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Ad Block Plus Filter Maintainer "rick752" Dies At 56
A user on Reddit pointed out that Richard "rick752" Petnel, maintainer of one of the most popular filter lists for Ad Block Plus, has passed away at age 56. In an article last year Petnel described a bit of what he was up against in the ad world. "'I'm playing against some pretty big players,' he said, explaining his reluctance to step forward. 'I don't want to be harassed. . . . I don't want to be bribed. I started it because I was frustrated with getting my computer infected from ads -- malware and spyware and all that stuff,' he said. 'I kind of went overboard with it. But you have to admit, it's pretty amazing, right?'" Update 15:05 GMT by SM: updated to reflect Rick's status as maintainer of the most popular Ad Block Plus filter as opposed to Ad Block Plus itself.
does this mean no new updates?
I would give everything i own for a little bit more.
I feel for his family. I use and really like adblock plus but that is trivial compared to what his lose means to his family and friends.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
You might have annoyed advertisers, but that's fine with me, because advertisers used to annoy the shit out of me. Thanks to AdBlock Plus, I no longer have to be annoyed by adverts when I go online.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
Didn't know the man, but I love the product. It's comforting to know he won't have to worry about ads any more.
http://forums.lanik.us/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3366
Donations made to:
Community Hospice of Albany
445 New Karner Rd.
Albany, NY 12205
First and foremost, condolences to the family.
Second, Rich, thanks for a powerful plugin that I'm sure has kept my blood pressure down a few notches. Whenever I use a browser that doesn't have adBlock installed I am aghast at the irritating clutter that is on most web pages.
CommentBot 0.7a running with args "-module irritate,disagree -target random"
Though it's sad that the maintainer of one of AdBlock Plus' block lists (the "EasyList") died he still wasn't the maintainer of AdBlock Plus itself.
That's still Wladimir Palant, as can be easily seen here.
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
Naw, ya gotta go classy. Discount caskets aren't classy. Now a Folger's coffee can and scattering the ashes when the wind is in your face.... that's classy ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
He made the world a little bit better for a whole lot of people, quietly and effectively. There's almost no higher purpose in life.
From that post:
It's with great sadness that have to announce the passing of a good friend and our EasyList author, Rick752. Rick had suffered a stroke on St Patrick' Day, and I was just informed that Rick had passed away last evening. During this short period, while hospitalized, Rick had his family very close by his side. There was some able communication and awareness between Rick and his family before his passing and although given this short period to "prepare" for the inevitable, this news (as with any of this type) is still quite shocking and difficult to accept.
I've been using adblock plus for years now, and I can count the times I needed to disable it or allow something through it because a item or site I wanted to use wasn't working.
Shadus
I read the article associated and all I heard from the content owners' side was "If you block our ads, we lose revenue!" It seems to me that if websites stopped using more and more intrusive ad techniques that people would be less likely to want to use ad-blockers. You already know your customers hate pop-ups, so the ads get blocked. Your answer is to use pop-unders instead, trying to circumvent the wishes of your target customer. You know they block half the ads on your site, so you double the ads and spread the content out over twice as many pages. Again, your customer has already told you what they want, but you insist that you know better.
Seriously, I'm getting tired of website owners and advertisers continuing to whine about how we won't let them bug us. If you want me to look at your ads, stop making them annoy me so much! Stop using blinking, flashing banners (too bad the BLINK tag didn't take you with it when that died), stop using javascript banners that are as likely to infect my computer as not. Stop trying to "bundle" your adware with anything I want to install.
If you make your ads play nice with me, I'll stop using ad-blocker software. I'll look at your ads and I might even buy something from them.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
If you liked the software, donate money to his family to help cover funeral costs, or donate money to the charity listed in his obituary, Community Hospice of Albany, as a last tribute to someone whose work you've enjoyed over the years.
Someone else will maintain adblock plus. It could even be you!
...Though it'd be deliciously ironic as a Googler's 20% project.
He had a stroke about two weeks ago:
http://forums.lanik.us/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3366
"Rick had suffered a stroke on St Patrick' Day"
So you click the big stop sign and then click "Disable on Hulu.com". You are seriously arguing that this is a problem?
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Just install Ad Block Plus, after the Firefox restart associated with installing it, you'll get a popup asking you to choose a list. The default (which is EasyList, the one maintained by rick752) will do the job very well.
Sturgeon was an optimist.
What is the difference between Ad Block and Ad Block Plus?
Adblock Plus is faster, has more powerful filtering rules, and has a cleaner subscription mechanism. There is no reason to use the original Adblock any more. Go with ABP.
Do I need to get blacklists elsewhere or are they included in the above-mentioned extensions?
You do not need to manually download any blacklists. ABP supports subscribing to remote blacklists, which it will automatically update itself from. It will automatically suggest a few lists to subscribe to when you first install it.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
Trying to play Devils advocate.
As a user of AdBlock plus myself, I do often wonder how many services that I perceive free have advert revenue behind them. Will we see these services disappear as usage of ad blocking tools continue when they cannot generate enough revenue?
One day, you'll have kids. Then come back and read this comment :)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
You must make a distinction between the egotist and the egoist. The first boasts to his friends and holds their opinions of himself above his own. The second looks to himself for his inspiration and motivation. They both claim "pride", but the former is a false pride. You can expect the first to manipulate/lie to others when it is convenient to do so. The latter would not even conceive of it - not because of some commandment that must be followed, but simply because it would never come to mind.