The Web Is Getting Choked by Ads

Megalith

Megalith

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Advertising may be a necessary evil, but things are getting more and more devilish. This writer highlights the fact that ads are not only defacing the internet, but also warping it: websites are now changing their user experiences to accommodate ads, sacrificing readability and ease of use. There is also an increasing trend of producing news in video format, which is typically terrible compared to a well written article.

Even more disturbing…is how some panicked publishers have reacted in this ecosystem. Companies are “pivoting to video.” MTV News, for example, recently cut its online writing staff in favor of producing short entertainment news videos. Layoffs to accommodate “pivots to video” have affected newsrooms at Vice, Fox Sports, and Vocativ this summer. At first glance, the “pivot” appears a delirious mistake. Video, after all, is far more expensive to produce than a written article. It’s often quicker and easier to read than to watch. The explanation for the obsession with video is simple: Advertisers will pay more to promote their products in video format than they will for in-article ads.
 
There is nothing I love better than auto-play video ads with extraordinarily loud sound, on both my standby metered LTE connection with a very low data cap and my awesome main uncapped 3MB radio connection.
 
and people wonder why adblocks are soo popular...

I never use to use them as I appreciate they are a source of revenue... but then there were adverts that would slow a site down, slow my browser, fill the screen... so guess what web advertising is rubbish and until that changes all are blocked

what is worse is mobile browsing... there was this one site I would regularly go to but it had some advertisement that after about 10seconds it would open play store and ask you to install something... couldn't even get back to the site without reloading. Now I just don't go there.
 
10 years too late on this "news". Adblock plus + ghostery is your friend
 
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Megalith said:
.... There is also an increasing trend of producing news in video format, which is typically terrible compared to a well written article.
.....
Click to expand...

Yes, this. The stated hour long video linked to in the recent [H] DOD bans foreign drones posting as exhibit one.

Sadly, Furturama seems to have the outcome of the web predicted pretty close.
 
I've been expressing my frustration with this phenomenon for at least 5 years if not more. It started with tech sites, where everyone started doing video reviews instead of proper documented written reviews.

Another thing started cropping up is sites trying to ransom you with ads. When they detect that you use an adblocker they refuse to show the content. Which I'm fine with, I simply close the window and never ever return to those sites. Easier for me to weed out shit content. Being whitelisted can be earned, it however cannot be extorted from me.
 
One of the most annoying things that I see and that is really difficult to prevent is when a streaming video is embedded in a page, then, as you scroll down the video pops up in a small window near the bottom right - blocking much of what you're trying to read. Even with Greasemonkey/uBlock/AdBlock filters set up for them subsequent pages on the same site ignore the filters and it becomes a game of whack-a-mole.

God I miss the early internet when advertising was just a small banner at the top or bottom of a page.
 
generally, I don't mind ads and don't use any type of adblocker, I just look past them or something ...
(but I dislike tv commercials very much, as they interrupt/disrupt what you are doing, which is why don't look much tv anymore, so as long as they don't go that way ... which they probably are going when thinking about youtube ads etc)

also, I like written articles more then video clips, but sometimes a video clip makes sense of course, depending on what you would like to show/learn (procedure, unboxing, ...)
 
The advertisers poisoned the well a long time ago.

We will never trust them again, between ads that wait to pounce on you until you're halfway down the page to popunders/tabjacking, sudden audio/video, malware, tracking...

Their greed may break the internet because users are turning into Roman Phalanxes via host files edits, custom DNS, adblocking addons, etc. Advertisers saying "please trust us, please, on the 9001th time we won't dick you over!" are going to be laughed at.

Will that result in some websites going under? Sure.

But, seeing as websites are closer to the "perfect" markets shown in Econ 101, eventually content makers will create new models that avoid pissing off their users and may end up cutting the advertisers out entirely.
 
Sovereign said:
The advertisers poisoned the well a long time ago.

We will never trust them again, between ads that wait to pounce on you until you're halfway down the page to popunders/tabjacking, sudden audio/video, malware, tracking...

Their greed may break the internet because users are turning into Roman Phalanxes via host files edits, custom DNS, adblocking addons, etc. Advertisers saying "please trust us, please, on the 9001th time we won't dick you over!" are going to be laughed at.

Will that result in some websites going under? Sure.

But, seeing as websites are closer to the "perfect" markets shown in Econ 101, eventually content makers will create new models that avoid pissing off their users and may end up cutting the advertisers out entirely.
Click to expand...

HA. Meanwhile, the biggest ad company of all, controls 85% of web searches, the only video sharing site in the world worth a damn (aside from China) and etc etc.

I doubt people will stop using Google in any scenario.

Edit: Well, not the biggest ad company. My point stands.
 
If you're semi fast enough you'll scroll past the ads before they load. But then as you're reading stuff a new ad loads atop your position, then you lose your reading spot. I've had a page shift on me 5 times for one site.

Speaking of which, Kyle, I have a suggestion for you. Can you render that Patron link in straight HTML rather than generate it in JavaScript after the page loads? It causes a lot of shifting and mis-clicking. And if you open H from a new computer with no cookies, all the article links will cause some major shifting. Not ideal for a new user. Just trying to help ;)
 
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the biggest issue is not only are some ads annoying and obtrusive some can be infected with malware like wannacry... When ads are safe and less annoying i'll disable aggressive adblock. Ads also slow down the internet and use extra bandwidth...
 
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More and more sites are refusing to show you content or are trying to 'shame' you. I know this has been mentioned already but in the last week or two I have seen a real uptick in this.
 
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Damn Dirty Ape said:
More and more sites are refusing to show you content or are trying to 'shame' you. I know this has been mentioned already but in the last week or two I have seen a real uptick in this.
Click to expand...
my response is to go elsewhere shame and blocking content is ineffective as all i need to do is disable java bye bye half the ads and the scripts to block content or shame. failing that middle finger go elsewhere...
 
days after i started my patreon on HardOCp i gave up and installed adblock. it is almost impossible to use the web without it. i am paying an ISP but more than half my web traffic is choked by ads
 
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Makaveli@BETA said:
That's why I ad block from the router and only whitelist sites that are worthy like the HARDOCP.

The rest have to prove they are worthy. I would not allow anyone to force me into viewing them I control what happens on my internet pipe!
Click to expand...

Haha, I do the same. It's nice doing it this way because I can block ads on all of my devices without needing to root or edit the host file.
 
Ads just do nothing for me these days. I can't recall a single situation in the last 15+ years where seeing a product in an ad made me more likely to buy it. In fact, there have been numerous situations where seeing something in an ad has actually made me less likely to buy it. I know that I'm not alone.

Yet there have been times where, for example, someone I respect is being interviewed and he/she advocates for a certain product in a way that he/she was clearly not paid to do. That on the other hand DOES make me CONSIDERABLY more likely actually check out that product. It's like having someone actually advocate for a product based on honesty and the product actually working well is so uncommon compared to the 100% fake bullshit lies contained in almost all advertisements, it ultimately reminds me of what advertising was originally supposed to be like.

If everyone ultimately becomes as desensitized to and distrustful of advertising as I am, and the advertisers ultimately discover that, how will that change the nature of advertising? For the current forms of advertising to still exist, the advertisers must still be under the impression that those ads actually still work, right? Maybe for some people they still do?
 
I run a PiHole DNS server at home and it's pretty amazing to look at the charts and logs to see how much bandwidth adds are using on our connections.

I would totally recommend PiHole to someone. Super easy to set up and run.

I would much rather pay the content creators directly and block adds.

Kyle if your reading this may I suggest adding some more ways for us to support this site. A branded merchandise store would be sweet. Would love to have some stuff like shirts and other gear.
 
Riouken said:
I run a PiHole DNS server at home and it's pretty amazing to look at the charts and logs to see how much bandwidth adds are using on our connections.

I would totally recommend PiHole to someone. Super easy to set up and run.

I would much rather pay the content creators directly and block adds.

Kyle if your reading this may I suggest adding some more ways for us to support this site. A branded merchandise store would be sweet. Would love to have some stuff like shirts and other gear.
Click to expand...

Male [H] thongs plz.


On a serious note, I used to get my motorsport news from http://www.Crash.net but here recently, they have this fucking full screen ad that covers my entire iPhone screen, with NO WAY, NO WAY WHATEVER to clear it aside from killing the tab in safari and reopening.

After this happened twice, I haven't been back to crash.net.
 
The few times the past couple of years I've disabled my adblocker and forgot to re-enable while browsing the web, my response has been WTF?!?!? You're virtually raped with ads.
 
SecretStash said:
If you're semi fast enough you'll scroll past the ads before they load. But then as you're reading stuff a new ad loads atop your position, then you lose your reading spot. I've had a page shift on me 5 times for one site.

Speaking of which, Kyle, I have a suggestion for you. Can you render that Patron link in straight HTML rather than generate it in JavaScript after the page loads? It causes a lot of shifting and mis-clicking. And if you open H from a new computer with no cookies, all the article links will cause some major shifting. Not ideal for a new user. Just trying to help ;)
Click to expand...
That is not a JavaScript. Changed it after the first 20 minutes of being up. Will go look when back on my desk system.
 
SecretStash said:
Speaking of which, Kyle, I have a suggestion for you. Can you render that Patron link in straight HTML rather than generate it in JavaScript after the page loads? It causes a lot of shifting and mis-clicking. And if you open H from a new computer with no cookies, all the article links will cause some major shifting. Not ideal for a new user. Just trying to help ;)
Click to expand...
Maybe you need to clear your browser cache?

HardForum

Code: 
<div style="text-align: center">
<a href="https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=6668843">
<img src="https://images.hardocp.com/images/patron.png" alt="Become a Patron!" style="width:172px;height:35px;border:0">
</a>
</div>

HardOCP

Code: 
<div class="tenyearsago2" style='position: relative; top: 35px; left: 30px;'><a href="https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=6668843" data-patreon-widget-type="become-patron-button"><img src='https://images.hardocp.com/images/patron.png'></a>
 
</div>
 
I don't block ads using ad blocking software, but I do run NoScript. I only enable scripts from the site itself. Here I get all the ads, but I really hate sites where you would need to allow scripts from twenty different sites before you can even see a single article of interest. Not everyone has a really fast connection and when a site opens links or scripts attached to many separate locations it really slows browsing to a crawl.
 
Riouken said:
You set your routers DNS server either to an external DNS server that blocks adds:

https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html


Or run your own local DNS server that blocks adds ala:

https://pi-hole.net

Either way the outcome is the same. You just have a bit more control over your data if you host your self.
Click to expand...

I missed this post earlier. Man, I'm gonna have to give this a try and see if the blocks the ads on my iPads while at home. The adblocking schemes available for iOS are so primitive - and with Apple's history of permitting/denying adblocking apps this would be one way around that problem.
 
OldGator said:
I missed this post earlier. Man, I'm gonna have to give this a try and see if the blocks the ads on my iPads while at home. The adblocking schemes available for iOS are so primitive - and with Apple's history of permitting/denying adblocking apps this would be one way around that problem.
Click to expand...

I use PiHole and it even blocks adds in games and app's on our phones. We do not use Apple so I cant confirm that but yea it blocks on the network level so when an app tries to load something from a known add network it just blocks it. so it doesn't get shown.
 
One thing I always wanted to know is what is the revenue for a site from ads?

How much does the site get from a average user that doesn't block ads looking at say 5 pages a day?

Oh and they NEVER click on any of the ads! Not like any sane person would.

I would not be surprised that $1 a month on Patreon would be 99 times the revenue for that month from ads.

If we knew that then it would make sense for us to switch over to funding that way. In which case I'd throw in a buck or two every month. It all adds up.

A few sites I frequent do a annual funding drive to stay ad free and they do pretty well out of it. Most of us kick in $10-$20 for the year.
 
daglesj said:
One thing I always wanted to know is what is the revenue for a site from ads?

How much does the site get from a average user that doesn't block ads looking at say 5 pages a day?

Oh and they NEVER click on any of the ads! Not like any sane person would.

I would not be surprised that $1 a month on Patreon would be 99 times the revenue for that month from ads.

If we knew that then it would make sense for us to switch over to funding that way. In which case I'd throw in a buck or two every month. It all adds up.

A few sites I frequent do a annual funding drive to stay ad free and they do pretty well out of it. Most of us kick in $10-$20 for the year.
Click to expand...
If every registered user gave us $2 a month I could double the review staff, back to where it was 5 years ago.
 
daglesj said:
Well there you go guys.

Thanks for putting costs into perspective Kyle. Trying to get that kind of info is like getting blood from a stone.

Let's see if we can get it up to 250 Patrons by the end of the week!
Click to expand...
Well, actually every ACTIVE registered user...
 
katanaD said:
does becoming a patron remove ads, if so, i'd do it
Click to expand...

Probably not but you can block the ads with a clearer conscience.

I think I now patron about 12 different sites and YT Channels $1-$2 a month. Not much but if a lot more did it it adds up.
 
So how many clicks do I need to make in a month to equal $2??

Crippled cheapskate inquiring.
 
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