purchased a PC and had a dedicated line for use with a sub to an isp. Everyone who was on it was some form of geek and had an interest in the tech itself. If someone put up a website it was because they WANTED to and had no problem others viewing it and sharing and etc.

Then came companies wanting to show off their wares and products and then came sites that told you about other sites. These sites had no interest in the tech but something else. Money. Over time other places saw that they could make money off the site itself instead of the products they were selling and ads were spawned.

Now everyone is expecting to be paid for just having a site up and this has poisoned what the internet was.

I have been blocking every ad I can since I first saw oneback in the 90's.

I think it should be outlawed and advertising companies banned from the internet all together.

TL;DR…. FUCK ADS. BLOCK THEM ALL.


Me too, I came in at the birth of modern computing, back in the Atari 2600 days. Yes, the internet was created to be free, but times change and I think this is allowed because it brought in a new demographic, actually many. Like you said, this brought non-geek users which means a bigger audience. Of course, now Millenials and whatever the next generation will be called comes out the womb with web skills....lol. Seriously though, the Internet is now for everyone and it's no longer a "geek thing". More and more people are building and repairing computers on their own too, which is good for them, bad for those of us that do that (like me).

My point is ads are there because it allows more people and Fuzzy_3D is right too, although I think more people use them than you might think, that's why (at least when Youtube is concerned) content creators now have to use ads within their videos because people use adblockers and that's why they have to do that. So, there are enough people using them to make a noticeable difference. That's why advertisers are starting to use "smartads". So, certain sites have cut down on just bombarding you with ads and using fewer, yet specific ads that aimed toward users preferences. Then, that starts getting into privacy concerns.

Personally, for me, if I'm a frequent visitor of a site and the site asks me to disable my adblocker, I usually will. Also, more and more sites are doing this, while still letting you use ad blockers, so they can see how many people use their site and still use blockers if they choose, but they ask people to turn them off. I have to say I respect the sites that let you view it, but will let you use blockers because I usually turn mine off simply because they asked! Other sites don't give you a choice, however, they limit their the number of ads they use.

The bottom line it, I don't like ads, most people don't, but if we don't give a little, then they'll simply force you to disable your ad blocker to view the site (until a work around is developed). You have to understand, it's never going back to the way things were. The genie is out of the bottle and too many people use the internet. If there was another medium besides the internet, they'd move to that and perhaps there will be. It's like Satellite radio with certain stations. It used to be all ad-free, and those by SiriusXM still are, but those created by SiriusXM are free. If the number of subscribers drops to a certain level though, satellite radio will become ad based because they'll need to support it with ads for it to continue. That's obviously NOT going to happen to the Internet. That is people starting to drop off because it's become part of life now, but all those advertisers know that they can get money now, it's there to stay.

I will continue to use ad blockers for sites that have too many ads until they use smart ads and ask me not to! Is that the best solution? No, but until a better one comes along, that's it.
 
Consumer (consumption) Craze vs the old days of physically searching for what you actually need because it was a chore. ADs drastically cause people to get what they don't need. ADs are evil and should be treated as evil :D
 
This almost a soapbox subject but alas, I will throw my 2 cents in the best I can.

I came from an era when the internet began and so it was that anyone who had the internet had purchased a PC and had a dedicated line for use with a sub to an isp. Everyone who was on it was some form of geek and had an interest in the tech itself. If someone put up a website it was because they WANTED to and had no problem others viewing it and sharing and etc.

Then came companies wanting to show off their wares and products and then came sites that told you about other sites. These sites had no interest in the tech but something else. Money. Over time other places saw that they could make money off the site itself instead of the products they were selling and ads were spawned.

Now everyone is expecting to be paid for just having a site up and this has poisoned what the internet was.

I have been blocking every ad I can since I first saw oneback in the 90's.

I think it should be outlawed and advertising companies banned from the internet all together.

TL;DR…. FUCK ADS. BLOCK THEM ALL.

I feel exactly the same way.
 
Pi-Hole works really well in my several days of running it, but you would need a Raspberry Pi or virtual machine to use it. It blocks ads using a DNS block list for everything on your network.
 
Maybe since the Ad Blockers are blocking the ads from you seeing them, they still get impressions from your visit so the site can maybe get paid for the impressions, even though the ad blocker blocked them from your view.
 
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