Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

This is the place to discuss issues with the acceptable ads list like a website no longer complying with the criteria.
JoeP
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:38 pm

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by JoeP »

Nuclearbroods wrote:As a normal Internet surfer who uses Adblock plus to remove everything the answer for you to get me to stop using it is simply show ads that are relevant to my interests. 99% of ads on the internet is pure garbage in content, I couldn't care less about them so I block them. Why should I waste my time viewing/clicking ads that have no relevance to my interests or life? Yes, this can be misconstrued as being selfish but that is the nature of the business world/Capitalism in general. Adapt or fail.
My situation is this: I will not, under any circumstances, react positively to any online advertisement. I will not click on it, let alone buy that product or service. If I make a purchase of a product or service, it is purely coincidental (don't worry, subliminal influence doesn't affect me).

Since I will not buy anything advertised, I will ignore the advertisements. Since I am ignoring the advertisements, what is the harm in *me* installing Adblock Plus? Should I be "forced" to have the ads still show, as some sort of punishment for not wanting them?

For those who say I am stealing, what do you want me to do? Should I click on an ad, but not buy anything? If so, then *you* as a content provider are stealing, because you are getting paid for a dead-end click. Do I need to actually buy something in order not to be labeled as a thief? If so, how much?

Don't get me wrong, if people actually WANT to see advertisements and part with their money, that is fine by me.
jo

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by jo »

How can i unblock blocked sites that block you when you have adblock installed?
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Crits
Posts: 394
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:54 am
Location: France
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Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by Crits »

jo wrote:How can i unblock blocked sites that block you when you have adblock installed?
Search the forum first to see if your problem haven't already been dealt with.
Create a new topic here : forum/viewforum.php?f=2 with the URL of the website.
Author of Liste FR, an ad-blocking subscription for French websites
mrsunsuds
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:52 pm

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by mrsunsuds »

Good discussion here...having been on both sides of it (surfer aggravated by intrusive ads vs website owner counting on some AdSense revenue), I suspect the only final resolution will be some kind of compromise between the ad serving technology and end-users. For example, the growing prevalence of video ads taking up the entire page will have to go to maintain surfer satisfaction. At the same time, an ad supported model goes with the territory for most websites, and users should expect some ad text and pictures alongside their content.

Personally, I draw the line at videos and audio: when I have to mute your ad and/or stop Flash player from running, that's when I feel the need to block your ads.
isonia084

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by isonia084 »

hello every one........
very informatics discussion here............
I suspect the only final resolution will be some kind of compromise between the ad serving technology and end-users.

Personally, I draw the line at videos and audio: when I have to mute your ad and/or stop Flash player from running, that's when I feel the need to block your ads.
Vicky2013

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by Vicky2013 »

I understand both sides on this. I understand that websites need to make money. I also understand that in the NOT SO RECENT PAST, that websites that give away so called "free" content that use advertisements to make money as opposed to using a pay wall / subscription method got more visitors. I also understand that this is the way that advertisers that are start-ups build their brand if done respectfully. I know people may not agree with this, but I believe this is ONE of the things that drive the economy.

This is where online advertisements f'd up.

1. A big unnamed ad network does this. They NOT SO LONG AGO started to follow you around the net and that ish in my opinion a not a good return on investment for the advertiser. To some visitors, that ish is creepy. I started noticing that every time I go to one of those big name sites (this may contradict what I said about startups), an ad shows up about that big name website on a visit to another website sometime afterwards. That sounds like a telemarketer to me. It's like they are saying, "Are you sure?". It also makes the ad irrelevant to the content on the page. I think this is where the ROI gets messed up and the visitor gets even more annoyed. If I'm visiting a website about vintage appliances, I don't won't to see and ad about Hoot Suite only because I visited Hoot Suite before. I ALREADY visited the site Hoot Suite. I got that info already. Now, I want to see information about vintage appliances so an ad about vintage stuff makes more sense. It doesn't have to be a competing ad either. It can be something that complements it like vintage electronics or something. Anyway, this also brings up privacy issues this makes this situation a whole lot worse.

2. A 3 minute pre-roll ad before a 5 minute video on YouTube. Now, this is probably the worse thing Goo has ever done. I am not easily annoyed by ads, but this takes the cake. I always press "skip ad" when the ad is longer than 30 seconds and is not interesting to me.

3. Ads that are half the content of the page. This goes without saying. I've seen one of those big glorified content farms have 2 paragraphs of information an ads everywhere. Even though they tend to be text ads that are relevant, it is still not "NICE" to have all those ads when you have so little content on the page. But they are a big website with a lot of sub-domains and have brand name recognition. They, therefore, are "forgiven" by the big search engine.

Conclusion:
I wish there was an ad blocker that allow you to blacklist websites one by one and/or let you blacklist the type of ads you see. Like I said, I am not easily annoyed by ads, but things have gotten worse when they follow me around and they have the long pre-roll ads on YouTube. I'd rather do that than to blacklist all ads on the net from the jump. But like I said, I understand both sides of this issue.
timdgsr

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by timdgsr »

Vicky2013 wrote:I wish there was an ad blocker that allow you to blacklist websites one by one
you can use adblock plus to do exactly that
ed chou iii

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by ed chou iii »

It's not just the ads themselves but the fact that the choice to view the selected content without the ad first is the real issue. The fact that one is not allowed to choose - If you refuse the ad, you refuse the content. This is the major problem. One's freedom to choose is gone.
Jim Lynch

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by Jim Lynch »

I'm a web publisher that focuses on technology content. Here's a list of my blogs:

http://desktoplinuxreviews.com
http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/linux-tips
http://jimlynch.com
http://jimlynch.com/technologytips
http://eyeonlinux.com

I run Adsense ads and Amazon affiliate links/ads. I can generally average 5 or 6 bucks per day without a problem. I dumped all my other ad networks for the following reasons:

1. They run flash/animated ads. I have no ability to turn these off or opt for static image ads only or text ads (Adsense is the only ad network I know of that lets me control this).

2. They slow the page load down considerably.

I have made it clear to readers the kinds of ads I run, where they are placed and also the kinds of ads I don't run. I have a widget at the top of the sidebar that explains all of this. In the widget I also offer a PayPal button for readers to contribute if they don't wish to see ads or buy stuff from Amazon.

Here's the text included in the Thank You for Whitelisting widget:

"Thanks so much if you've whitelisted this blog in your browser! We appreciate your support.

This blog survives financially by running Google Adsense ads and Amazon affiliate ads (clicking an Amazon link and buying something supports us).

1. The ads on this blog are text ads or static image ads.

2. There are no animated ads, and no flash ads.

3. We only allow Adsense ads from Google's Adwords network, we do not allow external networks to run ads.

4. The ads appear only above and below the content, and in the sidebar.

5. We do not allow in-text ads on this blog.

6. There are no social media “like” buttons and that sort of thing on this blog. The only social media icons that appear are simple, static .png images in the sidebar that link to our social media pages. They are there for your convenience if you wish to follow us.

7. We support ABP's Acceptable Ad Intiative.

8. If you still prefer not to see advertising, and don’t wish to purchase anything from Amazon then you can support this blog by clicking the Pay Now button to make a financial contribution via PayPal in any amount.

All contributions are appreciated and welcome. Thanks!"

I think that publishers need to take a clue from Adblock Plus and from the angry/frustrated thoughts posted by ABP users. Ad blocking isn't going away, so publishers need to totally rethink the kinds of ads they are running, where they are placed (no ads in the content at all) and which ad networks they allow on their sites.

I have laid it all out in my sidebar widgets for my readers, they know what they will see if they turn off their ad blockers, and they know which kinds of ads they WON'T see if they do so.

I had to rethink my entire approach to advertising, social media buttons, etc. to make my pages load faster and to get rid of all the stuff that readers hate seeing on the pages.

I do not know if other publishers have started thinking differently, but I certainly have. Publishers are going to have to change or die because the use of ad blockers is only going to grow. At some point I expect a strong majority of people to be using ad blockers while browsing. We are almost there for technology savvy readers, and it will spread to the rest of the population over the next few years.

So I think the original poster should rethink how he or she approaches ads on their sites.
Temba
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 2:37 am

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by Temba »

Vicky2013 wrote:I understand both sides on this.
I use no script with ad block, no script allows me to block domains and and all scripts associated with that domain, it prevents domains like hoots suits from following you around, (they use tracking that violates privacy, following a user around the internet with ads is extremely intrusive), it prevents google from ad tracking what we search and brows, which also is highly intrusive and violates privacy, Google is under fire right now and facing law suits because of their privacy violating ad tracking, search and brows tracking, email intrusions for ad tracking. i use ad block and No-script to PROTECT MY PRIVACY and prevent unwanted INTRUSIVE, ad tracking. I simple DO NOT want google and adsense tracking my search and brows results for ads, it's intrusive and violates my right to privacy and unwarranted and lawless tracking and snooping.


to the OP: I would rather NOT visit your site, then be FORCED to allow intrusive , privacy violating ad tracking.

I find that having google ads and adsnse and ALL ads blocked, the browser is FASTER, and performs better, specially when using google maps, youtube, and other resource intensive sites.
Guest

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by Guest »

I too am very upset with Adblock. I downloaded it and now everything is messing up. I tried to uninstall it in every way possible. But now the website i was trying to use still says i have it in my system. I have no clue what to do. i'm so frustrated its not even funny
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mapx
Posts: 21940
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:01 pm

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by mapx »

Guest wrote:I too am very upset with Adblock. I downloaded it and now everything is messing up.
what do you mean ?
I tried to uninstall it in every way possible. But now the website i was trying to use still says i have it in my system. I have no clue what to do. i'm so frustrated its not even funny
which browser, what version of ABP ?
if the browser profile is corrupted create a new one
NotAFish

Try hooking me and I'll toss the hook and run the other way!

Post by NotAFish »

If I'm in the market foot a product I'll do selective search and research. After 15 years of participation within the realm of internet browsing I have not once deliberately clicked on any ads thrown into my user experience without my permission. I have, however, made deliberate use of unobtrusive ads placed on forums and blogs I've frequented, knowing full well that by doing so would benefit the website and those that made it happen. Typically the best were designed by thoughtful webmasters, they'd place a small, legitimate link that says something like "Please check out our sponsors, to help support us and to help us keep the lights on." Now that's OK, that gives me a choice and I'll often click on things I'm not even interested in to see who's sponsoring and to help those who own/ develop/ maintain the site. Sadly those seem to be the exception rather than the rule these days.
Obviously that example isn't given verbatim, yet it does emphasize how I feel a good website is, or should be, designed. Websites/ forums I once visited frequently lacked obnoxious and unnecessary adverts, only to become overly greedy by giving into line after line of pictorial hyperlinks that now took minutes, even on T1 and faster cable/ optical connections just to load the homepage! Not once have I clicked on those ads, not even to support the site, on the contrary I've stopped going to those sites entirely, withdrew my subscriptions, going so far as having to blacklist my email clients when they'd bombard me with requests to come back! So if web-designers are losing money it's not because of adblockers, it's more likely due to a poor design and heavy-handed approach in placing so much irrelevant garbage, i.e. tons of active pictures for ads that flash and change constantly like dangling a bait in the face odd a largemouth bass with the thought that off agitated enough the bass will strike even when it's not hungry.

I am NOT a largemouth bass, nor an Ia fish to be hooked by any form of advertising trolling! When I want to check the weather it's the weather I'm interested in, not the latest vehicle to be offered up by such-and-such automotive maker, so why waste my time by forcing me to wait through an infomercial I'm being aggregated by?If anything I'll remember how annoyed I was by that advertiser and go to their competition, and that's a fact! Ads on smartphones are worse than TV, the TV ad can be muted and nowadays broadcasters know this and slap viewers in the face right over top of dialogue within movies that's needed to follow the story and that's the most offensive form of TV advertising alongside of commercials that deliberately annoy and scream at us life than the old freak-show circus barkers, they need to be blocked or reformatted to give the end-user a choice, bandwidth and time costs the end-user. Any advertiser or web designer that thinks otherwise doesn't know how many times their obnoxious campaigns actually sent me directly to their rivals when I did have an interest in a product like theirs, and that's a fact!""
JadedPony

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by JadedPony »

I have two thoughts for people who are complaining about "Adblocker is taking away my page's revenue!"

1) Ad companies need to consider a new pay model. Like if you really believe in a product you should be able to go to that products site and sign up to advertise for it instead of just getting random ads through third parties. Why? Because you as the content creator most likely know what your users like or are at least interested in. If you could get a advert package from products you know your people would like you could roll your own, actually relevant ads.

2) Bloggers and content providers should consider embracing the http://www.patreon.com/ method of revenue where you get subscribers who pay a what they want for every post you make. You could post all your main content for free then post something special for subscribers once a month or something. Someone was previously saying they get paid 5 dollars a week in ads, it wouldn't be hard to get 20 subscribers willing to donate a dollar a month, in fact if you make a good product you could get far more.

Ads will never die, but I hate them and will never pay for anything from anyone who tries to force them on me. You know who I give money to? Netflix. You know who I don't give money to? Hulu. You know why? Hulu is a ocean of ads and spam. Netflix wins because it has a better product that people advertise for free because it's good.

If you want to get paid, put out good content.
mutchy126
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 2:11 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Adblock, and others like it will ruin the internet for all.

Post by mutchy126 »

Jax2 wrote:Thank you for the reply and no, I am not a troll. I am a concerned web designer who has counted on adsense for years to procure at least some of what I spend on hosting and other costs involved in running a website, back.
Careful with Adsense, they'll ban you account suddenly for no good reason. :?
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