Do you use adblock? Why? Why not?
I posted this question because I once saw a tweet that said something like:
"If you use adblock, you don't care about creator's point blank"
What is your opinion on this? Do you agree with them?
Of course. And I'll continue to do so as long as advertisement is detrimental to my online experience. If it wastes my time by forcing me to watch an ad before a video, if it distracts me from reading a text because of animations, if it tries to scam or shock me, I'm better off blocking it. I'm not against advertisement as communication that a useful product or service exists, I'm against advertisement abuse and greed.
I'll happily pay for, donate to, or otherwise support services important to me that need and deserve it.
I use AdBlock (and SponsorBlock on YouTube, and a cookie whitelist and a JavaScript whitelist) because only I decide what to see on my screen.
If you, as a creator, choose to use advertising to monetize your content you don't respect the limited lifetime of the people consuming your content or their security or about the way the marketing and advertising industry is destroying our society, such as (not exhaustive, just off the top of my head right now)
And then there is the way internet advertising can spread malware and compromise the security of websites in general.
If you do want to monetize content in other ways there are models such as subscriptions or Patreon-style that are a lot more respectful of the user.
Absolutely. I understand things aren't for free, but if you make my experience subpar I'm blocking ads.
I wish more creators would make content available across more platforms.
Oh yeah, I completely forgot to mention the way the advertising industry has basically ignored every feedback from users for two decades or more by making ads ever more intrusive and obnoxious. They reap what they sow.
I have been with this idea for a very long time. But over time all the platforms got more and more greedy and I had the feeling that my privacy got more and more invaded.
Since that time, I have an Adblock and use DDG.
Sorry content creators.
Agree 100% with this
Well if I want to support creators, I would rather give them my money directly either by buying their merch or any payment plarform.
Nowadays ads are so intrusive. Also the way ads are delivered by knowing what I prefer is capitalistic at its finest. Not everything that I search are something I want to buy.
Yes, because I don't like subjecting myself to propaganda and having to hope I'm smart and strong enough to recognize it and avoid succumbing to it.
"People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you're not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs." - banksy
This "you don't care about creators" is a sham argument designed to make you feel guilty. I hear this about piracy a lot. "You're depriving all those blue collar people of a paycheck!" meanwhile the WGA has been on strike for weeks because big studios are screwing them over on pay. It's the corporate executives that are screwing these people over not some individual who downloaded a torrent or installed an adblocker. One only needs to look at who is funneling all the money into their own pockets and it surely isn't the general public.
Lmao what a stupid argument. If you want money paywall your content and see how many people really want to see it. You do not have the right to fill anyone's head with manipulative garbage propaganda just because you made a video about how much you love the second reich and want it to retvrn or wrote some shitty blog post.
People that call themselves CONTENT creators are the people churning out pure garbage for the bazinga-brained sake of contentcontentcontent and the quality of actually worthwhile shit would skyrocket if they would all just collectively quit because what would be leftover are the people who actually care and aren't in it for some ad views.
Artists, critics, musicians, designers, etc etc? They don't call themselves content creators like the bazinga-brained influencers in it purely to chase metrics. Tell the bazingas to fuck off.
Adblockers are absolutely necessary because ads are a malware threat, never mind the scams and invasive popups. The cReAtOrS didn't care enough to ensure advertisements were safe, legitimate, or not horribly obnoxious so they did it to themselves.
I used to allow ads for certain sites but after malware attempts and scam ads, I block them across the board. If that upsets anybody, go whine to the shady advertises who made this a necessity to browse the web safely.
As the de facto IT guy for my family, I block ads on all their computers just as a basic safety measure.
I can usually spot a fake download button and avoid scammy sites, but my parents and grandparents seem magnetically attracted to them
Plus there are ads now that give you plague just by loading them, which is uniquely horrifying to those of us who are informal tech support. D:
I use ad blockers everywhere. I hate ads and wouldn't buy anything advertised there anyway.
I avoid ads whereever and whenever I can. If the stuff I can't avoid is particularly obnoxious, I make a mental note never to buy the product even if I need something of the sort.
Yes I use an ad blocker. With some sites I visit, not having an ad blocker could mean the difference between my computer being destroyed by malware or saving myself by not clicking on malicious ads/full screen non-visible ads.
Also, if the content is coming from someone or some entity I am fairly certain doesn't need my monetary support, why should I bother seeing ads? That's just them leaching off me like a parasite. If I want to support a(n) person(s) and/or entity, I'd rather go as direct in helping find them as I can (such as through pateron or some other way).
“If you use adblock, you don’t care about creator’s point blank”
If I care about creators, it makes far more sense for them to run a Kofi tip jar of some kind and let us donate directly. Having thousands of viewers watch a cumulative 35 hours of ads so they can get 7c for it is ludicrous.
I'm not even kidding. The 'profit' creators get from ads is basically zero. If they want to monetise, they use Patron, Kofi, merch stores; or they line up sponsors that pay them directly (this comment brought to you by Raid™: Beats© by Legends®)
I would much rather pay a creator 10c a month and not have to watch 30minutes of ads of their platform. Way more profit for them, way better QoL for me, and it's not like I need to go out of my way to find ads.
If they care about creators and charities, they should donate money to them. They have very little use for your time, but your lifespan is the only resource you can never ever earn back. What a fucking waste to give so much of it away, and for nothing.
Yeah and I don't feel bad about it a bit. Few YouTubers have said that by donating one dollar they're profiting more than if you watch hours and hours of their ads.
yes because fuck ads
I've never heard that argument.
i use ad blockers everywhere.
The argument was undoubtedly put forward by someone selling ads.
The internet was always a place to share. The recent move to monetize everything is destroying the internet. So no, I don't care about content creators being paid. Even so, ads are annoying, they take up my time, bandwidth and break pages and are so completely irrelevant to me.
Counter point: Any creator blindly putting random ad networks on their site doesn't care about their users. Every ad should be vetted and served by the creator, those kinda ads are impossible to mass-block. If an ad swindles a user, it should be the creators reputation thats at stake.
I stopped having a bad conscience for blocking when one blog who begged promised to not autoplay any audio. The very next day it of course showed a very loud ad, and the creator excused it with "he didn't have any control over what the advertisement network showed".
They're creators alright, but what are they creating? The answer is a surveillance capitalist dystopia.
This is exactly what I was thinking. How many incredibly sketchy, scammy, or outright invasive ad scripts are we supposed to tolerate? For me the answer is "none" and I'm quite happy that way.
The "If you use adblock, you don’t care about creator’s point blank" is such a stupid argument and complete misunderstanding of the economics. There are other far more efficient ways to support creators than watching ads. Watching an hour of ads will generate a few cents for the creators and orders of magnitude more for the monopolistic platforms that host the content. The ads model doesn't fairly reward creators. I guarantee I give more to creators (via various means) than the misdirected "creator saviour" that wrote that ridiculous quote.
Yes. I hate ads that interrupt my experience. Whether they're midroll ads, baked-in ads, animated banner ads, cycling banner ads, or popup ads, I don't want them. The least annoying of the invasive ads are baked-in ads because I can skip them.
“If you use adblock, you don’t care about creator’s point blank”
Correct, I don't care. Run ads that don't bother me. Have a sponsor logo in the corner, do a video reviewing their stuff, whatever. Your options aren't just to annoy me.
This.
If you're a creator or platform that runs intrusive/invasive ads, you don't care about users
Yes I use graphine OS on a Google pixel and have nearly all FOSS apps. The few apps I can't get FOSS I cut off network access to. (Alwsome graphine OS feature)
On my home computer I use uBlock, sponserblock, and I have a piehole running.
My ethics on this mimic that of modern multiplayer games. Games make a much larger amount of money praying those willing to dump hundreds into cosmetic items so now the game is free for me. Eg. leage, overwatch, apex, halo etc. . .
I see other distributed content in this same way. If someone love a content creator so much that they will drop money on merch, or patron good for them. They make up the majority of the money the content creator makes anyway so I don't really lose sleep over it.
You're like me lol. Graphene, ublock, I use libretube and newpipe x sponsorblock, I use adguard home. I would also recommend the libredirector extension to redirect to youtube piped or something.
ublock origin and libredirect are basically a must for browsing the internet. Reddit, Fandom, and Medium are the most unusable websites, those websites are parasites so it gives me joy that I deprive them of revenue.
ayy the only 2 extensions i need for happy living. that plus firefox configured for privacy and anti-tracking
I'll have to look at Ublock. I used AdGuard for a while but can't get it to function with a VPN (except for the one they offer, which was terrible).
As an autist, I have many challenges involving the mental filtration of information. Too much clutter or non-relevant items and I become practically blind. The internet has largely become unusable to me. AdBlock means I can still use it all.
TV-style sudden/obnoxious ads are a sensory hell that feels like someone put my brain on fire. In effect, I am too disabled to be able to watch normal TV.
Because of this societal imposed disability, excluding me from using common services without experiencing real suffering for the sheer benefit of making more money, I have taken the following extreme stance:
“Viewing of any and all ads should require consent!” My mind is mine and companies trying to hold my limited focus/concentration by using psychologically manipulative tricks is simply invasive and violates my chance to remain cognitively functional.
There are some that do ads right. For example, LTT always notifies about “segues to their sponsor [SPONSORNAME]” allowing me a brief chance to pause the vid and choose for myself if I want to watch, skip, or leave.
While I usually do skip, there have been times I consented and watched an advertisement because of genuine interest or even for my own entertainment. (Hermitcraft Grian and Mumbo produced a great ad for Mumble. I still wish I could buy those Scar audiobooks)
So yes, I feel 100% justified to AdBlock everything and saying I don't care about the creators is flat out wrong.
My opinion is fairly similar as an ADHDer. Hard enough to navigate the information I need on the web without getting lost, adding ads as well just makes it impossible and overstimulating.
the argument feels like guilt tripping poor people for not making their masters richer. if you only care about getting paid, I do not give any fucks about your content because it's probably garbage anyway. it seems the only "content" people like this produce are shitty hottakes of them ranting about something they don't understand.
tl;Dr if your content is just a recording of yourself then it's accurate to say I don't give a shit about the content creator in that scenario.
Also, at least in my experience, the people who most have a problem with this and make statements like "adblockers are piracy" or "adblockers kill creators" tend also to be the people who put dick pill and crypto ads on their website. The people most in favour of ads tend to be the people using the least tolerable ads on their content. In the same way that people who spout "no censorship anywhere, free speech at all costs" whenever their social media posts get removed tend to post content that serves as the best arguments for websites needing 'censorship.'
The internet's practically unusable without it now. We'll always be in this rat race with advertisers and such. If I have the technical ability to circumvent every advertisement, I'll do it. Advertisers get plenty from the people without the tech know-how, and I directly support creators that I want to support. Maybe a bit of a "f you I got mine" position, but whatever. Zero guilt.
This is my issue. I don't mind a couple of tasteful, well placed ads. But so many sites are entirely unusable because of auto playing video ads, pop overs, and half the content is covered by ads that don't scroll with the screen.
On small sites with few ads I'll happily support them by whitelisting. On any site that has a pile of ads, especially if it covers content, I block them. Period. And I try not to go there unless absolutely necessary.
But I care of now being flooded with invasive ads popup and other shit
I don't do a thing without ad blockers. I decide what junk I open and what I watch. When a site has ad blocking detection, it's not worth my time, ever. Ads are the cancer of the current society. When I have something, ads are useless, when I don't have it, ads are equally useless, as I don't want and need it.
When creators of content create good content, I pay, same for apps. Ad companies leaching of the creators content need to be banned. (Those companies earn a lot more then content creators on those ads)
When there is an adblocker that will trigger the payment without me having to watch the ad (or even pull it over the web) I'm fine with it, else, no ads revenue. I pay for my data subscription, I decide.
I use adblock because it makes the internet usable. There's just so much crap shoved in your face these days. Not just ads that are blocked, but sponsored search results and SEO crap that you have to use your time and energy to filter out. I don't know how anybody actually buys stuff or responds to internet ads. I'm more and more on the Dead Internet Theory bandwagon.
This. The internet as it is today is utterly unusable without at least 3 levels of as blocking. Truly a dystopian nightmare (not to mention the environmental impact of this garbage).
If I had to use the internet without ublock then I think I would prefer to not use it at all. And I'm saying it as a person who makes some money off ads on a website. I would never put an ad-blocker-blocker on my website though. I just assume users don't care about the ads if they don't block them.
I'm not a hardcore capitalist. Also i can't watch all the ads the corporations would like to feed me every day. So i'm fine with using an adblocker. Don't give stuff out for free on the internet if you don't like this. But since you ask: I really don't like that strategy to commercialize everything, to finance everything by selling ads and user data...
undefined> capitalist
are you a capitalist tho? I mean, I consider myself a capitalist and let's just say people don't agree with me a lot here. anyways, how has this platform been treating you
lol. i watched way too much star trek when i was a kid. i would consider myself as someone who dislikes capitalism. but that's my private thing. i like having money available to buy food, eat nice noodles or go on vacation every now and then. but i wouldn't be sad if that somehow worked without the concept of money or some of the big companies.
i like this platform. i'm fine, thanks for asking.
Of course I do. Can't fathom how people still browse the web without adblockers. Especially when so many ads lead directly to malware. And ads are extremely distracting and annoying. Life is too short to be wasted on ads. Also creators are getting paid pennies on the dollar anyway.
Yes. I don't give a shit if it's immoral.
The fact that is isn't is just a bonus.
Advertisers keep pushing for a more and more obtrusive browsing experience, while shoving consumerist junk in my face to try and drain my wallet.
And I'm just supposed to be okay with that?
Nope, I block all the ads I can.
If you take a free newspaper out of your mailbox and move the ad insert straight to the trash without looking at it, are you doing something morally wrong?
I find it astonishing how many people fail to make the mental bridge from our physical world into the internet. Talking about spam emails with my mom, I once asked her: If you find a sandwich from an unknown sender that you didn't order in your mailbox, would you take a bite because it might be tasty?
I think she doesn't understand the analogy to this day ...
Recently tried a couple sites without an Adblock and it felt like the "good old days" of constant pop ups and garbage loading in the background while trying to read an article. The best are those autoplaying videos that don't start muted.
So with that said, yeah, I think I'm gonna keep that Adblock on!
Yeah, the raw web is an awful wasteland of ads - unregulated shit sites happily bog down anything they possibly can. Even "non-spam" sites are inundated with irrelevant distractions at best, and maleficence at worst.
Anyone who says they don't use ad blocker is either lying, they don't know how, or they don't know how much better the web could be without it.
Content creators that rely on ads, need to find a better way.
"If you don't pledge fealty to your feudal Lord, you don't care about the artists for which he is patron."
I don't care about creators who demand that I surrender my privacy as the only valid show of support for them.
That's it for me, way to put it. If a creator wants (as most do) money, let me donate. Don't shovel ads down my throat, I won't sympathize with your situation since you're fucking both of us over
But my Lord is good, right, and honourable, and if he sees fit to install a cryptominer on your system through an ad exploit, surely he has his reasons!
The story of internet ads is a classic greed to ruins fable. People put up with static picture and text ads for a very long time, and many, myself included, still don't mind them. In fact, self-hosting picture and text ads is almost guaranteed to get through adblockers.
But then the ads started moving. They started playing sound. They started executing code and phoning home to third party servers and collecting user data without consent. They started consuming more system resources than the webpage itself. Malware started being distributed through it, and there was even a recent breakthrough of ad cryptominers, because, again, they literally execute arbitrary code on your computer!
At this point our trust in ads are irreversibly broken. We will never tolerate ads again like we did when they hadn't done all this, even if they promises to clean up their act. Adblock was developed as not just something to remove unsightly ads, but also, and I do not exaggerate when I say this, as a line of defense for the security and usability of your computer. It's like an antivirus, but it kicks in before the virus even reaches your computer! For this reason, I think adblockers are not only okay to have, but essentially a mandatory item for browsing today's internet. If you want revenue in spite of that, maybe set up a tip jar and/or go back to self-hosted text and picture ads, I'm not disabling adblock and opening myself to harm because, no offense, I genuinely do not trust you.
Yes, I use adblock. Most sites I visit didn't have ads on them 15 years ago. I don't want to see the ads now. As others have said, they are way too scammy and intrusive.
But your second point about not caring about the creator, i always thibk about this. YouTube. They will do two 15 second unskippable ads for a 5 second video... and then the creator of that video DOES NOT SEE A CENT FROM THE ADVERTISERS OR YOUTUBE! Why? Because its not monetizable, thats why! Why would I waste my time over that kind of crap? Or, worse yet, if I wanted to watch another advertisement on YouTube, I have to watch an ad to watch an ad? Why does that make sense? It's not the consumers that don't watch ads that don't care about the creators. It's a platform that monetizes its users and then doesn't pay them for it.
Which don't get me started on Reddit...
Browsing the internet without content filters(adblock) is like going through a dungeon naked without armor. Too many risks which are not worth it.
I use Adguard and ublock origin. There's too much tracking, ads, crapware and even malware if you choose to not install one.
Even the FBI recommends to install an adblocker. https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/fbi-recommends-ad-blocker-online-scams-b1048998.html
Here's a hacker news discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28631005
I use uBlock Origin and just directly donate to creators I follow
It’s a bummer that blocking ads prevents some creators from getting money, but I’m not losing any sleep over it.
I don’t mind sponsored segments in videos and podcasts. However, the ads on YouTube and on many websites are invasive and annoying. That’s why I block them, and I won’t be turning it off.
Personally I use ublock origin. Adblock sold out years ago and now companies can pay them to get around their blocker.
I haven’t used Adblock in years for precisely this reason. uBlock Origin is the best choice, IMO. Except for a vanilla browser that’s necessary for work (my uni’s systems hate privacy due to the rats’ nest of interconnecting external SaaS vendors), I don’t even consider using a desktop browser without UBO, Privacy Badger, and deCentralEyes.
Edit: typo
Reminder that AdBlock doesn't block all ads. It blocks ads that hinder usability across the web. Without AdBlock, I simply would never visit 3/4 of the internet.
I'm using adblocker and sponsorblock on all devices (phone, Laptop, TV). There is no creator I like so much that I would endure those nuisances.
I do have paid subscriptions as well as ongoing patreons for some to ensure they get at least some revenue, but third party ads/ads spliced in from the main platform itself will not be tolerated.
Teach me the way to use adblock on (i)phone and (smart)TV please, i have long abandond the idea to watch youtube on annything but a proper computer OS.
Can't help you with iPhones, sorry. Never had an Apple device. You could blacklist known ad-servers through your router though, if that's an option (for home use, at least). On Android it's simple enough with this app: https://github.com/polymorphicshade/NewPipe/releases
If your TV is Android based, https://smarttubenext.com/.
It's a native TV app that captures the original youtube stream and displays it completely without ads, and comes with a sponsorblock implementation as well. Works amazingly well and is updated about weekly.
On iOS, adblocking comes down to installing two apps:
edit: On Smart TV, it's a fair bit more difficult. For my Roku, I have an Invidious client called Playlet. It's not nearly as full featured as the official app, but it's the best I have right now.
I'd say that ads don't care about creators.
We should be paying creators for content and that's not what ads do.
Do I use adblockers? Yes
Why? Honestly it's not about the ads, nor the tracking, or user privacy (though it is a perk). Nope I block ads for simple device security.
Fake links to sites I never wanted to visit with fake download buttons, or play buttons which download viruses or malware to my machines. I remember having a machine with Norton, and having to re-install the OS every year or so since too many accidental clicks caused me to download the wrong things.
And don't get me started with those old grotesque ads found on the bottom of pages. Nor the cleanup of my Grandparents machines with Viruses that live in RAM, or Ransom Ware which a cousin installed while looking for minecraft skins.
An AdBlocker is a security tool on the internet, it makes sure that the links you are clicking are from the site itself. It helps simplify the decisions needed since now instead of 2-10 download and play buttons, there maybe 1 or 2.
My Grand Parents don't have viruses any more, I don't get viruses any more. Sure it sucks that the site I visit doesn't get the $0.05 which it might get from ads if I visit. But after trying to do it legitimately for years, I just can't trust ad providers (even on Google) to get me the correct links or information any more.
I use an tracker blocker, because the way advertising is done today by google and similar is immoral, and its shocking that it is not illegal.
The way ads are put on duckduckgo, based on your search terms, or the way companies sponsor creators is great, that's the way advertising should be, and Iwant to support that.
But if you are going to be a creepy company (Google, Meta, ...) who wants to unconsensually track and profile me when my browser explicitly includes do not track requests, in order to manipulate my beliefs of purchasing habitats. As somebody who is aware of the problem, not using a tracker blocker like privacy badger would be wrong and immortal, because by allowing them to make money though abusing me, i would be supporting and aiding them in the evil they engage in.
Use a tracker blocker, don't help google be evil, and don't support anyone who demonizes you for refusing to support modern evil for their personal gain.
If you use adblock, you don’t care about creator’s point blank
If you put ads on your website, you don't care about users point blank.
I usually run my adblocker because there have been too many instances of malicious ads and just overly annoying advertisements. I will support creators directly when possible, and in other cases will disable the adblocker for specific sites that I trust and find value in. The advertising industry did this to themselves, I don't feel bad for using the blocker.
yes, because no ads basically means my antivirus software has nothing to do. Creators have no choice over what ads are served up with the content and 99% of ads are loaded with malware whether you click on them or not.
Creators need to come up with better ways to monetise their content instead of relying on them.
The internet is an usuable hellhole without uBlock Origin. I don't give two shits if creators are losing money. All you're 'creating' for me is annoyance with those invasive autoplaying video abombinations.
