R Soul on 19/3/2010 at 16:04
For a while I've been using AdBlock (for Firefox) but I've just read (
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2010/03/why-ad-blocking-is-devastating-to-the-sites-you-love.ars) this article which suggests it might not be such a good thing after all.
The reason I started using AdBlock was that so many ads are now flash based. I don't know if it's just a Firefox thing, but animated gifs can be halted with the Escape button, but there's no easy option for flash ads. Some can be stopped via the right-click menu, but others can't. I don't mind adverts that are static, but of course the reason for them being animated is to grab our attention, hence the current trend.
I'd like to ignore adverts but I'd prefer not to contribute to the 'views' going down and possibly reducing ad revenues for the site. Does anyone know of a decent solution?
Turtle on 19/3/2010 at 16:21
As a general rule I have ad-blocking enabled, but for sites I frequent I have it turned off as ad revenue is usually their main source of income and thus, the reason I am able to frequent them.
doctorfrog on 19/3/2010 at 16:53
I'm like you, I started using AdBlock because ads were becoming too annoying not to block. They were overrunning content with pop ups, pop unders, cute little reminders that slide away from the mouse cursor, etc.
I didn't start this arms race, and as I see it, it's not up to me to analyze and change my behavior. AdBlock only became a necessity when it seemed as though ads were inescapable. Advertisers and willing web sites painted themselves into that particular corner.
Also, Ars Technica is a great site that does wonderful things, but it has also been acquired by media giant Conde Naste and is presumably funded by them in some way, in addition to whatever buyout they gave the original site owners. Plus, the author of that particular article is purported to be a successful lawyer. I'm not weeping openly about Ars Technica.
I'm much more concerned about the slow death of investigative journalism than the minor sting tech journalism might be getting because plane tix to the latest Mac Expo are getting out of reach.
Matthew on 19/3/2010 at 16:56
I read the same article, R Soul. I didn't realise that ads were not all pay-per-click to be honest, but now that I know some of my favourite sites can get pay-per-impression ads I've turned off AdBlock on quite a few of them. I do however keep NoScript ready to choke off Flash ads when they rear their ugly heads.
Aerothorn on 19/3/2010 at 17:31
Never used AdBlock software for this reason. Ads can be obnoxious but I prefer them to paying money and/or having my preferred websites die. Plus, it's hard enough for a lot of places to pay the bills even without the adblocking issue.
june gloom on 19/3/2010 at 18:03
As has been noted, this is an arms race and I have no trouble with blocking ads, even on sites I frequent. When Destructoid started putting big ads in the backgrounds/sides of their site, I blocked those images.
I use a combination of Adblock and HOSTS and it blocks damn near everything. It's been so nice.
(
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/internet-advertising-american.php) This article is old but it illustrates the issue rather nicely.
Nameless Voice on 19/3/2010 at 20:12
I just use a URL blacklist file for Opera to block ads. It basically blocks all annoying ads, but leaves text-only ones, like small Google ads, alone. Which is fine by me.
Plus, I sometimes find the text-only ads in Gmail amusing.
Yakoob on 19/3/2010 at 20:29
Quote Posted by doctorfrog
Also, Ars Technica is a great site that does wonderful things, but it has also been acquired by media giant Conde Naste and is presumably funded by them in some way, in addition to whatever buyout they gave the original site owners. Plus, the author of that particular article is purported to be a successful lawyer. I'm not weeping openly about Ars Technica.
There's a lot of "ifs" and "maybes" in your paragraph there...
ZylonBane on 19/3/2010 at 21:23
Quote Posted by R Soul
The reason I started using AdBlock was that so many ads are now flash based. I don't know if it's just a Firefox thing, but animated gifs can be halted with the Escape button, but there's no easy option for flash ads.
(
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433) Buh?
doctorfrog on 19/3/2010 at 21:49
Quote Posted by Yakoob
There's a lot of "ifs" and "maybes" in your paragraph there...
Actually, there aren't, but I get what you're saying. Still using AdBlock+Flashblock.
