The Adblock Argument

[Cal]

This is kind of similar to http://www.toonforum.co.uk/viewtopic.ph ... 0&p=426967" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, but different enough and topical so I'll give it its own thread.

AdBlock (not Adblock Plus, the 'original'/popular Firefox add-on) recently launched an indiegogo campaign to raise at least $25k to fund an advertising campaign to try to increase awareness of their service and to try to bring about an advert-less web.

This has caused a lot of people from websites reliant on ad revenue to speak out at once against adblocking, with the crux of their argument being that by denying them ad impressions through not loading adverts on their website while consuming their content, you are costing them bandwidth/money as well as not recompensing them for their work. This extends to youtube, twitch and similar services as well, if you're blocking the ads, you don't count as a view for the content creator and are costing the service providers money.

Users of adblocking software tend to argue that their user experience is more important, or that they don't make a difference in the grand scheme of things as their individual views are worth fractions of a penny.

What's your opinion on adblocking? And feel free to link any good articles/videos on the subject.

Personally, I've been an avid adblocker for pretty much as long as I've had my own PC and it's the first add-on I install into a new browser. I hated intrusive ads, especially flash ones which wreaked all kinds of havoc with your user experience, and was paranoid about potential getting malware from them. Most sites and advertisers, save the more shady types (streaming websites etc), seem to have got their act together now and realised that non-intrusive advertising doesn't piss off users, which tends to be a good thing. The worst it tends to get on decent websites now are site takeovers, which I'm fine with so long as the f***ing background doesn't link somewhere else.

A year or two ago I began to realise that yeah, adblocking on sites that you regularly visit or otherwise consume content from is a bit of a dick move (helped by such people occasionally speaking out against it, but being careful not to come off as whiny because somehow that infuriates people). So since then I've tried to whitelist (disable adblockplus) any site I regularly visit, or a new site that I visit and like the content on, followed by a refresh so that my impression is counted. However I've yet to manage to disable ABP on sites like youtube and twitch, despite watching a lot of content from there, I find pre-video adverts just too f***ing annoying. I'm happy to pay for reasonably priced content to still make some positive impact (and extra perks are always nice), for example I pay £30/year to GiantBomb, but with Twitch your options are $5/month for each channel you want to help, or $9/month for Twitch Turbo, neither of which are priced considerably in my opinion. Since I'm talking about it I guess I'll trial going without ABP on those sites for a couple of days, see if it is as much of an inconvenience as I think at the moment.

This is a good read from the thread I linked at the top - http://www.destructoid.com/half-of-dest ... 7904.phtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lord Porpington]

If any site has a problem adblocker, do what a lot of the porn sites do - Block people from accessing the content on the site unless they take off adblocker. I think that's a fair enough policy. You can use adblocker, but certain sites wont let you watch the videos unless you watch the ads.

Personally, I blame Youtube/Google completely. No one cares about the ads on the sides next to the videos, or in the banners, it was just having to watching a f***ing 30 second advert for videos as short as 90 seconds. This is why I believe 90% of the people who use adblocker use it.

Make ads less of an inconvenience to people and it will go away. Keep ads silent and in the stands, not in front of the videos.

Another suggestion would be to keep video advertisements to the end of the video, like metacafe does. It lets you watch a video then directs you to a trailer or something.

[Lidl]

I'm going to start unblocking ads on websites that I regularly visit and enjoy the content of. Seems only fair, even if it is only an extrememly minor increase in revenue/views to them.

[Ramone]

I don't use adblocker because I don't visit enough sites where advertising is an issue. The one site I do visit with a lot of ads, Giant Bomb, offers a subscription service which means I don't have to view them.

[B4E]

The problem is, I turned off the adblocker on the website you posted as an extra article, and there's that stupid ad on the sides of the screen where you think there is blank space to click your mouse when actually it's an ad that creates a pop-up.

That actively annoyed me and just shows why I got Adblock in the first place.

[Cal]

Also, if people aren't aware Adblock Plus (again, not the guys asking for money to make ads) has an inobtrusive whitelist that can be enabled/disabled in its options. These are the rules it uses - https://easylist-downloads.adblockplus. ... nrules.txt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tomtom94]

The main reason people use Adblock is for intrusive adverts.

The only reason adverts are getting more intrusive is because people are failing to take notice of them.

It's something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Personally I believe that if a website relies on advert revenue to support itself then it's poor to take that away from them. If you use it regularly then you can pay the website instead, many have subscription services (I used to use The Escapist which cost me about £12.50 a year for premium membership). The main reason I've never downloaded AdBlocker though is because while I find adverts irritating I don't find them so irritating that I can't actually use the internet. I just don't find them getting in my way. Even the pop-up ones on less reputable video sites ( ), just hit X and be done with it.

Youtube has been mentioned. Youtube is a complex issue as we found out with the Nintendo copyright claims, I don't tend to watch many short videos on there because the main videos I watch on there are produced by Youtube partners (ProtonJon, chuggaaconroy, Ashens etc) who are hence paid by Youtube based on the ad revenue. I don't want to say "it's not okay to take revenue away from people, it's fine to take it away from faceless corporations" because that's not the case. Yeah, Youtube's advert policy sometimes sucks, and I hate having to watch 30 seconds of advert for a comparatively small video, but they also let you skip the majority of their adverts (to the extent that companies are having to try to get you to not click 'Skip', anyone who saw the Youtube advert for Epic will know what I mean) which is a step. 30 seconds is really not a lot when you think about it and ESPECIALLY when you compare it to watching TV.

[beardface]

ITV player threatening to stop people watching their programmes when using adblocker.

[Cal]

People watch their programmes?

[Colback's Orange Tufts]

People watch their programmes?

I'd suspect the Venn diagram of people who use ITVPlayer (Xfactor/Downton) and those with AdBlock Plus wouldn't have much overlap

[KingoStarr]

ITV player threatening to stop people watching their programmes when using adblocker.

So what if you dont watch the ads at home? You go out to make a cuppa during the advert break and Paddy is in the kitchen with a knife, next thing you know you're on the isle of Fernando's naked

[asbo]

The row centres around a more recent addition to Adblock Plus's business, first trialled in 2011 but now gathering pace now it is out of its beta phase.

Where initially Adblock Plus would block all advertising, it now operates using a whitelist - a collection of, so far, around 150 sites and services whose ads are allowed through the filter.

To get on this whitelist, the advertising has to meet several fairly strict criteria: no animations, don't get in the way of reading text, and don't take up more than a third of a page's width, plus various other things.

Sensible parameters on the face of it, but here's the bone of contention: for "big" companies that want to be on the whitelist, Adblock Plus demands they pay a fee.

"Large companies that significantly increase their profits," explains Mr Faida, "In return support us to make the initiative sustainable."

If that fee isn't paid, advertising is blocked, even if it fits the "acceptable" criteria.

Pay up, in other words, or Adblock Plus will knock-out some of your revenue.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25219922" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is disgraceful, what a bunch of cunts.

[TheLittleGeordie]

I...don't see the the problem

[asbo]

It's extortion.

[Cal]

There are alternatives, but shame to see ABP going that route. The whitelist for acceptable advertising was a good idea but they had to go and be d***s about it... Still, you're free to manually whitelist sites you want to support that have sensible ads.

[skalpel]

It's strange that this has become an issue, and especially strange that there have been a few articles questioning the ethics of blocking adverts. Just like Cal says in the OP, I've blocked ads on almost every website for years and have little intention of changing. I completely despise advertising and, particularly now that we have ads targeted at people's browsing history, see no reason why anybody should have to happily accept grotesquely contrived insults upon their taste and discrimination, especially when it comes in the form of garishly ugly animations or large mid-paragraph interruptions.

I added an ad to this site a year or so ago with a pretty large slice of dismay, only doing so because I hated asking for donations (it made barely anything anyway ). I still have this site unblocked on ABP though, and one or two others which are polite and sensible about their advertising policy. One site actually has them turned off by default and when logged in you agree to switch them on via a small option in your settings that includes a short explanation of their reasons for needing ads etc. They appear in non intrusive places, are tastefully sized and coloured and I actually feel more inclined to even click on those just to help the guys out for being so damned good about it.

[Cal]

Hmm, maybe I should get some pop-ups and site takeover ads for all that empty space down the side that you'll still instinctively click...