DISCUSSION: So, you want to avoid advertising?

This thread is to discuss the article titled:
So, you want to avoid advertising?

If you want to get a heated debate going, go to a forum with both webmasters and end-users and ask about the ethics of adblocking. Then stand well back. However, there are more ways of dealing with unpleasant advertising than simply blocking it. This article attempts to give an overview of these methods. The first point to consider is that by blocking all adverts, indiscriminately, you effectively remove yourself from the advertising statistics. If, for example, you find pop-ups especially annoying and block them, but block all banner ads as well, you can't expect advertisers to interpret this as "We should stop using pop-ups".

Let me disagree.

Every ad costs bandwidth, distracts you from the content you are after, costing you money, time and attention span.

There is no such thing as a good ad.

Ads, scams and frauds use the same entry. Blocking them indiscriminately removes the nuisance together with the dangerous, so what? Lest the difference between an ad and a scam is only gradual, they all want your money one way or the other. You should be able to browse the net without getting hit into the face that someone wants to sell something to you each and every split second, shouldn't you?

Hosting gets so cheap these days that small range webmasters can easily afford to skip them, larger ones can employ other means of funding.

By not appearing on their statistics you also don't appear on their data mining facilities and get some privacy back. Perhaps you even attract less spam and that would be worth it alone.

I am so happy with Linux because if I install a printer driver or a virus scanner, it does not modify my PC to a corporate branded gadget.

I am so happy with FOSS because if I install some software, it does not need to pollute my system with some browser toolbars that are actually spyware pretending to be desktop search engines.

So, modifying the instructions you gave in your excellent article, let me add my own:

Take it personally.
Understand each ad as an attack on your privacy.
Handle each ad as a personal insult.
Block them all.
Put them out of business.
Take back the web.
Don't care about emptying webmasters pockets. This revenue costs too much. If you liked someone, donate.
Don't use freeware that comes bundled with adware or spyware, be it installable or browseable.

Let me disagree.

Alright

Every ad costs bandwidth, distracts you from the content you are after, costing you money, time and attention span.

Quite true. A slightly-less-tolerant blog post of mine on the topic of adblocking actually got linked from the AdBlock Plus website a while ago on pretty much that topic.

Blocking them indiscriminately removes the nuisance together with the dangerous, so what?

But this is where I disagree.

There are websites where you can go to download TV adverts - and they're very popular. Why? Because some TV adverts are genuinely funny/entertaining enough that people *want* to see them, enough so that they'll hunt them down and download them in order to do so. (My favourite example being this one)

And there are a few - just a few - adverts that I either don't mind, or positively enjoy seeing. Google's adverts when I do a search are often relevant enough that I click on them because they're actually more useful than most of the search results pages.

The UserFriendly comic occasionally has advertising drives to get people to upgrade to Paid Subscription - and although I have such a sub, I don't use the ad-free version of the page: The adverts take the form of an alternative strip, which is replaced by the real one after 30 seconds. That's like getting two strips in one day - I *benefit* from UF advertising.

Any advert that's annoying, intrusive, deceptive, or in any way undesireable gets adblocked mercilessly and permanently. But blocking the few types of advert that are actually enjoyable, useful, or otherwise worth seeing? No, such adverts should be encouraged, not blocked indiscriminately. Advertising online isn't going to go away, believing otherwise is wishful thinking.

So doing what we can to make sure that the ads are helpful, entertaining, or in some way worth seeing, rather than annoying, intrusive, or distracting, can only be to our benefit. I'd rather advertisers were busy thinking up new ways to make my web experience better, than be busy thinking up new ways to bypass my popup blocker.

Thank you for your time and effort in letting us know the options concerning ads.

greencedar

Originally Posted by herd Let me disagree. Every ad costs bandwidth, distracts you from the content you are after, costing you money, time and attention span. There is no such thing as a good ad. Ads, scams and frauds use the same entry. Blocking them indiscriminately removes the nuisance together with the dangerous, so what? Lest the difference between an ad and a scam is only gradual, they all want your money one way or the other. You should be able to browse the net without getting hit into the face that someone wants to sell something to you each and every split second, shouldn't you? Hosting gets so cheap these days that small range webmasters can easily afford to skip them, larger ones can employ other means of funding. By not appearing on their statistics you also don't appear on their data mining facilities and get some privacy back. Perhaps you even attract less spam and that would be worth it alone. I am so happy with Linux because if I install a printer driver or a virus scanner, it does not modify my PC to a corporate branded gadget. I am so happy with FOSS because if I install some software, it does not need to pollute my system with some browser toolbars that are actually spyware pretending to be desktop search engines. So, modifying the instructions you gave in your excellent article, let me add my own: Take it personally. Understand each ad as an attack on your privacy. Handle each ad as a personal insult. Block them all. Put them out of business. Take back the web. Don't care about emptying webmasters pockets. This revenue costs too much. If you liked someone, donate. Don't use freeware that comes bundled with adware or spyware, be it installable or browseable.

The vast majority of the ads on the internet are a nuisance.I do hope that someone comes up with an idea to take them all away.

Thanks!
greencedar

greencedar

I use ublock origin.

I don't go online to see adverts, I go to get information, which is how it should be, all searches should be relevant to what is requested, not who is paying to be in the first one hundred hits!

It was far better in the old days, before it got commercialised, & I wish we could have an alternative network, without all the graphics & spyware, just the useful information.

But I guess we've had it! So ad-blockers it has to be!

Originally Posted by fatmac I don't go online to see adverts, I go to get information, which is how it should be, all searches should be relevant to what is requested, not who is paying to be in the first one hundred hits! It was far better in the old days, before it got commercialised, & I wish we could have an alternative network, without all the graphics & spyware, just the useful information. But I guess we've had it! So ad-blockers it has to be!

I call it "fluff" and I hate it.
And if I "miss out"? Sorry, no sympathy here. it's the 'net, don't take it personal.
Advertising this way is archaic.

"The Useful Information", now there's a Subject!
I guess that's maybe why Effectiveness and Efficiency are so popular. "Productivity?"
The Lazy, unorganized masses have been outed.

Collect Everything. Sort and categorize that shit later.
Categories change.

https://www.martindalecenter.com is my idea of "The Useful Information"

first of all: the OP is 12 years old, just fyi.

i think the need to finance one's website/server is totally overrated.

consider this:

• do you expect millions of visitors?
• do you offer media streams or huge downloads or extremely complex (and bandwidth intensive) web apps?

only if the answer to both questions is "yes", should you consider financing it.

if you run a simple blog to share some info and niche culture, you do not need ads and/or g****-analytics, in fact i'd consider it some sort of misguided (because not much can come of it) greed.

look at mine: running on discarded hardware - all i pay is for an already existing internet connection, and a very slightly elevated electricity bill.
most people spend orders of magnitude more on their high maintenance hobbies without even giving it a thought ("should i put advertisment on my sports gear to finance it?" - people do not think that usually).

Originally Posted by ondoho "should i put advertisment on my sports gear to finance it?" - people do not think that usually).

No. Usually.
I live in France and while working in a fruit orchard have to ask myself several times a day... seeing what passes by, on the road « Must they put advertisement on their sports gear to finance it ? »
Because, usually, they do.

My frontier goes straight through the Internet. Should all ad-driven proposals go down for lack of money, we would be back to the Web of the 1990s. YEEHAAAaaaa! Meaning, if you do not have to and do not want to, or do not know how to do it, you don't. And the Web will be fine.
Edit: Minus Doubleclick. They had been here quite early and did not even have to hide behind Google-libraries.

Ah. And Edit: If a few gave up cycling, the country roads would be safer, too, as advertisement appears to invalidate regulation.

Originally Posted by Michael Uplawski Because, usually, they do.

yes, involuntarily.
they don't get paid for it.