Adblock Plus Now Sells Ads

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Adblock Plus needs to change its name to Adreplacement Plus. The company now blocks ads it doesn't like in favor of "acceptable" ads that are now immediately allowed through Adblock Plus’ filters by default.

Adblock Plus is launching a new service that... uh, puts more ads on your screen. Rather than stripping all ads from the internet forever, Adblock Plus is hoping to replace the bad ads — anything it deems too big, too ugly, or too intrusive — with good ads, ones that are smaller, subtler, and theoretically much less annoying.
 
The concept is nice. The problem with modern ads is they are so bloated with high volume auto-play videos, tracking, and high volume per page. As a certain website we're at demonstrates, low impact banner ads can be fine in moderation. I believe services like AdBlock came as a response to the increasingly intrusive nature of ads, and not primarily because we are opposed to ALL ads.

This would hopefully create the truce between users and content creators that allows monetization of content without invading people's lives. We have an arms race going on right now. However that also means ABP would get to decide which ads are "safe" based on how much they are payed.
 
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*Madoc grunts, scowls, and considers his options.* I thought the point of an ad blocker was to block ads. It says so right in the name of the product. If it can't do the job it claims to do, then I suppose I'll need to find a new product that does.
 
You know, if they're non intrusive ads that won't infect my computer with trash, crash parts of chrome requiring page reloads, or scream at me at top volume I'm not against a reasonable amount of advertisements on a page. Those hosting pages need to be paid somehow.
 
I don't use any adblocker on this browser. I have another browser setup with a variety blocking & protection plug-ins. This browser only goes to a few sites that are morally approved.
 
Old news. And as mentioned you can simply turn it off. Something that the rage nerds always forget to mention.
 
Pyro411 said:
You know, if they're non intrusive ads that won't infect my computer with trash, crash parts of chrome requiring page reloads, or scream at me at top volume I'm not against a reasonable amount of advertisements on a page. Those hosting pages need to be paid somehow.
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This. If what I consider a likely safe site (most recently Wired) requests that I whitelist them to allow the ads to load, I do it. As long as there's no significant slowdown or ads that interrupt viewing of the content, I leave it whitelisted. The second an ad causes even the perception of inconvenience, I reactivate AdBlock and don't go to the site again.
 
Years ago I used to block everything, but now I white list certain niche sites that probably don't get that much traffic and I hate to see disappear.

I will concede that Adblock Plus has a point with acceptable ads model, but I still disable their acceptable ads default option.
 
Steve said:
Adblock Plus needs to change its name to Adreplacement Plus. The company now blocks ads it doesn't like in favor of "acceptable" ads that are now immediately allowed through Adblock Plus’ filters by default.

Adblock Plus is launching a new service that... uh, puts more ads on your screen. Rather than stripping all ads from the internet forever, Adblock Plus is hoping to replace the bad ads — anything it deems too big, too ugly, or too intrusive — with good ads, ones that are smaller, subtler, and theoretically much less annoying.
Click to expand...

You do realize that eradicating all ads completely would mean eradicating almost all content from the internet too? I do you want me to turn back ad blocking on hardocp too?
 
Was just watching a video about this. Not only is there a white list of ads that they themselves will release, but the content creators have to pay them to allow ads through.

one bad thing about this is that the white listed ads are not related to what you are on. They just have a pool of people who have paid them to whitelist their ads that they display on any random site that has also agreed to pay them to allow the ads through.
 
Darkswordz said:
Great...now I need an ad-blocker for Adblock. :mad:
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use ublock or one of the custom filters for adblock plus that they don't have the ability to modify.

M76 said:
You do realize that eradicating all ads completely would mean eradicating almost all content from the internet too? I do you want me to turn back ad blocking on hardocp too?
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so what you're saying that all the content that existed before the excessive use of ad's in the last 6 years never actually existed? good to know.
 
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I hate Google ads where everywhere you go, you see the same damn product placement ad. Sister call you up and ask you to Google where a bridal shop is because her friend is getting married? I'm freaking staring at bouquets for the next week or more on every website that I whitelist. I never click the crap. I think that the advertisers think they are intelligent. Whomever created this tracking sh*t is the con artist of the year. Not only do I not pay attention to their content, I make sure that I never buy the product too. It becomes instant hatred for the product advertised.
 
This is a non story if you know how to take control of what you block with custom filters and a good hosts file.
 
M76 said:
You do realize that eradicating all ads completely would mean eradicating almost all content from the internet too? I do you want me to turn back ad blocking on hardocp too?
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You do realize that the number of people using some sort of adblockers is but a drop in the bucket of the totality of internet users who either don't know, don't care, or are too stupid to find ways to remove ads.
 
MNKyDeth said:
It's called uBlock Origin
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Been using this for some time, as ABP has been letting "paid" ads through for a while now, at the time you could disable this, but it left a really bad taste in my mouth so I moved on.
 
sfsuphysics said:
You do realize that the number of people using some sort of adblockers is but a drop in the bucket of the totality of internet users who either don't know, don't care, or are too stupid to find ways to remove ads.
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While it may be hyperbole to talk about killing the Internet, I'm sure there are specific sites where ad blockers significantly cut into revenue. I mentioned Wired above and I wouldn't be surprised if readers of that site use ad blockers more than the average. So, while MSN, CNN, and a host of other "big" websites may not have to worry, the more niche the site is (especially tech sites), the more likely it is that they need every reader to load their ads.
 
Babbster said:
I mentioned Wired above and I wouldn't be surprised if readers of that site use ad blockers more than the average.
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Maybe, just maybe, Wired might want to think about why that happens and consider the possibility that they might be doing something wrong.
 
evilsofa said:
Maybe, just maybe, Wired might want to think about why that happens and consider the possibility that they might be doing something wrong.
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you mean the 1 or two ads they have on the page that are out of the way and not very in your face?
 
Exavior said:
you mean the 1 or two ads they have on the page that are out of the way and not very in your face?
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I booted up a different browser with no adblocker, and I see:
Top of the front page filled with a huuuuge autoplay flash ad
Down a bit and on the right a large autoplay flash ad for shoes
More ads as I scroll down peppered around, a total of 5 slots on the front page
Going to a typical article page, I find the huge ad slot on top again, and ads set to show on every page's worth as you scroll down on the right.
Almost all of these ads are flashy distracting autoplay Flash movies that load in new ones every time you scroll up and down the page.

There's a reason Wired isn't going with the Acceptable Ads concept. I don't know what you're used to that makes you think this is acceptable.
 
This just sounds dumb. Google can already do this and Facebook definitely looks through my amazon cookies to display ads for things I've probably bought the day before ;)
 
DrLobotomy said:
Letting SOME in?? That is profiling and profiling is wrong.
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As much as I dislike some types and certain amounts of as, I agree that this is wrong. Defeats the purpose (malware can still be served if adblock lets the ad through), takes browsers hostage and pockets the money instead of actually doing something to fix the cause of the problem.
 
evilsofa said:
I booted up a different browser with no adblocker, and I see:
Top of the front page filled with a huuuuge autoplay flash ad
Down a bit and on the right a large autoplay flash ad for shoes
More ads as I scroll down peppered around, a total of 5 slots on the front page
Going to a typical article page, I find the huge ad slot on top again, and ads set to show on every page's worth as you scroll down on the right.
Almost all of these ads are flashy distracting autoplay Flash movies that load in new ones every time you scroll up and down the page.

There's a reason Wired isn't going with the Acceptable Ads concept. I don't know what you're used to that makes you think this is acceptable.
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I don't actually use wired.com but only went there due to that person's comment to see how bad it was. I only noticed an ad at the very top and one on the side. Neither if which were that large or over whelming.

on the one article page I went to I didn't noticing any part follow me or anything. Odd that we had different ad results.
 
I have a $20 bill in my pocket that says some of you may have some extra malware / ad feeders on your computers/phones. Just sayin'
 
It only takes one bad ad to mess-up a person's or business's system. There are many websites out there which fail to police the ads from a third party. Then again, there are many ad revenue services on the web who don't police the services they provide. Switcharoos are commonplace.
 
Steve said:
Adblock Plus needs to change its name to Adreplacement Plus. The company now blocks ads it doesn't like in favor of "acceptable" ads that are now immediately allowed through Adblock Plus’ filters by default.

Adblock Plus is launching a new service that... uh, puts more ads on your screen. Rather than stripping all ads from the internet forever, Adblock Plus is hoping to replace the bad ads — anything it deems too big, too ugly, or too intrusive — with good ads, ones that are smaller, subtler, and theoretically much less annoying.
Click to expand...

keikaku.jpg
 
sfsuphysics said:
You do realize that the number of people using some sort of adblockers is but a drop in the bucket of the totality of internet users who either don't know, don't care, or are too stupid to find ways to remove ads.
Click to expand...

Some sites are reporting up to 75% of their daily user are using them. I am struggling to remember the site :(
 
There was another tech site similar to [H] I used to frequent until they started crying about how devastating adblocking is to their revenue. I immediately stopped using that site. Not going to mention which one it was because reasons.

The simple fact is advertisement networks cannot be trusted. 99% of malware still comes through middle-man attacks on ad networks. There isn't any feasible way websites can have sustainable ads currently without using one of the ad networks. Until that problem is resolved it is absolutely necessary that everyone use adblocking software and plugins.

If you were the captain of a starship in space and someone hailing you asked you to lower your shields, how would you respond?
 
To be honest, ads aren't a problem. Ads that totally slow down your browser while loading the page. If this pushes ad providers to force lightweight adds that don't interfere with the content then it's a good thing. Sites need to get the revenue from something.
 
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