Ad Blockers, Ads, And You

[Doctor XFizzle 8,669]

From Feld0's wall of text, I would take it as they are in fact, widely used, which is part of the issue here.

 

Well I was looking at the poll responses for the first question but since "yes" has closed the gap on "no"

Edited July 8, 2012 by Doctor XFizzle

[Key Gear 6,663]

At several points in my life, I have ran websites that depend on advertising to make enough money to stay online. I've seen the effects that ad blockers can have on site's revenue stream. Because of this, I, personally, don't use ad blocking programs. I wonder how many people on this site have thought about how the Internet would be without advertising.

 

The modern Internet owes its existence to the fact that anyone can write a blog, put some advertising on it, and make money if they write a popular blog post. How many times have you run across information that was incredibly helpful to you on the Internet? Now, how many of those websites with that helpful information have advertising on them? If there were no advertisements, then those sites would not exist and that information would not have been available.

 

Here's something else to think about. Do you use a search engine? Whether you use Google, Yahoo, or something else - all of these search engines are powered by advertisements. Paid search engine listings allow search engine companies to make money. Without those advertisements, you would not be able to use a search engine for free.

 

In fact, without advertisements, you would have to pay for everything - searching, browsing, and downloading. Since it will be impossible for you to individually pay for all of the websites that you use, large companies would have to probably build “collections” of websites and sell access to them. Does anyone remember AOL back in the 90s? This was their goal, to create a “walled garden” of content and features that they would control access to.

 

For a while, it looked like the AOL business model was winning, but then something amazing happened. Add exchange networks gave site owners the ability to directly monetize their traffic. Thanks to this change, normal website owners were suddenly able to offer rich content and experiences for their users without going broke in the process. Because of this, the walled garden approach was no longer necessary for ISPs to guarantee quality content for the users. The disaster was averted.

 

Of course, the modern Internet is not in danger of being controlled by any single company. However, that danger will always exist. If site owners are not able to make money from their traffic, then those sites will either have to close or charge some type of subscription fee. Over time, these changes will result in an Internet that is once again a “walled garden”. In this walled garden, only those who can pay will be able to play. Is this the future of the Internet that we would all like to see?

 

Whenever I think about using an ad blocker, I think about how the Internet could have been if online advertising had never taken off. I never want to see the Internet as a bunch of “walled gardens”. I like it the way it is - free, useful, and a bit crazy. This is why I don't use an ad blocker, and I encourage others to make the same choice.

 

If you don't like the advertising on the site, then you should contact the webmaster and tell them what you don't like. If you try this and you get no response, then you should probably consider not visiting this website. Instead, you should look for a site where the webmaster is more considerate of their users and reward that webmaster with your traffic.

Edited July 8, 2012 by Scootacool

[I_wesley125 393]

Now, to write a proper post.

 

Some people go so far as to say that AdBlock is piracy.

 

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLVWD2UNvVI

 

Most people who discourage it get a lot of dislikes (as you can see from this video) and I am sure most people do so because of a mob-mentality.

101 likes, 3,974 dislikes

The internet has spoken: You're a fucking douche.

 

That is the top comment, if you don't believe me.

 

Now I would say it is a bit off to say it is piracy. He says in the video "Piracy is getting something without paying" but I don't think that makes much sense.

Websites are publicly available, and a site owner should expect some bandwidth costs.

That seems almost like blaming ICANN or IANA for directing users from your domain to your site.

 

So in conclusion; you should not use AdBlock where ads are not intrusive but it should not be forced on someone. In the end, they own their own computer and they are allowed to decide what happens on it.

[ThatOnePwny 59]

Wait, I have a (probably stupid) question now. If I use an AdBlocker and still opt in for ads...then I'm not helping at all?

 

Well, time to whitelist this site.

[Zoop 8,384]

If I use an AdBlocker and still opt in for ads...then I'm not helping at all?

Correct. You have to be able to see an advertisement for it to actually accomplish anything as an advertisement.

[---------------------- 1,645]

Correct. You have to be able to see an advertisement for it to actually accomplish anything as an advertisement.

 

Not to mention then if there is not ad... then there no ad to click on, and it does not do anything for the site,

 

If you have an ad blocker, disable it for MLP forums. its not like mlp forums shoves ads in your face

[MrL0LZ 866]

After reading this post, went and turned off my adblocker for this site and turned on ads.

I really wish I didn't have to use a adblocker, but for some reason ads really tick off my OCD.

[Random User 249]

I personally do not use adblock, but rather I have found a comprehensive list of many, many, MANY advertisers, and added them to my host file in order to blockade most advertisers from even connecting to me in the first place - making it much more secure than adblock. The success rate of this is probably around 95% or the time, so ads are rarely something that bother me whilst I'm browsing.

[I_wesley125 393]

As Zoop said, "You have to be able to see an advertisement for it to actually accomplish anything as an advertisement."

In theory, that means an AdBlocker could be made to block ads and still make AdSense, etc. think that you viewed them.

Not saying that is good, just possible.

[Archangel 143]

Not to mention then if there is not ad... then there no ad to click on, and it does not do anything for the site,

 

If you have an ad blocker, disable it for MLP forums. its not like mlp forums shoves ads in your face

 

Actually that's not entirely true. Not all ads have the same form of payment to the site. Some operate on a "I've been clicked oh-so-many times." basis, some operate on "how many times have I been played on the site."

 

Some ads pay to get put on the sites in the first place. Doesn't matter if people actually see them. They're still on the site, the site still gets paid.

 

I do use an adblocker. But I put it off for a while. But I can only take oh so many crappy, boring, uninteresting, unskippable, slow-the-loading-of-the-page-down-a-lot ads before I just have to do something.

 

I'm fully aware that I'm killing a sites revenue. But if the site is unusable to me when it has ads on it then there's not really a point to be there in the first place now is there?

 

As to contacting the site designer to request the ad be removed, well, that's a lot harder than you think. And the only time an ad was removed because it was hindering my usage of a site was back when I played Runescape. So I've given up on that.

 

I don't know what type of ad payment system the MLP forums has, but I'm opted in just-in-case my adblocker doesn't hinder site payment. And to make up for it, I was going to donate some money (About 10-20 dollars. I'm not rich guys. 'specially if I'm going to finish building my new PC.) but then I found out the only way to pay was with Paypal. And I'm not using Paypal ever again. I almost lost all my money because of a misunderstanding on their part. Now my Paypal accounts been locked. Either I pay with my debit card, or not at all.

 

If ads ever take a change, stop being four minutes more footage before a video, and slowing down the site, or anything like that. I'll disable my adblocker again. But until then, it stays on.

 

Hell, before I had adblocker, I would purposely NOT buy whatever I saw being advertised.

Edited July 8, 2012 by Archangel

[Cupcake Ice Cream 436]

I use adblock all the time. However I whitelist certain sites

[Kapi 215]

I use adblock Plus.

 

However, I don't use it everywhere, I use it only where ads get real annoying. So MLPForums is whitelisted. Bulbapeedia isn't. Why is this? MLPForums' ads are not obtrusive. I do take a look at them, and if I'm interested, I click. Bu;bapedia has them plastered everywhere, and in some cases, a flash video even pops up in the bottom corner. Especially if I'm watching a YouTube or Netflix video, this gets really annoying really fast. To make it worse, its usually not somethig I'm interested in either!

 

The only other situation is my local newspaper. Recenetly, they went to Digital Subscriptions, where you have to pay to read the content on their site. But, if I'm paying to read the content, why are there still ads? Same goes for Xbox, its pretty rude that not only am I paying for Live, but they also have ads on the Dashboard.

 

If I've whitelisted a site, and there's a bad ad, then I'll contact the owner and let them know. If its whitelisted, there's a good reason for it.

 

If its done right, ads are a great source of income for a site. Too many sites abuse advertising though, and it makes the experience worse. While I feel a website is someone's own personal property, I also feel that what could be importatnt information, shouldn't be covered in ads.

[KakeiTheWolf 652]

If I might point out something, the original post does not go into detail about just how obscene or destructive ads can be for users.

 

A site I used to be at, Tesnexus.com and The Nexus Forums, was actually the reason I got an ad-blocker. Despite the site having stricter rules than any other forum I had ever seen, the ads were an atrocity. Despite being a decent site that tried to abide by some standard of decency, there was very rarely a time where you would not see two or three porn ads on a page (Child porn ads were also reported). The average amount of times I would have to refresh before I finally ended up with no porn ads was 20 to 30 refreshes (Mind you, I had to repeat this process for EVERY page I went to).

 

As well, a few years ago, I accidentally clicked on ONE ad. One. On accident. Within minutes, I had over 300 viruses, and for the rest of the time I had that computer, about 500 (I usually counted) ads would pop up on start up, and command prompt windows (containing malicious code that was being carried out rapidly) were spawning in dozens for the entirety of the time the computer was on. Eventually, it got so bad, we had to trash the computer. And note that this was when viruses were far tamer, back in the 1990s. Now, something like this would rip my computer a new one. This was all because of ONE ad and ONE misclick.

 

For me, AdBlock does far more than ensure a pleasant viewing experience. It makes it so I don't have to see lesbian porn all over my screen on any given site and it prevents my computers from being tortured to death by viruses. With an $1100 laptop, I don't want to have to deal with virus-ridden bullcrap. The ends justify the means: Ads do far more harm than they do good.

[Fizz. 1,078]

First of all, your post is a tl;dr because I just don't like ads lol.

 

Anywho, I use adblocker because I like to visit websites and not deal with pop out ads and such, or just annoying advertisements in general. Aside from websites that NEED ads to function like Hulu, if anything requires me to disable my adblocker I'm not going on it.

 

Basically, I use adblocker because ads annoy me. I'm not changing that so some website owner can get a bit richer.

[Zoop 8,384]

Basically, I use adblocker because ads annoy me. I'm not changing that so some website owner can get a bit richer.

Except in most cases - like here - nobody is getting rich. 100% of the advertising revenue goes toward the website, which most people access completely free of charge.

[Fizz. 1,078]

-

 

Yes ads are great, but there are billions of people browsing the interwebs. If I use an adblocker, the effects will be nonexistant. Sure, if everyone thought this way, the internet would die, but it's unrealistic to think that everyone uses adblocker or is even smart enough to install it, so I couldn't care less.

 

Except in most cases - like here - nobody is getting rich. 100% of the advertising revenue goes toward the website, which most people access completely free of charge.

 

Okay, but someone just donated $603 dollars to this site. Kind of a bad time to be debating adblocking usage when you guys get a LOT of donations.

[Espeon 338]

So basically:

 

 

 

 

I must save Andrew Hussie from starvation RIGHT NOW

 

I read the whole thing, Feld0, and it was nice to get a fresh perspective on all this jazz. I opted into ads and turned Adblock off for this site a while ago for these very reasons you gave, and a few of my own.

 

The only reasons I ever installed Adblock were:

1. Because I was sick of seeing ads before every Youtube video I watched.

2. Because most ads I saw are garish and aesthetically unpleasing.

 

I understand the selfishness of this, but it's a bit frustrating to have to go back to the Youtube tab to skip an ad every time the next video comes on in a playlist or something. The second reason is pretty damn unfair, because, as I have learned from this site, some site owners take care to filter out undesirable ads (I never really thought of the "inappropriate ad" thing, so it didn't factor into the original decision). By having Adblock on for all sites, I don't even give some sites a chance to show me that their ads are reasonable. Hell, sometimes I like to have an ad banner or something of the sort on the bottom of the page so the stuff I'm reading / typing is closer to the middle of the screen. Due to this invalidation of my reasoning, I'll definitely give some of the sites I frequent a shot with ads on. But not Youtube. I still hate those pre-video ads too much.

 

I would like to make one thing clear, though: I would never donate money to someone for making Adblock and allowing me to use it. Even before I read this, something just wouldn't feel right about it. Now I know why. It's not that I wouldn't donate money to someone for providing something in a situation where I could choose to not donate. For example, if I had any source of income at all, I'd probably drop a few bucks in this site's donation bin every now and again. Unfortunately I don't have a job, so I'm pitching in to the best of my ability by opting into ads. It's an "If I could, I would" situation. But yeah, maybe it's that this site is something I actively use and enjoy rather than a passive thing that prevents frustration sometimes, but could also prevent enjoyment should I discover something from an ad. Every good story does have at least two sides, and it's nice to be given the ones we don't already have.

 

Also, I'm guessing you didn't write the OP on a 3DS, Feld0 :3

Edited July 8, 2012 by BowlArt64

[A Blithering Div 247]

I use a tracker blocker. I.e. Ghostery, so I have to whitelist the domains I like and freuqent because Ghostery does block ads as they track where you've gone to display "relevant" ads or stuff I already bought a good 95% of the time. Maybe someday Newegg and Amazon will learn that I don't need 2 Graphics cards nor do I need another of the same exact set of screwdrivers. Having said that, the ads I experience here are never intrusive and are pretty streamlined.

 

For those concerned about security, you're better off using NoScript, a Firefox extension that disables JavaScript among other things. I used to use it, but got sick of having to whitelist every site stumbleupon brought me to.

[KakeiTheWolf 652]

I use a tracker blocker. I.e. Ghostery, so I have to whitelist the domains I like and freuqent because Ghostery does block ads as they track where you've gone to display "relevant" ads or stuff I already bought a good 95% of the time. Maybe someday Newegg and Amazon will learn that I don't need 2 Graphics cards nor do I need another of the same exact set of screwdrivers. Having said that, the ads I experience here are never intrusive and are pretty streamlined.

 

For those concerned about security, you're better off using NoScript, a Firefox extension that disables JavaScript among other things. I used to use it, but got sick of having to whitelist every site stumbleupon brought me to.

 

NoScript doesn't make it so ads do not have viruses.

[One 498]

ads huh? I hate them heres why

• They can get in the way of important content

• They are a menace if you click on them

• I dont care about the site owner even if its me, if they are in the way I hate them

• They can lag my computer

• They take along time to load (first reason I installed an ad block about 5 years ago)

• They can be distracting

• They can lead to malware etc.

• They are not making the site owner millions or anything
• Get annoying
• SUCK

[Chill Mists (Chilly) 801]

I don't use ad block, I don't like ads but I realise they're useful, besides, they're not really that bad are they?

[JhonHipster 124]

I don't use ad blockers, nor do ads bother me. There a fact of the Internet and I'm to lazy to install an ad blocker.

 

Some ads I do have problems with, mostly ones with sound or any animated ads. My computer has the most unstable flash player I've ever seen and these animated ads easily crash my flash player usually either freezing the webpage, or just stopping anything else using flash player, especially annoying when using YouTube.

 

These problems have at points almost made me consider using adblockers but many sites I use ( not just mlp forums) have incredibly small amount of users ( under 300) and just one person can make the difference of keeping the site afloat or not.

Edited July 9, 2012 by jarrod989

[I used to be a stranger 7,993]

*Opts in for ads on MLPforums*

[FedoraMemes 582]

I use an AdBlock, however, for certain sites and YouTube users, I disable the AdBlock (like this site for example).

 

On some sites that I don't regularly browse, ads are usually annoying and block just about all the text on the site. However, on a website like this, the ads aren't right in your face, they are at the top, bottom and sometimes sides, and they aren't the big flashing red audio ads that some sites have, that just are a general annoyance to everyone.

 

I do understand that it hurts a lot of webmasters, which is why on a site like this, I turn off the AdBlock, and volunteered for site ads, because I I can't donate, but people who run these ads pay money to this site. Same on YouTube. If I'm about to watch a good quality video by my favourite YouTuber who is partnered, I turn off AdBlock, because I want them to continue making good quality videos for me to watch.

 

But really, at the end of the day, it is the personal choice of whoever is browsing. If they choose to use an AdBlock, great, but just be aware that you are hurting a site, which could potentially go down because of the vast amount of users using an AdBlock.

[I_wesley125 393]

• They can get in the way of important content
• They are a menace if you click on them
• I dont care about the site owner even if its me, if they are in the way I hate them
• They can lag my computer
• They take along time to load (first reason I installed an ad block about 5 years ago)
• They can be distracting
• They can lead to malware etc.

1. If the placement is in the way of anything, contact the site owner.

2. Don't click them.

3. If they are in the way you should say something. See 1.

4. Fair point, usually AdSense/other reputable ad companies won't though.

5. See point 4.

6. See point 4.

7. See point 4.

Edited July 9, 2012 by I_wesley125