No front-page thread for Ad Blocking?

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venm11

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I'm curious why the subject of Ad Blocking wasn't opened up for discussion, especially if readers + website owners + advertisers need to get in sync. For example, there are types of ads people wouldn't mind SO MUCH, and people need to be educated how to add exceptions for the sites they want to support, or blockers that make this easier could be popularized.

I run adblock and flashblock. I tried to add *.hardforum.com and *.hardocp.com to this, but it has really no effect, presumably since the ads are served by a number of different domains.

I have a problem with ads when they:
  1. distract severely from the content because of flashy animation
  2. chew my cpu and drain my battery to do it

The solution is to:
  1. have ads served from subdomains of *.hardocp.com so we can actually use the "exception" feature
  2. have an alternative to flash ads if we chose to block that kind of media (eg, flat jpegs)
 
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I for one have started using an Adblocker also. This is because I become engrossed with the game that I'm playing and seek as much information on it as possible. After getting keylogged by the fake .pdf's and malicious ads on other websites, I took the advice of [H] forums members and installed an adblocker program.

I don't like having it running at all. It is a pain in the ass, and I'd rather have a vibrant website with advertisements that are related to the website I'm reading. But I have even less desire to be keylogged and spend 3 weeks emailing and calling Aion customer service trying to get my account back.

If the ad is sanctioned by Hardocp, I don't have an issue with it showing up on the website; I find the best deals on computer parts that way. The interface for these adblockers is so annoying that I just "set it and forget it" most of the time.

I apologize for the lost revenue. If there's a way to protect myself from malicious software and support the websites I enjoy reading, I welcome it. I am open to any and all suggestions.

Cageymaru
 
Aah I just jumped in the first thread I saw :). Close this one please so more don't hop in here.

Thank you,

Cageymaru
 
cageymaru said:
I apologize for the lost revenue. If there's a way to protect myself from malicious software and support the websites I enjoy reading, I welcome it. I am open to any and all suggestions.
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These are the steps you'll want to follow:

1) Use Windows under a limited user account
2) Enable User Account Control
2) Employ some sort of active spyware protection, such as that built into MSE [free]
3) Sanbox, if desired [free]
 
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Actually that thread is kinda "He said, She said". I'd rather have a discussion with someone sensible lol. I don't WANT to block ads from here. I hope that it's perfectly clear I like the advertisements here. But likewise I don't want to go to my favorite Aion gaming website and get a trojan.

Virus writers are the problems in my case and their scripts.

Cageymaru
 
Ok I will admit I use my admin account as I had so many problems under Vista Ultimate that I gave up on it. I'm on Win 7 Pro now with the UAC enabled though. I'm running Security Essentials, but I've never heard of Sandbox; I'll try that!

When I was having problems with trojans I was using ESET. I thought it was the best, but the virus writers were spitting them out faster than they could detect new ones. So I switched to MSE and haven't had any issues. But likewise I installed an adblocker, so I don't know which protected me more.

Thank you,
Cageymaru


phide said:
These are the steps want to follow:

1) Use Windows under a limited user account
2) Enable User Account Control
2) Employ some sort of active spyware protection, such as that built into MSE [free]
3) Sanbox, if desired [free]
Click to expand...
 
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Ad-Blocking is one of the primary means of practicing safe browsing.

Lots of news articles from a simple google news search.
March 10, 2010 9:01 AM PST
Web sites that have ad networks serve their ads are susceptible to malware being distributed on their sites without their knowledge or involvement. Visitors to the Drudge Report, The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other Web sites were found to be delivering ads containing malware last year.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10466753-245.html

February 23, 2010
A virus apparently spawned by an advertisement on StarTribune.com on Sunday morning was stopped Monday afternoon by halting the feed of outside ads to the website.
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http://www.startribune.com/business...ksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUq9_b9b_jEkP:QUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

KSL said the malware attack was implemented Wednesday night by a third-party advertising vendor
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http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=...=http://www.sltrib.com/technology/ci_14479140

Russell Fulton, Auckland University's information security officer, says the latest product of the botnet scientists is designed to run on mainstream websites, slipping under the guard of the major ad agencies who place the banner ads and pop-ups.

"We are taking this threat very seriously. The fact is you can go to any website and get attacked simply because it is carrying ads from one of the major agencies," Fulton says.
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/compute/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501832&objectid=10629488

Most of those would be considered reputable sites. As long as these cases exist, I can't imagine a technology enthusiast, in good faith, advising a user to not block advertising. Making such an advisement is deceiving your users. Ad servers are clearly a major security threat.

Ars's approach to blocking users who protect themselves, is the wrong approach. I see it kin to the RIAA mass filing lawsuits, targeting grandma's, people without computers, kids, etc. You can't make the market what you want it to be, you have to find some other way to adapt. HardOCP is one of the few sites who actually have produced a tangible good, with a good reputation via Ratpadz, they already have a step forward. Further the brand to generate revenue? There is already a huge following here.
 
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Additionally, to re-enforce my point:
Claiming that ad blocking is harming sites is like the recording industry claiming that piracy (or home taping) is killing music. Or it's like the newspaper industry claiming that aggregators are killing them. It's passing the blame. If you run a company, it's your responsibility to put together a business model that works. And if people are somehow figuring out ways to do what they want where you don't get paid, then it means you're doing something that needs to change. A good business model is one where everyone is happy with the transaction, not one where one party feels forced or coerced into accepting something they don't want.

So, let's get past this idea of blaming others, and focus on building business models where everyone benefits.
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http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100306/1649198451.shtml
 
Well the way I see it is that I want to support this website and any other's that I frequent. And I like the ads appearing as long as they are an extension of the website. I like seeing something neat in them and clicking to see what the price is and digging through Kyle's reviews and seeing if it's really up to snuff. So I'm consuming bandwidth that Kyle has to pay for as I'm referencing his articles to make an informed decision. And it doesn't cost me a dime; just a click and he's reimbursed!

I'm also very hesitant to turn off my adblocker because the gaming websites that I read have horrible security or maybe it's just that they get fed malicious advertising more. I know if I click an ad on them I am subject to a keylogger. If I let the ad load up, I'm subject to Adobe .pdf vulnerabilities. Right now Adobe asks me to "upgrade to the new version" after starting my PC, but if I load the actual program it says it's up to date. See I shouldn't have to deal with crap like that! All I did was read a pdf at a gaming website and now I'm like wtf... Again...

I'm not the dummy that clicks silly crap and gets a virus, or accepts a plugin to see some free porn. I'm just an average joe looking to spend some time and money while perusing the WWW.

Please keep the arguements in the other thread. I was kinda enjoying the help Phide sent me. Argue in the other one please :). Maybe someone can change the title of this one to "How to Allow [H] Advertising Through and Block the Others"

Thanks though,

Cageymaru
 
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