Adblocker is one of the first things I installed for my mother on her new computer. For me seeing ads is an annoyance, but for her it's a real problem. She can't instantly distinguish adverts from content - particularly things like Adsense.
Completely agree with this usage. If I didn't install an adblocker on my mothers computer she'd have 14 extra toolbars installed in her browser, 3 different virus scanners running and be out of pocket every month for some service she's been convinced she needs.
It would be good if there was an option to allow for "Parent friendly Ads".
How is one unable to distinguish ads from content? Even without the visual cues of div separation and "Ads By ____" inset, there's a huge difference between the following:
"The history of knitting, yarns, and crochet"
"Thousands of Knitting Yarns FREE! Get quick and easy patterns today!"
I run Opera, which has a built-in content blocker. As a rule, I don't block ads because they're a revenue source for many sites and I consider them the cost of admission. If I consider the annoyance a fair exchange for the content then I'll accept the ads, and if I don't think the content is worth the ads then I won't use the site.
I will disable particular ads on a case-by-case basis that I consider pathologically aggravating (less than 1%), or when they disrupt page functionality. I also block several types of tracking functions that can aggregate an identity across multiple domains (I find no privacy issues with first-party analytics).
In the special case of floating overlays, I am a strange, strange person. I will not click on the close button, because I don't like clicking on an ad, even to close it. Instead, I will fire up the debugger and delete the ad from the DOM.
"In the special case of floating overlays, I am a strange, strange person. I will not click on the close button, because I don't like clicking on an ad, even to close it. Instead, I will fire up the debugger and delete the ad from the DOM."
That's actually completely understandable, because in many pop-up ads closing it triggers something else, or something that appears to be a close button actually isn't, and so on and so forth. I find these ads to be the most intrusive and annoying.
Instead of slapping ads around the side of your page that can be blocked, you bust some holes in the Chinese wall and let advertising become involved in the narrative. There are tasteful and tasteless ways to do this (Monocle gets it right - http://www.psfk.com/2009/06/monocle-xs-brands-v-agencies.htm...) but you can choose new sources if you don't like what they do.
It's not an entirely new concept though. TV has been riddled with "integrated" content-based advertising for decades. Oprah doesn't just invite that famous author on to plug their book because they're friends.. ;-)
1004 days ago I was a lot more pessimistic about this trend on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1172595 (Yes, I track too many links.) But I'm now somewhat supportive of the move as long as publications do it carefully and focus on the content above all else.
Can you point to any current examples online? I'm not quite sure what this would look like. I know in the UK it's obligatory for an advertisement to be identified as such.
Yes, surfing has become unimaginable without one for me. And for the ads that didn't get removed by AdBlock like the Vevo skin around music videos on Youtube's VEVO channels, I made my own: http://www.bitfalls.com/2012/11/deskin-hide-vevo-ads-from-yo...
Working in web development as a UI/UX/front-end coding guy, I make a point out of not installing pop-up/add blockers.
Along with a big portion of power-users, I "suffer" from ad-blindness, so ads don't bug me that much regardless.
The ads that do bug me (generally ads with sound enabled or inappropriate ones), cause me to lodge complaints to sites that show them (if I like said site) or otherwise make me avoid that site in the future.
The reason I don't let a pop-up blocker take care of it all, is that I feel it's my responsibility to improve the web. To do that, I need to know what pains people, but also want to see what ads actually do work. That latter one is very rare though.
I actually unintentionally started using one by installing Ghostery. I was under the impression that it was just for blocking invisible beacons, like buttons, that sort of thing, but it also took care of virtually all normal display ads. The effect was surprisingly nice, so I've left it enabled.
I block ads, even for sites that I like. For sites that I like which choose to give me the opportunity, I'm happy to pay a monthly or yearly fee in exchange for the ability to disable ads- for sites that don't offer that option (or where I don't feel that I derive enough value from the site to justify the minimum cost) then I assume the organization running the site has evaluated the costs and potential revenue and decided that subsidizing users who choose to not to view ads with the revenue generated by ad-viewers is preferable to setting up a system to allow me to pay for ad-free content. If I'm unable to view a site without ads, then I will simply not view that site.
I apply this philosophy to all parts of my life. I'm happy to pay for a television show on Amazon, or subscribe to netflix, because I am able to watch the shows without commercials. For shows that were not available this way, I used to use hulu because adblock plus would block the advertisements. Recently adblock plus no longer blocks the ads on hulu (this is probably a filter list mis-configuration on my part) so I stopped watching those shows altogether.
There is a great deal of content that I enjoy, and I like to see content creators get reimbursed for what they produce, but there's no content IMHO that is worth subjecting myself to the psychological manipulation of ads.
I recently turned off AdBlock "just to see" for a few weeks. Maybe I had completely forgotten how bad online ads were but a few things really bothered me. I would get ads for shopping sites in my recent history (while browsing a totally unrelated site) that showed me items related to searches on said shopping website. A few times the ad would show me exact search results. Also it's unnerving seeing my Facebook profile pic right next to an empty comment field.
I use Adblock Plus, but I really need to start looking for a new adblocker, because Adblock Plus has started adding various anti-features like an on-by-default ad whitelist and a horribly broken domain "typo correction" mechanism. These annoyances add extra prompts and configuration work needed at installation time, and make it more difficult to maintain unobtrusive Adblock Plus installations for non-technical users.
• I do most browsing in Firefox, with no Flash plug-in installed, and NoScript (with gradual whitelisting of individual sites as needed).
• For a few sites, or Flash, I switch to Chrome with its sandboxed and rapidly-patched Flash plug-in, and even there Flash is set 'click to enable' on all but a few sites (eg: YouTube).
So lots of ads don't appear.
I do this for security and performance, not out of any resentment of ads.
I voted Yes because I do about the same. Using NoScript basically blocks the ads although my intent is to control the scripts that get run and to reduce the extent to which I'm tracked across the web.
If someone wants to show a static image or text ad on from their domain without too much tracking I will see it.
I also switch to Chrome when Flash is required for exactly the same reason. Chrome also gets used for sites I really don't trust and especially don't want tracking me across the web, particularly LinkedIn and Facebook.
Hell yeah i use an Adblocker, and i love having an outgoing firewall on my jailbroken ios devices -- I explicitly block all applications from contacting the advertising providers.
Advertising is evil and I will have no part of it. I don't care if your business model is advertising, you wont make a dime out of me.
I don't mind ads. What I have a problem with is animated graphics, autoplaying videos, and pop-ups. Blocking Flash mostly stops this for me, but as HTML5 becomes more popular, I worry that I will lose the ability to stop these kinds of behaviors.
I block ads, load plugins (Flash) only on click and replace the YouTube player with direct embeds of the video stream (no ads/UI/overlays/other nonsense). Then there's User CSS for a few sites and Greasemonkey to force autocomplete=on because you're not allowed to disable useful things in my browser for no good reason. A select few sites also get their HTML edited on the fly (using GlimmerBlocker).
That's what it takes these days to make the Web not annoy me. Mind you, it's not really the fact that there is advertising that bothers me, I'm just offended by how dumb most of it is. Plus, it makes sites a lot easier to look at.
I don't, as a web developer/marketer I feel it is important to see what others are doing. I barely notice them, the sites where I do are typically dev related and potentially of interest to me.
I'm a strange person. I don't use an ad blocker because I despise browser extensions on an ideological basis, but I also hate ads, so I avoid sites where I can see them. When I used Opera, I used to use the built-in ad blocker though.
I'm pretty tolerant of ads. There are a few ads that will cause me to never visit a site again. I'm gently concerned about malware being served via ads.
I'd prefer to pay a site for good content and have the option to remove ads.
I run Adblocker Plus from Chrome, but I keep it disabled unless the site in question gets WAY too intrusive. I keep it disabled for at-home content creators, like bloggers or blip.tv channels. People who work hard on something and get no other form of compensation for it SHOULD get add revenue.
Something like Disney.com, though, where there are about a zillion ads for cruises I will never go on, can kiss my taint. Ditto for ads that are loud, distracting videos on the sidebar, or ads that crash my poor little netbook (yes, there have been a few. My laptop is a fragile flower).
I recently switched to FF to start using Pentadactyl. In the process I ended up installing a few things here and there to make things feel just a tad more private, including Adblock Plus. I made a point to disable it on a number of sites I visit regularly with unobtrusive ads and will occasionally flick it off/on to make sure it's not introducing any layout issues or accidentally hiding content.
[+] [-] AlexMuir|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] infectoid|13 years ago|reply
It would be good if there was an option to allow for "Parent friendly Ads".
[+] [-] throwit1979|13 years ago|reply
"The history of knitting, yarns, and crochet"
"Thousands of Knitting Yarns FREE! Get quick and easy patterns today!"
[+] [-] lmkg|13 years ago|reply
I will disable particular ads on a case-by-case basis that I consider pathologically aggravating (less than 1%), or when they disrupt page functionality. I also block several types of tracking functions that can aggregate an identity across multiple domains (I find no privacy issues with first-party analytics).
In the special case of floating overlays, I am a strange, strange person. I will not click on the close button, because I don't like clicking on an ad, even to close it. Instead, I will fire up the debugger and delete the ad from the DOM.
[+] [-] robinh|13 years ago|reply
That's actually completely understandable, because in many pop-up ads closing it triggers something else, or something that appears to be a close button actually isn't, and so on and so forth. I find these ads to be the most intrusive and annoying.
[+] [-] petercooper|13 years ago|reply
Instead of slapping ads around the side of your page that can be blocked, you bust some holes in the Chinese wall and let advertising become involved in the narrative. There are tasteful and tasteless ways to do this (Monocle gets it right - http://www.psfk.com/2009/06/monocle-xs-brands-v-agencies.htm...) but you can choose new sources if you don't like what they do.
It's not an entirely new concept though. TV has been riddled with "integrated" content-based advertising for decades. Oprah doesn't just invite that famous author on to plug their book because they're friends.. ;-)
1004 days ago I was a lot more pessimistic about this trend on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1172595 (Yes, I track too many links.) But I'm now somewhat supportive of the move as long as publications do it carefully and focus on the content above all else.
[+] [-] AlexMuir|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] swader|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] richforrester|13 years ago|reply
Along with a big portion of power-users, I "suffer" from ad-blindness, so ads don't bug me that much regardless.
The ads that do bug me (generally ads with sound enabled or inappropriate ones), cause me to lodge complaints to sites that show them (if I like said site) or otherwise make me avoid that site in the future.
The reason I don't let a pop-up blocker take care of it all, is that I feel it's my responsibility to improve the web. To do that, I need to know what pains people, but also want to see what ads actually do work. That latter one is very rare though.
[+] [-] frou_dh|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] timskinner|13 years ago|reply
I apply this philosophy to all parts of my life. I'm happy to pay for a television show on Amazon, or subscribe to netflix, because I am able to watch the shows without commercials. For shows that were not available this way, I used to use hulu because adblock plus would block the advertisements. Recently adblock plus no longer blocks the ads on hulu (this is probably a filter list mis-configuration on my part) so I stopped watching those shows altogether.
There is a great deal of content that I enjoy, and I like to see content creators get reimbursed for what they produce, but there's no content IMHO that is worth subjecting myself to the psychological manipulation of ads.
[+] [-] reinhardt|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rjbond3rd|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] enimodas|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] akanster|13 years ago|reply
AdBlock is back on.
[+] [-] JoshTriplett|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gojomo|13 years ago|reply
• I do most browsing in Firefox, with no Flash plug-in installed, and NoScript (with gradual whitelisting of individual sites as needed).
• For a few sites, or Flash, I switch to Chrome with its sandboxed and rapidly-patched Flash plug-in, and even there Flash is set 'click to enable' on all but a few sites (eg: YouTube).
So lots of ads don't appear.
I do this for security and performance, not out of any resentment of ads.
[+] [-] josephlord|13 years ago|reply
If someone wants to show a static image or text ad on from their domain without too much tracking I will see it.
I also switch to Chrome when Flash is required for exactly the same reason. Chrome also gets used for sites I really don't trust and especially don't want tracking me across the web, particularly LinkedIn and Facebook.
[+] [-] miwsecatwork|13 years ago|reply
Advertising is evil and I will have no part of it. I don't care if your business model is advertising, you wont make a dime out of me.
[+] [-] RexRollman|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] lmlt|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sdfjkl|13 years ago|reply
That's what it takes these days to make the Web not annoy me. Mind you, it's not really the fact that there is advertising that bothers me, I'm just offended by how dumb most of it is. Plus, it makes sites a lot easier to look at.
[+] [-] lmlt|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tatsuke95|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zobzu|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 4ad|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] happimess|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ww520|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|13 years ago|reply
I'm pretty tolerant of ads. There are a few ads that will cause me to never visit a site again. I'm gently concerned about malware being served via ads.
I'd prefer to pay a site for good content and have the option to remove ads.
[+] [-] Elzarynn|13 years ago|reply
Something like Disney.com, though, where there are about a zillion ads for cruises I will never go on, can kiss my taint. Ditto for ads that are loud, distracting videos on the sidebar, or ads that crash my poor little netbook (yes, there have been a few. My laptop is a fragile flower).
[+] [-] evoxed|13 years ago|reply