Facebook’s War on Ad Blockers Is Already Blowing Up

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The war between Facebook and ad blocking software is heating up. The sad part about this whole thing, regardless whether you are for or against ad blockers, is the fact that the only people being hurt by this are Facebook users.

Just two days after Facebook declared that it had thwarted all ad-blocking software on its desktop site, forcing all users to see its ads, Adblock Plus has reportedly foiled the social network’s efforts. Though Adblock Plus’s method is arguably flawed, its rapid success in defanging Facebook’s technology suggests the ad-blocking battle is just beginning.
 
CreatedTheMultiverse said:
If ad using companies were super respectful of users and their privacy this wouldn't be such an issue. So it'll always be an issue.
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Have to agree. I have a few sites that I white list (this being one of them) because the ads are not intrusive and I'll support the site. I'll use affiliate links when possible, etc..

When I have AdBlock on and it blocks 15 ads or more, then no way would it be white listed. That's a click bait site getting people there for revenue not content.

Intrusive, malware infected, too many, Pop-ups/Pop-unders... Nope. Simple banner ads or small ads? Sure. Make some money and give me that free content. I'll support you if you don't fuck with me. Same as offline. If it's too in your face, it's a turn off. That's why people don't like salespeople. Ads are 10x as bad as a shitty in your face salesman.
 
I use custom CSS on all sites I visit. Mostly to style them more to my liking, but also to hide ad elements that manage to sneak by uBlock (which I prefer to Adblock Plus.)
 
CreatedTheMultiverse said:
If ad using companies were super respectful of users and their privacy this wouldn't be such an issue. So it'll always be an issue.
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There needs to be a set of rules that advertisers need to agree on.

#1 No sound
#2 No video
#3 No animations
#4 Limit the amount of ads on a single page.
 
i see adware as a plus for all. i dont want to buy and they dont want me trolling them for entertainment
 
DukenukemX said:
There needs to be a set of rules that advertisers need to agree on.

#1 No sound
#2 No video
#3 No animations
#4 Limit the amount of ads on a single page.
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I think you'd have to work in advertising to understand their mindset, your idea's would give them a good chuckle at a board meeting.

choofed.gif
 
There was an article where the admeisters basically admitted they know they fucked up and poisoned the well.

Unfortunately, acknowledging this failure did not lead to actually wanting to change.
 
gxp500 said:
I think you'd have to work in advertising to understand their mindset, your idea's would give them a good chuckle at a board meeting.

choofed.gif
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So in other words, the advertisers' mindset is that if you annoy people enough they will buy your products?

Sorry, but that is not how it works. The more annoying web page ads are, the more likely I am going to NEVER buy the product(s) being advertised.
 
cyclone3d said:
So in other words, the advertisers' mindset is that if you annoy people enough they will buy your products?

Sorry, but that is not how it works. The more annoying web page ads are, the more likely I am going to NEVER buy the product(s) being advertised.
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They have the mindset that if you hear and see their name enough, when you think of a product, you'll think of their name first.

Like you, it has the opposite effect on me. There are certain things I refuse to buy because of their advertising techniques. It works for some people, but to me it's just irritating and pushes me away.
 
That's the thing about ads. For the most part, it's not to really get you to buy directly, but to make you think of their product when you go out to buy.

I don't think it's super effective on me, but others will tell you, I'm wrong. And even if it doesn't work on me, have you seen some of the people out there? And how utterly retarded they are?

Damn, Ur_Mom beat me too it.
 
pothb said:
That's the thing about ads. For the most part, it's not to really get you to buy directly, but to make you think of their product when you go out to buy.

I don't think it's super effective on me, but others will tell you, I'm wrong. And even if it doesn't work on me, have you seen some of the people out there? And how utterly retarded they are?

Damn, Ur_Mom beat me too it.
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Idiocracy explains it well.
 
Ad blockers will always win. They (and your browser) have the last hand on the data being displayed.
 
DukenukemX said:
There needs to be a set of rules that advertisers need to agree on.

#1 No sound
#2 No video
#3 No animations
#4 Limit the amount of ads on a single page.
Click to expand...

I just wish I could be a part of these board meetings where they come up with this shit. Like, some fucking guy eating a bagel and drinking coffee brought in by the secretary says "hey guys.. *nom nom nom*, so how about this *nom nom nom.. what if we *nom nom*, put like an advertisement for something, you know like, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SCREEN. But you know, dont do it right away because people naturally dismiss those. Maybe wait till they start scrolling like 1/10th of the page down, then boom, right in the middle. Make it completely unavoidable. *nom nom nom*, and while we're at it, make sure to hide the close button. Like, change the color, make it small.. In faaaaact, misdirect them to a different button that actually takes them to the ad instead of closing it.... Make sure they cant click around it or click back on the original page, they have to actually read the ad to know where to dismiss it. Then like, for the next one, make it a video... *nom nom nom*, but right as they're about to close it, have the video shift to the bottom corner of the screen... theyll probably just let it run so as not to struggle finding the close button"

I mean seriously fuck anyone and everyone who works in advertising and marketing.
 
gxp500 said:
I think you'd have to work in advertising to understand their mindset, your idea's would give them a good chuckle at a board meeting.

choofed.gif
Click to expand...
Then they only have themselves to blame for the existence of ad blockers. There's no limit ad blocking won't go. We've seen sites that completely block users who block them, and what did that do? People just found other websites to go to. People forget the precursor to all this was pop up ads, and they're all blocked by default on web browsers cause they were abused. I doubt Chrome and FireFox would go that length to include an adblocker, but Opera certainly has. Microsoft could really take advantage of this and block ads that aren't in their whitelist, thus making Edge more appealing. And a whitelist means you have to pay Microsoft to let those ads go through.

There are no rules to ads, and everything is fair game. Making rules would benefit these advertisers cause there are plenty of websites that don't abuse this system but hardly anyone goes through the trouble to make exceptions for their ad blockers. The whole reason this started was cause ads carried viruses and were playing audio, which drove people crazy. Ensuring guild lines means that nobody needs to reach over to their ad blockers to block a website that's playing a video telling you to buy stock in gold. The alternative is to pay everyone who makes an adblocker to enter their whitelist, which doesn't even ensure you that people still won't block your ads. New tools will constantly pop up to block ads that other ad blockers won't.
 
DukenukemX said:
New tools will constantly pop up to block ads that other ad blockers won't.
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And thank god for that. I don't mind an ad here or there, but so many sites have them plastered everywhere and shove it in your face like a rapist who's never had his dick sucked before. It's disgusting tactics that have cause this.

Not that the adblock guys weren't retarded. An adblock dev, that uses ads to bring attention to their product? Retards and hypocrites.
 
One could just say "Hey, Facebook, fuck you..." and not visit the site, of course.

<dramatic_pause>

Yeah, I know, pipe dream for a billion people but, it sure would make Facebook stop and think for a bit, wouldn't it? :)
 
Tiberian said:
One could just say "Hey, Facebook, fuck you..." and not visit the site, of course.

<dramatic_pause>

Yeah, I know, pipe dream for a billion people but, it sure would make Facebook stop and think for a bit, wouldn't it? :)
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People should really just stop using the crap. Even for getting laid, tinder works much better.
 
fuck Facebook, fuck Mark Zuckerturd, and fuck all these advertisers that abuse the ability to place ads on a page
 
It's funny to contrast the sentiment here in this forum with the average Joe in the real world. Just this past weekend I was shaking my head at a guy I know who falls for all this stuff hook line and sinker - and loves it. Clicks on every ad looking for a deal. Goes and listens to the timeshare pitches so he can get his free whatever. It's crazy. Makes you realize that these ads, while driving us here at [H] crazy, they do actually work on the general population.

We are unfortunately in the vast minority :(
 
meanwhile the site hosting this article is riddled horribly with ads. Haha!
 
My feeling is if you can't pay to keep your own site/service running without ads, you shouldn't be doing it.
Oversimplification? Nope. Customers shouldn't be expecting 'free' access/service. If your product is that valued by them, they'll pay. So just make a damn great product :)

It's basically accepted as normal operating procedure that an entity (RE: one who relies on ads) is going to try and rely on ads to bring in some revenue from those viewing said entities site/service.
That kind of thinking, which has only been enabled and encouraged since basically the internet started (OK, ~post-AOL more or less) I find very toxic and demeaning.
In addition, as 'the American way' a lot of the ads that are peddled are blatantly* false* advertising that may not contain a 'shred of truth or fact*' or designed as their version of a loss-leader, just to get you in the door (on the site/service) in the hopes you remain for some other reason.

I do not care if a site shuts down because ads are being blocked and they aren't earning enough to keep it running.
Find another revenue stream that doesn't require you attempting to force unrequested imagery on my person.
If you can't, close up shop. I won't miss you. If I would, I'd be paying for the service elsewhere already.

I hate ads. In case you didn't get that.

ALSO - if the entity in question has strong valuation in stocks because of advertising revenue, that's just wrong. That is NOT a company. All they have is monopoly money.
Far as I'm concerned, they should disappear and make the world a better place.

*But as long as you append your ad with an exception, even if it's a contradictory statement to the main ad, but tells the truth/fact, you're probably OK legally.
*Same as above point, a false or fuzzy-true statement is made and then quantified in tiny print or a person speaking at 500 words/min.
*Fuzzy-facts, vague enough to be true in SOME situations, and even where those situations represent 0.00000001% of your product, it's true so legal.
 
Inacurate said:
ALSO - if the entity in question has strong valuation in stocks because of advertising revenue, that's just wrong. That is NOT a company. All they have is monopoly money.
Far as I'm concerned, they should disappear and make the world a better place.
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So, Twitter? ;)
 
Look. I'm OK with subtle ads that blend in with the site design and don't take too much screen real-estate.

I want site operators to be able to get paid (or at least use ad revenue to cover their hosting costs).

The problem is ads don't usually conform to my expectations. They are bright, colorful, animated, with sound, etc. etc. Essentially designed to distract from the content I WANT to read. Because you never know which sites are going to properly manage their ads such that they are OK, the ad blocker just has to stay on at all times, except for a select few sites I whitelist (this one included, when I remember to do so).

The irony is, that I can't say I've ever even noticed the ads on Facebook even when they were supposedly visible. I guess I now have an adblock filter in my brain. I've learned to tune them out completely.

What doesn't make sense to me is, we all know that everyone gets pissed of by ads. So why do companies still buy ad space? If all you are going to accomplish is pissing off your potential customers, it would seem more effective to just not do it. I've never seen a good study showing return on investment of advertising, and I bet there is a reason for that.
 
gxp500 said:
I think you'd have to work in advertising to understand their mindset, your idea's would give them a good chuckle at a board meeting.
Click to expand...

Adblock does have an "acceptable ads" policy, and if you agree you can enable acceptable ads. I'm not convinced it actually results in less intrusive ads though. It may just be more of a "pay me off so I let your ads through my adblocker" plan...
 
They are already getting smarter and instead of ads they are making "news" articles that are just ads in disguise for the 'sponsor'... The last season of southpark nailed it again about the issue with online ads.
 
Biznatch said:
They are already getting smarter and instead of ads they are making "news" articles that are just ads in disguise for the 'sponsor'... The last season of southpark nailed it again about the issue with online ads.
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They've been doing this for decades in the print industry. There's a small disclaimer that it's an advertisement at the top and bottom.
 
az_max said:
They've been doing this for decades in the print industry. There's a small disclaimer that it's an advertisement at the top and bottom.
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Sometimes. Trade rags are full of press releases that only need the byline changed before printing and they never get marked as an ad.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
The irony is, that I can't say I've ever even noticed the ads on Facebook even when they were supposedly visible. I guess I now have an adblock filter in my brain. I've learned to tune them out completely.
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I'm going to have to take this back. Maybe I just got a delayed application of this, but my facebook feed is obnoxious today. Every few posts is an ad.

Hopefully ad block will catch up soon.

Meanwhile, I am posting this on every company that shows up unwanted in my feed:

Congratulations. Because your advertisement showed up in my Facebook feed unwanted, I have now boycotted you and will never consider buying your products. Advertising always backfires. People hate advertisements, and now your name is all over what they hate. Remember that!
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