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Google, Yahoo Cry About Ad-Blocking (cnbc.com)

JustAnotherOldGuy writes: Google and Yahoo have accused ad-blocking software Shine of "destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers, after an executive from the company called its solution a "nuclear weapon" threatening the industry. Ad blocking software use grew 41 percent in the 12 months to August 2015 and there are now 198 million active adblock users around the world, according PageFair. Benjamin Faes, managing director of media and platforms at Google, called Shine's technology a "blunt" solution that punishes users and good advertisers, and said, "Blocking all ads I think it's diminishing my experience of advertising and in that case we see an issue for the user themselves." It appears that these advertising executives still don't "get it", and are disingenuously tone-deaf to the legitimate complaints raised about ads.

707 comments

  1. Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here's a tip, Ben : "good advertiser" is an oxymoron.

    1. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

      Depends. Add a "dead" somewhere and it is no longer.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by johanw · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The only good ad is a blocked ad.

    3. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They need to figure out a way to make money that doesn't annoy the shit out of their 'customers'. Because otherwise people will go elsewhere and all the advertising in the world will be worthless.

    4. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How about offering an actual product instead of trying to be a lazy, self-entitled and disrespectful eternal Septemberist. Just because you put up a web site does not mean you deserve money, son.

    5. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Nice strawman. The fact is that the vast majority of sites don't rely on advertising. Sites that can't adapt won't be missed.

    6. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only sites that rely on advertising are the ones that don't offer anything of actual value.

    7. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by penguinoid · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There actually is good advertizing. I mean, actually good and not merely unobtrusive. It's very rare but it exists. Here's how to see if any particular ad is an example:
      Are people better off for having seen the ad than if they hadn't?

      This comes in a few forms:
      Reminders for something they wanted to do but forgot, or didn't think about. (People who bought X also bought Y.)
      Coordination issues. (Eg cellphone networks, or electric cars, or something else that needs multiple people buying it at the same time)
      Bargains (actual ones, not fake sales)
      Fundamentally new items

      Of course, pretty much everyone will think that their pet product is worthy of everyone's attention, which is why basically all advertizing is equivalent to V!@GRA spam, only more deceitful.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    8. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. Relying on advertising is clearly a poor business model and deserves extinction. Find another method to make money.

    9. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There actually is good advertizing. I mean, actually good and not merely unobtrusive. It's very rare but it exists.

      In print media and occasionally on television, you will sometimes see an advertisement for a product and say "that's something I'm interested in, I'll check it out the next time I'm in a store (or I'll look it up on an online retailer)"

      But that's because you're seeing ads for real, legitimate products that people might actually want. On the Internet, this sort of advertising is nearly non-existant. 99.99% of ads on websites are deceptive, fraudulent, malware, and in most cases not even advertising a legitimate product -- just trying to trick you into clicking on something so they can make money from "impressions".

      Fuck 'em all. Block everything.

    10. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by sycodon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When I open Slashdot, the site isn't obscured by a large graphic selling shit.

      There isn't shit crawling around the margins.

      There isn't any bullshit where random clicking somewhere takes you to an ad page.

      The page doesn't jump up and down as it loads various ads of unknown dimensions.

      In fact, Slashdot is doing the Ads correctly.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    11. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by v1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers,

      I wonder if they mean the love/hate relationship, where the advertisers LOVE us, and we HATE them?

      This is like saying security guards are ruining the robbers' relationships with the banks.

      And yes, agree 100%, quit annoying the piss out of us and we'll stop blocking the ads. There's a few easy gimmies right off the blocks, the animated ads that start talking to you or the popover ads, those are just a few asshats really dragging the advertisers' images thorugh the mud. Things get only slightly better from there, going to a page to read a short 4 paragraph article that has been carved into 9 pieces across 9 pages, and displayed in the middle of each page, surrounded by ads. I don't have much pity for them either.

      Beyond that, the most bothersom thing I think are the animated banners, and the recent surge in huge clickables on mobile pages. There's a few sites I'm probably going to stop going to simply because it's getting difficult to scroll to navigate the content without accidentally clicking one of the full-page ads every other screen. Each time, I have to stop, pull up a tab list, close the popover, and go back to the artice tab again. Over and over and over. Gets tiresome.

      (TV is also essentially unwatchable at this point, I've already given up completely on it, I'll get my content online or buy the discs, a total failure by the advertisers there for me, I'd be happy to watch some ads for your content, but you've made it a completely inequitable exchange at this point)

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    12. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, remember what they said about democracy. It's the worst form of government, except for all the other ones we've tried.

    13. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Sax+Russell+5449D29A · · Score: 1

      Should we still buy CDs? Did music exist before we had to pay for it?

      Industries change. Endorse change, adapt and win. That, or die away crying.

      --
      -SR
    14. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by mattack2 · · Score: 1

      "good advertiser" is an oxymoron.

      I disagree, as the various "Best X ads" shows (and previously Clio award winners), plus a very few Super Bowl ads every year, show...

      But other than that, yeah, skip 'em..

    15. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There is also the fact that malvertising is a significant method of attacking systems. With little to no curation by the ad servers about this, they have pretty much become accessories to the bad guys. To boot, they at best don't give a rat's ass, and at worst, seem to be doing the "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" game with the ransomware writers.

      It isn't about annoyances; it is about security. I can easily run a computer without an AV and not get it infected. Running it without an ad blocker... it will be pwned in minutes.

      The real life equivalent are door to door vacuum bed selespeople. If one in every 10 pulled out a 12 gauge and robbed the place, it will be no wonder why they will not find anyone to show off their products to. This is how it is with ads.

    16. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you actually bought the discs, you'd know you have these pleasures waiting for you:

      * Unskippable trailers
      * BD-Live!, which uses your Bluray player's internet connection (if you have a streaming service on it or a PS3/PS4/Xbone, likely) to download NEW TRAILERS FOR AWESOME MOVIES YOU SHOULD WATCH AT HIGH VOLUME.

      Very few places are safe from advertising. We haven't quite gotten random pages in our eBooks replaces with ads, but give it time.

    17. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by markus · · Score: 2

      I have had an ad blocker in my browser for years. I cancelled cable and only subscribe to streaming services that don't have ads (e.g. Netflix, Amazon) or I buy DVDs outright (for the cost that I save in cable fees, I can buy at least one disk a week and still come out ahead). I haven't read a printed magazine in decades. I literally are pretty much unaware of all current ads.

      Having said that, whenever my ad blocker is misconfigured and blocks the text ads from Google searches, I quickly notice and fix things. I only ever get these ads, when I am actively looking to buy something. And that's exactly when I actually appreciate seeing ads.

      I find, the "push" model or marketing is highly annoying and not something I'll tolerate; but the "pull" model, where I actively seek out advertisements is very different. This is good news for Google, as I'll still see their ads and even actively click through them; it's not really good news for anybody else, as random display ads on unrelated websites just don't work with this model.

      I am not sure what other monetization concept is available for random websites though; they just don't contribute enough to be worth paying, not even in eye balls.

    18. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      Citation?

      IF you count all sites, from 00.00.00.00 to 255.255.255.255, yeah. But let's take a look at the ones with all of the traffic, a count that's easily found and nicely debated, depending on who you're selling the information to.

      Take ten people in your family, and open up their cookie cache. Now find three sites across your entire family base that doesn't use cookies and advertising. Like it or not, sites DO INDEED use advertising, and by the almost logarithmic increase in blockers, more people are hating it.

      The ways they hate it are annotated up and down thread, in luxurious profanity and scatologically, often well-deserved. Yet we laud Google, prince of this darkness, for all their ostensible goodness where their core revenues come from: ad networking.

      Yes, there are more heinous organizations doing nasty things, but until the blockers come to an agreement not to listen to the incessant blather-- and some will cease because of ad revenue decline-- there will be no peace.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    19. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by lgw · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This is why I rip all my DVDs and Blurays. I just want a directory .mkv files. No messing with physical media, trailers, or any such nonsense.

      Yes, it would be easier to torrent, but it just feels off to torrent something that I'm holding the disc for. Plus I like the quality of my rips (e.g., I like English subs for all my movies, so I can watch in a noisy environment if I need to, but not turned on by default) .

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    20. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Bill+Dog · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Advertisers have always been lame, but what's newer is that today's web site operators don't seem to care how trashed up their sites look. Pop-overs are so common now it's becoming unbearable, but oftentimes they're not even ads. It's enter your email because every Tom, Dick, and Harry has a newsletter now. Or wouldn't you like to take a survey.

      And videos that auto-play. That shrink down and position to always being visible when you scroll past the full-size player. Because they're sure you didn't really mean to avoid it. Or the I guess HTML 5 video player controls where there's no stop or pause button present, so all you can do is drag the progress bar to the end to get it shut the hell up and stop visually distracting.

      The point being, it's the in-your-face kind of ads that I want to block, but it's also a site's own content, that's been implemented in a purposefully pushy way, that needs blocking.

      --
      Attention zealots and haters: 00100 00100
    21. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is not that they're losing money from ad blockers. The real problem is that the percentage of fraudulent bot traffic is increasing in proportion to real people clicking on ads. And that is what is really threatening the online ad industry. The exposure of the fraud that it is rife with.

    22. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But not on smartphones where you accidentally click on ads that bring you to the app store or some obscure website while scrolling.

    23. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 5, Funny

      Next story:

      TV manufacturers whine about "mute button" and "off button".

    24. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      If these marketing guys ever figure out a way for their commercial to climb out of your screen and dry hump you, we'll all be in trouble.

    25. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by fyngyrz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have yet to visit a paid (or free) mainstream media news site that had anything -- and I do mean anything -- on it that was worth the time it took to read it.

      What you get from these organizations is prop and, in some cases, agitprop. Often with an obvious left wing or right wing or other wing (as with reason.com) bias driving the whole mess. Not to mention (he mentioned) the business with... So, science says this, let's "balance" it with some bewildered superstitious malfuckery...

      We have had decades of drug war propaganda, save the children propaganda, terrorist propaganda, outright censorship, FCC keeping the airwaves completely out of the people's hands, superstitious pandering... and for this, they think they've done something deserving of my earning them money. Fuck the lot of them.

      Is it so bad if you fund your blog out of your pocket? I do it. It's not all that horrific an expense. Of course, I don't load my pages down with flash and videos and deeply multi-linked ads (or hardly any ads for that matter) and other crap; it's basically HTML and CSS and so my bandwidth usage is rational. I offer tshirts on the sidebar. They don't jump around, they don't suck content from anywhere but my domain, and if you don't actually click on them, they do nothing but sit there. I sell a few. Enough to fund the blog, anyway.

      I'm not going to make any real money from it, but so what? I have an actual occupation, you know, something that produces social value (which, I seriously assert, is NOT something news outlets do, nor advertisers.)

      Seriously, there's no more a guarantee, nor should there be, for advertising driven web pages than there was for buggy whip manufacturers.

      We have widespread communications now. We -- well, at least I -- don't need some talking head to tell me what to think.

      Yes, and if Google died a horrible death tomorrow? I'd just have to change my email around a bit. Mediocre search results designed to appeal to the average-and-lower user; search ranking by popularity. That essentially means that Google's search results are the Kardassians and Donald Trumps of content. Like it? More like "run screaming from it."

      Links get around without the need for search engines. I can't help it if the special butterflies don't know how to do that. They can learn. A nice web directory beats the hell out of a search engine any day, anyway. Curated links.

      So to return to my original thesis, I have no obligation to tolerate anyone's advertising. Period. You don't want to provide (whatever), then don't. I will not miss you. Not even a little bit. Likewise, no one has to come to my websites. Fine. Perfect, in fact.

      If I want to buy something, I go to the actual source and I look around there. I do not now, and will never again, click on web page ads. Those people have abused the privilege of consuming my computer's CPU cycles and monitor pixels and network bandwidth far too often and far too egregiously. Word of mouth (and its net equivalent, word-of-keyboard) is more trustworthy anyway.

      Anyone else remember Google's text ads? You know, back when Google was actually responsible about advertising? Before they changed from "never do evil" to "never not be greedy fucks and btw here's this huge animated twitchy pile of shite for you to enjoy"?

      The whole idea that the money-for-propaganda news model is sacred is repellent to me; you must eat the advertising because we're a big money operation thing... just as bad.

      Maybe the day of the advertiser and the news organization is over. It certainly should be over, as far as I'm concerned.

      I don't give a microfuck about what happens to them. Because they never gave a microfuck what happened to me and mine. And they lie and distort and lead the gullible around by the nose. Let them hide behind their paywalls. Let them suffocate and die there, too. /rant

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    26. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TV actually seems to be getting better.

    27. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I buy DVDs outright

      And what do you do about the 5-6 unskippable ads that begin most DVD content?

    28. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by zaphirplane · · Score: 0

      But you deserve nay are entitled to view it for no cost to you.
      How hard is it, if you don't want to pay the cost don't consume the good, you do that in the "real" world don't you ? Oh this cheese is cheap but I don't like it , this one is nice but very expensive , this is my price point. How about this walk into a bank and demand they give you a loan with no interest because "son ..:" or walk into a paid for parks / natural reserves without paying because the creator made the plants and the soil.

      Happy to pay the price go for it, if you are not don't use or consume it, and stop whining the world doesn't care till you vote with your action

    29. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I particularly like the word "malfuckery" as used above. "microfuck" is also new to me. Thanks!

    30. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And yes, agree 100%, quit annoying the piss out of us and we'll stop blocking the ads.

      I won't stop. I've got my system in place, so it's actually more effort for me to unblock ads than to continue blocking them. Because I don't see them, I won't see if they ever unfuck themselves. I resisted ad blocking for a long time, but now that I'm there, I'm not going back. The worst advertisers (and it was probably a minority of them) have destroyed the market that was. So much for self-regulation.

    31. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by XXongo · · Score: 1

      They need to figure out a way to make money that doesn't annoy the shit out of their 'customers'. Because otherwise people will go elsewhere and all the advertising in the world will be worthless.

      I wish I knew what that way to make money was.

      As far as I can tell, the only way writers and artists are able to make money from content on the internet is by putting up a kickstarter and basically saying "send me money".

    32. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      [citation needed] on this bullshit statement, shill. The Internet did just fine before advertising infected it, if you're too young to know that. It'll do just fine without all these parasites spreading malware and pissing users off.

    33. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by FunkSoulBrother · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's not how www works -- it's incumbent on the server owner to block my traffic if they don't want to serve me the content. All I'm doing is making HTTP requests and rendering the content in my browser as I see fit -- same as its been for 20+ years

    34. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jesus. You rip them. WTH is your malfunction people have ALREADY ANSWERED YOUR FUCKING QUESTION.

    35. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Page loads correctly and doesn't nag me to switch off AdBlock.

    36. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      And yes, agree 100%, quit annoying the piss out of us and we'll stop blocking the ads. There's a few easy gimmies right off the blocks, the animated ads that start talking to you or the popover ads, those are just a few asshats really dragging the advertisers' images thorugh the mud. Things get only slightly better from there, going to a page to read a short 4 paragraph article that has been carved into 9 pieces across 9 pages, and displayed in the middle of each page, surrounded by ads. I don't have much pity for them either.

      Suppose there's one website, or even one advertising network, that decided to do that.

      What are the consequences? Well, because you're using an adblocker that blocks all ads, you won't actually notice it, and they won't get any more income from you than they did before.

      On the other hand, for people who don't block ads (most of which simply don't know they can), I very much doubt they will see any positive outcome; more likely, quite the opposite. Those obnoxious, flashy ads are designed that way for a reason - because they do actually work, statistically speaking, and looking at click ratios.

      So our moral advertiser sees income dry up, and go out of business.

      And meanwhile, you're still using an adblocker - all that they did, did not change your behavior in the slightest, because you simply didn't observe it.

      So, why should any advertiser do what you tell them to do?

    37. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I walk up to you. I ask you for a newspaper. You hand me said newspaper, for free, no questions asked, except you have filled the middle of the newspaper with glossy advertisements. I say thank you, throw away the advertisements, and then you flip the fuck out and call me a thief. Did I steal from you? No, Did I take anything without permission? No. Just because you gave me advertisements does not mean I have to look at them. Just because your webpage gave me advertisements does not mean I have to render them. Capiche?

      If you want me to pay for the newspaper, then we can discuss that. Just don't expect to make me look at ads if I don't wanna. If you don't like it don't give me the fucking ads. If that means you wont give me the newspaper. FINE! One less set of eyeballs for you. If that doesn't bother you I don't care. If it does bother you I don't care. You cannot make me render your ads, all you can do is withold the content. So withold it already. Do it. Quit being a chickenshit. Go turn off your webpage.

    38. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by zaphirplane · · Score: 1

      Are you serious or trolling ?
      That's one view, where you abdicate ownership and responsibility and beg someone else do it for you. Guess what when you do that they choose to serve you ads of their choice in layout of their choosing and size they prefer

      Now I hope you lip isn't quivering in shock and fear; try not to cry

    39. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you put something in a public place, then you have no right to complain if someone views it. If you don't want people viewing your precious content, make it private or take it off of the internet entirely.

      Do you also whine when people look at you when you go outside?

    40. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Calling yourself a troll? I'm happy to see you admit it.

    41. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except not every single news site will be behind a paywall. Nice strawman though.

    42. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by zaphirplane · · Score: 1

      Why do you feel entitled ? In any other context you would exercise your right to not use/buy/watch/read a product if you don't like the cost. Why is it in this instance you feel entitled to consume/use without a cost. is it because you can't see the owner / maker / creator
      Is it because you can get away with it .

      When ad blocking becomes pervasive and not just within a closed group that doesn't spend anyway, the anti ad blocker will increase in use , my point is you are ruining it for everyone. Use what sites you like and get the ads (don't read them or click) if you don't like the shape / type of ads don't use the site.
        I'm personally ok with Google style simple clear ads but not crack ware site ads. If a site pushes to much well I move on.
      That's the only way to act to affect change in a moral way.

    43. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by dcollins117 · · Score: 1

      But you deserve nay are entitled to view it for no cost to you.

      A website is essentially an advertisement - for the person or company that put it up. Putting ads on an ad is redundant. That's why you don't see commercials on the Home Shopping Network. It's already one big advertisement.

      Presumably one puts a website up because they have information they would like to share. If that's true, then the site owner should pay the costs of distributing that information.

    44. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I made the switch from gopher to Lynx. The web was a shithole before people figured out how to make money creating content. There was a time when the web had a bunch of neckbeard handcrafted hot like pages with blink tags and computer equipment and AOL had a bulk of the useful content. Advertising got us out of those walled gardens and ad lockers will put us back in.

    45. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by zaphirplane · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing you don't do Python

    46. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by zaphirplane · · Score: 0

      Your statements are incorrect and the analogy is false. I expect you know that. Say whatever you like its not going to make a difference boycot sites whose ads you don't like.
      Using ad block will result in anti ad block s/w and ppl more exposed to drive by phishing / hijacking ads

    47. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are no unskippable ads. Use a proper player like VLC.

    48. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I have no obligation to tolerate anyone's advertising. Period. You don't want to provide (whatever), then don't. I will not miss you. Not even a little bit"

      I tend to sympathize with your position, but I think you need to look at this more holistically. Either content creators can make money *somehow* or the content isn't generated. We could block all kinds of stuff as a society, but it is that content provider that doesn't get paid. You also can't look at it as a single-webpage phenomena, but you need to look at it as an ecosystem, and ads are the sunlight that injects energy in the form of cash. I am pretty sure that there is SOMETHING you would miss if the entire ecosystem collapsed.

      The alternatives may be worse. We could all go back to 3 channels of network TV and single local newspapers ruled by giant media conglomerates that can squash speech, art, and even opinion of they so choose. We could go to all-pay-sites, but then the little guys are going to get crushed when they can't achieve critical mass, and the threshold for people being willing to pay for content is pretty darn high.

      I too hate the ads, and I block as many of them as I can, but we all (mostly them) need to look at this as an adjustment in the oft-contentious relationship, not as a deathmatch. I don't know the fix, but I'm sure there is a clever solution that we can all live with somewhere. I'd personally like to see an online ad "certification" program that enforces a standard of ad behavior in exchange for getting through *default* blocker settings. (like no video or audio, no social media sensing, no cookies, no full-screen blocks, etc)

    49. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yah that sums it up right there :) I kind of miss the web of the 90s sometimes. If some of the churning content farm crap sites disappeared because everyone blocked ads the web would probably be better for it. Make something I'm willing to pay for access into or do what you can with the resources you have...

    50. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And I guess that you do, which explains a lot.

      I, on the other hand, am a programmer, not a script kiddie.

    51. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No thanks, I'll just continue to block ads and not give a fuck about marketing scum like you or your pathetic attempts at spreading FUD.

    52. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Bert64 · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's bad advertisers that destroyed the relationship, ad blocking is just a natural reaction to that... It was the most intrusive ads (ie popups) that got blocked first, and it's the really intrusive ones (eg with sound) that cause people to install adblockers.
      Personally i installed an adblocker after i had a large number of tabs open and suddenly one of them started playing an ad with sound, it took me ages to hunt down and close the tab making noise so the anger triggered a response.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    53. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1

    54. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      So, why should any advertiser do what you tell them to do?

      Because the most popular ad-blocker[s] will be amenable to adding them to the acceptable advertisers list, for a small fee of course. But it is just a small fee, so who cares?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    55. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by vtcodger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'll make em a deal. If they will serve up ads that use minimal bandwidth, don't obscure content, do not make me wait for some stupid site in Botswana to respond, do not use javascript, do not expose me to malware, and do not try to use my audio or to display video, I'll delete my hosts file.

      And a suggestion to advertisers. Pissing off your audience probably is a less than optimal tactic.

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    56. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I tend to sympathize with your position, but I think you need to look at this more holistically. Either content creators can make money *somehow* or the content isn't generated.

      Good. Most of it is shit anyway.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    57. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by rastos1 · · Score: 1

      If I want to buy something, I go to the actual source and I look around there.

      Ever tried shopping for accommodation? Very often the actual source has no web site at all, does not publish prices/offerings on its own site, or is buried so deeply that it cannot be found either. Hotels are worst offenders at this.

    58. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by vtcodger · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "There actually is good advertizing. I mean, actually good and not merely unobtrusive. It's very rare but it exists."

      Yes, there is some. For example, I just typed "Toyota Camry tie rod ends" into Google. The search page comes back in three or four seconds and near the top there is a box that says sponsored, and has half a dozen images of tie rod ends from various suppliers ... with prices .. in USD. I wonder if I lived in Canada if the prices would be in Canadian dollars.

      No problem there, really. Google is trying to be helpful as well as trying to make money. And they are succeeding. That's fine. I wouldn't block those ads even if I could.

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    59. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The "acceptable ads" program is just Adblock Plus. And ABP is rapidly losing out to apps and plugins that block *all* ads.

      The problem is that people see an ad blocker that lets in 'some' ads as "defective". People want no ads at all. They aren't interested in a sustainable ecosystem, they just want ad-free and free.

      And there are loads of small adblocking companies willing to give that experience to them. Any adblocking company that tries to do the right thing (relatively speaking) loses out to the adblocking company willing to block everything.

    60. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You completely ignored everyone of my points.

      If you don't want me to have the content. DON'T FUCKING GIVE IT TO ME. If they give it to me and dont ask me to enable ads first, its their OWN DAMN FAULT.

      I honestly would rather give you a penny for that page view.

    61. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But you don't read most of the stuff. You presumably read the stuff that isn't shit. What happens to the reference website that you read for a total of 30 minutes per year, or less? The information was valuable. Subscribing is not a realistic option. So what happens to that site?

    62. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Compuser · · Score: 1

      Slashdot ads on mobile version are way too big. Scrolling past them without activating them is a pain.

    63. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      But you don't read most of the stuff. You presumably read the stuff that isn't shit. What happens to the reference website that you read for a total of 30 minutes per year, or less? The information was valuable. Subscribing is not a realistic option. So what happens to that site?

      Some of those sites are a labor of love, and they are no more costly to maintain than my blog, on which I give away free information and which has no advertising. It costs me less per year than one good meal out with a couple of beers. Some of those sites will go away, and I'll use another reference. Some of those sites will beg for money; some will get it.

      I would also like to be able to just give someone a dollar when I like their youtube video, there's still no good system for that. Everybody wants large or recurring payments.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    64. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Instead of putting ads on content they just made the content ads.

    65. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by LesFerg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I turn off my ad-blocker for all sites that I user regularly, as they are obviously providing content I value and deserve what income they can get.
      When I get sucked into hitting some click-bait link and go to a site I am not familiar with, I don't think they deserve to use me as an advertising platform, until at least I determine if they have provided me with useful and intelligent content.
      When a web site has a passive text note at the top saying, hey, we noticed you are blocking our ads, and we have hungry kittens to feed, and it would be really nice if you allowed our ads so that we can keep our site going.... etc... then I will usually turn off the ad-blocker for that site, and refresh, if they had content that wasn't total garbage.
      If I am halfway thru reading an article and a popup gets shoved over the top of what I am looking at, bitching about ad-blockers ruining the internet, then I close that site down and look elsewhere for the subject I was just reading about (cos it prolly wasn't their own original story to start with) so those annoying sites don't get a second chance.
      Judicious use of ad-blockers is my way of showing appreciation for intelligent, entertaining or informative web sites that deserve to be supported. Advertisers will just have to learn to live with the fact that a certain percentage of the internet using population are not dick-wits waiting to suck up more of their crap at every mouse click.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    66. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by dcollins117 · · Score: 1

      Your statements are incorrect and the analogy is false.

      How are my statements incorrect? You failed to mention that.

      I expect[sic] you know that.

      Wrong, I don't know that. Also, the word you were going for was "suspect, not "expect". To suspect means you have an idea, but no proof. To expect means to regard someone as doing something in the future. Learn the difference.

      Using ad block will result in anti ad block s/w[sic] and ppl[sic] more exposed to drive by phishing /[sic] hijacking ads

      Usng ad block will result in anti ad block smith and wesson and purple more exposed to drive by fishing pole attacks? I can't figure out what you're trying to say because it's not in English. We use the English language on Slashdot.

    67. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by LesFerg · · Score: 1

      What are the consequences? Well, because you're using an adblocker that blocks all ads, you won't actually notice it, and they won't get any more income from you than they did before.

      Maybe a fair compromise would be ad-blocker apps that determine that you have visited a blocked web site more than twice in a week, or whatever, and prompt you to disable the ad-blocker for this site that you actually seem to be getting value from. Then ban all web sites that use pop-up bitchy dialog boxes of their own telling you what an arse you are for not letting their ads display.

      --
      If I had a DeLorean... I would probably only drive it from time to time.
    68. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, why should any advertiser do what you tell them to do?

      To be blunt: I don't care.

      They can do fuck-all by now, as far as I am concerned. The self-regulation did squat. The ship has sailed. Their recent whining is vaguely entertaining, but that's it.

      If I hear about any significant changes to the better, I *might* reconsider at some point in the future. Until then, I'll continue blocking.

    69. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you seen their mobile page without an adblocker?

    70. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Right. But notice that Google isn't complaining about ABP. It is complaining about a different adblocker which does not have a similar arrangement, so far as I can tell

    71. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      It would actually be nice to develop a standard protocol for websites to communicate to (not detect!) adblockers, so that they get one chance to present their argument as to why you should unblock them, in a format that is controlled by the adblocker rather than the site (so, on one hand, it would be less intrusive than an HTML popup; and, on the other hand, the adblocker should provide a single-click UI to exclude the site)

    72. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dont know what s/w means maybe software? But ppl is a very common abbreviation for people. I don't know why u think it means purple other then just to be an arrogant ass and no I'm not the go.

    73. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      Google are in a position to instantly wipe Malware providers from the face of the earth.

      They do nothing.

      And now they moan about the consequences?

      Shareholders, where are your votes?

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    74. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1

      No. I stopped attempting to use a mobile for Slashdot. The mobile version is unusable.

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    75. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      You seem to forget - in those days you were young and foolish.

      For those of us who were already adult at the time, that is not how it was.

      Ads have fucked the internet. Either the ads go, or the internet goes.

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    76. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I did vote. I own no shares of Google in my "play" portfolio. Err... I think I have some non-voting shares in my real portfolio but that's managed on my behalf so I do not know what is in there right now - probably some is in there, there was the last time I looked but that was quite a while ago. I could find out but I'm really not that keen on paying attention - it makes me want to try to "correct" the person whom I am paying quite well to do things better than I can. That'd be just plain silly of me.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    77. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by TapeCutter · · Score: 2

      As far as I can tell, the only way writers and artists are able to make money from content on the internet is by putting up a kickstarter and basically saying "send me money".

      The term "struggling artist" was invented long before the internet. However, Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) and many, many, other talented artists, photographers, musicians, and writers, make a very respectable living from selling their content in physical form via the net. Giving away digital content and selling high quality physical versions of it go hand in glove for the arts. News is harder to sell, it spreads whether you want it to or not.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    78. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I figure it's their property. If they ask, I leave. I do not disable my ad-blocking software. I leave their property. I figure they're saying, "You can use my property but to do so means you must also accept this." I say, "Thanks but no thanks." So far, it has been pretty good to me and I've been blocking ads since the mid 1990s.

      I'm a guest, using their property. If they say that they want me to use that property in a certain way then I accept that it's their property and they get to make the rules about how people use their property. Usually, I just switch 'http' to 'cache' and that takes me to Google's cache - which is *not* their property. They've given their property to a new owner. The new owner doesn't ask me to disable my ad-blocking. I'm okay with that.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    79. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Mandrel · · Score: 1

      If I want to buy something, I go to the actual source and I look around there.

      Go where they sell the stuff? But these places are just another type of advertising. You're not going to get much unbiased information there. At least at independent sites you have a chance of getting the whole truth — though I agree that advertising is a bad way to fund them because ads both corrupt and annoy. A better way would be to reward information sources whenever they help or delight you.

    80. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by KGIII · · Score: 1

      To be fair, phishing is a word - in English. It's jargon but it's still a word. There is also spear-phishing. That's definitely English, just not classic English but English is not a dead language.

      For the American Heritage Dictionary definition:
      "phishing." American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 24 Feb. 2016 http://www.thefreedictionary.c...
      For Collins English Dictionary:
      "phishing." Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014. 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014. HarperCollins Publishers 24 Feb. 2016 http://www.thefreedictionary.c...
      For Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words:
      "phishing." Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group. 2008. Diagram Visual Information Limited 24 Feb. 2016 http://www.thefreedictionary.c...

      It appears to date back at least as far as 1991.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    81. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Interesting

      (People who bought X also bought Y.

      That is actually the main reason I used to buy connectors from Farnell. Because none of the usual suspects (Farnell, RS, Mouser, DigiKey, etc) ever thought to link the connectors and specific crimp pins that you really need together. They were usually hell to find.

      Farnell however had a "people also bought X" feature and 99% of the time, X was the correct, unique crimp pin which went with the shell. The crimp tool would also be in the list if I felt like shelling out an extra $500[*].

      I've not been buying these recently so I don't know if they've all got a clue now.

      [*]If you've never used a proper $500 crimp tool and you've had to crimp stuff then you are missing out.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    82. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by zaphirplane · · Score: 1

      Why would you assume I'm not an English native speaker, you don't like what i am saying so I must not be an inbred us? Or ppl that can speak more than one language are stupid - crosses eyes --

      Thinking you are special because you are a native speaker is sad, tell me how you peaked in school and won little boy under 5 scribbling activity *twice*

    83. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by zaphirplane · · Score: 1

      "Wrong, I don't know that. Also, the word you were going for was "suspect, not "expect". To suspect means you have an idea, but no proof. To expect means to regard someone as doing something in the future. Learn the difference."

      No I mean expect, when you learn English from the b grade TV you miss out on the subtlety of some words. When you learn it by reading, writing and through education, you learn other ways of expressing yourself, different from b grade tv - in case it's not clear -

      BTW I've never had an Internet nemesis, I don't mind

    84. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The best advertising is to get a trusted reviewer to look at your product and write something honest about it. They can then cover all the areas you mention, without the risks associated with automated advertising (malware, blocking, bad recommendations etc.)

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    85. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by zaphirplane · · Score: 1

      No I didn't miss your point, you are missing the generic case.
      In everything in life, in the real world, you don't get a product if you are not ok with the cost. It's not for the maker/seller to stop you taking it with paying for it.
      That applies here, just avoid those sites and they will slowly die out if the world agrees with you
      If the world doesn't then no harm done you don't want those sites anyway.

    86. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Interesting

      To me the question of adblocking is VERY simple...are Google and Yahoo willing to actually stand behind their product and pay for any and all damages when they let malvertising through? No? Then they can jump off the nearest bridge.

      Their "product" is a huge security threat and this has been shown time and time again to be so. If you block advertising? The risk of malware infection drops so low as to be off the charts, in fact I can't even remember the last PC that came through the shop that got infected when the user had adblocking enabled. As long as their "product" remains the #1 risk to a computers security I WILL install adblocking on every PC that crosses my desk, to do otherwise just to support some corp that can't keep malware out of their network? Would simply be foolish.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    87. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No I demand that people should be prevented from seeing me. I demand.
      Everyone must stay indoors with curtains drawn when i walk in the street

    88. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Come on sometimes you have to concede the point.
      The majority of sites have ads, the largest most used sites have ads. The long tail sites have ads. The ones that don't have ads you are the product as the cool kids like to say, github and Twitter come to mind.
      The ones that don't are generally personal blogs not hosted on one of the major sites and are generally narrow focus and not something generally "followed"

    89. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Feel free to stick with university sites, government sites and your friends blogs.

      The Internet is connectivity (if you are as informed ad you claim to be you'd know that )
      You can use the parts you like and ignore the rest

    90. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but almost

      as annoying

      as ads

      are people

      who post

      like this

      to grab attention

      .

      and slashdot

      isn't pure imo

      my noscript reveals

      almost 40

      scripts

      blocked.

    91. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hate to say it, and I mean it in the politest way.
      You can't demand something when you are free loading

    92. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But they're not going elsewhere. They're going to the exact same places as before, but stealing the content instead of exchanging it for advert consumption.

    93. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Reflowing the page is a problem with a lot of sites in general, not just adverts. The BBC mobile version is terrible for it.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    94. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tip : unless you have a viable alternative to ads for financing most web content, you are just a moron.

    95. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by bsdpanix · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's the advertisers that destroyed the relationship. Their dancing snakes and popups, popunders have necessitated adblocking.
      Ads quickly became obnoxious and were easily blocked. Then they became sneaky and required a bit of effort to block, but they were blocked.
      Now that we block ads, it's a war. Since the advertisers continue to go over the top, I now look at pages with 50% white space because their divs are whited out

    96. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Tukz · · Score: 1

      They aren't unskippable. "Go to Top Menu" skips them.

      --
      - Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
    97. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by klapek · · Score: 1

      Next story:

      TV manufacturers whine about "mute button" and "off button".

      Or skipping advertising/warnings on dvd players? Funny! Oh, wait...

    98. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by dcollins117 · · Score: 1

      I know. I'm just having fun with him because he's easy to troll.

    99. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by LordWabbit2 · · Score: 1

      When I know that a website is loading slowly because of some overloaded third party advertising website is trying to load it's banner ad I close it down and go look elsewhere. Like you said, chances are it's just a copy paste from elsewhere anyway.

      --
      There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.
    100. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      As far as I can tell, the only way writers and artists are able to make money from content on the internet is by putting up a kickstarter and basically saying "send me money".

      You mean using the novel business model of work for hire, something that is older than copyright?

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    101. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, good. I was actually a little concerned that there was a Slashdotter who did not actually know what it was. I'm kind of big on end-user security and think *everyone* should know what it is and to know how to spot it and what steps to take to avoid it. Given that there's a lot that I don't know, I find it strange when there are things that I know (about tech) that others here do not know - but it happens with a regularity that's surprising.

      I was kind of disturbed that one might actually frequent this site and *not* know what it means. As in, 'shake my head' level of disturbed. As in, 'dig out links' level of disturbed. I want you to practice safe hex so I figured I'd mention it. Better safe than sorry. Though 'tis still a good thing to know you knew better.

      If I'd known you were trolling, I'd have not interrupted. Sorry to scare the fish away. I might, on occasion, do a little trolling myself but I usually try to avoid it unless they're really deserving. As I reread their posts, I can see why you'd do so. Again, I hope you didn't have a lot invested in the bait and sorry for interrupting your task.

      I'm just about out of my alloted posts. I'm gonna post this as an AC. Err... 'Tis obviously KGIII.

    102. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by dwillden · · Score: 1

      And with Mobiles (at least on android devices) the new tactic of redirecting to the Play store without permission or requesting such. I'm afraid to let my kids use my devices now for fear of finding new aps purchased, by kids that don't realize what is happening.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    103. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1

      Here on /. I officially represent the advertising market in this universe. Your comment makes so much sense that I will forward it to our members. As tomorrow Joan (our secretary) is off you should expect to see effects the day after.

      --

      I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    104. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      netflix does their advertisement during their shows, it's called product placement.

    105. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by jaredmauch · · Score: 1

      I gave up on TV years ago, and when I travel or am exposed to it in public, I'm reminded why. I'm not missing anything and most other things are coming OTT or I can just download. I'm mostly happy with my relationship with purchasing a tv season and getting it the next morning commercial free. The buggy devices could use some refinement, but to avoid the 90dB noise fest, I can live with it.

    106. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      You DO realize if you want to play the whole "in real life" game that since we are talking about a good that can have infinite copies made for no cost its actual "real world value" would be less than a single sheet of generic toilet paper, yes? Then add in the fact that many of these sites are "stealing" by simply ripping off stories or content from other sites and you are looking at an actual real world price tag of about 1/200th of a single sheet of generic toilet paper.

      I'm sorry but no place i know of allows payments of 1/1000th of a penny so I guess you're just out of luck mate.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    107. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

      Also product reviews.

    108. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by entropy01 · · Score: 2

      I wander over to thedailywtf.com occasionally and they are a shining example of the right way to do ads. I see their ad banners through my NoScript because their site is on my white list and they serve the ads. I even go so far as to click the ads when I'm on their site because I like to support those that do things the right way!

    109. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by nukenerd · · Score: 1

      There actually is good advertizing. [For example]
      Reminders for something they wanted to do but forgot, or didn't think about. (People who bought X also bought Y.)

      I don't give a shit what other people bought. As if other people never make mistakes.

      Bargains (actual ones, not fake sales)

      Every salesman will tell you his stuff is a bargain.

      There is useful advertising, but on websites specifically for the purpose. The whole of Ebay is advertising, that is its point and I use it a lot. Also I expect every business to have its own website, which again is useful advertising.

      If I want to buy a new camera I go to the websites of Pentax, Canon etc to see what they offer - those are advertising websites. As another example, if I need a plumber I Google for "Newport [my nearest town] plumbers" in order to find their adverts - even if unfortunately the results include shoe shops in New York because some admen think it is clever to flood their websites with dictionary keywords.

    110. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Should we still buy CDs? Did music exist before we had to pay for it?

      Industries change. Endorse change, adapt and win. That, or die away crying.

      The only problem is that change isn't always for the better. I'm not against change, but I am for "if it's not broke, don't fix it".

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    111. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think their definition of consumer is flawed. They must be talking about the content providers as the consumers. You know the ones getting paid to put ads on their sites. I don't watch any ads thanks to dumping cable all together and ad blocking and I'm not missing anything in life. Without advertising something does happen. A more peaceful life. Advertising is needed for companies wanting to market their products. Unfortunately for the handful of useful products there is many 1000s of times more totally crap products and scams and on the internet malware.

    112. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      You're exactly right - I ordered some JST SM connectors from Element14/Newark for that very reason. #1 they carried the connector and #2 they had the right pins listed *along with a substitute* since the official ones were out of stock.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    113. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Next story:

      TV advertisers whine to TV manufacturers about "mute button" and "off button".

      FTFY

      If TV manufacturers whine about those buttons, they would just release one without it...

    114. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would also like to be able to just give someone a dollar when I like their youtube video, there's still no good system for that. Everybody wants large or recurring payments.

      Isn't a lot of that the fact that the recipient would lose money on something as small as a dollar given transaction fees? (no one is going to be viable on Bitcoin)

    115. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "...I wonder if I lived in Canada if the prices would be in Canadian dollars.

       
      Yes, yes they are. They are also filtered to show Canadian Parts Stores ... or at least ones which do business here

    116. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      I agree. Things like sales on computer parts, bicycle parts and cloths, devboards, cars, travel deals, motorcycle helmets, jackets, and parts I am fine with. Even things like local events like car shows, rv shows, air shows, fairs, concerts are also good.
      Just do not make me wait forever for them to load and they must not be animated, have video, or audio elements.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    117. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Canadian here. Yep it seems to come back with Canadian sites/prices for that. That's not always the case (there are some things that are harder to find north of the border, so in those instances I've seen Google come back with US sites/prices instead). But they seem to smartly show CAD first, when available. Which is nice.

    118. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder if they mean the love/hate relationship, where the advertisers LOVE us, and we HATE them?

      If advertising aggregators loved us, they'd take a minute now and then to police the ads they push. It's hate on both sides. Google absolutely despises the general population (if you saw the aggregate search results, you probably would too), and Yahoo hasn't been important for a long time now, so they resent everyone.

    119. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Merk42 · · Score: 1

      I have yet to visit a paid (or free) mainstream media news site that had anything -- and I do mean anything -- on it that was worth the time it took to read it.

      If it's so worthless to you, wouldn't your action be to not visit the site at all rather than visit, but block its ads?

      Is it so bad if you fund your blog out of your pocket?

      So the only people that should have a voice on the Internet are those rich enough to bleed money? What could go wrong there?

      Mediocre search results [from Google] designed to appeal to the average-and-lower user; search ranking by popularity.

      What search engine to you recommend?

      Likewise, no one has to come to my websites. Fine. Perfect, in fact.

      If no one visited the page, that would be perfect. The problem is when people are taking the goods/service (reading article), but not paying (viewing ads).

    120. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by zaphirplane · · Score: 1

      The cost of something is the price it costs to make + profit divided by the number sold. That's why economy of scale has an impact. If ford could sell 100 times the number of cars the per cost per unit would drop, not how how many it could make.
      The other point about sites stealing content isn't really there because would you change your view if you were dealing with the original source ?
      BTW I don't have a vested financial interest in the topic, I'm just peeved by the arguments

    121. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by dcw3 · · Score: 2, Funny

      If these marketing guys ever figure out a way for their commercial to climb out of your screen and dry hump you, we'll all be in trouble.

      You didn't think Amazon was just going to have that drone drop off a package, did you???

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    122. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Until you realize that the prices vary on location and search history depending on if you can afford the higher expense.

    123. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Isn't a lot of that the fact that the recipient would lose money on something as small as a dollar given transaction fees? (no one is going to be viable on Bitcoin)

      Yes. I am shocked that nobody has solved the micropayment problem adequately yet.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    124. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by R33P · · Score: 1

      Yep, I get a block of sponsored retailers with Canadian websites and $CAD. So I agree - that is a rare form of good advertising. Except it isn't really advertising, since I specifically searched for exactly what the sponsored retailers are selling. It's more of a live inventory search of paticipating retailers - which is much more useful than advertising to me.

    125. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      The only good advertising is free advertising -- the word-of-mouth kind that your customers do for you if your product is good enough, and impartial product reviews by publications like Consumer Reports.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    126. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      If they serve a plain <img> from the same domain as the site itself, I'll see it. Otherwise, RequestPolicy and/or NoScript blocks it. Those are my terms; if they don't like it, too bad!

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    127. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Bigbutt · · Score: 1

      Yep, I've never had a problem with "unskippable" ads.

      [John]

      --
      Shit better not happen!
    128. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      You claim there's a problem, but nothing you wrote shows one.

      There are an infinite number of people willing to host websites for free. If every site that only exists to make a buck shut down forever, nothing of value would be lost!

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    129. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      It is the popups and autopsy video and audio. If it were just banner ads and optional play videos we wouldn't be here.

      Also, CNN wanting you to watch a 30s ad for a 30s story doesn't work, either.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    130. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Shareholders, where are your votes?

      Mostly held in mutual funds inside 401ks and IRAs, which means they get voted according to board-friendly policies like this instead of the will of the actual individual owners. Individual pass-through proxy voting for shares held in mutual funds is yet another long-overdue Wall Street reform that no politicians (that I know of) are seriously considering...

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    131. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tried it from Canada for you.

      To the side of the search results, I get 8 "sponsored" results, with images, links, and prices. All the links were to Canadian websites, so yes, likely also in Canadian Dollars.

    132. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Why would it be dangerous for your kids to browse the Play Store (other than them annoying you by whining about how they want you to buy stuff for them)? As long as there isn't a credit card attached to their account, there's no way for them to run up charges. (And if there's a card attached to your account and they're using it, well, stop letting them piggyback on your account and/or disassociate the card!)

      Of course, I admit that letting the kids have access to download "free" malware apps that exfiltrate their data is still a problem, but at least it's a different one than running up a large credit card bill.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    133. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know good advertisements do now slow down page load times by say 60 seconds or say. And good advertisements don't crash or freeze my browser. Half is this is an advertiser issue and half is a publisher issue.

    134. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Visarga · · Score: 1

      Add to your list the notification spam on mobile apps.

    135. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Bigbutt · · Score: 1

      Yea, the dictionary ones are the worst. I'll do a search and pop into a site only to not find what I was looking for. A page search doesn't even find the words I was searching for on the page.

      Assholes.

      [John]

      --
      Shit better not happen!
    136. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Visarga · · Score: 1

      Also, even more annoying are websites that request to deliver Chrome notifications to you. Many news sites force me to reject the popup just for the simple fact that I landed on one of their pages by an external link. I don't want a relationship with all the news sites I touch.

    137. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by kilfarsnar · · Score: 1

      They need to figure out a way to make money that doesn't annoy the shit out of their 'customers'. Because otherwise people will go elsewhere and all the advertising in the world will be worthless.

      I wish I knew what that way to make money was.

      As far as I can tell, the only way writers and artists are able to make money from content on the internet is by putting up a kickstarter and basically saying "send me money".

      The thing is, Capitalism requires scarcity to work. The less there is of something, the higher its value. Digital technology and the Internet have almost eliminated scarcity for products you see and hear. It's a circumstance our economic system just isn't set up to handle. So we get things like DRM and DMCA and stronger IP laws and enforcement to try to create scarcity through the legal system. But that's just a symptom of, and reaction to, our economic system breaking down. Because when the marginal cost of something is near zero, so is its value in the marketplace.

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    138. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Visarga · · Score: 1

      I can already unblock a site with two clicks. No need to add a whole new level there. I like the idea of being reminded to unblock some sites, especially if they are also unblocked by a high percentage of other readers - a kind of community spam filtering.

    139. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Visarga · · Score: 1

      Maybe a more nuanced ad filtering would do. We could implement community filtering by having users mark ads as bad/good. Another thing would be to implement filtering based on topics - let all programming related ads in, reject ads for dating sites. A third method would be to rate the sites displaying the ads by users and prompting users to unblock the site, or the idea mentioned above to propose unblocking if the user returns for more than a few times in a week. At least a few ads on a few sites could still go through, but still retain the ad-block advantages (less mental spam, less computing time and power used, less data transferred).

    140. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by kilfarsnar · · Score: 1

      Every news site in the whole world, behind a paywall. Want to get a second perspective on a news story? Better pay for every single other viewpoint, every single secondary source you want to look at -- unless you visit a "free" one funded by a political activism group. Remember, if you're not the customer, you're the product. Ads keep you in the customer chair. Entertainment sites, Youtube, comics, all of them: subscribe or get nothing. (Maybe no big loss most of the time.) Maybe they'll bundle together like cable...because we all love cable's pricing model. Content creators can get paid by the label they're a part of, because record labels aren't predatory to small creators at all! Want to look up DIY stuff? The web is now a bookstore, not a library. Free knowledge goes out the window. People who can't afford it miss out. Unlike local libraries, web sites aren't going to get much public funding.

      Sure, some sites would fund themselves by donations. Imagine a half-screen-size Wikipedia beg screen stamping on a human face...forever. But then, almost every single donation-powered website I've ever seen has gone back to ads within a couple months. They just couldn't make enough.

      I'm not sure this would be so awful. I used to have magazine and newspaper subscriptions. Sure they had ads in them, but if I didn't pay I didn't get the magazine. I remember the Internet when there were no ads. Websites existed and there was free content because the authors wanted to put it up there. There were not nearly as many websites. But really, the bulk of websites could go away tomorrow and we wouldn't be much worse off.

      I think there is a place for ad-driven content. But what we have now is really just everyone trying to make a buck without adding much value. The Free Market is supposed to allocate capital to where it does the most good. Maybe if people aren't willing to pay for something, that something just isn't that valuable.

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    141. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Visarga · · Score: 1

      > Either content creators can make money *somehow* or the content isn't generated.

      That's so false. Most content creators don't get anything other than reputation and self satisfaction from their postings. People create because creativity is one of our basic needs. We feel better when we are more creative so we create, for free or not.

    142. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For example, I just typed "Toyota Camry tie rod ends" into Google. The search page comes back in three or four seconds and near the top there is a box that says sponsored, and has half a dozen images of tie rod ends from various suppliers ... with prices .. in USD. I wonder if I lived in Canada if the prices would be in Canadian dollars.

      I just tried the search and the sponsored box contained 4 images of items for sale at TheWrenchMonkey.ca with CAD prices. CAPTCHA: wonders.

    143. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      The latest round of haribo ads are pretty good.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    144. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You didn't think Amazon was just going to have that drone drop off a package, did you???

      OMG you are right.... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!~!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    145. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by ad5mqesj · · Score: 1

      I run an ad blocker on Slashdot because of EXTREMELY OBNOXIOUS auto playing multi-media crap. If they would drop the damn auto-play video then I'd be happy to let the ads through - many of them are even interesting to me, but NOT if they are in my face obnoxious.

    146. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      I don't block ads. I use HTTP Switchboard (in Opera) to block java, javascript, plugins, etc.

      HTML and images load perfectly fine for me, so advertizers that chose to not be asshats will get my eyes on their ads, for whatever that is worth.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    147. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Either content creators can make money *somehow* or the content isn't generated. We could block all kinds of stuff as a society, but it is that content provider that doesn't get paid.

      Bullshit. "Content providers" can go fuck themselves; there are plenty of artists and hobbyists who will create stuff without a profit motive to take their place.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    148. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's a tip, commie idiot : Bill Hicks died of cancer, and if not, then he's been coerced into working as Alex Jones (a fate worse than death by cancer). This is largely because of his hateful and venomous attitude towards advertisers.

    149. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and users who don't realize there's a cost associated with things expect everything to be free.

      get out of here you free-loader

    150. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what damages? that your eyes saw something? your ears saw something?

      if we see you in public, are you willing to stand behind your face and pay for any and all damaged incurred by people seeing you and hearing your whiny voice?

      if not, go jump off the nearest bridge

    151. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What you're describing was foreseen, long ago. We were always saying, "If you make us use ad blockers, there's no going back." It's true: now we're blocking, and if they stop being annoying, we'll never know. We're not going back to ads.

      The same thing happened with TV and movie piracy. They wouldn't sell us the files we wanted, so we started pirating. Initially we begged them to open for business, but they wouldn't, and the years dragged on and our requests to do business became less and less frequent. Now if they ever change their mind and start accepting money, we won't know about it (because we've already cut off business ties) and we already have all this automation that just makes the pirate files magically appear in the TV directory. I'm pretty comfy with my pirate setup now, and it would take a lot to go back to cable TV, Netflix streaming, BluRays, etc.

      Telling a customer "we don't want you anymore" is permanent destruction. You can't do that and then later say, "we changed our mind and decided to run a business," because the former customer doesn't hear you anymore.

      On the other hand, not everyone has started blocking ads yet, just like there are still people who don't pirate movies yet. I don't know why (I guess we all have different annoyance thresholds) but they are still sending money. They will eventually stop, but right now, you can keep some of them IF you stop telling them to leave. Same for ads, so while you're right that v1 isn't ever going to reward them for improving their behavior, there are still holdouts, currently non-blocking people, who will reward them, by not leaving in the first place.

      But the industry is running out of time, and with each passing month a few more people stop bothering to go to the extra trouble to load ads. The "moral advertiser" is going to make more money if they adopt good policies today, than if they adopt good policies tomorrow. Tick tock.

    152. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      Because hotels still cater to MBAs, and for some reason, MBAs are all about calling people on the phone and talking to them.

      Call the hotel. Someone will pick up in 2 rings or less and in less than a minute give you prices for different rooms. And even cut you a deal if you're waffling.

      It makes no sense in the internet age, but that's how hotels work. Pretty much all of them.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    153. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      I mostly agree, the problem is that the bad advertisers have pretty much ruined it for everyone.

      However, some of these things are difficult-to-impossible to block with regular ad-blockers. For instance, your #1, "people who bought X also bought Y" isn't really the kind of ad that is targeted by ad-blockers. This is commonly seen on web stores like Amazon, and is served up by the site itself, not a third-party advertiser. It's really not even part of the debate about web advertising, which is that content-serving websites (like news sites, blogs, etc.) need ads to pay the bills, or else they can't afford to generate and serve content. This just isn't the case for something like Amazon: they get money by selling you stuff directly, not by having you see ads when you go there to read articles or look at videos. And while it's probably technically possible, I can't imagine an ad-blocker writer would waste his time trying to block the "people who bought X also bought Y" ads on Amazon; no one sane is objecting to those.

      Same goes for bargains; those you usually see when you're on a merchant's website: "since you're looking at products in category X, look, we're having a sale on this product in that category!". No one is objecting to those either, and they're not third-party.

      Fundamentally new items are a good example, but I do have to say I don't think I've ever learned of such a thing from a web ad, only from word-of-mouth (usually people talking about them on forums) or from news articles. If something is really that interesting, people will talk about it without needing to be paid to.

    154. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Ian+A.+Shill · · Score: 1
      Indeed. Trust is key.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      The real life equivalent are door to door vacuum bed selespeople. If one in every 10 pulled out a 12 gauge and robbed the place, it will be no wonder why they will not find anyone to show off their products to. This is how it is with ads.

      --
      For hire.
    155. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hired by websites....that can't pay them because people block their source of revenue.

    156. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by q4Fry · · Score: 1

      Also, checking the "Disable Ads because you've been a good boy" checkbox doesn't work on mobile Slashdot. If you have the feature bit... make it do something.

      Hint hint, whipslash.

    157. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Back in the 1960s Proctor and Gamble (soap, food, etc.) did some research that showed that obnoxious TV ads were more effective than 'nice' ads - people remembered the obnoxious ones, and that awareness of the brand turned into sales at the store. That was early days for TV so the effect probably declined quite a bit, and it seems to me that there had to be a longer term effect, but at least in the short term it worked. So pissing off your audience may be a pretty good tactic.

      This gets into lots of fuzzy perceptual and cognitive science questions, especially as consumers have become much more used to and savvy about these things, but also the marketing science people are getting ever better at understanding the cognitive science of subtle subliminal and emotional effects. It's been known since at least the 1970s that certain colors encourage buyers to buy more food at the fast food line, while other colors in the sit-down area encourage thought, which makes you think about what you have to do next, so you eat fast and get out to do things making room for the next person. That was 40+ years ago.

    158. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I walk up to you. I ask you for a meal. You hand me said meal, no questions asked, except afterwards you hand me a bill. I say thank you, throw away the bill, and then you flip the fuck out and call me a thief.

    159. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      And a suggestion to advertisers. Pissing off your audience probably is a less than optimal tactic.

      Alternatively, not serving ads to ad-blocker users lowers costs. If there is a high correlation between people pissed of by X, and people who do not respond to your ads, including lots of X (to encourage those people to block) gets you more bang for your buck. It is in fact optimal.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    160. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I could make infinite copies of a Doctor's advice, or a Professors lecture. So I guess Medical Treatment and Higher Learning should be free right? And I don't mean free because government funded, I just mean free in the sense of the flawed argument that infinite copies = worthless.

    161. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by shugah · · Score: 1

      I don't mind google's ads - for the most part they are unobtrusive and are often helpful. Yahoo on the other hand looks like someone barfed into my browser.

      The real problem is that many, many websites have incredibly obnoxious ads that degrade the user experience and interfere with the functioning of the site. That's why I use an ad blocker.

      --
      If you aren't part of the solution, then there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
    162. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hear, hear. I would add to your list of preferences, "ads that don't insult my intelligence, offer to build my abs, help me lose weight or erase my wrinkles with 'this one weird tip', or ask me yet again if I am planning to vote for Donald Trump."

    163. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "If I am halfway thru reading an article and a popup gets shoved over the top of what I am looking at, bitching about ad-blockers ruining the internet, then I close that site down and look elsewhere for the subject I was just reading about (cos it prolly wasn't their own original story to start with) so those annoying sites don't get a second chance."

      WIRED magazine, take note.

    164. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      I disagree. If my browser sends a request and they respond with a web page, then as far as I'm concerned they are inviting me onto their property. If my browser declines to follow all the links and load all the JavaScript on their page, and their site continues to send me web pages, again I consider that as acceptance.

      If they don't want me on their site, then they need to stop responding to my requests, or they need to respond with a web page that has no content at all, and just a notice that I'm not welcome there. They aren't doing that.

    165. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Tsingi · · Score: 1

      Yes, popups have become ubiquitous once again. Instead of a new browser window we now get Javascript html windows. For a while I sent nasty emails congratulating sites for taking us back to stone age irritations, but I don't bother any more.

    166. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      This is why some people just torrent from the Pirate Bay. They get a superior product. I'd be a lot less tempted if I could legitimately buy a Blu-Ray or DVD as good as what I can get illegally for free.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    167. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      I'm not entitled to get someone else's content for free. I am entitled to send them a HTTP request, but I'm not entitled to any useful answer. If a site owner doesn't want to provide me with their stuff on terms I'm happy with, that's how it goes, and I'll either comply with their terms or do without. Forbes apparently won't send me anything if I'm blocking ads, and that's fine. It's their site. It's also my decision whether to turn off the ad blocker or go somewhere else (spoiler: I go somewhere else). The Atlantic put up a notice saying that they would like me to let ads through if I'm going to read the site, and I respect that also. I go there when and only when I'm willing to whitelist them for ABP.

      As for sites that just accept my browsing with ABP turned on and don't even politely request me to not do that, that's a decision made by the site owner, and I'm not going to second-guess the owner. Bandwidth is pretty cheap, and the owner may have a desire to let people at the content without accepting the ads.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    168. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by JustSomeProgrammer · · Score: 1

      Actually some of those obnoxious ads are not worth the cost of development. People *think* this thing should work so they do it. They don't base their decisions on stats often. You might be surprised how many decision makers make their decisions totally based on how they think it should work.

    169. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      That's why, despite my karma, I have never clicked the box to avoid ads. If Slashdot wants to serve me ads that aren't disruptive and aren't dangerous, I 'm fine with that.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    170. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by DreadPiratePizz · · Score: 1

      Unskippable trailers are like an urban legend to me. Not I, nor anybody I know has ever gotten a DVD that made you watch trailers beforehand that couldn't be skipped. Those that had trailers let you go to the menu by pressing the menu or top menu button.

      It makes me wonder if the people saying these things actually buy DVDs.

    171. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You could use a custom css or stylish style to rearrange the page so the white space is reduced.

    172. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Sax+Russell+5449D29A · · Score: 1

      In this case the users of the Internet hold the power. There's practically nothing advertisers could do to prevent the changes that are happening right now. The only solution hence is to adapt or become irrelevant.

      --
      -SR
    173. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you actually bought the discs, you'd know you have these pleasures waiting for you:

      * Unskippable trailers
      * BD-Live!, which uses your Bluray player's internet connection (if you have a streaming service on it or a PS3/PS4/Xbone, likely) to download NEW TRAILERS FOR AWESOME MOVIES YOU SHOULD WATCH AT HIGH VOLUME.

      Very few places are safe from advertising. We haven't quite gotten random pages in our eBooks replaces with ads, but give it time.

      Indeed. A nearby gas station (Sunoco, I think) started running ads at the gas pumps, using monitors that are installed in the gas pumps.

    174. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *Posting AC because I've modded this OP

      Word of mouth (and its net equivalent, word-of-keyboard) is more trustworthy anyway.

      Unfortunately, word-of-keyboard, unless you personally know the person on the other end of the keyboard, is now worthless. Thanks to advertisers who have sweatshops of keyboard jockeys in third-world countries writing FABULOUS reviews of their New-and-Improved Shit-On-A-Stick ® 2.0! I used to read reviews for critical information about a product I was considering purchasing; now I only pretty much read the negative ones.

    175. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by computererds · · Score: 1

      " I wonder if I lived in Canada if the prices would be in Canadian dollars.

      They still have prices in US dollars, but they say that they are. For example, I could buy your tie rod end for "US$36.99"

    176. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by mattventura · · Score: 1

      Hey, show me a good web developer and I might pay them. But modern web development tends to be something along the lines of:
      1. Use whatever backend stuff hipsters are using nowadays. Backend javascript is great because now you can use the same awful language on the frontend and backend.
      2. Use whatever frontend javascript libraries are hip regardless of how slow they make the client. If you're using one function out of a huge library, just toss the whole library in.
      3. Throw in even more javascript for shits and giggles, because anyone who doesn't have the latest and greatest CPU doesn't deserve to look at your web page.
      4. Put in tons of client-side tracking.
      5. Throw in adverts from a third party who doesn't adequately vet their ads to make sure they're unobstrusive and don't have malware.
      6. In case someone has the gall to block your javascript masterpieces which were 99% copy and paste anyway, make sure the site fails spectacularly if scripts are disabled.
      Did I miss anything?

    177. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fine, if they want ad blocking to stop. Make them accountable for malware and viruses that are on these services. Google ads even delivers malware. Add some accountability to the ad companies and stop forcing the user to be the victim of these attacks. Ads today are so invasive, you can't even go on to a site without it redirecting you to another site trying to install an app. What ever happened to protecting the consumer??

    178. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yes there are in Canadians $ even from Canadian seller with a .ca domain, those are good ads because they give something you need.
      but when all you are doing is checking the news and you got a full page ad pushing you to buy a car that cover the whole page for 15 to 30 sec.
      i disabled ad blocking on wired.com but that did not work also I had to disable the privacy badger so that dozens of trackers get enabled

    179. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by krakelohm · · Score: 1
      --
      You are all a bunch of idots.
    180. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      Why? Will it help you with your package?

    181. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      I have a personal website and I pay for it myself and I'm not selling anything on it either.

    182. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what damages? that your eyes saw something? your ears saw something?

      Damage caused by maleware server from 3rd party ad servers.
      You served it as part of your page content after connection to www.something.com you are responsible.

    183. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Stan92057 · · Score: 1

      lol whens the last time you read a magazine? 80% ads almost. I stopped getting mag subscriptions years ago because of the crap. its a shame. before i said enough i would remove the ads that forced you to the ad first then shook out the ad to get the inserts amazing how must trash they put in and you pay for it too.

      --
      Jack of all trades,master of none
    184. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Stan92057 · · Score: 1

      and rewards contributing users the ability to block ads. win win

      --
      Jack of all trades,master of none
    185. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It hasn't been for a awhile, and I've been 100 streaming for a several years now so it might just be that but I have several DVDs with non skip able trailers. You can ffwd but can't skip or jump to menu. And even trailer would reset the ffwd to play. A thing to note it's also a function of DVD player. Most software players let you skip, a lot of hardware ones made you watch. It's actually a feature of the dvd standard. But because it was abused a lot of people started ignoring the must watch flag.

    186. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Either content creators can make money *somehow* or the content isn't generated.

      Look at the http://www.deviantart.com/ content.
      Some creators get money from me.
      Look at the http://www.baen.com/ many authors get my money on regular basis for last 15 years. And there is no DRM involved.

      ads are the sunlight that injects energy in the form of cash.

      Too much sun will kill you. And causes drought.
      Horse "apples" and piss is also desirable by plants. But we keep it away from our homes.

      The alternatives may be worse. We could all go back to 3 channels of network TV and single local newspapers ruled by giant media conglomerates that can squash speech, art, and even opinion of they so choose.

      Check how it worked for ComBloc countries. It was pure pre-internet era.

      We could go to all-pay-sites, but then the little guys are going to get crushed when they can't achieve critical mass, and the threshold for people being willing to pay for content is pretty darn high.

      O! here you go. Ask little known music bands how do they cope. They are performing. Not releasing something in internet and counting lost money.
      Not everything you do is worth to pay for.
      Best things come in life for free. Eg. free ride around the Sun. Oxygen you breathe, ...

    187. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not?

      Really.

    188. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In everything in life, in the real world, you don't get a product if you are not ok with the cost.

      Do not give it "for free" if you are expecting payment. Just attach price tag so I can decide if I want this.
      In clear text please:
        - you will get my content with maleware included. Do you accept price tag? Y/N
        - this 6 sentences will cost you 6MB of mobile internet because of flash ad.

      Do not try to use Rule Of Reciprocation on me.
      http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/11/26/165570502/give-and-take-how-the-rule-of-reciprocation-binds-us

      If you gave me free gift do not be upset if I accept it as it was offered.
      I am aspie :-)

    189. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you place something in public, you can't whine if someone looks at it. Don't like that? Then don't put it in public.

      Also, I don't have the time or care to somehow "precheck" all sites that I view. When I search for something, I open pages that are returned as most relevant. There is no way I can know if they are serving ads or not, so I just assume that they aren't, which is the default and CORRECT state of the internet according to netiquette rules that have been laid out long before you ever got here.

    190. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ads that use minimal bandwidth, don't obscure content, do not make me wait for some stupid site in Botswana to respond, do not use javascript, do not expose me to malware, and do not try to use my audio or to display video

      This might be the key to the ultimate solution: Technology that automatically enforces all the limitations the user needs. Imagine, for example, a browser add-on that:
      * suppresses ads that are larger than X bytes,
      * suppresses ads that use JavaScript, audio, or video,
      * suppresses ads that don't return a HTTP response within X amount of time,
      * suppresses ads that come from a server proven to deliver malware,
      * suppresses ads that hover or otherwise obscure other content on the page,
      * etc.

      Maybe this exists already. But it seems to me like this is the only way forward that both sides can live with. Essentially the add-on is a contract between the user and the advertiser: if your ad meets these technical requirements, I'll look at it.

      The two sides are so divided that I don't think the solution can be anything other than, essentially, a contractual agreement between them. And I think that contract needs to be implemented in software (such as an add-on) to prevent the inevitable attempts at abuse.

    191. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not free. The money I pay for internet and my time is not free.

      I've never had to see an ad in irc (those that use mirc may feel differently).

      I don't owe anyone my eyeball time. And it's not my responsibility if your marketing strategy is unsustainable. I remember a time before ads.

      You are not too big to fail.

    192. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Product placement doesn't usually bother me. If it's too overt I'll point it out and make fun of it.

    193. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm crazy. I never wanted an opinion on news.

      I've always believed news should be factual. I know, insanity. Every hour the 24hr news cycle exists only reinforces my point.

      If I wanted an opinion, I'd go to a blog or some other editorial echo chamber.

    194. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do you feel entitled to my time? It's a limited commodity. I give it out sparingly.

      Advertisers, website owners, and all the other dreck attached keep thinking I owe them. I don't owe you shit.

      You want my time? It's valuable. Make me an offer or fuck right off.

    195. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Food hike prices have not gone down. The justification was gas prices increased.

      Reality does not reflect your wishful Ford conjecture.

      The reality is, if you can bilk 100 times you will.

      Street Fighter V on steam is 60 and another 30 for the rest of the game. There aren't physical copies involved. As the dev, they only need to make the one and copy afterward. So why am I being asked to pay add much as someone who has a physical copy? Because "the market will bare"+ whales.

      They sure as shit are not being as hard hit in costs digitally as making millions of game discs and shipping all over the world in a logistical nightmare.

      Your analogy does not hold water.

    196. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Well, last time I wanted to do it, I couldn't unblock it in two clicks - because I had the AdBlock toolbar button in Chrome hidden.

    197. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by DedTV · · Score: 1

      I use the ads on Amazon all the time to find things I wouldn't have known to or thought to look for. Maybe I don't need a automatic dog walker right now, but it's good to have been informed it exists. Maybe a neighbor will ask where to find one. I can now tell her I saw it on Amazon.



      JESUS! FUCKITY! FUCK! FUUUUUUUUUUUCK!
      It's just not possible to agree with something a company like Amazon does without sounding like a fucking shill. I don't see how, but the evidence is conclusive. I have to be wrong.

    198. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by dwillden · · Score: 1

      Ever heard of google wallet? It only goes to the card if there is nothing in the wallet. I'm not worried about the credit card. But the money in my wallet from google surveys, that I use for my gaming desires.

      The fact stands that this has become the new NUMBER 1 most annoying advertising technique on mobile browsing. I click a link to read a news or political article, I want to read the damn article, not wait for the play store to load to try to get me to buy some totally unrelated game. In a browser that is called click-jacking. It needs to be stopped!

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    199. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by houghi · · Score: 1

      Not me. I will block them regardless, unless they give me money and that needs to be a lot. Even if it is just a standard banner. I do not want it. I do not want it on my underware either. I do not want it anywhere.

      Whill this ever happen? No. If I hoever give them one finger, I am sure they will not take the whole arm, they will take the rest as well.

      There is no reason why I should agree with having ads. If they have to say something, they can do that themselves. They do not defend me, I do not defend them.

      Blocking ads on the Intertubes is done because it is possible, not because it is any less needed anywhere else. We have been so bombarded with it that we think it is normal or ok. As if giving your kid only half a beating is ok suddenly.

      The target for me is 0 ads.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    200. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Ever heard of google wallet? It only goes to the card if there is nothing in the wallet. I'm not worried about the credit card. But the money in my wallet from google surveys, that I use for my gaming desires.

      Still, your kids should be on their own account so that they're using only the money from their own surveys, not yours.

      The fact stands that this has become the new NUMBER 1 most annoying advertising technique on mobile browsing.

      A fair point. It doesn't happen to me all that often -- or come to think of it, maybe not at all anymore since I use Firefox and an ad-blocker (uBlock Origin). Maybe try that?

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    201. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by edtice1559 · · Score: 1

      Forbes does this. They return a page that says turn off your ad blocker if you want to see this content!

    202. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by edtice1559 · · Score: 1

      Also on /. if you contribute (post) any reasonable amount, you are given the option to disable the advertising. (But not the slashvertisements, unfortunately)

    203. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by dwillden · · Score: 1

      My kids aren't old enough to have their own accounts. I don't want them to have their own accounts.

      I will try that ad-blocker, I've been less than impressed with AdBlockPlus's Android offering.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    204. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by suutar · · Score: 1

      patronage!

    205. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not just bad advertisers. It is as much the fault of the ad networks themselves, for not policing the advertising and allowing this kind of garbage through. Typical in this day though, everyone wants to blame someone else, and not take responsibility for their own behaviour.

    206. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 1

      The problem with Internet advertising is that computers/web pages are capable of violations of my person which are similar in scope. Software embedded in ads can pull my tracking information, revealing my private information, preferences, etc. I can even be left with a nasty malware infection after the fact.

    207. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by RyoShin · · Score: 1

      are Google and Yahoo willing to actually stand behind their product and pay for any and all damages when they let malvertising through? No? Then they can jump off the nearest bridge

      As with other corporations, ad companies are externalizing the risks while internalizing the rewards. They push the security concerns and quality degradation to the participating website and/or end user; as middle-men, a link between the company that wants to advertise and the site that wants to have advertisements, they don't deal with any of that personally.

      We need to force companies to either handle the risks they've been externalizing in all areas or externalizing their profits to the general public. Advertising is probably the one example that most affects people in the most immediate and direct sense. (Other examples include: wonton maintenance that leads to belching methane; being bailed out by the federal government)

    208. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is impossible to steal something that is given away freely. If you don't want people looking at your precious content, then don't put it in a public place, you entitled little shit.

    209. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you can get the fuck off of the internet if you aren't willing to follow the rules of conduct that were laid out long before you ever arrived.

    210. Re: Punishes users and good advertisers by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Wait a second, you are claiming that AOL had useful content? Nonsense.

      AOL was useful like facebook is today. It kept all the uber idiots in one place.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    211. Re:Punishes users and good advertisers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just don't get how it would be punishing users. Aren't the users the ones that decided they don't want to see ads, basically as a reaction to said ads? It's the whole reason I developed my own solution (for windows, not mobile): WindowShadez

  2. disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Is a two way street. I wonder how many businesses and business models that bit the dust over the last 15 years felt the same way about Google?

    1. Re:disruption by geoskd · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Is a two way street. I wonder how many businesses and business models that bit the dust over the last 15 years felt the same way about Google?

      It absolutely blows my mind that the online advertisers haven't figured out how to defeat ad-blocking. It's actually retarded simple to do. All the advertisers have to do is proxy their ads through the site the users are trying to access. If www.forbes.com is directly serving the ads from their own domain, no adblocker in the world will prevent the user from seeing it, as blocking forbes.com will shut out the whole site, and the user wont get anything.

      Talk about not "getting it", This really is a no-brainer from a technical standpoint.

      --
      I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
    2. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      as blocking forbes.com will shut out the whole site,

      It's getting to be that sites only want their content to be seen by those who will allow themselves to get completely visually assraped and bombarded with constant junk flying at them.

    3. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...and you sincerely think ad-blocker developers and other smart people that hate ads don't have a plan for this, too? You don't. I give you more credit.

    4. Re:disruption by larryjoe · · Score: 1

      It absolutely blows my mind that the online advertisers haven't figured out how to defeat ad-blocking. It's actually retarded simple to do. All the advertisers have to do is proxy their ads through the site the users are trying to access. If www.forbes.com is directly serving the ads from their own domain, no adblocker in the world will prevent the user from seeing it, as blocking forbes.com will shut out the whole site, and the user wont get anything.

      Talk about not "getting it", This really is a no-brainer from a technical standpoint.

      I assume you're talking about inlining ads without making them stand out in the DOM. Such inlining the ads makes ad blocking more challenging but not necessarily impossible. If deep neural nets can recognize cats in photos, I imagine they can also recognize ads in web pages. I don't actually expect this to be a hot research topic at Google, but someone smart will figure this out if it ever gets to that point. However, as of now, it's easier for Google to stick to their traditional ad distribution network and to complain about the mass conspiracy against their benevolent ad charity.

    5. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it's more complicated than that. Ad blockers that can parse the html can block based on the content. However, if the ads for Forbes.com were all hosted by forbes.com, people might allow them through anyway, because they're less of a nuisance.

      Content owners: abusive ads from advertisers who don't care about your business needs are killing the performance of your sites. Don't allow them to be included in your content. Take control of your advertising and make sure your users are getting the experience you want them to have.

    6. Re:disruption by ShaunC · · Score: 2

      It absolutely blows my mind that the online advertisers haven't figured out how to defeat ad-blocking. It's actually retarded simple to do. All the advertisers have to do is proxy their ads through the site the users are trying to access.

      It's dead simple, but they won't do it, because then they would be paying for the bandwidth to serve all those ads! They'd prefer to keep offloading that expense.

      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
    7. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't understand how adblockers work. Wikipedia serves up their obnoxious beg screens asking me to donate money to pay for not wikipedia, but some retarded crackpot SJW shit they are currently pursuing. I add one line to my adblock list and the widgets they use to nag me disappear. Sure, they could make them completely random div classes, then I would just retaliate with shape and pattern recognition. They could retaliate by making the ads completely random noise, but then the problem would be solved. If I can identify it as an ad, then so can a suitably designed classifier.

    8. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stop giving them ideas, you fucker.

    9. Re:disruption by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 2

      Is a two way street. I wonder how many businesses and business models that bit the dust over the last 15 years felt the same way about Google?

      It absolutely blows my mind that the online advertisers haven't figured out how to defeat ad-blocking. It's actually retarded simple to do. All the advertisers have to do is proxy their ads through the site the users are trying to access. If www.forbes.com is directly serving the ads from their own domain, no adblocker in the world will prevent the user from seeing it, as blocking forbes.com will shut out the whole site, and the user wont get anything.

      Talk about not "getting it", This really is a no-brainer from a technical standpoint.

      It's actually an amusing symptom of the problem. There is just a huge disconnect between advertisers and the sites they're advertising on. Which is really part of the problem. Maybe if the disconnect between advertiser and media was erased, sites would take a more proactive stance on serving sane advertising that isn't obnoxious and completely irrelevant to the site itself. Sadly, the '3rd party' advertising engine that connects sites to advertisers is a huge problem. The answer isn't easy IMHO.. make advertisers and site owners actually.. negotiate to place advertising like say, a newspapers+advertiser do, or magazine+advertiser. There's no third party in those relationships (as far as I know.) Probably why you don't see like.. advertisements for guns in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. A relationship between advertiser and medium needs to exist to filter the content to appeal to the audience. This is presently not happening, or being given over to our 'machine minds' to manage for us (and they're not very good at telling what's sane and what's absurdly annoying.)

    10. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would be approximately a day before there were subscriptions to nuke all the ads on the top sites by nuking their components and elements.

      I'm actually all for totally disallowing everything but text by default. I'll choose which sites are allowed to show me things other than text.

      Advertisers should actually shoot themselves. This isn't a joke or a snark or a troll - I genuinely wish for advertisers to kill themselves.

    11. Re:disruption by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      That really wouldn't accomplish anything, and has two problems in particular:
      1) Ad companies don't trust the website owners, which is part of why they have all that tracking and serve the ad themselves
      2) Adblockers would adapt. If need be, with dynamically downloaded per-website blacklists, passing the pages through an ad-killing proxy (with a giant spam filter), or similar. There literally is nothing they can do, at least not that wouldn't cost them more than the ad impression is worth. I mean, any of the temporary solutions would only work until some scum-of-the-earth asshole decides to abuse it for maximum profits before all the other assholes abuse it, and then users will get pissed off and fix that, too.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    12. Re:disruption by dvaldenaire · · Score: 1

      Don't mean to be rude, but you did not seem to have an idea of how the advertising today work. It's such a shit that you are right to not give a damn, but anymay.

      You can't serve ads from your domain because it's the cookie from google that says what is the kind of targeted ad you want to show (based of your searches, etc.). There could be a technical solution like a direct exchange between you and google, google saying you what ad to show, but google doesn't want to give you a clue about the user, because that's their value. And for privacy concern, it is better this way (not using google would be far better, but hey).
       

      --
      What does it mean, "appended to the end of comments you post"
    13. Re:disruption by bsolar · · Score: 1

      That would mean giving the domain control of the ad, which advertisers do *not* want to do.

    14. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That won't work. Ad blocking doesn't have to be done at domain level. Most of the plug-ins parse <div id=adshit> to identify ads, and then prevent them from rendering. It's how you train them. The off-domain ads are just site developers being lazy by passing it off with the minimum effort. It's only been like this for at least a decade, so I'm not surprised you haven't managed to keep up in this fast moving field.

    15. Re:disruption by KGIII · · Score: 1

      You can actually do that with uMatrix. The author even made a Firefox version for those folks. Just block images and everything else at the default level (wildcard *) on the upper left. And you'll block all images from every site and then you can whitelist 'em as you want.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    16. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would make it harder to block, but it's by no means impossible. We'd need slightly more sophisticated methods, like getting software to recognize ads the way we do it in email.

    17. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It absolutely blows my mind that the online advertisers haven't figured out how to defeat ad-blocking. It's actually retarded simple to do. All the advertisers have to do is proxy their ads through the site the users are trying to access.

      The problem is that the advertiser doesn't trust the page serving the ads. If they proxy their ads then the content provider can start to fake accesses.
      For some reason they think that it is going to be easier to get me to trust them to run custom scripts from unknown sources on my computer where I keep all my personal information.

      They want to do business, but they aren't willing to set up a long term business relationship with other parties where you trust each other.
      Yep, exactly the same kind of people that would sell information about me to anyone willing to buy it and they probably break every law they think they can get away with.

    18. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah but that means serving adds *gasp* costs bandwith from the site serving it
      can't have that, it'll eat into profits

    19. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you trying to say that companies, like forbes.com, don't way to allow same-origin to/from an ad network proxied via ads.forbes.com? You make me laugh.

      Also, I'm sure Adblock+, uBlock, and others would still be able to block, on www.forbes.com, their ads.forbes.com advertising subdomain.

    20. Re:disruption by digitalchinky · · Score: 2

      Your UID tells me you've been reading slashdot for at least 15 years, surely you remember how ad blockers worked back in the day? Most inline adverts were trivially identifiable (and successfully blocked) by their pixel dimensions or position on the page. Toss in some crowd sourcing to identify anything that falls through the gaps and it's a solved problem.

    21. Re:disruption by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      This is presently not happening, or being given over to our 'machine minds' to manage for us

      And due to (variants of) halting problem, it is not possible for machines to tell for sure whether a script is malware or not. Machines can try to match the script against known malware patterns - but it is a losing battle.

      In general doing this cheaply and scalably is a problem - analyzing scripts en-masse and determining if they are malware.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
    22. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If www.forbes.com is directly serving the ads from their own domain, no adblocker in the world will prevent the user from seeing it

      The current-generation ad blockers wouldn't block it, but the old ones from the 1990s would. And that means the new ones could too. Things can react to things.

    23. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... If www.forbes.com is directly serving the ads from their own domain, no adblocker in the world will prevent the user from seeing it, as blocking forbes.com will shut out the whole site, and the user wont get anything.

      Yes. If they mix ads into the content that way I would certainly choose to block everything, and at that point why bother going to their site at all?

      And nothing of value was lost...

    24. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > no adblocker in the world will prevent the user from seeing it, as blocking forbes.com will shut out the whole site, and the user wont get anything.

      You have no idea how adblocking works once you get beyond APK's retarded product, do you?

    25. Re:disruption by Visarga · · Score: 1

      I always thought click based payments for ads are stupid. Instead, a pay-for-sale or pay-for-action should be used. If you have a good product, they will want to advertise it, you don't risk anything as an advertiser and you have no worries about fake clicks.

    26. Re:disruption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      APK's hosts program works unlike adblock letting ads thru and does more than UBlock or Ghostery by far for less resource consummation and especially against DNS security issues and it's more efficient than all of them put together. Hosts are better all the way around in most every way conceivable for more speed, security, reliability and anonymity for less.

    27. Re:disruption by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      There's a difference between infeasible and impossible. If ads are inlined, it'll be very, very difficult to block them, and probably infeasible. Identifying them would be far more difficult a problem, and would require a lot more computational resources on the browser end, which would defeat one of the main reasons we use ad-blockers in the first place: to cut down resource consumption. Not only that, but you'd need a lot more effort on the ad-blocking development end to come up with algorithms to identify and block ads, and to maintain the blockers and their lists with these new algorithms. That's why ad-blockers work so well now: the ads are served by third-party sites like doubleclick.com which are easy to identify and discriminate against. It doesn't take much CPU power to block requests to a list of blacklisted domains.

    28. Re:disruption by larryjoe · · Score: 1

      Blocking ads is much easier when the ads can be identified via IP addresses or DOM markups. However, even when completely inlined and intentionally made to look like primary content, I think something like a deep neural net might work. The computational demands are for training, which some gracious entity with computing resources and training sets (how about Google!) could do once or every once in a while. The actual real-time classification is much less demanding. My feeling is that identification of ads is probably no more challenging than identifying cats in photos or pedestrians on a car camera.

    29. Re:disruption by geoskd · · Score: 1

      It's only been like this for at least a decade, so I'm not surprised you haven't managed to keep up in this fast moving field.

      I don't use ad-blockers. I have no need for them. I don't actually care if they serve ads at me, since if they are annoying enough I don't use that site.

      What I do use is no-script. I use it because I don't like all the tracking shit, and the potential for malware that comes with everything. A consequence of that is seeing where all the cookies and advertising is coming from, or not as the case may be...

      --
      I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
  3. Why the steep climb by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    I don't recall adverts getting that much more annoying in 2015. Is this just more users or did something happen to make folks install more ad blockers (or more likely get an entire new class of user interested in ad blockers)?

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Why the steep climb by whipslash · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'd say iOS supporting ad blockers probably contributed to it.

    2. Re:Why the steep climb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Annoying? No. Increasing? Fuck yes. I happen to come across sites that get 100 elements blocked by uBlock Origin and a couple of filters. Dozens and dozens and dozens of trackers piled on top of each other like a pile of corpses. It has to stop.

    3. Re:Why the steep climb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adds can be as annoying as they want to be. What's rising is the number of cases where ads are abused to deliver malicious code.

    4. Re:Why the steep climb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think it is more annoying more so that people are hearing two things from friends, family, media:

      1) Web pages slow, you need to install Ad Blockers. That will speed things up.

      2) The feeling that "I don't want to be tracked" is not the new mantra.

      So I think people are installing AB's just because it is now the trend base on either 1 or 2 or both.

    5. Re:Why the steep climb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd say it is a few things. Online videos have more ads than before. More of each page is taken up by ads. Not blaming Google for this one (could be wrong, block them myself), but many sites are using the majority of their screen space on ads. Also ads are becoming more annoying and tied more strongly to the content.

      If none of the above is actually true, then I'd put a good wager on people just getting tired of pointless things. I think in my 20 years on the internet (14.4k baud baby!) ads have only affected my choices lesser than the number of digits on my hand. Product stock listings, professional and user reviews, company loyalty (Sennheiser and 3DFX as examples), and price are what drive me as a consumer. Not how flashy something is.

      I remove ads, not just to clear up the screen space, but also to keep unwanted scripts running. I don't get any value out of things like scripts from doubleclick running. I have no desire to waste my resources on their work. They aren't SETI@home. In all honesty, even companies like Amazon that I order from, don't have a clue as to what I like. I get ads for things I bought from them already. I get ads for things related to what I bought as a gift for another nearly a decade ago. I don't need any more books about damned beading Amazon! There is no way to tell companies what you'd be interested in seeing directly. You've got to poke around and eventually they might get a clue.

      In regards to Shine, I can't say I care about them one way or another, but considering that mobile ISPs are working with them to block ads, clearing up non-insignificant bandwidth, I think the onus is on advertisers to figure out how to cope.

    6. Re:Why the steep climb by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      I think it's just that the annoyance threshold for the average Joe has been reached. That and adblockers have been put into the limelight by so many ad companies trying to sue them out of existence.

      Even Joe Randomsurfer noticed that, and he noticed that those ad-blockathingamajig are somehow the enemy of those noisy, obnoxious nuisances. Good enough a reason to take a look. Enemy of my enemy and all that.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:Why the steep climb by amicusNYCL · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think that mainstream users are just starting to wake up to the fact that ad blockers exist. Ads may be getting more and more prevalent and annoying, but frankly I don't think many of us here would know if they are.

      Google and Yahoo have accused ad-blocking software Shine of "destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers

      That's funny, because no one forces anyone to install and use an ad blocker (compare this with advertisers wanting to force people to "consume" ads). People make the choice of installing an ad blocker because the so-called "relationship" between advertisers and consumers essentially consists of advertisers wanting consumers to bend over and accept anything that gets shoveled at them. Maybe that relationship was doomed to fail from the start, and maybe most people are just waking up to the fact that they don't have to be in that relationship any more. This is like an abusive relationship where the person getting abused realizes that this isn't a normal productive healthy relationship, and they don't have to put up with it any more.

      Benjamin Faes, managing director of media and platforms at Google, called Shine's technology a "blunt" solution that punishes users and good advertisers

      If advertisers aren't going to police their own industry then, yeah, count on other people to create a blunt solution. It may not solve the problem the way that advertisers would like the problem to be solved, but then again advertisers have had a good 2 decades to figure out a workable relationship for online advertising. So far their solution has been to abuse people and not call each other out when they notice other bad actors. Thankfully we don't need to count on them for a solution, but it's not going to be the solution they want.

      Blocking all ads I think it's diminishing my experience of advertising

      Of course it's diminishing your experience of advertising, you're an advertiser. Blocking all ads actually improves my experience of advertising, by a lot. If only I could extend it to the physical world.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    8. Re:Why the steep climb by rtb61 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Far more likely, people become subconsciously aware of targeted ads and it made them more and more uncomfortable over time. You know, ohh look an ad I was just thinking about that, again, ohh it happened again, again, well that's odd, again, what the hell is going on, again, well that's starting to suck, again, eww fuck this what can I do, ADBLOCK, well glad that weirdness is over. Most people are ignorant of targeted advertisements and how much of their privacy is been perverted invaded, how ever they can be made uncomfortably with the results and will take actions to remove that discomfort, even though they do not know why or how it is occuring.

      Targeted ads are inherently perverted sick stuff, especially those targeted at minors in order to manipulate their thoughts and desires in order to feed their greed and lusts of those seeking to exploit them.

      Personally any parent should install and run full adblock before letting their child on the internet, honestly it is the only sensible thing to do, along with all corporate access to your children.s minds, else you will leave them victims for the rest of their lives.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    9. Re:Why the steep climb by Drishmung · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Neither do I, but that might be because I've run some sort of ad blocking for years. :)

      But, ads have become incrementally more annoying, and seem to have passed a threshold.

      * I don't mind advertising. Advertising lets me find things that I might want or need.

      * I don't mind sites showing me advertising.

      * I don't mind advertisers knowing that their ad appeared on a page that was viewed.

      * I don't mind advertisers knowing that someone clicked on that ad.

      * I do object to the presence of ads making the page slow to load.

      * I object very much to the presence of ads making the page extremely slow to load.

      * I object to the presence of ads consuming lots of my bandwidth (I resource that I pay for).

      * I object very much to the presence of ads making the page unusable (pop-overs, unsolicited audio, etc.)

      * I do not cede my privacy to the advertiser.

      - - you do not have permission to track me

      - - you do not have permission to sell information (surreptitiously) gathered about me to 3rd parties

      Stop treating me with contempt, stop treating me as a resource to be pillaged. If I tell you not to track me, do not ignore my instruction, and especially do not bleat that it's OK for you to ignore my instruction but it's not OK to for me to ignore your ads.

      As your advertising becomes increasingly indistinguishable from malware, do not be surprised when a market springs up to counter it.

      --
      Protoplasm. Quiet Protoplasm. I like quiet protoplasm.
    10. Re:Why the steep climb by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 4, Funny

      So far their solution has been to abuse people and not call each other out when they notice other bad actors

      I like how we're calling them bad actors. Like we're eventually going to discover that Nicolas Cage was behind the whole thing.

    11. Re:Why the steep climb by sjames · · Score: 2

      Part of it is probably the distribution of malware through the ad networks.

    12. Re:Why the steep climb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I agree 100%! A few more points:
      --Advertisers did not pay for my computer. I am the ONLY one that gets to decide what gets downloaded and displayed on MY computer.
      -- Recently Advertisers have called those of us who block their ads thieves, and the authors of ad-blocking software criminals.
      -- I consider that the advertisers are the criminals, trying to steal the (capped) bandwidth that we pay for,
      -- They try to steal private information to target ads to us, and if thats not creepy enough, sell that information to make more money!
      -- The try to steal our valuable time and attention, wasting that time, and distracting us from getting things done in a timely fashion.

      And BTW, I never started blocking ads until they started to get seriously annoying and headache inducing!
      Blocking people who block ads from viewing their sites unless we whitelist them or turn of ad-blockers is NOT going to work! Websites that do that are killing themselves, just as the advertisers are killing themselves with their stupidity!

    13. Re:Why the steep climb by Trepidity · · Score: 2

      Also the company this article mentions, Shine, which provides carrier-level mobile ad blocking. Their product isn't a browser extension like uBlock Origin, it's more of an ad-blocking proxy server that they're currently rolling out on the Three mobile network. Advertisers are particularly annoyed about that because it rolls out to everyone, even the non-tech-savvy, vs. people having to install browser extensions.

    14. Re:Why the steep climb by bigfinger76 · · Score: 2

      That's funny, because no one forces anyone to install and use an ad blocker

      Shine blocks ads at the network level - individual users couldn't opt out, even if they wanted to. This is different than adblocking browser extensions, in that users are forced into it.
      Not that I'm against it. I use a similar system on my home network, and love it.

    15. Re:Why the steep climb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So far their solution has been to abuse people and not call each other out when they notice other bad actors

      I like how we're calling them bad actors. Like we're eventually going to discover that Nicolas Cage was behind the whole thing.

      As directed by Uwe Boll

    16. Re:Why the steep climb by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 1

      If advertisers aren't going to police their own industry then, yeah, count on other people to create a blunt solution. It may not solve the problem the way that advertisers would like the problem to be solved, but then again advertisers have had a good 2 decades to figure out a workable relationship for online advertising. So far their solution has been to abuse people and not call each other out when they notice other bad actors. Thankfully we don't need to count on them for a solution, but it's not going to be the solution they want.

      You forgot to mention, they've done quite the opposite over the last 2 decades, they've gone to extreme lengths to make their advertisements increasingly annoying and disruptive to the experience of using your own computer and web browser. Feels like they're been one-upping each other, "Oh yeah, I can make an ad even more annoying than those guys! That'll get people's attention!" That's definitely a relationship I want no part of. It's like.. their answer to not getting the results they want (sales, clicks, whatever) is to make the advertising even more obnoxious and annoying. Well guess what, they did get peoples attention, people are sick of it and tuning out.

      And they're surprised by the "nuke 'em all" backlash? Wow. What were they expecting? Oh yeah, results. They got some results alright. Just not the results they wanted.

    17. Re:Why the steep climb by SNRatio · · Score: 1

      Shine blocks ads at the network level - individual users couldn't opt out, even if they wanted to. This is different than adblocking browser extensions, in that users are forced into it.

      In Europe it actually will be opt-in for each subscriber.

    18. Re:Why the steep climb by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      They really have gotten more annoying, Ad's that wrap the backgrounds of pages so that if you accidently click on the wrong part of a page you are redirected to an advertisement page, auto playing video and audio and of course those cunt ad's that resize as you scroll over them expanding over the pag yu are trying to view.

    19. Re:Why the steep climb by Maow · · Score: 2

      Benjamin Faes, managing director of media and platforms at Google, called Shine's technology a "blunt" solution that punishes users and good advertisers

      If advertisers aren't going to police their own industry then, yeah, count on other people to create a blunt solution.

      I've often felt the same way, but now I'm idly wondering - how would they police themselves? Nothing short of the FTC has such power in the USA, and that's just for the USA.

      They have trade groups but seem unable to force bad actors to desist.

      It's like, how would the 0.0001% of responsible telemarketers stop the rest from spamming us via telephone?

      I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on how this could be implemented.

      Blocking all ads I think it's diminishing my experience of advertising

      Of course it's diminishing your experience of advertising, you're an advertiser. Blocking all ads actually improves my experience of advertising, by a lot. If only I could extend it to the physical world.

      I just cannot agree with this more; well put.

    20. Re:Why the steep climb by bigfinger76 · · Score: 1

      Got a link? I see nothing in TFA about that.

    21. Re:Why the steep climb by KGIII · · Score: 1

      > If I had kids I'd also want some kind of LEFTIEBLOCK software, to filter out that other evil in this world that wants to exploit them.

      There is. It's called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. However, the CPS frowns on intentionally making your children retarded. Some (certainly not all) of the ideas on the left are actually good ideas. But, if you want to raise a retarded child then I guess you can try getting your girlfriend pregnant by having her drink more coffee brandy than anyone else in the trailer park.

      I kid... I kid... Mostly...

      Seriously, some of the folks on the left have some good ideas. It might serve you well to listen to some of the more sane ones. And, to be honest and fair, the right has its share of kooks. The right has plenty of fine ideas too. If you'd all stop playing Politics like it's football or some other team sport, you might figure this out. I'm half convinced they keep you separated and fighting just so they can keep fucking but I'm not sure if most politicians are actually that smart.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    22. Re:Why the steep climb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Didn't Yahoo service up malware to users last year for a little bit via their ad network? This happening more and more is reason enough to state security concerns to block ads. Granted, I have been blocking ads for 16 years for speed, less distraction, and security.

    23. Re:Why the steep climb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like we're eventually going to discover that Nicolas Cage was behind the whole thing.

      And he would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids!

    24. Re:Why the steep climb by c · · Score: 1

      Benjamin Faes, managing director of media and platforms at Google, called Shine's technology a "blunt" solution that punishes users and good advertisers

      If advertisers aren't going to police their own industry then, yeah, count on other people to create a blunt solution.

      Google, in particular, is going to have a problem here because as a browser and O/S maker as well as an advertising, policing their own industry is going to be an anti-trust minefield for them.

      Not that I have a whole lot of sympathy for the woes of a multi-national advertising conglomerate, but I can see how they'd be a bit frustrated about the solutions other people are coming up with.

      --
      Log in or piss off.
    25. Re:Why the steep climb by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it is a problem similar to that of airlines - if one airline's management tries to cut costs so much as to endanger passengers' life more than necessary - people start trusting ALL airlines much less than earlier.

      Governments taking a very active role in enforcing safety mechanisms of airlines is what has worked for them. Advertisers need to lobby governments hard to regulate the advertising industry. Though I know it is not going to happen in the US - regulation is a four-letter word here.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
    26. Re:Why the steep climb by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      I use a similar system on my home network, and love it.

      A router hosts file, or something more sophisticated?

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    27. Re:Why the steep climb by bigfinger76 · · Score: 1

      DNS server.

    28. Re:Why the steep climb by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      hat's funny, because no one forces anyone to install and use an ad blocker

      Except TFA is about Shine, which is rolled out at the carrier/ISP level,/p>

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    29. Re:Why the steep climb by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Here's a possibility: a group of advertisers form an industry organization that will put an identifier on ads that conform to certain standards. The ad block and browser vendors can then allow those ads through by default. The organization can police itself by having contractual penalties for members that violate the standards, or having them agree that violating the standards does irreparable harm to other members of the organization, or something like that.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    30. Re:Why the steep climb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yah, too bad we all can't rise above it all... like you, eh? Becos I'm totally fooled into believing that you're some thoughtful centrist. On Slashdot. Because promulgating racial stereotypes of whites is definitely not a leftie-only thing. Yup, everything you typed there is totally believable.

    31. Re:Why the steep climb by Maow · · Score: 1

      Here's a possibility: a group of advertisers form an industry organization...

      The organization can police itself by having contractual penalties for members that violate the standards,

      A trade association currently exists, I think, maybe even more than one. But the problem is, membership is not mandatory.

        or having them agree that violating the standards does irreparable harm to other members of the organization, or something like that.

      This might be a gem of an idea - have the trade association target violators - members or non members - with legal action seeking damages for reputational harm, tortious interference, or something similar.

    32. Re:Why the steep climb by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      What I was thinking is an association that puts a mark on ads that are acceptable, so ads can be accepted if the mark is present. In the US, it at least used to be hard to sell electrical stuff without an Underwriters' Lab mark. The Responsible Advertiser's Association can't sue just because other people have obnoxious, malware-ridden, ads. They can if those ads have the RAA mark or signature on them.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  4. Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by sehlat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Advertisers have several blind spots.

    1. They don't care about user security and malware-exclusion. ("It's not OUR content after all.")

    2. They don't care that WE are paying for any bandwidth usage they suck up on our end. (2MB pages with 10K the content the user wanted. Rest is advertising.)

    3. For those systems where advertisers bid the suppliers for who gets displayed, the end user can sit doing nothing while the site owners wait for some "optimum" bid.

    4. Most advertising is utterly irrelevant as far as the viewer is concerned.

    For all of the above reasons, ad-blockers are our friends, and advertisers are the enemy.

    1. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 5, Insightful

      5. You shouldn't need a quad-core CPU to process a web page.

      If a site puts my computer in a death throttle for 10 seconds processing random JavaScript, I'll close the tab.

    2. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by cfalcon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > I'll close the tab

      hahaha you'll TRY to close the tab- maybe it'll listen

    3. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by khasim · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Quite correct.

      On my Linux box, web pages load instantly without any problems.

      On my iPhone, web pages load
      reloading
      On my iPhone, web pages load
      reloading
      On my
      Full page ad loads.
      Can I close the ad? Oops. Now I'm at the App Store looking at the app for that site.
      Close the app store.
      Try to start the process again.
      On my iPhone, web pages load
      reloading
      On my
      back to the top of the page
      On my iPhone, web pages load
      Script loads ALL the social media links. No thanks. Not going to "share" this.
      back to the top of the page

      Fuck it. If it is important I'll remember to look at it on my PC.

    4. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Chalnoth · · Score: 3, Insightful

      1. How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads? 2. There's no reason for ad bidding to take more than a few milliseconds. If it takes longer, then the intermediary supplying the ad has broken software. I'm pretty sure this is a complete non-issue.

    5. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Mitreya · · Score: 1
      I think besides the usual (security issues, browser crashing, screen space, auto-play, sound, popups, etc, etc), this one does not get enough outrage.

      3. For those systems where advertisers bid the suppliers for who gets displayed, the end user can sit doing nothing while the site owners wait for some "optimum" bid.

      The webpage is literally sitting there hanging because some random ad website is not responding now. If that doesn't show how little companies care about users, I don't know what does.
      I remember a period when Blockbuster.com page used to stop dead for 5-10 seconds trying to contact some Facebook sub-domain, and it drove me crazy every time.

    6. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by KiloByte · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Advertising is nothing but visual spam. It places non-relevant crap in place of information you actually look for, and in the best case is a waste of time.

      Thus, there's no such thing as "good" ads. As with all spam, if I wanted penis enlargement, I'd search for it.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    7. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

      Yes those pricks that pop up "are you sure you want to leave this site?" are damned annoying.

    8. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by es330td · · Score: 1

      Back when I ran websites the ad content was sold and hosted locally. I never had an ad hosted by a third party provider. Any website worthy of being visited by users will be able to get their own advertisers. This should create a new industry of companies who produce software for hosting and managing local ads but at the end of the day the content will have to come off that website's server. If this means less content then the free market is working and consumers will either decide they are willing to pay for content or they won't but now the consumer gets to decide what his eyeballs are worth.

    9. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Trogre · · Score: 1

      5. They waste real walltime, when trying to view YouTube videos for example and those horrible inline non-skippable ads appear. Time is money and all that.

      They seem to be playing a leapfrog game with AdBlock Plus, as every few weeks the video ads come back for a while before ABP gets an update.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    10. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, don't you remember the days of the friendly banner?

    11. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

      Not my problem. You figure it out.

      2. There's no reason for ad bidding to take more than a few milliseconds. If it takes longer, then the intermediary supplying the ad has broken software.

      And the website trying to access the broken intermediary doesn't give a shit. So I take care of the problem myself by blocking it.

      I'm pretty sure this is a complete non-issue.

      You're right. I block all ads and now they are a non-issue.

    12. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by techno-vampire · · Score: 2

      Yes. I never minded banner ads because they were always at the very top of the page and it was no bother scrolling them off the top of the screen without even reading them.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    13. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Chalnoth · · Score: 1

      Placing the burden on content providers will just push smaller content providers out. I can see no benefit to this.

      Furthermore, centralized ad content distributors can do a lot more to combat malware than can smaller content providers.

    14. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      It also clogs up DNS with all the offsite requests. The page you're reading has little locally hosted content.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    15. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by kimvette · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't mind unobtrusive ads.
      I hate when ads cover 90% of the page (linkbeef, etc. I am glaring at you fuckers)
      I hate it when Ads autoplay audio and/or video (die in a fire, fuckers!)
      I hate it when ads display this ginormous layer over the page, with the close button rendering off screen, and if I try to zoom out, the image increases in size, regardless of smartphone browser (Chrome, Firefox, Dolphin). Safari is the same - I had to go back to my stone-age iPhone 4 for a few days after an OTA update soft-bricked my Galaxy. This is of course in reference to mobile sites... which tells me the fuckers don't ever test their web sites on smartphones.
      Stupid fuckers. Die in a fire.

      Bring back the unobtrusive text and banner ads.

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    16. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      6. To get one's attention, ads often feature grotesque fungus-infected toenails, giant hairy bellies, and that #@&% possessed androgynous redneck kid with the big gums.

      7. They are often repetitious. I'm sick and tired of the psychedelic IBM ads on slashdot, for example. The 60's are dead, Jim. Youtube also runs the same ads over and over.

      If they don't want us to block ads, then stop making them stupid in the 7 different ways.

    17. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by dpidcoe · · Score: 1

      How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

      Use ads on your site, just host the content yourself. That way if I get a virus from it I can bitch at you for hosting malicious content and you can clean it off your server instead of washing your hands on it and blaming the 3rd party ad provider (who will then wash their hands of it and blame the client that gave them the ad and a bogus return address). If you refuse to clean it, then I block your ads specifically (that's the cool thing about hosting them yourself, it's harder to maintain a global list of domains to block) and/or quit going to your site (either way, you and only you pay for your negligence; as opposed to the current system in which everyone is hurt by a few bad apples).

      There's no reason for ad bidding to take more than a few milliseconds.

      Actually there is. If the request needs to be sent somewhere, that's around 80-200ms round trip depending on how far away the server is. Quite a bit more than "a few milliseconds", on the order of seconds even if it has to happen multiple times.

      If it takes longer, then the intermediary supplying the ad has broken software. I'm pretty sure this is a complete non-issue.

      Measure it for yourself. Time how long it takes a page to load without and then with adblocking + tracker blocking software installed.

    18. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 2

      The benefit is less shitty sites like Buzzfeed. Good riddance.

    19. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by rmdingler · · Score: 1
      They are. I wonder how many people have spotted the obligatory"Are you sure?" message and went "Whew, thank goodness that fail-safe redundancy was in play."

      How about Destroying the relationship between advertisers and consumers?

      FWIW, I've had friends attempt to dissuade me from an destructive relationship that had more chance of success than separating advertisers from consumers... they will still reach you, never fear... and I could stand that it occurred on my browsing time, if it didn't cause my machine to slow load. If you want my dinero, make your plea to my advantage, for goodness sakes.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    20. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 1

      1. How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

      I remember the internet before ads like today were widespread. 'Twas a nicer, cleaner place (though quite a bit uglier in terms of fonts, colors, etc.). I know I don't speak for most people, but I'd personally be perfectly fine if 99.9% of the internet died, and the only thing left were websites put up by people who just wanted to say something -- not because they were trying to suck money out of every click.

      But aside from all of this - there are plenty of ways for people offering truly UNIQUE content to make money off of it. If you're just aggregating crap you could find anywhere and generating clickbait, then yeah... you're probably out of luck.

      2. There's no reason for ad bidding to take more than a few milliseconds. If it takes longer, then the intermediary supplying the ad has broken software. I'm pretty sure this is a complete non-issue.

      Uh, I think you missed the parent's point. It's not just speed -- it's unnecessary bandwidth. Most of the pages I visit tend to have primarily text as content. If the actual text only takes up a few kilobytes, why do I need to download megabytes of data to read it? On a decent computer with a high-speed connection, that's might still work (though it's completely unnecessary). But on a tablet or phone it could be a pain and make everything slow.

      I could explore the web of the 1990s with a computer that had 1/1000th of the RAM I have today and a significantly slower processor, and yet my page loads today seem as slow (and even slower) than they were back then on a broadband connection. Part of that is browser bloat. But it's also webpage bloat -- and a lot of that is ads.

      Sometimes I think widespread broadband is one of the worst things that happened to the internet. Back in the days when most people were on dial-up, the web was optimized for speed, because every extra kilobyte was adding up the seconds for the page to render. Browsing on broadband was awesome.

    21. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Advertisers have several blind spots.

      1. They don't care about user security and malware-exclusion. ("It's not OUR content after all.")

      2. They don't care that WE are paying for any bandwidth usage they suck up on our end. (2MB pages with 10K the content the user wanted. Rest is advertising.)

      3. For those systems where advertisers bid the suppliers for who gets displayed, the end user can sit doing nothing while the site owners wait for some "optimum" bid.

      4. Most advertising is utterly irrelevant as far as the viewer is concerned.

      For all of the above reasons, ad-blockers are our friends, and advertisers are the enemy.

      I think you are looking at it from the wrong perspective.
      My relationship as a reader is with the content creator, not with the advertiser. The content creator has a deal with the advertiser.
      The first issue that has to be resolved is the content creators relationship with the advertiser. The advertiser needs to be able to trust the content creator with the numbers, otherwise adverts can't be distributed in a way that requires a direct relationship between the reader and advertiser.
      The second issue is that the adverts has to be delivered in such a way that it doesn't harm the relationship between the reader and content creator.

    22. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 1

      Youtube also runs the same ads over and over.

      YouTube Red, or RedTube You, or whatever they call it is... well, actually pretty damn nice. I probably spend 500% more time on YouTube now that I never have to deal with ads.

    23. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Mr.+Shotgun · · Score: 1

      Placing the burden on content providers will just push smaller content providers out. I can see no benefit to this.

      There should be some burden on the content providers, they need to remember that the whole page is what users draw their impression of the site from. A good site owner would do their best to make sure any ads they do run do not detract from the user experience and are maybe useful to the user. Unfortunately there is many websites that instead slap some content down and then plaster it with ads, not considering the users impression of the site when it is like that. If those types of sites fail because they cannot be bothered to vet their advertisements they deserve everything coming to them.

      Furthermore, centralized ad content distributors can do a lot more to combat malware than can smaller content providers.

      One of the main pushes behind people installing ad blockers is because the ad content managers failed to combat malware and in fact became a vector for malware infections. A decent antivirus solution running on the sites webservers would have caught that.

      --
      Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the (supposed) good of its victims may be the most oppressive
    24. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Chalnoth · · Score: 1

      Why do you think that would be the case? Sites like Buzzfeed have quite enough resources to manage the ads on their platform. The downside is that they'd have a lot less time and resources to deal with said ads than a third-party ad provider would, so you'd be even more likely to end up with shit ads and malware.

    25. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      1. How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

      I do not propose funding websites. That is the website owner's issue not mine. I fund my personal site by paying the hosting company. I fund my business website with the funds earned by my business...

      2. There's no reason for ad bidding to take more than a few milliseconds. If it takes longer, then the intermediary supplying the ad has broken software. I'm pretty sure this is a complete non-issue.

      The reason is that the software is designed to delay longer in order to give more bidders a chance to bid.

    26. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      There's no reason for ad bidding to take more than a few milliseconds. If it takes longer, then the intermediary supplying the ad has broken software. I'm pretty sure this is a complete non-issue.

      'broken' from who's perspective though? Delaying the ad bidding is usually a mechanism for increasing ad revenue, NOT a mistake, NOT broken software, its deliberate.

      Broken from the perspective of the site visitor but not, apparently, for the site owner or advertisers.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    27. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Ken+D · · Score: 1

      YouTube has ads? mm, hadn't noticed.

    28. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by lgw · · Score: 4, Informative

      The irony is: unobtrusive ads are what made Google big. I remember when actual punch-the-monkey banners were common, and Google made its big breakout, by realizing the value of unobtrusive ads. The ads Google placed around search results didn't suck. The ads Google sold to place on other websites didn't suck. They were mostly text only, and there was no reason to block them. Times have changed.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    29. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 1

      I never bothered to use an ad-blocker on YouTube, admittedly. How do they get around those unskippable 20-second preroll ads?

    30. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by KGIII · · Score: 1

      They do... I was invited to watch a video on one of the kid's laptops and the damned thing had ads. It's not my kid but I still fixed it right away. That was unacceptable.

      "But that's the browser my teacher told me to us!"
      "No, kid... You tell your teacher that she's a crack-head. Nobody uses Safari."

      Well, they're not my kids. I just spoil 'em and live vicariously through their exploits.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    31. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Advertising on the internet IS spam. The same people people who sent email spam are some of the same people still working in online advertising today. And they have exactly the same amoral attitude towards it all.

    32. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      How do they get around those unskippable 20-second preroll ads?

      No idea, but they just don't show up if you use ABP. I don't see them anymore anyway. Because YT refuses to cache meaningfully any more, and my WISP is failing me badly (I have a service appointment Friday, but only so much hope) I have to download videos ahead of time if I want to watch them without them stuttering constantly.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    33. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by FunkSoulBrother · · Score: 1

      1. How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

      They can sell ads as static first party hosted jpgs or pngs or whatever with a target URL in them. Would fly past my adblocker, and I probably wouldn't care, so long as they don't throw 70 of them on the same page.

    34. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of Google's ads still don't suck... what they're complaining about is that ad blockers block them just because others' ads are horrible.

    35. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      1. How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

      I run some sites that are primarily ad-supported. I use plain ol' Google ads, no flashy crap, no pop-ups or pop-unders, no interstitials, and no video ads. I do my best to keep them low-key and not annoying.

      With that said, if people want to block the ads, that's fine. That's my problem, and if the site dies because of ad-blockers, so be it. That's just life.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    36. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Fnord666 · · Score: 4, Funny

      not because they were trying to suck money out of every click.

      Wow, totally misread this at first glance. That's why kerning is so important in a font.

      --
      'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
    37. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I run the IT for a news site that targets EU policy makers. We have a large staff (60) and fund it quite comfortably with one or two sponsored editorials a day on our front page.

    38. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Placing the burden on content providers will just push smaller content providers out. I can see no benefit to this.

      I'm not sure whether your comment makes me angry or sad. These days, I tend to get a lot of up to date information, trents and tips & tricks from various tech blogs run by individuals. Many, many fo those are self funded because the authors like writing abot cool stuff for the fun of it. I have one too which I write partly for the fun of it and partly to keep a personal record of things for my own benefit. If ads went away, I doubt many of those blogs would go offline.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    39. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      I remember the internet before ads like today were widespread. 'Twas a nicer, cleaner place (though quite a bit uglier in terms of fonts, colors, etc.). I know I don't speak for most people, but I'd personally be perfectly fine if 99.9% of the internet died, and the only thing left were websites put up by people who just wanted to say something -- not because they were trying to suck money out of every click.

      But aside from all of this - there are plenty of ways for people offering truly UNIQUE content to make money off of it. If you're just aggregating crap you could find anywhere and generating clickbait, then yeah... you're probably out of luck.

      I essentially agree. We call those people bloggers now. There's a hell of a lot of junk, but there's also lots of good stuff. I'm a regular reader (and occasional writer) of tech blogs. I write because when I encounter/do something interesting, it's nice to have a record for my own gratification and because I simply like telling people about stuff. If ads went away, well, I'd see no change at all.

      That's what a lot of geocities was like and there was a true treasure trove of information there, simply because people wanted to tell each other about interesting things. That was venture, then ad supported, but then self hosting and/or paid for blog hosting wasn't really practical in no small part due to the impracticalities of paying money to people at the time (see
      http://www.antipope.org/charli... a great read and covers the rise of one of the early payment processors). These days it's easy: I can rent a server or get a hosted account (like dreamhost) easily and cheaply from a huge number of suppliers, or just buy blog hosting directly (e.g. from wordpress.com).

      Yeah, I know with modern eyes, GeoCities looks goofy, and 90% of it is crap, but then again 90% of everything is crap and there was still great info on there. I remember getting information about circuits, programming, my BBC computer and all sorts of other things.

      Geocities is dead and so are the "under construction" GIFS (thankfully), but people haven't changed.

      I could explore the web of the 1990s with a computer that had 1/1000th of the RAM I have today and a significantly slower processor, and yet my page loads today seem as slow (and even slower) than they were back then on a broadband connection. Part of that is browser bloat. But it's also webpage bloat -- and a lot of that is ads.

      Browsers are bloating because they need to support all sorts of strange things. However many pages still render readably without an advanced browser. I'm currently writing this in Dillo. It's got basic CSS support (many missing features) and no JS. And holy hell is it fast. Browsing on my ancient eee 900 in dillo is faster than on my modern laptop in firefox or chrome.

      For websites that are (a) insistent on javascript and (b) that I really want to read, I'll switch to firefox, but there are surprisingly few of them. The information heavy interesting ones tend to work just fine.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    40. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by bentcd · · Score: 1

      1. How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

      "How do you propose harvesting cotton, if not with slave labour?"

      I don't really care, I just want the slave labour to end. If that means I have to make do without the cotton, then I will make do without the cotton.

      And if I have to make do without the websites then I will make do without the websites. (Spoiler: there will still be websites.)

      --
      sigs are hazardous to your health
    41. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bullshit. Plent of google based ads have video or sound. shit loads of them are over 1MB in size. This is definitely SUCKING. do they suck somewhat less, yes, but they still fucking suck.

    42. Re: Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Chalnoth · · Score: 1

      There are two main groups of content that would be hurt by this. First are the relatively poor people who host smallish websites such as some blogs that, were it not for advertising revenue, would be unable to afford to keep their sites running. Second are the somewhat larger content providers who are attempting to make their living on the Internet. This would include many people running websites with medium to large amount of traffic, as well as small businesses. They generally would much rather be focused on creating content than worry about the minutiae of serving ads.

    43. Re: Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Chalnoth · · Score: 1

      I think you've got some rose tinted glasses there. Crappy ads have been a big problem on the Internet for well over a decade. Pop-ups were once a much bigger problem than they are today, particularly as web browsers have gotten much better at blocking them. So were brightly-colored flashing ads. The days of flash ads are quickly coming to a close (which should dramatically reduce malware served through ads). Malware has always been a problem, and not I've restricted to ads. I'm not sure whether the ad experience overall has been getting better or worse, but there's no doubt that adds on the Internet have always been a sore spot, even as they have enabled an explosion of great content.

    44. Re: Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Chalnoth · · Score: 1

      Bidding should be utterly irrelevant to client bandwidth. There's no reason for the web browser to have any knowledge of the bidding process at all. It just puts in a request for the ad, and gets content back. As for page load, that's largely a design issue. The website should always load ad content asynchronously after the main page content is loaded.

    45. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Furthermore, centralized ad content distributors can do a lot more to combat malware than can smaller content providers.

      Yet they do not. Until advertisers take legal responsibility for the damages they cause directly or not, intentionally or not, fuck em. Any website that cant survive those terms doesn't deserve to just as doctors that cant stay in business without malpractice should not be in business.

      Captcha: thieve

    46. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a website is communication between the website maker and the rest of the world

      if the website maker is not willing to pony up the cash to do that communication,
      it's not likely to be worth my time to read/view that communication

      if the website maker wants me and other visitors to pay for the communication
      then they'd better be telling me upfront and putting the actual content behind a paywayll,
      I'm probably not paying if they do, and definately not paying if they don't

    47. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

      without adds 2 kinds of websites are left:
      1) sites where the person putting up the site sees enough value in it to pay for the (minimal) expense in putting up the site, this would be things like blogs, information sites (products, companies, blogs, tourist destinations, community, hobbyist). These would be freely available
      2) sites that provide enough value for the visitor to pay for it directly, these would be behind a paywall

      I see no problem with only world-wide-web restricted to the above 2 categories, if nothing else it would likely drastically decrease the amount of websites with low-quality click-bait only content

      There's no reason for ad bidding to take more than a few milliseconds.

      the bidding itself is only part of the equation...
      you also have:
      - the extra dns lookups for often up to a dozen domains
      - the time required to establish the connection to those extra domains
      - and the downloading of the adds themselves (usually hosted on servers that are overloaded, or just slow to start with)

      all of which can easily add up to seconds (on the free wifi on the trains in the netherlands it's can actually be minutes)

    48. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      You found the crux of the problem. There are some bad ads out there, carrying disturbing/disgusting images that I don't want to see, or malware. I block certain sites, like goats.ex and known malware domains, for safety. I also run uBlock because it's easier to just nuke everything from orbit than to try and be surgical about it.

      The burden of seeing good ads is on me. I have to whitelist, or curate my blacklists. Except for a few very special cases, I'm not going to waste my time on that.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    49. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Tell that to the people who can't scroll past a Slashdot story they don't like without getting upset about it.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    50. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by jafiwam · · Score: 1

      I never bothered to use an ad-blocker on YouTube, admittedly. How do they get around those unskippable 20-second preroll ads?

      I don't see Youtube ads unless they are part of the actual video.

      No sidebar ads, and none of the injected before video ads.

      The only adblocking method I use is a relatively up-to-date manually installed HOSTS file ad blocker. (Not the spammer guy, the "hobbiest" guy's one.)

      My plan for the future is to install a router-based DNS server that has authoritative zones in it for all the stuff I want to block, using those lists as a guide. Won't get around that by using new sub level hostnames.

      They'll have to continually buy new domain names (which will never be seen again by me once I block them) or feed ads from the actual domain of the place I am visiting.

    51. Re: Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      There are two main groups of content that would be hurt by this. First are the relatively poor people who host smallish websites such as some blogs that, were it not for advertising revenue, would be unable to afford to keep their sites running.

      I would say you have to be VERY poor for that to affect you. It seems that one can get wordpress hosting from around $30 per year (found after a minute of searching---I'll bet you could find cheaper with some effort). Given the capabilities of modern machines and the modern internet, you have to get quite large before bandwidth costs become significant. If you splash out $100 per year (e.g. dreamhost) you get unlimited bandwidth, or rather you get to saturate your link 24/7.

      If you're pulling in that much traffic you're not small, and it's still only $100 per year. And you can share it with as many people as you like and split the costs, since you get unlimted subdomains too.

      Second are the somewhat larger content providers who are attempting to make their living on the Internet. This would include many people running websites with medium to large amount of traffic, as well as small businesses.

      Well that's part of the point I was making. There's an awful lot of stuff out there for free put up by people who simply want to share what they know for the sheer joy of it. Once money comes into it, people have a vested interest in extracting money out of you rather than providing you with the best information.

      They generally would much rather be focused on creating content than worry about the minutiae of serving ads.

      And I'd much rather focus on reading what they have to say than worry about malware or excessive CPU and memory use...

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    52. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by jafiwam · · Score: 1

      They do... I was invited to watch a video on one of the kid's laptops and the damned thing had ads. It's not my kid but I still fixed it right away. That was unacceptable.

      "But that's the browser my teacher told me to us!" "No, kid... You tell your teacher that she's a crack-head. Nobody uses Safari."

      Well, they're not my kids. I just spoil 'em and live vicariously through their exploits.

      Safari in Windows is abandonware and probably has severe security holes in it now. They stopped patching or developing for Windows last year.

    53. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by jafiwam · · Score: 1

      Placing the burden on content providers will just push smaller content providers out. I can see no benefit to this.

      Furthermore, centralized ad content distributors can do a lot more to combat malware than can smaller content providers.

      Bullshit.

      What will happen is large hosting facilities like GoDaddy will have a plug-in that lets the small site interface with small advertisers. Which will either happen on a local level "Joe's Bait Shop" or will let sites pick and choose the ad content for their plug in.

      Similar tools will be available for PHP, WP, and IIS hosted type sites.

      Sites not paying attention to anything about ads except for the check is part of the problem.

    54. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Install an iOS ad blocker.

    55. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Some advertising is fine, if it works within rules that have been outlined on Slashdot many times. Some sites, like Slashdot, recognize that. The problem is the sites that feel they have a right to exist even though non-abusive advertising doesn't bring in enough cash for them, or simply don't care about their users enough, so they start serving up malware.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    56. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      Exactly. Unwanted advertising in all its forms is garbage, a cancer, and a blight upon the world.

      If I could block all unwanted advertising forever, both online, on TV, in the real world, EVERYWHERE, I would do so in an instant.

      Let me sign up to whichever newsletters and whatnot that I actually want to receive, keep the rest away from me.

      --
      Eat the rich.
    57. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      True. Google have also stooped low enough to masquerade advertisements as search results - with only a slight background color change. For most non-geeks that don't spend every waking hour browsing the internet, that is indistinguishable from a search result.

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
    58. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by tom229 · · Score: 1

      Not to mention the fact that the minute I turn an ad blocker on I no longer need a top of the line i7 processor just to navigate the web.

      --
      If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
    59. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

      If you need ads to keep your website around, you can fuck off and die. You're clearly providing no actual content worth paying for, and don't care enough about the site to self-fund.

    60. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Visarga · · Score: 1

      > what they're complaining about is that ad blockers block them just because others' ads are horrible.

      Maybe ad blockers should let through a small percentage of ads and add voting buttons on them to let users rate the ads. Those that get a good rating would be whitelisted. Then, after they collect enough data they could build an automatic classifier (like the spam filters) that predicts the user rating based on contextual features. As features they could use the name of the site where the ads are displayed, the number of times you visited that site in the last month, the actual text of the ad, its style and size and the destination link. A machine learning approach would scale up the user based rating system to ads that have not been rated yet. As people add more ratings, the system could be fine-tuned to match the mentality of its users.

    61. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by iMadeGhostzilla · · Score: 1

      On iPhone, I am my own ad blocker. If I don't get to click the "Reader" button for the page soon enough, I close the page and look elsewhere.

    62. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      1. How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

      By letting the hobbyists creating them run them off their home internet connections (which in a sane world, would be fast and symmetric, like Google Fiber), or by uploading them to a distributed system like Freenet.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    63. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by StormReaver · · Score: 1

      2. They don't care that WE are paying for any bandwidth usage they suck up on our end. (2MB pages with 10K the content the user wanted. Rest is advertising.)

      ISP's are directly responsible for driving millions of people to ad blockers by imposing data caps. Before we cared about data usage, the financial cost of burdensome ads coming across our pipe wasn't a real motivator to block ads. Now it's on the minds of millions of people who formerly didn't give it much thought.

    64. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by StormReaver · · Score: 1

      1. How do you propose funding websites

      99.99% of all Web sites in the world could go away entirely without diminishing the value of the Web. The funding "problem" is an excellent argument for ad blockers.

    65. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I propose that the funding of websites is the problem of the website owner. They have the means and ability to prevent ad-block users from accessing their sites. Feel free to use them.

    66. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      We use the "Are you sure" message because we host an application and the last inputs haven't been saved yet. Then again, it's only available on the intranet (with no 3rd party connections), so...

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    67. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

      That's got to be their problem. The world isn't set up for their convenience, and if they can't accept that, it's nobody's fault except their own. (Well, maybe their parents if they were brought up as special snowflakes, but once they're adults, it's their job to adapt to the world, not the world's job to adapt to them.)

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    68. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      If there were an ad service with a good reputation and who uses only strait HTML, one could make a case for not blocking them. But too many ads are stupid-ware or malware.

    69. Re: Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      I think you've got some rose tinted glasses there. Crappy ads have been a big problem on the Internet for well over a decade.

      Don't think 2006, think 1996.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    70. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      That's what you get for having an iPhone.

      On my Android phone, I don't have this problem at all: I have Firefox loaded there, with uBlock Origin (just like my Linux PC). No ads.

      But with a stupid Apple device, you're only allowed to use an Apple browser, and aren't allowed to use alternative parts of the OS like you are on Android. Android has its faults to be sure, but at least you're able to replace big parts of it with alternatives if you want.

    71. Re:Ads == Malware Delivery and Nuisance Content by tepples · · Score: 1

      Say Billy has micropenis. How would he learn that micropenis is treatable, rather than just being something that he has to live with, other than through an advertisement?

  5. Great Ad for Shine by casings · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder if Shine blocks that article, because it is a great advertisement for their product.

  6. If they don't police their ads we will by rahvin112 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ad companies are routinely doing drive by malware infections. It's precisely this lack or review and certification of ads that is their problem. Until they are willing to pay editors to review and approve ads they will continue to be abused by ad companies and the only solution the consumer has at that point is the nuclear option. The very existence of autoplay video advertising and malware loaded ad's is direct evidence of their problem.

    When the ad's go back to editorial approved ad's hosted and run by the companies providing the content no on will be able to block the ads. But this will mean the companies accepting the advertising have to take responsibility for the crap advertising they accept.

    1. Re:If they don't police their ads we will by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 2

      When the ad's go back to editorial approved ad's hosted and run by the companies providing the content no on will be able to block the ads. But this will mean the companies accepting the advertising have to take responsibility for the crap advertising they accept.

      Not only that, but the ads might actually then be somewhat relevant to the site you're on, particularly if it's a smaller site run by someone or a group of people who actually agree to endorse a particular product.

      Right now, unless you run a bunch of cookie and script blockers, the experience is this strange echo chamber on much of the internet. "Why do I keep seeing ads for the same exact product I just bought on Amazon two weeks ago? I already bought one: I don't need more. But they keep showing me these irrelevant ads." And on less reputable sites, you just get generic crap targeted at your demographic.

      With ads chosen by a specific site, you might have a chance of getting ads that actually reflect your interests, rather than some crappy ad algorithm that keeps trying to sell you what you bought three weeks ago. If you visit a tech site, you might -- shockingly -- see ads for tech products. (Just like the old magazines! Other products a tech reader might be interested in! Amazing!) If you go to a cooking blog, you might see ads for cookbooks or equipment endorsed by the blogger. What a concept!

      I know I may get some flak from the anti-ad people for saying stuff like this. Personally, I'd prefer a world with no ads. I'd rather go back to the internet of 20 years ago, and have 99% of it die off, rather than have ads. But I realize that's not a reasonable choice that most of the public wants. At least having ads approved by site owners would have the potential to be somewhat better... and it would also tell you something about the site owner and priorities if they decided to run too many ads without paying attention to their malware or content or whatever.

  7. Pay For My Internet And We Will Talk by zenlessyank · · Score: 1

    Until then, you can self-abort. I see your sneakiness and raise you 2 sneakies.

  8. Worth repeating once again... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1
    ...Our belief is that if someone doesn't like them, and they won't click on them, any impressions served to them will only annoy them-- plus, serving ads to people who won't click on them harms campaign performance. ... Publishers can't win by forcing ads — especially low-quality ads — in people's faces. ...

    .
    http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

    1. Re:Worth repeating once again... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      You think they finally learn that it is probably NOT a good way to get attention by shoving crap into the face of the people they try to woo?

      One really has to wonder whether advertisers are human beings. I mean, even to a 3 year old it's obvious that having something shoved into your face is a surefire way to NOT like it. Seems the average 3 year old is smarter than the average advertiser.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Worth repeating once again... by Ann+O'Nymous-Coward · · Score: 2

      No, what advertisers lack isn't so much smarts: it's any scrap of empathy or ethics. They're a pack of highly paid sociopaths.

      They don't CARE if they steal the bandwidth of / infect with malware / otherwise annoy the living crap out of their victims, er, viewers.

      As far as malvertisers are concerned, any attention is good attention, even the homicidally annoyed variety of attention.

      They're just banking that after a while the memory of the annoyance gets dissociated from the memory of the product they're flogging.

      This is why they'll pry AdBlock, NoScript and their successors out of my cold, dead, keyboard mashing fingers.

    3. Re:Worth repeating once again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's certainly true that they don't care.
      They know that they're protected by law from getting what they're truly owed, and they exploit this fact beyond the final frontiers of our patience.

      If they weren't nebulous legally protected organizational entities in cities far away, every last one of them would get stabbed by torches and their corpses lit on fire with pitchforks by the end of their first week of work.

    4. Re:Worth repeating once again... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Problem is, I don't pay attention to them.

      That's also going to be my defense when I run one of these bags of human waste over. Sorry, my adblocker kept you out of my sight.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. I wouldn't mind Google's ads so much, IF by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    It used to be that Google Ads were relevant to the page they were on, and they were text. There was a time when I'd occasionally click on a Google text ad because it was actually something relevant and interesting to me. But then they started pushing graphical ads heavily, and much of the relevance faded. And now... you see Google Ads featuring Buzzfeed-like teasers (e.g. "The Government Hates This Guy and his Simple Tax Trick"), and worse. Heck, I remember one Google-placed ad that was something about itching and bloating, with graphics of a spotted tongue and a guy sitting on a toilet. Who in their right mind wants to see that kind of garbage?

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:I wouldn't mind Google's ads so much, IF by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 2

      But he had this neat weird trick to show you. It's going to "almost break the Internet."

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    2. Re:I wouldn't mind Google's ads so much, IF by Trogre · · Score: 1

      But look at this important photo of something in my hand. I even drew a red circle around it to show you how important it is.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    3. Re:I wouldn't mind Google's ads so much, IF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It used to be that Google Ads were relevant to the page they were on

      So? The ad isn't relevant to me. If there is something I need or want, I will search it out and find it. There is no such thing as an ad that is "relevant" to me.

    4. Re:I wouldn't mind Google's ads so much, IF by non0score · · Score: 1

      I did a random sampling of Ads from sites I read from. The ones I see featuring ads that you mentioned are from advertisers like Taboola, or what not. Not one of them was from Google ads. The only Google ads that caught my attention (i.e. non-text ads) were quite relevant ads on /. itself. Ads such as semiconductor gadgets and cloud software solutions. So which one of Google's ad network did you see those advertisements from?

    5. Re:I wouldn't mind Google's ads so much, IF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you realise Taboola is a google partner right?

  10. Hey dumbass! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The whole point of adblockers is to 'disrupt the relationship between advertisers and consumers'; because that 'relationship' is inherently somewhere between 'adversarial' and 'cold war'. We don't go to varying levels of hassle just for fun; we do so because we fucking hate you and your 'product'.

    1. Re:Hey dumbass! by cfalcon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Exactly. It "disrupts the relationship" in the same way mosquito netting "disrupts the relationship" between mosquitoes and mammal flesh.

    2. Re:Hey dumbass! by mjwx · · Score: 1

      The whole point of adblockers is to 'disrupt the relationship between advertisers and consumers'; because that 'relationship' is inherently somewhere between 'adversarial' and 'cold war'. We don't go to varying levels of hassle just for fun; we do so because we fucking hate you and your 'product'.

      Adblock essentially changes that relationship from "adversarial" to "nuclear", it is one-sideed and it is the advertisers own damn fault.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    3. Re:Hey dumbass! by Zaelath · · Score: 1

      Add to this, when you're talking about a carrier like Digicel, that services what are basically third world markets, your data allowance is exhausted by loading one mobile ad. That's the reason they're blocking at the carrier level.. their customers aren't going to give them money to load 1/2 a web page.

    4. Re:Hey dumbass! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It 'disrupts the relationship' in the same way a restraining order 'disrupts the relationship' between the abuser and the victim.

    5. Re:Hey dumbass! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. It "disrupts the relationship" in the same way mosquito netting "disrupts the relationship" between mosquitoes and mammal flesh.

      It's not just the basic mosquito/human relationship that is endangered here but also cooperative efforts of third parties, like malaria protozoans.

  11. Stop following me everywhere. by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 2

    The problem with the current incarnation of ads is that they follow you everywhere. I didn't realize how bad it was until I forgot to re-install all of my cookie blockers. Search for something on Amazon? See the ads in Facebook and Google. Search for something on Google? See ads for that everywhere else.

    Ads used to be targeted to the user base of a website. The 'targeting' wasn't based on what I knew I already wanted but based on what I was interested in. I didn't mind some old ads because they were relevant to the site I was going to.

    1. Re:Stop following me everywhere. by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2

      Search for something on Amazon? See the ads in Facebook and Google. Search for something on Google? See ads for that everywhere else.

      I don't mind that to be honest. If I am looking to purchase something, e.g. a new battery for my old laptop recently then passive research is better than the random crap they usually show.

    2. Re:Stop following me everywhere. by Chalnoth · · Score: 2

      For at least Google ads, you can turn off user tracking for ads: https://www.google.com/setting...

    3. Re:Stop following me everywhere. by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      Advertisers are doing it to themselves. Normally I don't bother with ad block software. For security and sanity I turn off plugins in my browser. I opt in on a case-by-base basis if there's content I actually wish to view and the site hasn't figured out this HTML5 thing we speak of. That however is it. I understand the need for sites to be able to pay the bills.

      At the same time even what had at one time been reasonable advertisement has turned into click bait and/or harassment. I cannot look at a product online without expecting it to chase me all over the Internet for the next week or so. While I can think of worse things to be chased around the Internet by I don't want half naked women following me into work every time I pay my wife's Victoria's Secret bill. When I'm not being chased around by my browsing history, I'm being harassed by this one weird trick, outfits at red carpet events that almost broke the Internet, people of Walmart, older ladies in my area looking for a booty call, etc..

      My Internet experience shouldn't make me want to take a shower. I certainly don't want my daughter to have to process this crap nor answer the endless "daddy why" questions associated with it. Given the direction things keep going the day is fast approaching when I shall tolerate no more.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    4. Re:Stop following me everywhere. by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      Search for something on Amazon? See the ads in Facebook and Google. Search for something on Google? See ads for that everywhere else.

      I don't mind that to be honest. If I am looking to purchase something, e.g. a new battery for my old laptop recently then passive research is better than the random crap they usually show.

      I hate and despise it. I go off to a website and search and buy something then I get bombarded with fucking ads for the same or similar things for the next few days. I can live with non intrusive ads that are relevant to the site I am visiting.

    5. Re:Stop following me everywhere. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      unfortunately for many of us that work in lots of places and use many devices it means constantly having to go and disable that. What would be nice is if they had Opt In tracking so that those that like that experience can have it.

  12. Wail and gnash all you like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I will never be uninstalling ublock. The fact ads are collateral damage in my security scheme does not phase me.

  13. typical! blame someone else by bloodhawk · · Score: 4, Informative

    google et al seem to be living in another reality. There is no relationship to consumers, there is a WAR between consumers and arsehole companies like google. Ads have become more intrusive and obnoxious, ads that have video and or sound, dynamic windows that increase to cover the page if you accidentally scroll over them, ads positioned and made to look like search results or news items. They then wonder why Ad blocking is increasing and blame those that are trying to help the consumers, Googles lack of security/privacy awareness is just mindboggling, you want people to stop using ad blocking, then you need to stop acting like totally obnoxious pricks.

    1. Re:typical! blame someone else by non0score · · Score: 2

      And I would like to know which one of those annoying ads came from Google. Blaming advertising in its entirety is like saying all web browsers suck because IE6 was such a POS.

    2. Re:typical! blame someone else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      google ALLOWS those annoying ads on their network, they might not produce the ads themselves but they are the enabler and as such they need to accept the consequences as much as those that create them.

    3. Re:typical! blame someone else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well if you have nothing to hide, there is no problem with being spied upon. So blocking ads means you have something to hide. Better to inform the general audience about this serious threat, so that they can demand the government to protect our children against those ad blocking terrorists, and protect our future against those ad blocking job destroyers...

    4. Re:typical! blame someone else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      are you trying to claim google ads don't have video or audio? or that they don't track you and target you? or perhaps that they don't put ads in search results? basically they are being hoisted on their own petard. They don't prevent the behaviour therefore they must suffer with everyone else, they may not be the worst offender but they are by no means innocent.

    5. Re:typical! blame someone else by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Well, I haven't seen any. Of course, I don't have flash installed, and I have Javascript disabled on most sites.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    6. Re:typical! blame someone else by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      You sir, have made a mistake. Google does not have a "lack of security/privacy awareness"... they do not care.

    7. Re:typical! blame someone else by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not caring is actually a lack of awareness. By not caring they are not aware of the increasing importance users are placing on this, hence the rise in blocking and various other anonymous services.

    8. Re:typical! blame someone else by phorm · · Score: 1

      They've started to care more recently, but it may be too late. They have a recent initiative to stamp out fake download buttons, but it's been an issue for years (as has the malware). It's like trying to get your customers back after a restaurant has been closed multiple times for rodent infestation, health-code violations, and servers who flipped people off when they complained of seeing their burgers dropped on the ground...

  14. "Good advertisers" == null set by khchung · · Score: 2

    punishes [...] good advertisers

    Good, then nobody is harmed. There are no "good" advertisers in the world.

    --
    Oliver.
    1. Re:"Good advertisers" == null set by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I beg to differ. I think Burma Shave did it the right way: 3 words every 500 ft.

      The best part was that after seeing one of them, you knew that it was an ad for Burma Shave after the first sign.

  15. 13 in my whitelist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I currently have 13 content sites in my whitelist for my ad blocker. Each entry is due to some combination of me not visiting them frequently, their ads not being that annoying to me, and me liking their site/content.

    I would use a service like Google Contributor (pay the sites instead of seeing ads) if their model didn't require turning on hardcore tracking of me and if it were more transparent about when and how to give money for content I like/not give money for content I didn't like.

    Advertisers and content makers, there are options for you. Talk to your doctor about Sanity. Sanity is not a drug, it's a way of looking at the world. Sanity is not safe if your current way of life is based off of hopelessly deluded or outmoded ways of thinking. Selah.

  16. This Site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been on Slashdot since 2000 and never felt the need to use an ad blocker until this year. There were so many Flash enabled ads that it was dragging my computer nearly to a halt ("Flash has crashed" type messages). I normally use Chrome, but ended up installing ADP on Firefox and that's what I use to browse this site. Slashdot itself is a good example of why people have started using ad blockers.

    1. Re:This Site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've set flash-player as click-to-play since the feature was added to firefox, most websites don't mind.
      Also if you want to reduce resource usage, replace Adblock Plus with uBlock Origin which is a bit more effiecent and flexible.

    2. Re:This Site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I use FF with ABP and noscript to browse slashdot - too much questionable stuff here to trust blindly.

      This site hosts textual stories with user comments.

      I don't need to be tracked by 18 different sites using all kinds of questionable scripts. I don't need any active ads that really don't apply to any of the stories I click into.

      I'm registered with slashdot, as are most of us, so they should assume that we're all reading stories. They don't need analytics to tell them which ones.

      I don't listen to morning radio when I drive to work because they'll play 1 song and then spend the rest of the hour with ads and nonsense discussion. I paid for sirius because I can then get music without all of that crap. I pay sirius, sirius can pay the artists.

      I don't watch live TV anymore, everything is recorded. I can get through the average 1 hour TV program in 40 minutes by skipping the pointless commercials. I pay my cable bill and part of that is kicked back to the stations so I'm still funding the content I consume.

      I don't go to the movies on time anymore either, I show up about 15 minutes late (at least). I skip all of the commercials and the other nonsense in order to get to the content I paid good money to see. I paid for my ticket and that money goes to the artists, I don't have to sit through commercials so the theatre can have profits.

      It's not that I think content should be free. I'm more than willing to pay the content creators fairly for their work. I don't feel that I have to pay any money to big advertising conglomerates for shit I don't want or need, shit that brings nothing of value and just lines the pockets of soul-less people that worship only money and will do anything and everything to accumulate the biggest pile they can without doing a goddamn thing.

      I don't hold the ad blockers responsible, I hold the web sites responsible. In efforts to maximize their income, they will take any and all ads (good or bad), they will overload their content with ads and they go way too far. If your content is perceived to have a value but you litter your site with more ads than that value, you force your readership into adopting the ad blockers.

  17. Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Like any sane web user, I use a ton of browser extensions that warn me about requests to questionable third-party hosts.

    When I browse Slashdot, requests are attempted to "Taboola" and "Janrain" and "ScoreCard" and "NTV" and "rpxnow" and "StackSocial".

    Now I don't know what the fuck any of those are, and TBH I don't care to know.

    So let's say I made an HTTP request to slashdot.org. As far as I'm concerned, the page served up by slashdot.org doesn't need to require requests be made to any other host to show me the stories and comments here.

    whipslash, can you give us more information about what these questionable third-party hosts are doing, and why the pages served up by Slashdot try to trigger requests to these questionable hosts?

    More importantly, when will slashdot.org stop trying to get my browser to make requests to them?

  18. Bad relationship by melting_clock · · Score: 1

    The relationship between advertisers an consumers has been abused by advertisers that spy on us and compromise our security. Advertisers made themselves something that any sensible person needs to protect themselves against.

    Ads allowing drive by infections with malware became common over the last decade. The big advertisers did little to protect consumers and continued to accept these ads without the necessary safeguards. Ads that interfere with our ability to view a page are more common, whether that is flashing images, auto playing video or audio, or ads that cover content. This ruins the experience for the consumer visiting those sites and ad blocking solves that problem.

    Ad companies are collecting private data and tracking our online activities, ignoring our right to privacy. If they abuse our rights then it is only fair that we block them and deny them any right to dump their garbage on us.

    If ad companies were not evil, fewer people would decide it is necessary to block them but there is no indication that they are prepared to improve their behaviour.

    1. Re:Bad Relationship by scdeimos · · Score: 1

      Yes and if it happened in the real world they would be arrested by the police and carted away at least for being a public nuisance. But it's on the internet, so it's okay (according to them).

  19. For those who didn't know about shine. by Harlequin80 · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you didn't know what was special about Shine compared to ublock or adblock like me then Shine is an ISP level blocking system. It's not something that gets installed on end users machines but further upstream. This is why people like google and yahoo are so disturbed by this. It means that even completely clueless users will have ads blocked.

    I can absolutely see why the network providers would want this as well. Talk about a way of dramatically decreasing your network utilisation without any negative impacts on consumers.

    From Shine's website it looks like they have just signed up 3 europe which means 300 million mobile users just installed ad blocking software.....

    https://www.getshine.com/three...

    1. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where can I get this software so I can put it on my linux router?

    2. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am not thrilled to have any kind of ISP-level filtering, even if it is for poisonous adscum. I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions.

    3. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Possible outcomes
      - websites adopt anti-adblocker scripts, clueless user thinks website is broken and goes away
      - websites starts making advertising harder to block

    4. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Isn't it just Squid running as a transproxy and with a few blocked domains in the .conf file?

    5. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      [...] which means 300 million mobile users just installed ad blocking software.....

      I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of assholes cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I think something awesome has happened.

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    6. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Holy crap, right? If DDWRT could do this, they could charge, like a lot, and people would pay.

    7. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If it is, then I already do that. Problem with Squid though is that it doesn't do HTTPS. Well, I guess it does, but you have to be okay with intercepting SSL and users don't really like that.

    8. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you didn't know what was special about Shine compared to ublock or adblock like me then Shine is an ISP level blocking system. It's not something that gets installed on end users machines but further upstream. This is why people like google and yahoo are so disturbed by this. It means that even completely clueless users will have ads blocked.

      As much as I dislike the plethora of ads websites serve up, Shine's approach strikes at the concept of net neutrality. The ISP is deciding what traffic to deliver to the end user; while it may be the blocking Amy be desirable to users it still means teh ISP is favoring some traffic over other traffic. The next step is offer to selectively deliver, for a small fee, some ads.I can decide quite nicely for myself what sites I want to let deliver ads, based on my assessment of the site's value. There are a number of sites that I whitelist because their content is of value and I want them to be able to make mone and keep delivering content; and I don't want my ISP unilaterally deciding I don't need to see those ads and thus depriving teh site of revenue.

      If you value net neutrality you can't say "don't prioritize any traffic" and then say "go ahead and block ads." Ads may be junk traffic but it still traffic.

      It would not surprise me if they implement it in the US, Stripe, and an ISP, get sued for tortious interference, since they are interfering with a lawful contract between two parties; the question would be is it improper interference or an acceptable business practice.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    9. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Harlequin80 · · Score: 1

      I assume that it would be either an opt in or an opt out system offered as a service to customers. Also net neutrality doesn't seem to be a flashpoint outside of the US. In Aus for example bit torrent is often throttled and a large number of services are offered as quota free content. No one seems to bat an eye lid about that here.

    10. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Harlequin80 · · Score: 1

      There is no doubt that you are already subject to ISP level filtering. Be it for government block lists or to prevent network abuse.

    11. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      Then use an ISP that doesn't have it. The majority of users are far better off with ISP's that offer some basic filtering and firewalling.

    12. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      Isn't it just Squid running as a transproxy and with a few blocked domains in the .conf file?

      You can do even cooler stuff with squid. Like turn all the images on a site upside down. Or blur them. Progressively. So they start being normal and become progressively more blurred over time.

      I had an employer who wanted me to develop a MITM HTTPS proxy to do this kind of modification of secure web pages (with a * cert distributed via group policy, really dirty stuff). I tried explaining to them that such a proxy would allow me to make it appear that they had no money in their online banking sites or to make it so they in fact had no money... This didn't put them off at all.

      But turning the images in facebook, over https, upside down was a hoot.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    13. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by bestweasel · · Score: 1

      When I read this

      "I think it's diminishing my experience of advertising"

      I thought, yes and that's a good thing. I have ad-blockers on most of my devices so don't really know how bad it is for unprotected users. In the comments here, from people with more internet time than the general population, there's very little love for them: they're irrelevant or no longer relevant, annoying, distracting, malware-laden, slow down the device they're displayed on, clog DNS and the internet and waste bandwidth. That last is important here because Three and Digicel are mobile networks, where bandwidth is expensive, so they stand to save some money from installing this, unless they cut their prices (no, probably not). The article said that 200 million mobile users (10% of the 2 billion smartphones in use) had ad-blockers installed, so the networks are paying to deliver ads to 200 million users who will never see them.

      You're right about the net neutrality, Reg - if I may call you Reg - and as before in the US, commercial motives are trying to distort what should for political reasons be a neutral conduit (oh, apart from IS, child pron, pirated music, ...). Leaving aside people's expectations for unfiltered content from their ISP's (high on the concerns of most voters), some people want to see adverts - will there be an opt-in?

      What Shine are selling is not so much a firewall as a toll-gate, so I expect the networks to allow "carefully selected" advertising through on payment of a fee. Roi Carthy (CMO) of Shine Technologies said.

      "We are not against advertising...there's a misconception that Shine is against advertising...we do believe new rules of engagement need to come about."

    14. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess I'm okay with caching of HTTPS images and logging where I go, but when they start playing with the content or abusing my private credentials, then that's where I draw the line.

    15. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's only a NN issue if they let their own ads through. Just like Binge On isn't a NN issues since it downscales all detected video regardless of source.

      >since they are interfering with a lawful contract between two parties

      What contract? What the fuck are you smoking?

    16. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And if your ISP isn't blocking ads for you, you can use a Virtual Appliance such as Untangle. The free version allows you to run adblock.

      https://www.untangle.com/untangle-ng-firewall/

    17. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't mind ISPs and their governing bodies making an exception to block ads at the ISP level.

      I wouldn't mind if world leaders immediately drafted a list of known advertisers and dispatched military units to kill them and/or burn down their houses.

      Advertisers need to start killing themselves.

    18. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Maow · · Score: 1

      I can absolutely see why the network providers would want this as well. Talk about a way of dramatically decreasing your network utilisation without any negative impacts on consumers.

      Honestly I was surprised an ISP installed this (recently in the news).

      From their point of view, customers run through their data cap in half the month due to ads?

      Great - overage charges.

      I just wouldn't have thought the ISPs would care much about consumers' negative impacts.

      I suppose this does put the ISPs that implement this at a competitive advantage though, which might be beneficial to them.

    19. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Harlequin80 · · Score: 1

      That is one way to look at it. The other is it has just allowed them to put more customers on the same pipe without them complaining about slow speeds and contention issues.

    20. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the fact that it's isp-level blocking means it violates net neutrality... that's not a good thing

    21. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Chelloveck · · Score: 1

      Yeah... I hate ads, so I block them. But I don't want my ISP making that call for me! First and foremost I pay for connectivity, which means getting to whatever content I want. I don't want my ISP deciding for me what I do and don't want. An optional ad-blocking service would be great, but a mandatory one interferes with what I pay for.

      --
      Chelloveck
      I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
    22. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As much as I dislike the plethora of ads websites serve up, Shine's approach strikes at the concept of net neutrality. The ISP is deciding what traffic to deliver to the end user

      If you value net neutrality you can't say "don't prioritize any traffic" and then say "go ahead and block ads."

      Net Neutrality is dead. DEAD.
      Try to watch Youtube or Netflix, access Steam content when outside US. You are not allowed to watch this in your country.

      If ISP will provide opt-in/opt-out option I am all for blocking adds at the earliest possible stage.

    23. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're point about Net Neutrality doesn't really hold. People are not requesting third party adds when they connect to any given website, the site is instead suggesting you download them in addition to the page you've requested. The ISP is just delivering the traffic actually requested by their user, not blocking user requests.

    24. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      An "opt-in" system seems acceptable (since it's essentially just personally deciding to use an ad-blocker, but outsourcing it), but blocking data by default should not be allowed.

      Also, it's deemed OK in Australia because Australia's populace is apparently even more authoritarian than the US's. Net neutrality is an issue in places like India and Europe.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    25. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      It's too bad we can't transport all the advertisers to another planet and then blow it up with a Death Star.

      Just make sure it's some crappy planet first. Let's not waste a perfectly good planet on blowing up advertisers.

    26. Re:For those who didn't know about shine. by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      Good old Upside-down-ternet.

      --
      Time to offend someone
  20. Legitimate complains by indi0144 · · Score: 1

    Legitimate complains that I can think of:

    1. Not vetting the sources to check for malware
    2. Obnoxious autoplays, pop unders and noisy stuff


    Eset AV takes care of the former but I don't get much exposure to the latter, might be Ghostery doing its job. Annoying and deceiving ads are aimed mostly to the common folk, say, the first half of the bell curve so I always have wondered how slashdotters get so many of them. Oh right, they don't get tracked so the delivery system assumes it's the average Joe Sixpack and delivers accordingly.

    The only solution is to increase even more the adblocking usage so the CLIENTS ask to their agencies and media buyers to step up and not commission the design to the first guy that spread the legs in fiver.

    Please also note that most of those clickbait and "article" like ads are mostly from clickfraud campaigns that Google don`t care to track. So yeah, they are pissing in their own pool.

  21. Google and Yahoo Am Cry? by dstyle5 · · Score: 1

    I didn't realize large, monolithic corporations we capable of crying. Doesn't go well with greed, lack of compassion and disdain for anyone who disagrees with you mantra that most of them seem to employ. ;)

    For the most part I don't use ad blockers as I understand the need for some sites to make money that way. I just won't go to a website that inundates me with bullshit ads or slows down loading while the site is loading ads from the Super Garbage Ad Network, powered by P4s and a token ring network running in a shanty town somewhere in Mumbai.

    I agree somewhat with both sides of the story in TFA, but more with Shine in this case. Bringing a hammer down on everything is the only way to get Googles and Yahoos to wake up to the issue. We are tired of the garbage guys, do something about it.

    1. Re:Google and Yahoo Am Cry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I didn't realize large, monolithic corporations we capable of crying. Doesn't go well with greed, lack of compassion and disdain for anyone who disagrees with you mantra that most of them seem to employ. ;)

      Yeah, but wouldn't it be awesome if they could, and are now? Picture Eric Cartman licking the tears from their faces.

    2. Re:Google and Yahoo Am Cry? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      I didn't realize large, monolithic corporations we capable of crying. Doesn't go well with greed, lack of compassion and disdain for anyone who disagrees with you mantra that most of them seem to employ. ;)

      This is a misconception. Sociopathic, purely evil people such as advertisers aren't robots; they do have emotions, and they can cry when things go badly for them. They just don't care about anyone else, and will gleefully cause pain misery for others if it benefits them.

  22. Destroying the relationship? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Where can I file for divorce? I want to destroy any and all relationships I have with advertisers. The sooner and quicker the better. Abusive relationships are nothing you should endure longer than absolutely necessary.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Destroying the relationship? by zlives · · Score: 1

      you cannot get divorce according to shariah law

    2. Re:Destroying the relationship? by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      you cannot get divorce according to shariah law

      But you can treat your wife like a slave and get a concubine!

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    3. Re: Destroying the relationship? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Divorce is out, but public stoning is in. I can get behind this.

    4. Re:Destroying the relationship? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What? Ever since I was a kid I've known that Muslims just have to say "I divorce thee" 3 times and that's it, no lawyers, finished. Or are you going to tell me it was on QI? QIS?

    5. Re:Destroying the relationship? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Problem is that we're the wife in that relationship.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Destroying the relationship? by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      Problem is that we're the wife in that relationship.

      sooner or later the wife-beater is going to beat on the concubine too!

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  23. Thank you! by ilsaloving · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hadn't heard about this particular adblocker. I'll go check it out.

    Thanks for the tip, Google and Yahoo!

    1. Re:Thank you! by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 1

      So you're going to google them? I wish you luck my friend.

    2. Re:Thank you! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Didn't need it. Comes up as the first result.

  24. Fuck You Canada! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, I farted in the face of that pig that lives farting beside me. I don't care about the princess. It's she that is paying for my teeh to fall.

  25. Starbucks, is that you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Blocking all ads I think it's diminishing my experience of advertising and in that case we see an issue for the user themselves."

    “The new program reflects the #1 request we heard from members:..."

  26. Bad Relationship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers

    Is that the relationship which includes stalking, party crashing, home invasion and generally unpleasant behaviour?

  27. Conjecture and Lies... by RyanFenton · · Score: 1

    You want your bits of information, your advertising channel to be worth more money. We get that.

    But don't pretend that this is some sacred relationship. It isn't. It's a rancid soup of parasites running the show, and now the programmers who've always known how to filter the stream of data are feeling more and more free to give everyone else the tools to filter out the bits they don't like.

    Your bits will still be worth money. Seriously guys - put some MAJOR effort into policing your business relationships - if your adverts are in any way annoying to anyone, it is your fault for being willing to push that on your audience.

    Here's a crazy idea... put some buttons on each advert, to allow folks to reject the advert, and charge the ones getting the most down-votes more money for any interaction going forward. Give anyone who shows any solid evidence of tracking or bad scripting say, 10 million downvotes on their record per incidence. Same thing for evidence of suspicious bot activity by any company, or for using shell companies. Boom - you get money, you shame the offenders, you make positive news, and get your adverts competing with eachother for COMMON DECENCY.

    1. Re:Conjecture and Lies... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's a crazy idea... put some buttons on each advert, to allow folks to reject the advert, and charge the ones getting the most down-votes more money for any interaction going forward.

      You're right, it's a crazy idea. No remotely-computer-savvy users, or even half-sane users, are going to click on ad-related buttons to vote them up or down. Buttons on ads have caused too much bad mojo for people over the years due to the "You computer is infected! Click here to fix it!" style drive-by downloads disguised as ads.

      The horrible, downright deceitful, track record of internet advertisers is finally catching up to them and biting them on their collective arses. I say good riddance to them.

    2. Re:Conjecture and Lies... by jafiwam · · Score: 1

      Here's a crazy idea... put some buttons on each advert, to allow folks to reject the advert, and charge the ones getting the most down-votes more money for any interaction going forward.

      You're right, it's a crazy idea. No remotely-computer-savvy users, or even half-sane users, are going to click on ad-related buttons to vote them up or down. Buttons on ads have caused too much bad mojo for people over the years due to the "You computer is infected! Click here to fix it!" style drive-by downloads disguised as ads.

      The horrible, downright deceitful, track record of internet advertisers is finally catching up to them and biting them on their collective arses. I say good riddance to them.

      And, advertisers would write scripts to auto-click on their rivals ads about 15 minutes after that "plan" got deployed, and to get enough of them, make it part of the payload of the next couple rounds of malware.

      The bottom line is, the sites that want ad revenue for their little shithole sites (looking at you CNN.com) are going to have to figure out how to hold back the advertisers.

  28. I am a rational shopper and ads just annoy me. by dsmatthews9379 · · Score: 1

    I am a rational shopper who uses search engines to get the big picture on what is on offer across the entire market and to determine what is most appropriate for the budget I have allowed. I do not buy on impulse and will wait months for a cheaper item on a slow boat because I do plan that far in advance.

    I block advertising because it just makes me annoyed and clutters up my screen, MY SCREEN.

    On the rare occasion that I do see an advert for a new product or service idea that gets my interest I will notice the new product in the ad, but then still go and use my normal survey method to find what I really need. So unless you have the only one of a given product your ad is just as likely to help your competition as it is you. If you do have a monopoly I am not likely to buy your product at all because of the lack of competition.

  29. Waaah, wah wah by Dracos · · Score: 1

    Poor (metaphorically speaking) little parasites complaining that users can deservedly cut off their blood supply. This is what happens when an industry accrues too much power and hubris over many, many decades, and then a paradigm shift happens and they expect to hapily maintain their status quo.

    Too bad there's no practical way to kill ad networks that serve up annoying or malicious pseudo-content. Punch the monkey? Yeah, now we're finally able to land knockout blows.

  30. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by whipslash · · Score: 5, Informative

    These were all on the site when we acquired it. We are in the process of cleaning up all requests and scripts like this.

  31. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

    can you give us more information about what these questionable third-party hosts are doing

    But you just said you didn't care to know. They are "market research" or whatever else, they make money by profiling your browsing habits and selling that data. If you don't like it, block them, there are many extensions that will block trackers like that.

    More importantly, when will slashdot.org stop trying to get my browser to make requests to them?

    Probably when they either start charging people for accounts, or start asking everyone for donations like Wikipedia.

    --
    "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  32. Destroying the relationship? by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

    Destroying the relationship between advertisers and consumers, is like destroying the relationship between parasites and their hosts. The sooner and the more decisively it's done, the better it is for all of the parties that really matter.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  33. Let's get it straight... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

    Google and Yahoo have accused ad-blocking software Shine of "destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers...

    No. Advertisers destroyed the relationship between themselves and consumers, ad-blocking software has just given us the means to share our voice.

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  34. They have only themselves to blame by CAHutch · · Score: 0

    The number of Ads and the annoyance of bad or distracting Ads created a need for Ad blocking software. If they want to stop use of Ad blockers, they already know what to do.

  35. Yummy, yummy, yummy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yesss. Mmmmmmmm your tears are delicious. All ad pushers are scum. Die, die, die.

  36. Uh, yeah.... by KoshClassic · · Score: 1

    "destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers"

    This is like saying "destroying the relationship between rapists and their victims".

    There's freedom of speech, but we should also have a right to 'freedom from speech' - it shouldn't be allowed to yell "fire! fire!" in a crowded movie theater just as someone advertising their business by shouting through a bullhorn outside someone's house at 3AM should also not be allowed. If someone wants to speak, there's a reasonable level of unobtrusiveness that they should not be able to exceed but many ads on the web do just that. Inventions have come and gone (VCR's, TiVO, anyone?) that could have just as conceivably "[destroyed] the relationship between advertises and consumers" (and were subjected to exactly these arguments when they started to become popular) and yet both advertisers, consumers and the relationship between them (for better or worse) is very much alive and kicking.

    --
    Understanding is a three edged sword. - Ambassador Kosh Naranek, Babylon 5
    1. Re:Uh, yeah.... by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I like the analogy of yelling 'fire fire' in a crowded movie theater.. Because many companies feel if something isn't illegal they should be able to do it, and therefore I suppose they would. After all, while there are noise bylaws against using a bullhorn at 3am, there is no law against yelling fire in a movie theater and its a good example of how companies feel they should be able to behave.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  37. The Tragedy Of The Commons by Afty0r · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Kinda. Ad-Blocking was awesome when a tiny percentage of us used it to have a much better internet experience.
    Now, as usage and awareness expands, I am see warnings, popups and outright refusal to serve me content if my ad blocking software is enabled.
    This is the next frontier... sites will (legitimately, it's perfectly OK) stop serving you content, if you're not seeing their ads. Other sites will choose to make their money in more nefarious ways - and this one worries me - by using product placement / paid reviews / sponsored content, and blurring the lines between content and advertising. At least when I see an advert I *know* they paid for the ad. When Jonny Reviewer says "The new film, Badderass is awesome" is he really saying it's awesome, or is he saying "I can put bread on the family table now that the Badderass producers have paid me to shill for them"?
    Personally, I think I'd rather have the ads back.

    1. Re:The Tragedy Of The Commons by rahvin112 · · Score: 1

      The whole script that checks for adblocking thing is easily circumvented. This is an Arms race that the ad companies cannot win because your computer is being asked to process the data and present it and it become trivial to write scripts that will report back display of the ads while completely ignoring them. All the can do is write ever more complicated scripts to check and all the rest of the internet needs is a single person that reads that script and figures out how to circumvent it.

      Scripts blocking content to ad-blockers is just a fad, it's a battle they will rapidly lose if they decide to use it for more than informational purposes only.

    2. Re:The Tragedy Of The Commons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because magazine editors have never published sponsored content, back in the 60's when men were men, advertisements were clearly marked, and doctors smoked camels.

    3. Re:The Tragedy Of The Commons by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Now, as usage and awareness expands, I am see warnings, popups and outright refusal to serve me content if my ad blocking software is enabled.

      Good. They can stick their precious content right up their arseholes and vanish together with it, if the alternative is a shitstorm of advertising. We'll create content without them, just like we did before they got on the web.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:The Tragedy Of The Commons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sites like Forbes for example. I don't read the article. Disabling adblock isn't worth the effort to me. Good for them, good for me. I'll find something else to read or do.

    5. Re:The Tragedy Of The Commons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is a bit strange, because i could swear we passed that threshold long ago. There's native advertising everywhere (look no further than this website!). It's not a choice that could have been prevented. There is no going back.

      And ad-blocking is not to blame for this.

    6. Re:The Tragedy Of The Commons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh no! The horror of web sites actually showing me information about things I might actually want! Insanity!

      And what is this madness you speak of!? People shilling for Hollywood! Why the very idea is absurd! It's simply not physically possible!

    7. Re:The Tragedy Of The Commons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am see warnings, popups and outright refusal to serve me content if my ad blocking software is enabled.

      This is the next frontier... sites will (legitimately, it's perfectly OK) stop serving you content, if you're not seeing their ads.

      And so the ad blockers will start to incorporate anti-ad blocker blockers... As long as we still have general purpose, non-locked down computers, this is an arms race the ad companies have no hope of winning.

      Other sites will choose to make their money in more nefarious ways - and this one worries me - by using product placement / paid reviews / sponsored content, and blurring the lines between content and advertising. At least when I see an advert I *know* they paid for the ad. When Jonny Reviewer says "The new film, Badderass is awesome" is he really saying it's awesome, or is he saying "I can put bread on the family table now that the Badderass producers have paid me to shill for them"?

      If the ad companies thought cleverly written paid shill pieces were more effective than the traditional type of shoved-down-your-throat eyeball-rape, they would be doing it anyway. Which they are. Let that be a lesson not to trust anything you read or get told by default. At least for the moment, the regulatory climate takes a dim view of willfully deceptive paid advertising which is not explicitly declared as such.

      Personally, I think I'd rather have the ads back

      I disagree. For me, being required to use critical judgement when I read online reviews is a small price to pay for not having all of my content defiled by bandwidth sucking, time wasting, distracting crap and every web page not booby trapped with privacy hazards and malware.

    8. Re:The Tragedy Of The Commons by StormReaver · · Score: 1

      Now, as usage and awareness expands, I am see warnings, popups and outright refusal to serve me content if my ad blocking software is enabled.

      That's actually good news, as the Web sites themselves take care of the culling that is so badly needed on the Web. It's one fewer Web site that you need to waste your time on.

      Perhaps you're not old enough to remember the Web prior to its rampant commercialization, but I am. It was a vastly more pleasant experience.

    9. Re:The Tragedy Of The Commons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why wouldn't we just pay for it ourselves?

    10. Re:The Tragedy Of The Commons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's always been the case though. Editorial content has been bought and paid for since the dawn of the printing press.

  38. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 1

    Probably when they either start charging people for accounts, or start asking everyone for donations like Wikipedia.

    I would do an automatic $1 a month donation to slashdot, I read it enough...

    I do the same for Wikipedia...

  39. "Whose bread I eat his song I sing." by sehlat · · Score: 1

    I've noticed that many of the comments refer to the advertising suppliers as not caring about the customers. That is simply not true. They care deeply about the customers.

    The problem is that we the vict... er... recipients of their largess and viewers of the ads are not their customers.

    Their customers are the companies who pay them to display the ads. They're selling OUR bandwith and eyeballs to those companies and they will use any means they can to make sure the precious revenue-generating message goes through, whether we want it to or not.

  40. They still don't get it by Mr.+Shotgun · · Score: 1

    "diminishing my experience of advertising" is not something the average user concerns themselves with. The users are not going to sites to view their ads, they are going to view the site's actual content. Ads are at best mildly interesting but are increasingly considered an annoyance or even dangerous. So the users have responded by saying their best "experience of advertising" is to block it and not experience it at all. The advertisers should be taking this as a lesson but apparently they are still deluding themselves thinking people want to see their ads. They will listen sooner or later or their industry will come crashing down around them.

    --
    Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the (supposed) good of its victims may be the most oppressive
    1. Re:They still don't get it by myowntrueself · · Score: 1


      "diminishing my experience of advertising"
      is not something the average user concerns themselves with. The users are not going to sites to view their ads, they are going to view the site's actual content. Ads are at best mildly interesting but are increasingly considered an annoyance or even dangerous. So the users have responded by saying their best "experience of advertising" is to block it and not experience it at all. The advertisers should be taking this as a lesson but apparently they are still deluding themselves thinking people want to see their ads. They will listen sooner or later or their industry will come crashing down around them.

      No, he meant that it was diminishing HIS experience of advertising.

      As an advertiser, not as a site visitor.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    2. Re:They still don't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An economic bubble centered around advertising is a fabulous disaster I would pay to watch. I'm eagerly waiting to click any ad marketing the event.

      My goodness - think of horror for all the people unable to spend money on stuff they don't need because they can't find the Walmart closest to them!

      captcha: rotten

  41. How to fund websites by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 0

    1. How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

    That sounds suspiciously like "not my problem".

    Wait, let me check... yup. It's definitely "not my problem".

    The obvious solution is, of course, is for users to not use ad blocking software.

    There's no other way possible, no conceivable genius in this universe could come up with any other scheme.

    (Also, we solve *our* problems, not *yours*. Our problems included malware, bandwidth hogging, delaying while bidding, and we've effectively fixed that. Did you want first crack at fixing these problems? We probably should have warned you. Oh wait... we did.)

    1. Re:How to fund websites by gnupun · · Score: 1

      Websites grow on trees. Wait, lemme check... they definitely don't.

      So if the site owner does not get paid by leeches like yourself, there is no point in developing and operating a website. So yes, in a way, it is your problem. In the near term, expect adblockers to be blocked from accessing ad-based websites.

  42. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by whipslash · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yes we are looking at reviving the subscription option so that you can do something like this

  43. Time will tell by no-body · · Score: 1

    The jerks will have to learn the hard way and eat dirt at the end.

    The machine I am looking on is in my house, I own it and it is my right to determine who pisses on my screen and kick them off!
    Every popup demanding an email gets one - IHatePoputs@yyy.me.com, I need to use a real domain, some check for it.

    Those piss-brain idiots need to have their firmware reflashed!

  44. Why I block Ads by Shadow99_1 · · Score: 2

    They are easily one of the biggest, of not the biggest, attack vectors. Because of this I block ads and literally won't white list anyone, because there have been tons of cases of 'respectable' ad hosts being cracked and hosting malware through their ads. Often without the company knowing for months!

    So no, I'd rather not have my systems infected because someone wants me to view ads that I won't actually click on anyways. I can count on one hand how many times I clicked on an ad before ad-blockers were a thing. Combine these two things together and they stay blocked. Forever.

    Want me to unblock your ads? Step #1: Make them passive enough it's nearly impossible to use their ads to infect my system. We can talk about Step #2 once the first is done.

    --
    we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
  45. Ignorant fools by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are paying for the hard part, the content. There are three types of content on the internet: Paywalled, paid propaganda and ad funded. If you think something isn't one of those, then it's propaganda. So yes, fuckface, the advertisers are paying for the internet.

    1. Re:Ignorant fools by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      really, I guess my self run ad free community site must be paid propaganda? as are all those government, charity, university company sites etc. someone certainly is a fuckface, The internet existed long before advertising, advertising is certainly an important part of funding many sites but it is by no means essential.

    2. Re: Ignorant fools by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, your site is propaganda. Yes, university and government sites are propaganda. You are so damn naive that you don't believe it. The purpose of the government is to gain more power. The purpose of universities is to gain more funding.

    3. Re: Ignorant fools by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      Soooo, for instance a site where some guy writes about how to fix a common transmission problem on 1996-2002 Honda Civics or something similar, isn't just made out of the goodness of his heart, because he wants to help other people?

      Those propagandists are getting really crafty by offering actual helpful advice!

      --
      Eat the rich.
  46. Yeah, right ... by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers

    What fucking "relationship"?

    There is no relationship, there are the annoying parasites on the internet who want to inject themselves into what we do. I have never said "gee, I wonder what the assholes over at Double Click are up to these days".

    But let's not pretend I gain anything from being tracked by a bunch of idiots who want to sell me something.

    On behalf of those of us who have aggressively blocked ads for years, don't pretend there's some "relationship" here. And let's stop pretending that internet exists for the ad companies.

    Do this shit without tracking me everywhere and violating my privacy, and I might have less of a problem. Expect me to allow 15 third parties to run scripts and set cookies, and you can fuck off.

    You might as well say a guard dog is spoiling your "relationship" with a peeping Tom. Sorry, don't care.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Yeah, right ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree with everything you said, the bad ones are spoiling it for the good ones.... I run AB+ and some web pages I allow the ads because I like those pages AND they don't run ads that make me want to track down the person and do some pop ups of my own.... Like a lead pipe popping upside their head...

      I like advertising, IF and that's a big IF... it is something I honestly might want to buy. I love Newegg's email spam they send me... I buy computer parts a lot so yeah send me those deals I can't resist. On the flip side, I really don't use many tampons.... I think I dissected one as a child one time... So why do I see tampon ads?

    2. Re:Yeah, right ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > So why do I see tampon ads?

      because you're a bitch

  47. Intriguing: Adapt or Die by wjcofkc · · Score: 1

    It seems I posted a comment here within the last few days about Google's dependence on advertising as their main source of revenue. Here is what I don't understand: they seriously didn't have a backup plan? I am speaking strictly of Google here. Yahoo, is well... Yahoo. It is not a dark secret that you adapt or die in technology. The bigger you are, the harder you fall. So Google honestly has an expectation that advertising as a main source of revenue was going to continue indefinitely? Of course it won't. Things change far to fast, far to often, and to great extremes. I am disappointed that Google is whining about this. A major technology company can only project multiple probabilities for the future of their business and stand ready to pounce in whatever direction comes to be before someone else does. The one thing that can be rest assured is that what a technology company that size is rest assuring on at any given moment will not last and will disappear over the course of an unknown amount of time - fast, slow, other. What's next? In two-years is Zuckerburg going to be complaining his business is being hurt because his user base started to wake up, grew a brain cell and developed a partial soul? Google: for fucks sake. I thought better.

    --
    Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    1. Re:Intriguing: Adapt or Die by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google has been, firstly and foremost, an advertising company through it's entire existance. They aint changing because technology is NOT why they exist.

    2. Re:Intriguing: Adapt or Die by wjcofkc · · Score: 1

      Pardon me. I often forget that technology is not used in advertising and therefore Google is not a tech company. Silly me.

      --
      Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
  48. Relationship Between Advertisers and Consumers? by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 1

    I'd be sympathetic if it weren't for the fact that this "relationship" has turned into something similar to the "relationship" enjoyed between a serial rapist and their victim. They are trying to jam ads up our ass whether we want them or not, without lube. The "relationship" is being destroyed for a reason. "NO" means "NO".

    And many people who are out on the web aren't "consumers". They're "users" - they are merely looking for certain content. Forcing ads on people who aren't even shopping is a nuisance and counter-productive.

    --

    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    1. Re:Relationship Between Advertisers and Consumers? by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I only use rapists with lube, thankyouverymuch.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    2. Re:Relationship Between Advertisers and Consumers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The term "user" is de-humanizing. The term "consumer" is even more dehumanizing.

      This is why advertisers and vendors use these terms and why "the department that provides resources for the company's human staff" is called "human resources". It allows for de-humanization in a similar way to why military training is structured the way it is - people won't do what they are asked to do otherwise. If your business or process or whatever requires de-humanizing terminology to get humans to perform as asked, you are expecting inhuman action by human beings toward other human beings. In war, this may be a necessity but I have a hard time applying the same 'necessity' to buying and selling shit or to employment.

      Those that expect this have de-humanized themselves so it should be no surprise if actual humans consider them less than an individual bacterial cell. This is why I hate, on a conceptual level, advertising, marketing and 'human resources' professionals though individual exceptions exist.

  49. By adblocker you mean antivirus/firewall right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The thing is, right now, in today's environment, a good adblocker is almost more important than a good antivirus. Adds are a very commonly used attack vector. Therefore, an adblocker is by definition acting as a type of firewall. All it takes is one lazy or greedy person in the advertising chain to compromise an unprotected system. And I am sorry, but my enjoyment of the content and wanting them to do well does not extend to wanting to risk reformatting my computer to get rid of something an add did to it.

  50. Many ads are abusive. Is Windows 10 adware? by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    CEOs should be happy that I don't view many ads. Often the ads are so abusive that I think I could go to the Board of Directors and get the CEO fired.

    A serious problem for Google and Yahoo is Windows 10. Apparently, from what I've read, Microsoft uses the forced installation of Windows 10 to collect data to sell. Microsoft calls that "telemetry"; others call it spyware.

    There's a huge amount of money in selling customer data. That's apparently why Windows 10 is "free".

    Another issue: There is no way to stop ad blockers. They could, for example, download the ads, but not display them. There would apparently be no way to stop that.

  51. Can't police yourselves... by careysb · · Score: 1

    Then I guess we'll do it for you.

  52. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by dpidcoe · · Score: 1

    When I browse Slashdot, requests are attempted to "Taboola"

    My first encounter with those guys was when something broke and every time I visited the slashdot I got redirected to some taboola sponsored job offerings webpage (completely different domain). On the plus side, it also made me aware that adblock doesn't block taboola, so I was able to add that filter in pretty quickly to get slashdot working again.

  53. And the kind of "Relationship" they're demanding by Cafe+Alpha · · Score: 1

    is non-consensual. That's not usually called "a relationship."

  54. Adblocker by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    I've used ad blockers in the past, but I currently don't use one. Eventually if these companies keep bitching and griping about it, I will start remembering to always use one. Not that it will make much difference to them anyway, since I've very good at avoiding ads with my eyes.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  55. Threatening the industry by stephows · · Score: 1

    after an executive from the company called its solution a "nuclear weapon" threatening the industry.

    In other news, burglars complain that locks on houses are a nuclear weapon, threatening the industry.

    I think it's diminishing my experience of advertising

    How on Earth can you diminish advertising even further than it already is?

  56. destroy it by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    " "destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers"

    Yes, please.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  57. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're good stuff so far Whipslash. I don't want to jinx anything, but it seems like you and whoever else has their head not in their hindquarters are going to save and grow this website. I'm glad for that. There's really no replacement for it by a long shot.

  58. Bandwidth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You want the ad-blockers to go away?
    It wouldn't hurt for advertisers to help us fight the whole data-caps thing.

    Why would one EVER accept video ads or even the myriad of animated and flash ones when it means we're burning through our month at two, three times the speed? Ads add loading time. Ads increase bandwidth use. Your advertising costs are already rolled into anything you sell, and now you're forcing *us*, the consumer, to pay for your advertising twice.

    Why would we bend over without a fight?

  59. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by Mr.+Shotgun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Good to hear, I don't think the Slashdot user base is the "One weird trick" kind of crowd.

    --
    Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the (supposed) good of its victims may be the most oppressive
  60. ublock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just installed ublock and find instantly that slashdot refreshes about 10X faster, think i will keep it. Thanks Slashdot

  61. Boo-Hoo by Lumpy · · Score: 1

    Until Google and Yahoo clean up the cesspool that is the ad's I'm not only blocking on every machine in my home, but adding blocking to every PC I can touch.

    Allowing ad's right now are a huge security hole and until they get off their lazy asses and clean up the mess I am helping as many people as I can to block any and all ads on their computers.

    Boo Fucking Hoo, Google and Yahoo created this mess.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Boo-Hoo by Nethead · · Score: 1

      Agreed 100%.

      Every computer that I land at my company has an ad blocker. Best security I can come up along with Kaspersky Enterprise.

      BTW: I just installed several new fiber patch bays and included your .sig with them.

      --
      -- I have a private email server in my basement.
  62. Pay $$$ by iamacat · · Score: 1

    If you don't pay for internet services with your attention, you will end up paying with your wallet, while the poor will lose meaningful internet access altogether. That, or the sites will only be accessible if you install an equivalent of Steam VAC to make sure you are not using any adblockers.

    What other alternatives are there? People will not create or host content for free.

    1. Re:Pay $$$ by ldobehardcore · · Score: 1

      Is free content worth the near certainty of getting your machine infected with malware? Malware that can cryptolock your hard drive, or log your passwords for your bank accounts? No? Then shut the fuck up. The advertizers are asking us to dig into a bin full of used needles in exchange for a tasty cookie. If I can get that cookie by wearing lead-lined gloves to dig in the bin, then I will. Because I'm not stupid.

      --
      Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you
    2. Re: Pay $$$ by iamacat · · Score: 1

      Are those malware ads on pirate bay or kickass torrent? If you go to shady sites, you do need to protect yourself. If you see problems on a legit site, contact owner to fic the problem. Or just post URLs here, and one of the readers is likely working for a tech company which is in the position to help.

    3. Re: Pay $$$ by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 1

      Are those malware ads on pirate bay or kickass torrent? If you go to shady sites, you do need to protect yourself. If you see problems on a legit site, contact owner to fic the problem. Or just post URLs here, and one of the readers is likely working for a tech company which is in the position to help.

      Wot? You want us to debug people's screwed up malware serving 3rd party advertising problems? Hahah. Good Luck With That.

    4. Re: Pay $$$ by ldobehardcore · · Score: 1

      I'd rather just not deal with getting malware in the first place. As long as adnetworks are serving out malware, then NoScript and uBlock it is.

      --
      Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you
    5. Re:Pay $$$ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey!
      are you paid for writting this "content"? I am not. Do I write it anyway? Yes.
      Sites for members only are fine.
      You know what is biggest complaint from the porn industry? It is hard to get paid with so many willing "amateurs" undercutting your rates.

    6. Re:Pay $$$ by iamacat · · Score: 1

      You totally missed the facts that slashdot has ads and our discussions are based on often professionally written stories.

  63. Ads and Bandwith by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's see Google and Yahoo start paying ISPs to zero-rate the bandwith used by ads. Not gonna happen is it?

  64. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by mattack2 · · Score: 2

    Would doing that remove the "Slashdot Newsletters" and "Slashdot Top Deals" images/links?

    I get those, DESPITE having "Ads Disabled" checked, due to my up votes.

    Yes, I realize they are "slashdot originated", but they're still effectively the same as any third party ad, to me.

  65. They bought it upon themselves by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Adblocking is literally the first line of defense against threat on the internet these days, and will remain as such until advertisers get around to getting rid of the bad ads, the ones that infect a User's PC, or the annoying auto playing Audio/Video ads. But that's not only the fault of the advertisers. Content providers are also at fault for even enabling those type of ads on their sites and not curating them properly.

  66. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    It would be interesting to know if these trackers were active on Slashdot *before* Dice took over.

    Having said that, no commercial web site can exist without income, and for a site like Slashdot, that means ads.

    By the way, did ThinkGeek come with the deal? Probably not...

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  67. I Block Everything... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    at home and at work. In addition, I took the liberty of disallowing any ads into our work network. None. The savings in bandwidth alone are worth it, not to mention the safer surfing.

    I am under no obligation to view ads. I either mute them on TV, FF thru them if DVRd, but ignore and/or block them I will. I'd rather content not be free than to deal with ads. I already pay for the Internet-based services I find valuable. No such thing as a free lunch.

    I recommend Adblock Block Killer to get around the increasing attempts to block my ad blocking. I look forward to the continuing Cold War between money grubbing ad companies and the Internet savvy. The savvy always win in the end...

  68. I'd pay a subscription by sjbe · · Score: 2

    To be frank I'd be willing to pay a subscription to Slashdot. I do so for other sites I value. I get a lot of value from the site in the form of entertainment and have for a long time. It would be nice if a subscription got you some real value added features but I'd be willing to pay something less for what I get for free now.

    I'm fairly militant however about my ad blocking. It is HIGHLY unlikely any advertiser on slashdot is going to dangle something in front of me that I care about enough to buy. But more importantly I value my privacy and since advertising networks can help themselves in trying to track my every click and search I am forced to take pretty harsh steps to maintain my privacy. This is not going to change. Ever.

    1. Re:I'd pay a subscription by whipslash · · Score: 1

      Any subscription service we would provide would have zero ads

    2. Re:I'd pay a subscription by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      Privacy Badger will block the tracking, by learning which sites track you. It will block the cookies or entire sites outright if they're bad enough.

      But it will not act like an adblocker. So you'll see the ads, without being tracked.

      --
      Eat the rich.
    3. Re:I'd pay a subscription by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      The problem with subscription services is that they don't scale. There are sites that I frequent, and in some cases pay money to in order to do so. In these cases, I'm willing to pay enough money that the site can make a profit after transaction fees. There's a lot of other sites that I like to use once in a while, or when Google sends me there, and while I'd be willing to pay them a very small amount of money there's no practical way to do it. Microtransactions are a real pain to get right, and run into the problem that I likely don't know when visiting a site whether it's actually got what I think it might.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    4. Re:I'd pay a subscription by dwsobw · · Score: 1

      How is that supposed to work? If you connect to an ad-server with an IP+HTTP Header they are able to track you and which site you are visiting.

  69. Provde adequate value for me to subscribe by sjbe · · Score: 2

    1. How do you propose funding websites, if not with ads?

    Provide enough value I'm willing to pay for it directly. I do that with several websites I frequent. If people aren't willing to pay for what you are doing directly then it probably isn't worth all that much to them.

    Speaking for myself I value my privacy FAR more than any random article you could possibly entice me to read. I have NO interest in being tracked by advertising networks and I will take harsh measures to ensure it doesn't happen. If their crappy business model can't handle that then too bad. Your bad business model is not my problem.

    1. Re:Provde adequate value for me to subscribe by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Hell, just put a donate button somewhere on the page. Not that long ago, I was tooling around this here information superhighway when I came across a site about model trains. These guys had figured out all about 'em and even had figured out a way to modify the controls and had controlling and scheduling software they wrote themselves. They were giving it away. I didn't download a copy because I don't actually think I own a model train and I'm reasonably sure I don't own a whole bunch of trains or even a set of tracks. However, they were a passionate bunch - you could tell by their pictures. So, I sent 'em a donation. That's but one example and yes, yes I was a little high at the time.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  70. How about this instead? (Serious Question) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was going to do an ask slashdot on this topic, but since we have the conversation on adblocking going already I figure I'll hijack this to ask a question.

    What if instead of ads being embedded in a page, ads were served through a browser plugin? Kind of the opposite of Ad Block.
    You could select from a list of advertisers you'd like to hear from and when you surf to a page on a participating site, instead of a paywall or ads from random and sundry, you would see only ads from places you requested. If you didn't have the plugin, the site would load only partial content and ask you to install the plugin.

    This would be in lieu of the normal method of embedding JS in a page and delaying the page load.
    Ads would be guaranteed to be clean, malware free and moderately unobtrusive.

    We've been considering launching an open source project to create a plugin to do this. By keeping it opensource you can see that it's not doing anything crazy like tracking and monitoring you. Instead ad categories would be based on content in the page's meta tags. The plugin wouldn't be "phoning home" with anything other than "[keywords], [authorized advertisers]"

    Once the page is displayed, the plugin would sign a message that posts back to the original site you are visiting, these are basically receipts that the content creator could submit back on a separate system in order to get paid for their content. This breaks tracking.

    Thoughts?

    1. Re:How about this instead? (Serious Question) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only allow static HTML and images, no JavaScript, no animated GIFs, no video. This was good enough for the once-enormous magazine and newspaper industry.

  71. I usually don't install an Ad-Blocker. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I understand ads are and have been a way to keep content accessible to most users without payment -- just like in air free TV. Therefore I don't ad block; we've seen where paid TV ends up (eternal reruns, despicable content like ghost hunting and questionable values, like murder at noon).

    OTOH, compromising the performance of my main activity (browsing) on my not so new PCs is a no-no. Therefore I always use a Flash blocker, gifs were allowed and I'd like to block also HTML5 movies, which seems not to be working so good.

    As of late, some javascript seems to be hijacking the page to particular pages like aliexpress.com or something. Vey obnoxious.

    1. Re:I usually don't install an Ad-Blocker. by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      When ads are delivered over the air you don't pay for their delivery. That's the difference. Sure, most people are getting a large enough chunk of data from providers for a flat rate that it's not a big deal, but not everyone is like that. It was the case that ad based games, like the ad based Angry Birds, ended up costing customers MORE in the long run.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    2. Re:I usually don't install an Ad-Blocker. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > most people are getting a large enough chunk of data from providers for a flat rate that it's not a big deal

      My case.

      > It was the case that ad based games, like the ad based Angry Birds, ended up costing customers MORE in the long run.

      I see. Basically your point is free ads cost me a slice of my internet connection -- which is not free, but paid -- so I end up paying something for them regardless of whether I see them or not. It seems a sound reasoning.

    3. Re:I usually don't install an Ad-Blocker. by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      No - if you ad block, then there might be a few bites that were included in web pages that referenced the ads, but they weren't loaded. In the case of the ad sponsored version of games for smartphones, as far as I know, you can't block them. In any event, the point is not to block them - why should you be entitled to a "free" game? The point is that, at least a few years ago, when bandwidth was more expensive and people weren't getting such huge monthly buckets of data, if you played a game a lot, it was cheaper to pay the one or two dollars for the game, because at some point you were paying more than that for bandwidth for the ads.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
  72. My story tells you why you should block ads by jsse · · Score: 1

    They told you ads are good for you? Think about it. I once google for "MILF" (really, I didn't know what the hell was it and I was JUST looking for its meaning), turn out it referred to something disgusting and I didn't even dare clicking into the search result. Immediate after that, the right side of my facebook were filled with dating services with senior women, and everyday they recommended me of pages of senior women. Even my subsequent search results were topped with similar ads. My coworkers now stayed away from me.

    I wanted to call Google telling them that I AM NOT INTERESTED IN HAVING CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH OLD WOMEN PLEASE STOP...or I just go get an adblocker.

    1. Re:My story tells you why you should block ads by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Think about it. I once google for "MILF" (really, I didn't know what the hell was it and I was JUST looking for its meaning), turn out it referred to something disgusting and I didn't even dare clicking into the search result. Immediate after that, the right side of my facebook were filled with dating services with senior women

      You were supposed to type "MILF", not "GILF"

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  73. Paid news worked for centuries ... by perpenso · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... Better pay for every single other viewpoint ...

    Believe it or not, it is entirely possible for a single source to offer multiple perspectives on an issue. Once upon a time this was known as journalism.

    ... The web is now a bookstore, not a library ...

    Not a problem. Once upon a time people bought newspapers. They were generally also available at the library but it was more convenient to have them delivered to your home.

    **If** our current two decade'ish experiment with web based ad supported news fails its not the end of the world. We had a system that worked well for centuries. That old system's economic model may work with pixels as well as it worked with dead trees.

    1. Re:Paid news worked for centuries ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Believe it or not, it is entirely possible for a single source to offer multiple perspectives on an issue. Once upon a time this was known as journalism.

      But that was before the dawn of the SJW era. Leftism has been elevated to a religion by its believers, so now there can only be advocacy. (Because it's the right thing to do.)

    2. Re:Paid news worked for centuries ... by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      The price on the front of the newspaper is cream for the publisher, their bread and butter used to come from classified (and inline) ads. Before the internet if you wanted to buy a car, house, find a job, find a plumber, etc, you either bought a newspaper or cracked open the phone book. Some people still buy newspapers (especially in my age bracket) but they are no longer forced to buy them to find what they need, they buy them out of habit or just for the entertainment value.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    3. Re:Paid news worked for centuries ... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Fortunately we have sites like Slashdots where the comments offer alternative views on even the most biased stories. Unfortunately most site's comments are badly structured and unmoderated.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Paid news worked for centuries ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have Internet Comment Structure

      Unfortunately most site's comments are badly structured and unmoderated.

      Dyslexia, you insensitive clod!

    5. Re:Paid news worked for centuries ... by perpenso · · Score: 1

      The price on the front of the newspaper is cream for the publisher, their bread and butter used to come from classified (and inline) ads. Before the internet if you wanted to buy a car, house, find a job, find a plumber, etc, you either bought a newspaper or cracked open the phone book. Some people still buy newspapers (especially in my age bracket) but they are no longer forced to buy them to find what they need, they buy them out of habit or just for the entertainment value.

      I guess I'm arguing that quality information and news is a "need". If the current system fails, we have a workable model to fall back on. Car dealers, plumbers, etc could pay the web pages to deliver their ads in certain geographical zones. The system is less efficient without user tracking and targeted advertising delivery but the old system was efficient enough to pay for the newspaper business of old.

    6. Re:Paid news worked for centuries ... by citylivin · · Score: 1

      " it is entirely possible for a single source to offer multiple perspectives on an issue. Once upon a time this was known as journalism."

      Come come now, in the last 40 years I doubt there has been an unslanted newspaper in some way. Usually cities have (had) one or two papers of each, left and right wing. Maybe a pragmatic "financial" paper that was more centrist, but all papers leaned in some direction. People just didn't see the bias if they agreed with the stories and editorials in their particular paper. But you would see families or even individuals in families being religious in what paper they read.

      Maybe greater than 40 years ago when I was not around, this kind of journalism existed, but I doubt it. I have seen old copies of papers that were more like newsletters from the 20s and 30s that had a pro or anti socialist stance on them. As well as other papers pushing other issues. People generally fund papers to get their point out there. I think thats the reason most business people start and acquire papers, to change the public mind.

      I think your "unbiased reporting" journalism never really existed. People have biases and they will report things based on them. Pretending there was a rosy history where no one was biased is a fantasy. Sure maybe some individual reporters strived for that, as they most likely do today. But even someone fair and balanced like peter mansbridge, you just know he leans left on most issues. Everyone has opinions, and I dont think I would want to read an article that was completely unbiased and dry. Identifying when people are being biased, and in what specific way, is a great skill. They used to even teach grade and highschool kids to pick through newspapers and find biased phrases. I forget what the class was called, media awareness or something. Its a real life skill to cut through all the bullshit out there.

      --
      As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
    7. Re:Paid news worked for centuries ... by perpenso · · Score: 1

      Slanted journalism has always been around, its not a last 40 years thing. However there has also been newspapers, and in more recent history nightly news TV shows, where there was an honest attempt at being more professional, at fairly showing multiple sides, at being *truer* to the ideals of journalism. However in the 1960s these ideals fell out of favor and we have drifted even farther from the ideals of journalism.

  74. Wired Mag on line by wulfmans · · Score: 1

    Wired has just told me when visiting their site to disable my ad blocker. Fuck that, i just wont ever visit that site ever again. They will never learn i guess.

    1. Re:Wired Mag on line by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you use uBlock Origin, you can install Adblock Block Killer sub and read Wired and other sites with no issue. Hope this helps...

  75. Disable advertising by ArhcAngel · · Score: 3

    I've had the Disable Advertising button on /. for years. You know what? I only turned it on once just to see what the difference would be. The difference wasn't that big so I turned it off. I am quite happy supporting sites/services that are of benefit to me. I no longer visit sites I used to love because they enabled IN YOUR FACE ads that get in the way of the reason I'm there. I couldn't go to Forbes at work anymore even if I wanted to because they flag our proxy as an ad blocker and won't even let me past the ad banner until I turn the proxy off! If you want an example of a site with ads that don't bug me /. is a pretty good one.

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
    1. Re:Disable advertising by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 2

      Funny you mentioned that, /. is one of the very few sites I actually allow advertisements from, because they never serve annoying ads. Just simple banners. Return to simple banners, and you may join this website as a site I'll allow advertising from.

    2. Re:Disable advertising by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      I even go a step further and will click on the ads here from time to time, mostly to ensure that ./ gets something. Sites that have auto playing ads with sound get put into the ban list on my router and blocked everywhere so I don't accidentally go there again.

      --
      Time to offend someone
  76. It's like this. by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    I don't have a problem with static ads. I sometimes even click on them. Especially the T-shirt ads with pretty girls.

    But pop-overs, pop-unders, those "cute" little ads that float across content, any ads that make noise, video ads that play without me asking them to, and *anything* that covers up the content, *THAT'S* the problem. It's THOSE guys who are ruining things for all the other advertisers, by making adblockers necessary. It's not the adblocking companies. They're just filling a need. It's undisciplined advertisers that *create* the need. And this is not even counting the trojan horses ("your flash version it out of date!!!") and scareware popups.

    Sure, if there were only two or three static ads per page, there are some geeks out there that would block them on a matter of principle. But the point is, most of us wouldn't bother. It's when ads become intrusive that adblockers become interesting to the masses.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  77. Its the next stage past "cutting the cord" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just like the ongoing user movement to "cut the cord" from video media, the masses are trying to customize their experience around a model that doesn't impede their wants or needs. They are willing to pay for what they actually want via an ala-carte menu which isn't currently available from most cable/satellite providers.

    Now just as suddenly the Internet content "providers" are collectively becoming annoyed that people are following the same model that has impacted the cable/satellite providers. These providers try to channel the content that users want yet surround them with a plethora of cra*ptastic unwanted experiences in the name of revenue for themselves. Most of this unwanted content has already been posted here.

    Ad blocking software in a browser is not that much different than cutting the cord and deciding to pay for netflix/amazon/hulu+/world+dog as a personal choice. Users just want a custom experience that meets their expectations without drowning in what they don't want.

    1. Re:Its the next stage past "cutting the cord" by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      Except that people aren't paying for content, they're just blocking what would be considered the form of payment.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
  78. Should have specified 3rd party / targeted ads by perpenso · · Score: 1

    ... web based ad supported news ...

    Hmmm ... I wasn't very clear, apologies. I should have specified "web based 3rd party / targeted ad supported news". I am referring only to ads delivered by third parties, i.e. google, most likely targeted ads. Basically two channels, one for content, one for ads. That is the newish and possibly failing model.

    There would of course still be ads, as there was in print newspapers, but there would be a single channel for both content and ads. No third party such a google. Advertisers would contract directly with the publisher who would lay out ads amongst content as they did in the days of paper. That is the centuries old proven model. Hopefully one less likely to watch you and engaged in targeted ads.

    1. Re:Should have specified 3rd party / targeted ads by hesiod · · Score: 1

      Advertisers would contract directly with the publisher who would lay out ads amongst content as they did in the days of paper. That is the centuries old proven model.

      It doesn't really take much away from your point, but I feel it's worth noting that newspapers do contract out advertising with 3rd parties. A company can employ an advert agency to place their advertisement in multiple newspapers (dozens, or even hundreds). That's similar to me employing Google to run my advert on hundreds (or, more likely thousands) of web sites.

    2. Re:Should have specified 3rd party / targeted ads by perpenso · · Score: 1

      Advertisers would contract directly with the publisher who would lay out ads amongst content as they did in the days of paper. That is the centuries old proven model.

      It doesn't really take much away from your point, but I feel it's worth noting that newspapers do contract out advertising with 3rd parties. A company can employ an advert agency to place their advertisement in multiple newspapers (dozens, or even hundreds). That's similar to me employing Google to run my advert on hundreds (or, more likely thousands) of web sites.

      Yes and no. First of all there is the tracking actions of google but that is sort of tangential. I think the more relevant difference is that the newspapers see the ad beforehand. They could reject it, they could require modifications, and most of all they insert it into the content channel. The publisher publishes the ad.

  79. Like a bacon advertisement outside a Synagogue by HaZardman27 · · Score: 1

    I've never _once_ intentionally clicked on an ad, so advertisers shouldn't give a fuck about me anyways, unless they think that flooding me with their junk frequently enough will subliminally trick me into buying their stuff. People who install ad-blockers typically are not the people who click on or pay attention to ads.

    --
    Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
    1. Re:Like a bacon advertisement outside a Synagogue by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      And I never once bought something from a telemarketer... your statement is true, but moot. The strategy is still to cast as wide a net as possible - it doesn't matter if it pisses you off if you aren't going to be a customer anyway.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
  80. Its only targeted advertising that is failing ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes. Relying on advertising is clearly a poor business model and deserves extinction.

    What is failing is only 3rd party targeted advertising, where a 3rd party like google tracks you and inserts targeted ads into a publisher's content. The old model where the publisher was paid directly by advertisers to insert ads into their content is a well proven business model.

  81. '"destroying the relationship" between advertisers by Snufu · · Score: 1

    and consumers'.

    It is a good thing when abusive relationships end.

  82. Boohoo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck you Google/Yahoo.

  83. Ads are killing my browser by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ads are killing my browser. Sometimes it would slow to a crawl and 2 or even 3 videos would take forever to load and then start playing simultaneously! It was impossible to control my browser with all the ads loading on some sites.

    I had to install an ad blocker just to use my browser!

    It is my computer. I'll be glad to avoid sites that demand I let them take over my browser.

    1. Re:Ads are killing my browser by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      In addition, sites - including news - should NOT autoplay video.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
  84. Advertising I won't block. by Nogami_Saeko · · Score: 1

    How to make advertising I won't block:

    It can't have any movement (graphics, video, the frames, etc), it can't make any sound, it can't appear over, or obscure any content, it can't obscure or interfere with page navigation, and it can't take over 15% of my total screen real-estate regardless of device.

    I won't block ads that conform to these rules.

    --
    "Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
    1. Re:Advertising I won't block. by gfxguy · · Score: 1

      I guess because I have decent ad blocking that what is getting to me more than ads is every news site I visit popping up a subscription thing over the content that you need to dismiss. In the last month or so, that's been more bothersome than ads.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
  85. Destroy the relation ship... by amberdalan · · Score: 2

    Dear advertisers... It's not you, it's me. I no longer find you attractive, but I can't say that because then I'll feel guilty. Oh, by the way, good riddance.

  86. Ads Are A Security Risk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Period. End.

    Change that fundamental flaw, and we can talk about allowed advertising. Until then, keep your infected shit OFF MY COMPUTER.

  87. What "relationship"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is no "relationship" between advertisers and consumers; unless you want to call stalking (ad tracking), rape (maleware), and unwanted hostility (constant nagging of ads you don't want to see) a "relationship".

    The cold hard fact is that advertisers are hostile to users, and that's why users/consumers don't like them.

  88. Wat? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1
    Destroying the relationship between advertisers and consumers? WAT?

    Seriously you stupid moronic retarded as swipe cancerous STD ridden canker sore fuckheads. YOU! destroyed the relationship between advertisers and consumers. I don't want to blow my cap on my smartphone so I can download 40 megabytes of shitty advertisements and malware graciously provided by you assholes.

    I don't want to have to pay ransomware just so I can get stupid ads. Your paradigm is broken, fix it.

    FUCK you very much - you brought this shitstorm upon yourselves, by making 80 percent of the data advertising http://www.munichre.com/en/gro..., and now you are upset because we don't want you ramming your utter shit the wrong way up our asses?

    Go fuck yourself. I'll stop using the internet before I turn my adblocker off.

    Other than that I have no strong thoughts on the issue.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  89. That's precisely the problem by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    I started ad blocking because ads were just too intrusive. I'm not a zealot, I understand how things work and sites need to make money some how. However advertisers online are the laziest fuckers ever. In print or on TV ads are curated. There is a conversation between the media company and the ad company, money changes hands, and an ad is run in an agreed upon format for an agreed upon amount of times. On the Internet the advertisers just want you to directly embed their shit and to let them go hog fucking wild.

    This then just lead to too many problem. Malware is one, though I have stuff on my computer that'll generally stop that. However just plain annoying shit is what really got me. Ads that auto-play sound, ads that block the whole site, ads that try to force you to go to another page, etc. Advertisers somehow fees that more annoying is the way to go.

    Well I finally had enough, and adblocking goes on. I'll turn it off for select sites, though in general I don't have to since the good sites run their own ads, and those being on their own servers the adblocker doesn't notice.

    I'll turn it off when the ad industry starts behaving, or when sites start making them. If that doesn't happen, well too fucking bad. I realize that will mean some sites will go under and I don't want that, but I will not put up with the completely shit experience that is the unfiltered web.

  90. My relationship... by gfxguy · · Score: 1

    My relationship with advertisers was doomed from the start. It's better this way. It's like the response TV advertisers have to DVRs and people downloading illegal copies of content to avoid commercials.... add more commercials! Yeah! That'll help!

    --
    Stupid sexy Flanders.
  91. Re:And the kind of "Relationship" they're demandin by gfxguy · · Score: 1

    Reminds me of the "contract" viewers supposedly had with TV networks to watch the commercials (Jamie Kellner, former CEO of Turner Broadcasting).

    --
    Stupid sexy Flanders.
  92. "Relationship" LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This crap kills me. I don't want a relationship with advertisers; that is why I use an ad blocker, duh.

  93. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have to say, I just added /. to the AdBlock exclusion list, just to see what ads I'll get, and I'm impressed.

    I'm seeing two ads at the top of the page, both of which are relevant to my interests - guns and hiking gear. The latter is, in fact, specifically for a product that I wanted to buy for a while, and was looking for a good deal for, and it offers a discount. No sale this time because they don't have the desired size/color, but still, this gets my nod of approval (and a bit of unease because of how accurate it is).

    So, thumbs up from this Slashdot user, and I think I'll keep the exclusion.

  94. Trusted Client, a bad security model by TheNarrator · · Score: 1

    You know the whole Ad Business relies on a trusted client security model. The client is trusted to be looking at your ads and not clicking on them if it's not interested. Now that someone has started to do wide scale hacking of that client it's no longer trusted. It's amazing they made it this far with the whole thing.hanging together.

  95. the basics by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Any good fisherman will tell you, there's a certain point where the bait's not big enough for the hook; crying because the fish are uninterested in the hook isn't going to get you more fish.

    Stop being irredeemably greedy, you're far, far past the point of diminishing returns.

    --
    -Styopa
  96. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Purely optional, just like the ad blockers are. Would happily pay annually :)

  97. I block all ads. by Spudboy2003 · · Score: 1

    Soon I will block all text. Screw you, internet.

  98. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by whipslash · · Score: 1

    Thank you my friend

  99. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by whipslash · · Score: 1

    It would remove the deals. Have to investigate the newsletter more before I had an answer on that

  100. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by whipslash · · Score: 1

    Haha no argument there

  101. My simple request by duke_cheetah2003 · · Score: 1

    Dear Advertisers,

    Want my to take off my adblock? Return to the simple single banner ad per page, with no audio, video, animation or other things that deliberately distract me from the content I'm trying to look at. I promise if you return to this simple advertising of the 90's WWW, I'll turn off adblock. BTW, you're still welcomed to serve me targeted advertising, I actually like seeing advertisements for things either already have, or might actually be interested in. Thank you.

    In all truth, I don't really even mind the animated ones. Really quite frankly, it's when my browser starts opening new pages, playing sound and/or popping up an advertisement that I have to click to get rid of that got me interested in tools like Privoxy, Squid and AdBlock+ to put a stop to your disrupting my usage of my browser.

    In short, advertise in a non-annoying fashion and I'll allow it. Kind of sucks for you that the power is on my end, rather than yours, doesn't it?

    Lastly, the advertisements before playing a YouTube video (I get these on my phone, not on my PC.) are REALLY obnoxious, I vow to never buy a product or service I see advertised in that manner. Not only are you wasting both our time, you're alienating me to outright boycott and you're wasting my limited mobile broadband data usage.

    Now of course, will an advertiser ever see this? Probably not, since the game goes both ways, we only see what we want to see on the internet. Deal with it.

    1. Re:My simple request by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly - i used to block just flash, but these days the popups over the page i want to read are html5, so i had to install AdBlock...

  102. fake download buttons are one of the reason why by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    fake download buttons are one of the reason why it's good to use ad block.

    1. Re:fake download buttons are one of the reason why by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      You know it's gotten fucking bad when you have to dodge fake download links at majorgeeks and bleepingcomputer.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    2. Re:fake download buttons are one of the reason why by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

      Tell me about it. I've stopped counting the number of times I've seen a [DOWNLOAD[ button that wasn't on-topic.

  103. Ads are bad by Peter+(Professor)+Fo · · Score: 1

    I block em.
    I've saved the advertiser a 'Fuck them'
    Shouldn't everyone pay me
    for saving bandwidth and honesty?

  104. cannot parse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Blocking all ads I think it's diminishing my experience of advertising and in that case we see an issue for the user themselves."

    Why should it be an issue for the "user themselves" when a Google manager's financial experience is diminished?

  105. I love the smooth silky irony by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 1

    They rape the shit out our privacy, working on ML and AI tools that will violate it even better, then when we say, "Hello, how about no?" they get all pissed off. I love the endless analogies that people are making with robbers being pissed off with locks, peeping toms pissed off with curtains, bank robbers being angered by bank guards, polio being dissed by Jonas Salk, etc.

    It boils down to a simple pairing. Anything that makes our lives worse such as egregious privacy violations and annoying marketing, is bad. Anything that makes our lives better is good.

    But the above pairing is even better because one happens to be the cure for the other. What is even more ironic is that Google will yell things such as adblockers will drive quality content behind paywalls. Paywalls that keep them from stealing things like news and reviews to aggregate on their site.

    I have a feeling that when this chapter of the history of the internet is written people will call it the great google pause; the time when google held everyone to their narrow and ever obsolete view of how the internet should be structured. When someone crushes google's search engine dominance and google suddenly can't afford to bully anymore, it will be a good day.

    Think about what kind of world it would be if somehow intel and microsoft had continued their dominance into mobile technology.

  106. Dear advertisers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My ad blocking software does not block any ads that are part of the web page itself. It will, however, block any ads that are on a different server.

    You are welcome to go bankrupt.

    Thank you.

  107. Destroying the Relationship? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google and Yahoo have accused ad-blocking software Shine of "destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers,

    Advertisers have about as much of a relationship with consumers as rapists have with their victims.

  108. Advertising code of conduct by Compuser · · Score: 1

    How about this:
    1. Ads should have no dynamic content to them. No HTML5, no javascript, no java. If the ad requires the user's computer to run any code that is supplied by the advertising agency then the website needs to design an effective way for the user to identify when they are infected by the ad and a straightforward path to financial recovery for all users who were served such an ad (class action without going to court). Barring that - no dynamic content.

    2. Ads should not alter the user's computer state. In particular, no cookies. The website should make every effort to protect user privacy and prevent user tracking.

    3. Ads should not interfere with site usage. In particular, no interstitials or ads that alter or delay user access to the website.

    4. Ads should not be distracting the user from content. It is OK for the ad to present information in a way that has a chance to catch their attention but if the user makes a decision that the ad is of no interest then it should be trivial for the user to tune the ad out. For example, no blinking ads, no strobe effect, no sound.

    And for mobile:
    1. The ads should be small enough to allow easy website navigation. No ads which span more than 75% of overall width or height.

    2. The ads should be small enough to present negligible load on the bandwidth consumption. That means that ads need to scale by locale. The typical monthly allowances for users can vary greatly across the globe and the internet is global. It is likely that 10 KB is a good upper limit for each ad though this may change by locale. The number of ads and their refresh rate need to be tuned by locale.

    ---
    The final requirement which would be ideal but is likely unrealistic: the ads need to be designed to fit the aesthetic of the website. For example, contrast between the ad color scheme and the website color scheme can be jarring to the user. At the very least, the websites should saturate/desaturate ad colors automatically to better match the site design.

  109. Don't want ads? Fuck off then. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The subject says it all really. If you are using an ad blocker it is because someone is giving you something for free IN EXCHANGE for serving you ads, instead of you having to pay money for it. You are ruining that by blocking all ads.
    1) Stop pretending this is a one sided thing of the big mean companies being unreasonable. (They are in some ways, but the /. comments to this point are myopic as fuck.)
    2) Don't say companies are "crying" about the receivers of their free content leeching it.
    3) Remember that if you weren't sucking on the teat of their free content, you wouldn't have needed to install an ad blocker in the first place, you outrageous, over-entitled twits!

    1. Re:Don't want ads? Fuck off then. by jafiwam · · Score: 1

      The subject says it all really. If you are using an ad blocker it is because someone is giving you something for free IN EXCHANGE for serving you ads, instead of you having to pay money for it. You are ruining that by blocking all ads. 1) Stop pretending this is a one sided thing of the big mean companies being unreasonable. (They are in some ways, but the /. comments to this point are myopic as fuck.) 2) Don't say companies are "crying" about the receivers of their free content leeching it. 3) Remember that if you weren't sucking on the teat of their free content, you wouldn't have needed to install an ad blocker in the first place, you outrageous, over-entitled twits!

      You are going to need about another 900 shills to help you out today, idiot.

    2. Re:Don't want ads? Fuck off then. by tflf · · Score: 1

      I don't use ad-blocker software (but seriously consider it at least 3 times a week!) I'm not opposed to ads - content has to be paid for. However, most of the current model is badly broken. What works for me: static ads (like we saw back in the days of print), with links. I click links on static ads several times a day and occasionally purchase. However, the rest of the current on-line advertising model is bad, and often dangerous. Pop-ups are annoying, intrusive and a waste of time and bandwidth. I personally hate animated, noisy and almost impossible to close ads for stuff (even stuff I'm looking to buy), blocking the content I was looking for. When it comes time to buy something, I avoid (if possible) any company I saw a pop-up for. Dealing with infected ads, click and bait, false-flag, spam, and an endless stream of 'you looked at this so you should be interested in" along with 'you bought this, buy it again' (thanks a lot Google, Amazon and others) should not be part of the cost of being connected. I will pay for content, if quality and reasonably priced. Too many content providers fail that test. For example: newspapers and magazines usually charge as much, or even more, than their print subscription prices for electronic. The best price for an electronic subscription for print is to wait for a good deal on the dead tree version, as the electronic is usually included. Unfortunately, paying for content does not guarantee no third-party pops-ups! Had discussions with a few publishers about the insanity of such a pricing structure. They claimed to be sympathetic, but, no change to policy. Again, we need to pay for content, but, we don't deserve or need the garbage we are getting today.

  110. Good ads by sgunhouse · · Score: 1

    Good ads do exist ... but yes, 99%+ would not fit the term,

    Back when Opera web browser had for pay licenses (which is to say, before 9.50) you could use the browser for free if you didn't mind an ad banner in the top-right corner. And in the later of the pre-9.50 versions you could choose whether to see the standard random ads or contextual ads - the latter were provided by Google based on the page you were looking ad and were text only. (Only for non-secure pages, they weren't going to tell Google what secure pages you visited.) We had a number of users who would pay for the license but then not enter the code so they could continue to see the contextual ads, and of course since the ads were consistently placed and unobtrusive if you weren't interested they were easy to ignore as well.

    Mind you, we had reports of some websites specifically blocking Opera because in their minds Opera's ads were reducing the value of their own ads ... but this discussion isn't about ancient web browsers.

    A good ad is one that is interesting to the people who see it (as much as possible anyway), that is unobtrusive to those who aren't interested, and advertises something they are likely to be interested in. (The ad I'm seeing below this box for a local financial institution is not particularly good as financial institutions are not something you're looking for that often, and it isn't really unobtrusive either.) These websites where half the page is ads - forget it. Video ads? Only embedded in other video content, and even then not usually. Ads that jump up when you move your mouse over something? Never. Click on perhaps, as the user indicated interest, but not move over.

    And if you're Google (or any other ad network), the ads should be governed by interest to the user rather than how much the advertiser is paying (well, as much as feasible anyway). People won't click on it - and are more likely to block it - if it isn't something they want, so it doesn't matter how much they are paying. Doesn't matter that they bought some keyword if it isn't appropriate.

    Is that really so hard to understand?

  111. Blocks Ads and Tracking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't see Shine's home page (https://www.getshine.com/) because NoScript causes the page to stop loading when Google Analytics won't load (https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js).
    I don't know if I should laugh or cry.

  112. I honestly didn't start blocking ads until... by Skuld-Chan · · Score: 2

    They started putting ads with sound in them. It got to the point that if I forgot to turn off my speakers I'd get woken up in the night by an left in a tab I didn't bother closing.

    Then the ads that would force the browser to a specific location on the page (breaking the website, but making it so you could see the ad).

    They have no-one to blame but themselves. I honestly truthfully didn't give two shits about ads until they started talking and hijacking normally respectable websites. I mean - I do understand - that's how a lot of sites generate revenue so I feel bad, but my health and well being comes first - and talking ads that wake me up at 2 am are not healthy.

    If some executive personally promised me no more sneaky backhanded, noisy ads - I would turn it off and try again for a while.

    1. Re:I honestly didn't start blocking ads until... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      You might try putting your computer on sleep mode at night.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    2. Re:I honestly didn't start blocking ads until... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The trouble is, some executive can promise you that. And they'd mean it, and they'd keep their promise.

      But that would only be - at best - one advertising company. Leaving lots of others still doing the things that piss you off. Then you'd say "fuck it, the guy clearly lied to me", and turn your blocker back on.

      Even if the whole industry reached an agreement, "OK, no more 'obtrusive' ads, and the definition of 'obtrusive' is as follows:..." - there would still be a massive incentive for individual companies to cheat on it. Or new companies to enter the market and cheat on it. And those new companies would quickly eat the old companies' lunch. It really is a splendid example of a tragedy of the commons.

  113. We absolutely need ads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you write mobile apps, there are thousands of new releases each month. You'll need to buy advertisements in order to simply have someone knowing about your little app at all, and there is no other way around it. The only alternative is to give more power to mainstream media and distribution channels, because without advertisement they are your only way to get some visibility (you either appear in the media, or are featured by the powers that be). Those are things you get after playing politics or being a celebrity, and the quality of your app has zero importance in the matter. Sure, perhaps your app is trash and you get bad reviews, but we're talking about visibility, and your name is already there. Compare that to the hundreds of thousands of apps that are simply invisible, regardless of how good or bad they are.

    Advertisement is a leveling field. If people who watch your advertisement buy your product often, your advertisement pays off, so you will advertise more. You can be absolutely nobody, but if you have a product people wants to buy, you can reach those people. Sure, it is a money game, but if your product sells (meaning you have a positive conversion rate) you have a strong case to get the money.

    You may think word of mouth is good enough, but that is naive. If nobody knows your app exists, there is nobody to send word about it.

    Check Steam, for example. Steam is an obnoxious advertisement platform. Steam will bombard you daily with full-page ads after playing any game. Even if a given day you don't open Steam, it will remember that, and the next day you will get long chains of a dozen or more full-page ads. Do you hate that? Well, most greenlighted indy games get their sales only thanks to those ads. A few years ago the 'what's new' page were the biggest source of sales, but nowadays there is simply too much stuff released in a weekly basis. You no longer get noticeable front page exposition unless you play politics with Valve or are already well known. And Steam is amazingly considerate to all developers, as they essentially give you about one million impressions for free simply because you released your game.

    Is Steam evil because they show ads? If you are a developer, you won't think so.

  114. It's free enterprise, bitch! by Macdude · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So you can't survive with me blocking your annoying, intrusive, malware laden advertising? Tough. If you can't compete, then die. It's free enterprise, bitch!

    --
    "Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
  115. Like it by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    Adblocker companies should do more ads for adblockers, after all only potential new clients will see them.

    But Google and Yahoo are doing it for them for free as I see.

  116. Relationship? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The so-called "relationship" between advertisers and consumers can only be called abusive and non-consensual, with the way they try to force themselves upon us.

  117. In Google's defense... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They built their empire on ad-supported products, so if ad-blocking becomes a worldwide practice (personnally, I hope it does), they're going to have to redefine their business model. Nobody likes being forced to change -- especially big, unwieldy companies like Google -- so instead they throw a tantrum to make the world stay the same.

    It's really quite understandable, once you accept the fact that most companies think like 5-year-olds, and become dumber as they grow. We wouldn't expect a 5-year-old to raise himself, so we shouldn't expect companies to display wisdom and temperance, or even empathy towards their clients.

    It's not Google's fault that it is stupid, it's just not in the nature of large organisms to be flexible, nor in the nature of companies to be wise. Google is just following its natural tendencies by acting like a spoiled child who didn't get their toy.

    PS: When I say it is stupid, I am only talking about Google as a company. There are very smart people that work there, they just don't get to make the decisions all by themselves.

  118. Switch and Bait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shine is very explicit in stating they are not against advertising. Their interest is in "new rules of engagement" (which by the way is a military term). The new rules will involve advertisers making their ads acceptable and paying Shine (and their buddies the mobile operators) a cut to get in. Shine will be deciding what "acceptable" is. As a "bonus" you get all your mobile browsing gatekeeped by a single corporation - which by the way you have no contract with nor are they bound by the same rules as network operators. We'll see if they make it a user choice or a 'it's for your own good' kind of thing where you get it whether you like it or not. Just like with Windows 10 most users will barely notice anything beyond the shiny (less ads in this case).
    The whole shebang will likely hit some legal walls due to the fact it would make the content delivery 'dumb pipes' not so dumb anymore.

    And don't for a moment believe Google and Yahoo are against the move. Corporations like to deal with other corporations whereas the internet is one big, unpredictable mess. They have to protest now, for one because it's going to cost them $$$.

  119. BUT... by Grog6 · · Score: 0

    Those advertisers are selling cheap knockoff parts that will wear out or break within a year, where the ones lower in the results are real.

    This is my experience: The crap they push the hardest, is the crap you want the least.

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  120. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by jafiwam · · Score: 1

    These were all on the site when we acquired it. We are in the process of cleaning up all requests and scripts like this.

    I hope you guys are taking notes on this process and can share what you aren't prohibited by terms of sale to share.

    The changes, plus the results of the changes showed to the world might knock some of the blockheaded site owners elsewhere to clean up their act.

  121. Removing ads for a fee isn't value added by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Any subscription service we would provide would have zero ads

    The problem with that as a business proposition unfortunately is that I already can block ads. I have no fine grained way to permit ads from a party I trust because I don't trust the ad networks. There really is no way for slashdot to put ads in front of me that I am willing to trust. It isn't slashdot's fault, it's just the world we live in.

    For a subscription service to work I need actual value added features, not just removal of annoyances that I can already handle myself. For an illustrative example (not an actual suggestion) something like giving subscribers 3 mod points per day that they can use even on articles they have commented on would be a value add. Give people something they cannot get otherwise. Maybe some special moderation categories (-1 idiotic or +1 clever troll). You get the idea. Nothing too extreme but something valuable to people in the slashdot community.

    1. Re:Removing ads for a fee isn't value added by whipslash · · Score: 1

      Yes good ideas

    2. Re:Removing ads for a fee isn't value added by suutar · · Score: 1

      the ability to edit a post within 30 seconds after posting

    3. Re:Removing ads for a fee isn't value added by dwsobw · · Score: 1

      Yes. Let subscribers moderate summaries :)

  122. Blocking ads for 20 years now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been blocking ads for 20 years now and I probably will for another 20. Has it made any difference to my web experience? Yes. 20 years ago pages loaded substantially quicker. Today pages without ads still load quicker.

    At one point I had even blocked facebook ads but they've now woven them into their web page and are very hard to kill without killing anything else.

    My problem now is that when I browse the Internet using a web browser outside my home I get all these ads and sometimes I don't even recognise websites.

    Do I care about websites that depend on advertising revenue to survive? Nope.

    If they suffer from lack of advertising revenue then they'll need to come up with a better business model. One that generates revenue from a source that isn't advertising. One where they actually have to generate value that people will pay for. A website's business model isn't my concern or problem.

  123. Shine is ISP based, dire consequences by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

    First of all, ISP based ad blocking goes against net neutrality.
    Additionally there is this small thing called https. When https is used, the only thing the ISP sees is that a connection to an IP is made. Which means there is no way to know if what is transferred is an ad or not.
    The only way to effectively block ads when https is used is to do man in the middle, an egregious privacy violation. There are other solutions like DNS poisoning and IP based blocking but these can be worked around by the likes of Google. And again, this is not something I want my ISP to mess with.

  124. change add to jpg with random name and one link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    have the ads be just a picture and a link. It will then blend into any other pictures and links on the page and will not be blockable.
    The problem is when the ads are BIG and SLOW to load. They come from series of server links to finally pass in a movie that takes over your machine or pops up with a modal page. That is the crap that is easy to block and makes people WANT TO BLOCK them.

  125. Dear Google and Yahoo (and others) by MitchDev · · Score: 1

    We don't want ads, especially not full page, colorful, loud, video/audio ads, ads laden with malware, et al.

    We are SICK AND TIRED of being sold at...

  126. Some relationship by wkwilley2 · · Score: 2

    Google and Yahoo have accused ad-blocking software Shine of "destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers

    If by relationship you mean an endless barrage of dick pics, then sure.

    --
    Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
  127. relationship? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The movie 'Secondhand Lions' is what is needed.
    Two old men with shotguns on the porch to run off salesmen.
    Only the very best salesman/saleswoman will succeed....
    Think of it as an existential darwinian necessity...

  128. Destroying the relationship? What relationship? by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 1

    Advertisers think they know better than myself what I'm interested in, they keep adding "interests" even if I look at a website only once for some unrelated reason.

    You've seen one website that talks about industrial 3D printers but that website also talks about other topics? That means you should be interested in industrial CNC mills, farm equipment, paintball and camping!

    I can't even access my Google ads preferences anymore, I used to be able to get a page where I could at least uncheck all that crap. Then it stopped working and all I got was a bunch of redirects to end up at an invalid YouTube URL for some reason. And today all I get for dismissing an ad is a useless "Thanks for the feedback! We’ll review this ad to improve the experience in the future."

    And I don't mind text ads or static images but animated GIFs, dynamic HTML and auto-playing videos ads are just the worst on top of not even being able to decide what I'm interested in.

    So fuck you Google and all the other advertisers.

  129. So sad by jandersen · · Score: 1

    ..."destroying the relationship" between advertisers and consumers,...

    It actually said that - I had to read it again just to make sure. I'm afraid that horse bolted long ago, shortly after people realised that you can hardly move on the internet for insultingly stupid, wheedling, lying scumbags trying to take money off you for worthless crap. As soon as the first email was sent, we had SPAM; as soon as the first website came online, we had to fight our way through more advertising. Every time a new technology was intrduced, it turned out that the main, or even othe only, purpose was advertising and, more recently, collecting data about us. The relationsship between advertisers and consumers has only ever been the relationship between predator/parasite and prey; if we can destroy that relationship for ever, then the sooner the better. The real victims are not advertisers, but the consumers, who have to keep vigilant to fight off advertising and other scams, and the real businesses out there, who can't reach their customers, because the advertisers have so massively failed to keep their "business" clean.

  130. incorporate ads rather than placehold them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why is the even an issue?

    if websites actually incorporate the ads into their feed, rather than just leaving placeholders easy for the ad-blockers to detect, this would vanish as an issue, instantly.

    publish what you want a viewer to see/your are paid to provide as a single view. tech issues? sure. but none that are tough. lazy media providers sucked into the "let google do it" stupor deserve what they get.

    until then, suck it advertisers.

  131. So what was the contract? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, never existed: the advertiser has no contract with the user using Shine.

    No contract, no tort interference.

    1. Re:So what was the contract? by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 1

      Oh, never existed: the advertiser has no contract with the user using Shine.

      No contract, no tort interference.

      The one between the advertiser and ad server as well as tye website and ad server Shine and the ISP are the thurd parties interfering with the contracts.

      --
      I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
  132. How much did Shine pay Google+Yahoo for this ad? by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 2

    From the users' point of view, this entire article is how FUCKING AWESOME Shine is. Previously, I had never heard of Shine, but here, Yahoo and Google are screaming that Shine is the best thing ever.

    Shine must have paid these whores a lot for that.

    --
    "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
  133. The Ad-pocolypse is a good thingTM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As these fuckers take more and more without consent, and then whine about how they deserve everything they want, it just gives me greater reason to turn off the computer and go outside.

    You need me, I don't need you. Good fucking riddance.

  134. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't say slashdot has better ads than other sites (what a load of crap), but I will say that it no longer crashes my browser when I leave it open more than 20 minutes the way it used to do under the previous owners. So, thumbs up from me.

  135. How Does Shine Work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How does Shine work? Is it a proxy, a firewall filter, or a DNS blacklist?

  136. Of course the relationship is diminished by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Google and Yahoo have accused ad-blocking software Shine of destroying the relationship between advertisers and consumers"
    Kind of like accusing the judge's sentence of destroying the bank robber's relationsip with the bank.
    Well yes, but it's not a bug, it is definitely a feature.

    The fact is that one by one, viewers are making a choice that enough is enough.
    This may be killing the goose that lays these wonderful golden eggs.
    This interview says that sadly, a major part of the add industry DOES NOT GET IT.

    In words they should be able to understand:
    Google is diminishing their brand by ignoring this or worse, causing an arms race on my computer.
    If Google chose to do so, they could lead the way to a reasonable situation.

    This might mean Google provides value because users know their ads are:
        Proportionate (10% would be nice) to the content in pixels, mem, cpu, and b/w.
        In-kind. For example, no videos unless on a video site.
        Not a security risk. For example, they come from the site you are on.
        Maybe actually useful? That may be too much to hope for.

  137. Simple Solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is a overtly simple solution to fight ad blockers. Host your adds via the same domain of your site, vs. using external google ad tags. Then users can't block ads without disabling all content on the site. Of course google doesn't like this because they don't get to pluck their tracking cookies from everyone and track them across websites.

    This also puts more ownership of the user's data with each site. User comes to site, server requests ad from google providing the demo data is alone has, google hands back the best ad it can muster based on that limited data, then server mixes the ad content with the main content.

  138. How about they make it work properly, then? by phorm · · Score: 1

    The ironic part is that - if anyone - Google has the most potential to become as close to a "good" advertiser that anyone could be. Realistically, I think that "good" advertising would
    * Show stuff that people want, or would likely be interested in
    * In moderation
    * In in a fairly unobtrusive way
    * For shit I want, not shit I bought
    * In a safe and honest manner

    Slashdot has, traditionally, done a fairly good job of the first one by me. Of course since their demographic is fairly well known (Geeks/Nerds), it's not that hard. I can't say I'm thrilled with some of the ad choices, especially videos (autoplay videos=spawn of hell), but overall most of them have been acceptable.

    Now a lot of sites prefer to use pump out ads in a volume that simply makes them noise. Any of the general-consumption headliner sites are like this, ESPECIALLY for mobile (and yes, the slashdot mobile site is worse than desktop too) with short blurbs surrounded by or encasing ads... and a bunch of a "Next' buttons to drive clicks through the ads. No moderation there

    Unobtrusive follows moderation, but it's also about placement and not volume. Again, I don't mind an ad for some cool geek stuff in the top-right corner, and it's even gotten some clicks or purchases from me in the past. But a page peppered with ads is like a lawn peppered with dog-sh*t, it might be a very nice lawn but all you notice is the sh*t.

    Also, how f***ing hard is it to NOT try and sell me a pair of boots based on the fact that I went to Amazon/eBay and already bought... a pair of boots (ok, in my case it's probably a USB device or a video game, but hey). I don't need two pairs of the same damn boots. I bought it already. It's like buying a coke from a vending machine and then as you walk away drinking your coke, a giant billboard pops up and says, "Hey Phorm, you'd probably enjoy a nice cold coke". I mean, no sh*t, that's why I bought one and/or am drinking it right f***ing now.

    Safe and honest. Well pretty much everyone has FAILED big time here. Google is definitely included:
    * Ads faked to look like legit elements of a page (e.g. Download buttons).
    * Ads containing drive-by malware.
    * Ads linking to malware (usually with said fake button).
    * Ads that go to redirect loops.
    * Ads with a city Geotag (pretty much any "[your location] guy makes a $8,000/week from home and you can do" or "doctors hate [your location] mom who discovered this one great trick"). Anything with a geotag is likely trash
    * Legit software bundled with stuff that makes your PC pop out ads (*cough* sourceforge *cough*, at least that's getting fixed)
    * Legit software with pre-checked boxes for other shit (Flash/Java are big culprits here)

    So why could Google do better? Well frankly, if their mining and profiling haven't f***ing figured what I want (or at least something close), then they have FAILED. Not stuff I already just bought. Not a fake button to malware on the page of something I actually wanted to download. Not a diet, a retirement kit, skin treatment, or feminine hygiene products. This isn't f***ing TV where you throw an ad for some dreck on near the Superbowl and hope that 5% of the millions of people watching happen to be in your target demographic (unless your selling natchos or something, then you're probably doing pretty good there). You CAN individualize the advertising experience and profit without massively pissing people off. You've GOT the bloody data. Use it properly! Frankly if I'm still seeing ads for f***ing Viagra or old-people's lube products, then whatever you've been doing obviously has nothing to do with ads and I can only assume that you're really collecting my data for the NSA or something.

    Beyond that... Google has the power to run massive analytics, maps, and many more hugely intensive endeavours, but they can't weed out the malware and fake downloads buttons? Either they're failing because your software is built on a broken platform, or they're failing because they just don't f***ing try.

    Oh

  139. No trusted counterparty by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Privacy Badger will block the tracking, by learning which sites track you. It will block the cookies or entire sites outright if they're bad enough.

    I already use Privacy Badger. And Adblock. And uBlock Origin. Plus some other counter measures.

    But it will not act like an adblocker. So you'll see the ads, without being tracked.

    I don't want to see the ads. My biggest problem with ad networks is the tracking but it's not my only problem with them. They slow things down. They are malware vectors. If I don't allow tracking the ads will have even less relevance to me and I don't want to be tracked. Etc. Even without cookies there are other means of being tracked, some clever and others not so much. Short version is that there is no real upside for me because I cannot trust the advertisers to behave themselves.

    1. Re:No trusted counterparty by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      That's what I do, too. I just though you were primarily objecting to the tracking, and didn't necessarily wanted to block them outright.

      --
      Eat the rich.
  140. What about Net Neutrality? by rcharbon · · Score: 1

    You guys do realize that Shine is not an end-user ad-blocker? That it's something ISPs run so they can decide what content is approved and what should be blocked? In other words, something that violates any sensible net-neutrality principles?

  141. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good to hear, I don't think the Slashdot user base is the "One weird trick" kind of crowd.

    The Slashdot user base has many weird tricks...

  142. Stalking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What do you call a relationship that only one party wants?

  143. very few by XXongo · · Score: 1

    ...However, Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) and many, many, other talented artists, photographers, musicians, and writers

    If you define "many many" as meaning "very few".

    Basically, you're saying "give away your work on the internet, and if people like it enough maybe they'll buy t-shirts." Yeah, right.

    (by the way, you seem unaware of it, but Scott Adams is mostly famous because his strip is syndicated in 2,000 newspapers, not because of his internet presence. Slashdot readers are probably unaware of this, but actual physical newspapers still exist.)

  144. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by ryllharu · · Score: 1

    ThinkGeek was sold to Gamestop.

  145. Don't feed the bears by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Judicious use of ad-blockers is my way of showing appreciation...

    Look, if you go out to a national park and see a friendly bear, do you feed it?

    If you want to show appreciation, just pay the site / content owner directly. When your form of showing "appreciation" gets your machine pwned with ransomware, exactly how much are you going to appreciate it then?

  146. What relationship?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What relationship FFS?! Not only are you eating my expensive bandwidth at my expense, some of you cnuts are trying to serve me malware! Now go away - I've got my buddy Pi-hole with me.

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  150. Pay me! by MrKrillls · · Score: 1

    We all know advertisers pay sites to display ads. When are they going to pay me to look at their ads?

    For my attention? - for bandwidth I have to pay for? - for the wasted time as idiotic unwanted content slows everything down?

    Pay me!

    --
    Don't step on the baby.
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  152. The 'relationship' between advertiser and browser by whitroth · · Score: 1

    What "relationship"?

    Back during the first huge 'Net scam, Cantor & Siegel, they "defended" themselves by, among other things, asserting that there was no "community", it was all one big advertising venue.

    Hey, guy, you want a "relationship"? Look me up, and I'll shove your head through a wall, and while you're in there, I'll take your wallet. That is what you think of as a "relationship", right? You show it to us, and we have to buy it, never mind whether we want it or not?

                    mark

  153. Boo Fucking Hooo by pebear · · Score: 1

    Boo Fucking Hooo

    --
    Paul E. Bahre
  154. this is all about relationship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is all about the relationship. We do not want to be tracked. Period.
    adds published in paper magazines did not returned street address, searched terms, other read magazines, ....
    adds in TV, even DVD were not calling back with this is John Smith living ...

    Stop tracking, go back to advertising. Then you can place adds on the same server that we are visiting.
    otherwise I call you 127.0.0.1

  155. Deceptive malware is not advertising by AnalogDiehard · · Score: 1

    I don't like deceivers. When fake download buttons and drive by malvertising become prevalent, they are no longer advertisers they are deceivers or worse outright thieves. The industry has now shown that they incapable of regulating themselves and their response is to pull the little girl shaming tactics. Cry me a river. We are not blind to their manipulative tactics.

    --
    Eternity: will that be smoking, or non-smoking? I Corinthians 6:9-10
  156. commentsubjectsaredumb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is no relationship. This is not an "exchange". There is an opportunity to receive money, and they will do it. Every time, at every chance, as much as possible.

    It's a cash grab. It will always be a cash grab. The only "equity" about this is that I'll retaliate every time, at every chance, as much as possible, with the mute button.

  157. Another understanding ... by Thanatiel · · Score: 1

    Replace "advertisers" by "rapists" and "consumers" by "victims" or "bystanders" (your choice).
    That's how I understand the article.

    --
    Irrelevant news and morons using moderation to mod down what they disagree on. 2018 resolution: so long.
  158. Ad Blocking by SenseiTim · · Score: 1

    I have been a television view, radio listener and newspaper/magazine reader for more than 60 years, and a Internet user since before the World Wide Web existed. Hell yes--I use AdBlock+ on Firefox, and I will continue to do so! The advertising industry is second only to politics as a corrupting industry; they try to con people into buying things they don't want with money they don't have. To hell with advertising!

  159. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by dcw3 · · Score: 1

    Okay, since there appears to be goodwill going on here, I'm unblocking. Thank you.

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  160. Where have I heard that before? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Tina, you're destroying our relationship!"

    - Ike Turner

  161. Hate ads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think there are 3 issues here.
    1. Do we need ads everywhere ? I agree that the modern consumer economy including our jobs run on ads, but there are many other spaces for ads . On TV, magazines , billboards, free product distribution , leaflets ,special events etc etc . We don't need ads on the internet, let companies use other spaces and media to publicise themselves and their products. May be we can have some product placement sites where
    people can search for products and companies can showcase their products and services.
    2. What do companies like Google and Yahoo care about ?Do they care about ads ? Are they pro industry ? No, what they care about is money .
    If they have a method to monetize what ever (good) work they are doing , they will drop those ads . I once wondered when I view an ad or click an ad , how much money goes to google or a website hosting the ads .I think it is pennies . I bet the equivalent value of all ads which I view on a month is a few dollars. Why can't I pay those ? The biggest problem is that the software industry has not come up with a cost effective method ,and easy for the consumer method to collect that amount . I cant just spend all my time and energy to send pennies to those hundreds of websites .
    3. So even if I want to pay I cant pay. The situation is very sad . I am just using ad blockers to view the internet. Do I feel guilty or scared that all the good sites will close down . No, I don't feel guilty because every one in this world is fighting an existential battle financially , if the websites don't make money due to ad blockers then they have plenty of other things to earn money from, there is no entitlement. I dont feel scared because all the good stuffs are already there free somewhere , it was there before the ads came and it will be there , and the other feel good entertaining stuffs , if they stop may be we will find some other way to entertain us.

  162. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by whipslash · · Score: 1

    Thanks!

  163. STALKING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When only one party desires a relationship and tries to force it.

  164. HeartBleeds by sarku · · Score: 1

    Dear Advertisers, I'm so sorry your tracking cookies aren't able to glean more data from me and my network so you can invade the privacy of me and my family more. My heart aches for you. I'm sorry your profits are down from 1.5 billion to 1.48 billion. Hard times, guys, but you'll get through. Oh yeah, tell those Syrian kids that they just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Since most of them can't even afford food, they don't have much time to worry about adblock, so you should be able to get through to them, they'll be alright soon enough.

  165. I thought this was all Flash's fault by sarku · · Score: 1

    It's ironic that one of the biggest bitches people had about Flash was THE POPUPS, THE ADS!!! FUCKING FLASH!!!!! IF ONLY IT WEREN'T FOR FLASH WE WOULD HAVE THIS FUCKING PROBLEM!!!! Oh well. Sorry guys, it wasn't Flash after all. NOW IT's FUCKING JAVASCRIPT!!!! KILL IT!!!! IT'S EVIL!!!!

  166. Notice the elephant in the room, anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're "missing" the elephant in the room, of course - if people wanted ads, they wouldn't go to the trouble of downloading and installing Shine.

  167. Scale by sjbe · · Score: 1

    The problem with subscription services is that they don't scale.

    That's demonstrably not true as long as you can get to a minimum viable number of subscribers. Not necessarily easy but it's certainly scalable. Slashdot's costs are a good approximation of fixed so as long as the subscription fee X number of subscribers is sufficiently large they will be fine. Might not be the next Google but it can be a solidly profitable little business. Magazines take the model of charging low subscription fees and make their real money on advertising. I question that model in the face of ad blocking software.

    There are sites that I frequent, and in some cases pay money to in order to do so. In these cases, I'm willing to pay enough money that the site can make a profit after transaction fees. There's a lot of other sites that I like to use once in a while, or when Google sends me there, and while I'd be willing to pay them a very small amount of money there's no practical way to do it.

    You're talking about scaling down transaction size but I don't think that's really a relevant concern for Slashdot. They aren't likely to do anything involving micro-transactions.

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  169. case against ads in net by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think there are 3 issues here.
    1. Do we need ads everywhere ? I agree that the modern consumer economy including our jobs run on ads, but there are many other spaces for ads . On TV, magazines , billboards, free product distribution , leaflets ,special events etc etc . We don't need ads on the internet, let companies use other spaces and media to publicise themselves and their products. May be we can have some product placement sites where
    people can search for products and companies can showcase their products and services.
    2. What do companies like Google and Yahoo care about ?Do they care about ads ? Are they pro industry ? No, what they care about is money .
    If they have a method to monetize what ever (good) work they are doing , they will drop those ads . I once wondered when I view an ad or click an ad , how much money goes to google or a website hosting the ads .I think it is pennies . I bet the equivalent value of all ads which I view on a month is a few dollars. Why can't I pay those ? The biggest problem is that the software industry has not come up with a cost effective method ,and easy for the consumer method to collect that amount . I cant just spend all my time and energy to send pennies to those hundreds of websites .
    3. So even if I want to pay I cant pay. The situation is very sad . I am just using ad blockers to view the internet. Do I feel guilty or scared that all the good sites will close down . No, I don't feel guilty because every one in this world is fighting an existential battle financially , if the websites don't make money due to ad blockers then they have plenty of other things to earn money from, there is no entitlement. I don't feel scared because all the good stuffs are already there free somewhere , it was there before the ads came and it will be there , and the other feel good entertaining stuffs , if they stop may be we will find some other way to entertain us

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  171. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by IceAgeComing · · Score: 1

    I'm seeing two ads at the top of the page, both of which are relevant to my interests - guns and hiking gear.

    ... but still, this gets my nod of approval (and a bit of unease because of how accurate it is).

    So, thumbs up from this Slashdot user, and I think I'll keep the exclusion.

    Personally, I would feel less like a parasite-ridden host and more like a respected human being if I was able to know more about how it's done. I feel I have the right to know: 1. who is collecting my personal browsing patterns and 2. how the ads are selected.

    I am curious if many others on Slashdot feel the same way. Can I suggest a poll on this topic?

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    (As it actually BLOCKS ALL ADS + known bad sites, all the time (not like "AlmostALLAdsBlocked" which is BRIBED BY GOOGLE to let ads thru...))

    APK

    P.S.=> Does more for speed (hardcoded favorites + adblocking), security (adblocking + blocking known bad sites/servers & dns issues avoiding DNS), reliability (vs. downed or dns poisoned dns), & anonymity (avoiding dns request logs) than ANY other SINGLE "so-called -solution'" out there, bar-none, for less using what you already natively have - unlike "AlmostALLAdsBlocked", UBlock, Ghostery etc. it's not detectable & blockable by ClarityRay/BlockIQ + it uses FAR LESS RESOURCES yet does far more (especially vs. DNS security issues)... apk

  173. That's unsportsmanlike by tepples · · Score: 1

    I cancelled cable and only subscribe to streaming services that don't have ads (e.g. Netflix, Amazon)

    Which don't carry live news and political commentary or live sports.

    or I buy DVDs outright (for the cost that I save in cable fees, I can buy at least one disk a week and still come out ahead).

    Then you have to violate anti-circumvention law (17 USC 1201 and foreign counterparts) to skip the forced previews.

    1. Re:That's unsportsmanlike by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then you have to violate anti-circumvention law (17 USC 1201 and foreign counterparts) to skip the forced previews.

      Only if i live under jurisdiction of that law. Otherwise you are doomed under sharia law just for example. or North Korea law.
      In my country I ma allowed to decompile code to "make it compatible" for my device.
      On the other hand Amazon is perfectly willing to sell me region 1 dvd.
      While I am converting them to my region I also extract "content" == movie from "spam" == other stuff.

  174. screw-em by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These fuckers would beam an ad into your head if they could - screw them

  175. APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit http://www.start64.com/index.p...

    Obtains data for blocking ads + known bad sites from 10 reputable security community sites.

    * Accept NO substitutes!

    (As it actually BLOCKS ALL ADS + known bad sites, all the time (not like "AlmostALLAdsBlocked" which is BRIBED BY GOOGLE to let ads thru...))

    APK

    P.S.=> Does more for speed (hardcoded favorites + adblocking), security (adblocking + blocking known bad sites/servers & dns issues avoiding DNS), reliability (vs. downed or dns poisoned dns), & anonymity (avoiding dns request logs) than ANY other SINGLE "so-called -solution'" out there, bar-none, for less using what you already natively have - unlike "AlmostALLAdsBlocked", UBlock, Ghostery etc. it's not detectable & blockable by ClarityRay/BlockIQ + it uses FAR LESS RESOURCES yet does far more (especially vs. DNS security issues)... apk

  176. APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit http://www.start64.com/index.p...

    Obtains data for blocking ads, trackers + known bad sites from 10 reputable security community sites.

    * Accept NO substitutes!

    (As it actually BLOCKS ALL ADS + known bad sites, all the time (not like "AlmostALLAdsBlocked" which is BRIBED BY GOOGLE to let ads thru...))

    APK

    P.S.=> Does more for speed (hardcoded favorites + adblocking), security (adblocking + blocking known bad sites/servers & dns issues avoiding DNS), reliability (vs. downed or dns poisoned dns), & anonymity (avoiding dns request logs) than ANY other SINGLE "so-called -solution'" out there, bar-none, for less using what you already natively have - unlike "AlmostALLAdsBlocked", UBlock, Ghostery etc. it's not detectable & blockable by ClarityRay/BlockIQ + it uses FAR LESS RESOURCES yet does far more (especially vs. DNS security issues)... apk

  177. 500+ posts and not one APK by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 1

    500+ posts about ad-blocking software and policies and not one APK post.

    Aaah, the blessed quiet. Thank you whiplash.

  178. APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit http://www.start64.com/index.p...

    Gets data for blocking ads, trackers + known bad sites via 10 reputable security community sites.

    * Accept NO substitutes!

    (ABLOCKS ALL ADS + known bad sites, all the time (not like "AlmostALLAdsBlocked" BRIBED BY GOOGLE to let ads thru!))

    APK

    P.S.=> Does more for speed (hardcoded favorites + adblocking), security (adblocking + blocking known bad sites/servers & dns issues avoiding DNS), reliability (vs. downed or dns poisoned dns), & anonymity (avoids dns request logs) vs. ANY other SINGLE "so-called -solution'" out there, bar-none, for less using what you already natively have - unlike "AlmostALLAdsBlocked", UBlock, Ghostery etc. it's also not detectable & blockable by ClarityRay/BlockIQ + it uses FAR LESS RESOURCES yet does far more (especially vs. DNS security issues)

    ... apk

  179. APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit http://www.start64.com/index.p...

    Gets data for blocking ads, trackers + known bad sites via 10 reputable security community sites.

    * Accept NO substitutes!

    (ABLOCKS ALL ADS + known bad sites, all the time (not like "AlmostALLAdsBlocked" BRIBED BY GOOGLE to let ads thru!))

    APK

    P.S.=> Does more for speed (hardcoded favorites + adblocking), security (adblocking + blocking known bad sites/servers & dns issues avoiding DNS), reliability (vs. downed or dns poisoned dns), & anonymity (avoids dns request logs) vs. ANY other SINGLE "so-called -solution'" out there, bar-none, for less using what you already natively have - unlike "AlmostALLAdsBlocked", UBlock, Ghostery etc. it's also not detectable & blockable by ClarityRay/BlockIQ + it uses FAR LESS RESOURCES yet does far more (especially vs. DNS security issues)

    ...

  180. APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit http://www.start64.com/index.p...

    Gets data for blocking ads, trackers + known bad sites via 10 reputable security community sites.

    * Accept NO substitutes!

    (ABLOCKS ALL ADS + known bad sites, all the time (not like "AlmostALLAdsBlocked" BRIBED BY GOOGLE to let ads thru!))

    APK

    P.S.=> Does more for speed (hardcoded favorites + adblocking), security (adblocking + blocking known bad sites/servers & dns issues avoiding DNS), reliability (vs. downed or dns poisoned dns), & anonymity (avoids dns request logs) vs. ANY other SINGLE "so-called -solution'" out there, bar-none, for less using what you already natively have - unlike "AlmostALLAdsBlocked", UBlock, Ghostery etc. it's also not detectable & blockable by ClarityRay/BlockIQ + it uses FAR LESS RESOURCES yet does far more (especially vs. DNS security issues)

    ...

  181. APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit http://www.start64.com/index.p...

    Gets data for blocking ads, trackers + known bad sites via 10 reputable security community sites.

    * Accept NO substitutes!

    (ABLOCKS ALL ADS + known bad sites, all the time (not like "AlmostALLAdsBlocked" BRIBED BY GOOGLE to let ads thru!))

    APK

    P.S.=> Does more for speed (hardcoded favorites + adblocking), security (adblocking + blocking known bad sites/servers & dns issues avoiding DNS), reliability (vs. downed or dns poisoned dns), & anonymity (avoids dns request logs) vs. ANY other SINGLE "so-called -solution'" out there, bar-none, for less using what you already natively have - unlike "AlmostALLAdsBlocked", UBlock, Ghostery etc. it's also not detectable & blockable by ClarityRay/BlockIQ + it uses FAR LESS RESOURCES yet does far more (especially vs. DNS security issues)

    ... apk

  182. APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit http://www.start64.com/index.p...

    Gets data for blocking ads, trackers + known bad sites via 10 reputable security community sites.

    * Accept NO substitutes!

    (ABLOCKS ALL ADS + known bad sites, all the time (not like "AlmostALLAdsBlocked" BRIBED BY GOOGLE to let ads thru!))

    APK

    P.S.=> Does more for speed (hardcoded favorites + adblocking), security (adblocking + blocking known bad sites/servers & dns issues avoiding DNS), reliability (vs. downed or dns poisoned dns), & anonymity (avoids dns request logs) vs. ANY other SINGLE "so-called -solution'" out there, bar-none, for less using what you already natively have - unlike "AlmostALLAdsBlocked", UBlock, Ghostery etc. it's also not detectable & blockable by ClarityRay/BlockIQ + it uses FAR LESS RESOURCES yet does far more (especially vs. DNS security issues)

    ... apk

  183. Re:APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit... a by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

    Too bad it's windows only. :\

  184. Return to the 90s internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There was a time when there was no ads on the internet. We WILL return to that time again.

    They need new business models. Que the release of viruses that add ad blockers to everything they infect.

  185. Stalking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How is tracking any different to stalking?

    What a creepy system that has peddled itself untoward us.

  186. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by whipslash · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the support. I appreciate it

  187. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by whipslash · · Score: 1

    Thanks. We will only improve it from here

  188. It goes the other way too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's a company, Phorm, who use deep packet inspection to serve you ads. Some UK ISPs use them too.

  189. I suspect it's actually simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here in the US, I am saturated with adverts. I got tired of being saturated with them because pretty quickly. So I put in addblockers.
    I also live in what amounts to a large village area. The only offered is DSL, Satalite and Radeo internet. All those damn slowed every damn thing down. My phone got piss slow.
    Stuff I need to use for work (Malware scanners, virus scanners, etc) are saturated with damn adds. Many of the time for crap, not at all related to anything me or people I do tech help want!
    We just want the Virus scanner, Won't want the fucking "ompitizers" to go with it!
    I just need a remote desktop app my and the people's I am helping. Or what ever the case is.
    Firefox is more stable sand pepier with addblockers.

    I for one are tired of adds in anyform.
    I might be looking for something (fun and nova documentaries for example) I do not want to be saturated with "Hi Full Sale Now offeres Degree's in Ancient Alien technology!!!"
    Plus it slows EVERY fucking thing down!

  190. Its output hosts runs anywhere (almost) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: On any OS w/ a normal BSD derived IP stack (99% of devices & OS are) on most any hardware platform!

    * Now, you have a point on my program... HOWEVER?

    I could EASILY PORT IT, easily (for the MOST part, other than avoiding drive letters vs. mounted devices & I've along ago abstracted away the sockets diffs between *NIX socketry & WinSock2 in the code) via the BEST DEVELOPMENT TOOL ever created which my program is coded in:

    Delphi -> http://www.embarcadero.com/pro...

    Back in the "Top 10" development languages as I knew it would be per the TIOBE index http://www.tiobe.com/tiobe_ind...

    AND

    Not one of the "Big security & bug issue" generating languages either -> http://news.softpedia.com/news...

    Which you can see ports to just about *ANYTHING* out there (of the major platforms)!

    (For Linux, there's FreePascal + its LAZARUS IDE which is an almost EXACT CLONE of Delphi's Object Pascal (which whipped even MSVC++ in 4/6 tests, tying 1 with C++ & losing as C++ even did on ActiveX form loads to VB (a dead tech on VB & ActiveX))).

    In fact, MORE THAN DOUBLING C++ in Math & Strings work in fact - which, face it, EVERY program does work on, in of ALL places, a competing languages' trade journal no less (VBPJ Sept./Oct. issue 1997 titled "Inside the VB5 Compiler")!

    APK

    P.S.=> So, before you ask it: Why don't I port it to OTHER platforms? Well, ok:

    I am just not in the habit of "helping the competition", to be blatantly forthright honest about it (I'm a "Windows man", albeit Win7 & below, not the VISTA onwards wannabe Google garbage from MS)... apk

    1. Re:Its output hosts runs anywhere (almost) by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

      True, but that would still require me to have easy access to a Windows machine, which I don't when I'm not at work. I avoid Windows where at all possible.

      Interesting! I just took a look at the Embarcadero page, and Delphi does look pretty awesome.

      Unfortunately, I then went to their online store, looked at their prices, and damn near shit myself. I'll definitely give FreePascal a look though! Thanks for the tip!

  191. If you build it, they won't necessarily come by tepples · · Score: 1

    When the ad's go back to editorial approved ad's hosted and run by the companies providing the content

    Then you'll start seeing a lot more "inventory" (ad spaces) occupied by "Your ad here" ads, followed by sites going out of business when not enough would-be advertisers click through. As I understand it, the major brands prefer to deal with established ad networks rather than tiny sites that can't be trusted not to inflate the reach (view and click) statistics that are provided to advertisers. So how should a site operator get advertisers to actually fill out the form to place an ad?

  192. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LOL, guns and hiking, two things that go together so nicely... Look at all that peaceful serene nature, it's so beautiful! Lets shoot it in the FACE!

  193. Re:Why does Slashdot use a "Taboola" or a "Janrain by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

    I'm not a hunter, actually. But when I hike somewhere that is 50 miles away from the nearest human settlement, and where I have two miles of the trail all to myself, I prefer to do so with a bear spray and a .357 revolver. Because the wildlife isn't fond of you sometimes. That's why they have claws and teeth. And I don't, because my species have sacrificed that for the sake of technological process - and so I use the products of said progress as a substitute when I'm in an environment where they might be needed.

    But feel free to keep stereotyping. You forgot to speculate on which state I live in, what my religion is, whom I vote for, and which organizations I am a member of, so there's plenty more to cover.

    Oh, and that whole "peaceful serene nature" thing is largely urban hippie bullshit, anyway. Go look at your local zoo and watch them feed the cougars. Then realize that the same thing is what's happening every day in "peaceful serene nature", except they chase down and kill the prey first, so it's a lot messier. Nature is majestic and beautiful, yes, and as such, deserves respect. And misrepresenting it is disrespecting it.

  194. Re:APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit... a by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

    APK, get back to me when a host file solution can block the ads that you post on Slashdot without blocking the rest of Slashdot. Browser extensions can remove those from the DOM, a host file can't. Until then, your claim about blocking all ads is demonstrably false, ironically disproven by your own ads.

    --
    "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  195. Enjoy (what's old is NEW again)... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: It's essentially Delphi for Linux come right down to it - the creators of it did a GREAT job imo. Syntactically, it's almost an EXACT 'clone' of Delphi's Object Pascal & the IDE is pretty much Delphi 2.0-7.1 perfect clone as well!

    APK

    P.S.=> Borland USED to have (before Embarcadero bought them out on Delphi & C++ Builder) "Kylix" for Delphi - & it was pretty good, but like many businesses are (say, NVidia with drivers for Linux OR AMD even for their vidcards)? When the demand isn't sufficient, they don't expend efforts OR PAYROLL for labor for such projects & kill them... too bad on that one - probably a ball they should NOT have dropped imo (but there is FreePascal & Lazarus instead)... apk

  196. Dearest "ne'er-do-well" blowhard amicusnycl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject & let's see your answer here http://mobile.slashdot.org/com...

    :)

    (Quit "RUNNING", Forrest... lol!)

    APK

    P.S.=> I get SUCH a bang out of publicly humiliating a complete "ne'er-do-well" BLOWHARD like you, I really truly honestly do - it's FUN (& you always start it, LIKE YOU DID HERE & in that link above (much to your dismay) + lose due to your mediocrity)... apk

  197. Re:APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit... a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amicusnycl, apk's proven hosts do more for less vs inferior crippled addons. Others second him, you ate your words on it http://slashdot.org/comments.p... so why do you constantly troll him only to end up with more egg on your face humiliating yourself proving you're a troll for?

  198. When browser addons do all this for less? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can browser addons do 16 things hosts do 4 speed, security & reliability (more efficiently too):

    1.) Protect vs. bad sites (past ads)
    2.) Protect vs. fastflux botnets + stop C&C talk
    3.) Protect vs. dynamic dns botnets + stop C&C talk
    4.) Protect vs. DGA botnets + stop C&C talk
    5.) Protect vs. downed DNS (4 reliability)
    6.) Protect vs. DNS redirect poisoning
    7.) Protect vs. trackers
    8.) Protect vs. spam
    9.) Protect vs. phish
    10.) Protect vs. caps
    11.) Get past dns blocks
    12.) Keep off dns request logs
    13.) Speed up surfing (adblock & hardcoded favs)
    14.) Works on anything webbound multiplatform.
    15.) EZ data control
    16.) Block ads better vs. addons more efficiently

    * ANSWER ="NO" on them even doing it as well or @ ALL + hosts = on devices natively.

    (Ads served from same site are rare existing in amicusnycl's "phantasyland"! Advertisers don't trust webmasters on click counts & I don't blame 'em!)

    APK

    P.S.=> See subject: THEN you can talk, trolling blowhard... apk

    1. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      Here's what you said:

      As it actually BLOCKS ALL ADS

      Can it block your ads? No, it can't. Therefore, your claim is false. It's another in the long line of APK lies and half-truths.

      I see you're still posting as other people, so you're still the same old lying spamming APK. No one should believe any of your claims when you can't even be honest with people here by identifying yourself. You know all of the posts that I make, because I put my username on them due to the fact that I'm logged in, but you're still trying to lie to everyone here by representing yourself as someone else posting on your behalf. It's pathetic. You're still a liar, because that's just "how you roll". On that other thread you linked to, Lotana was correct: you have no goodwill here. Do not confuse a few people who use your software with goodwill, it's not nearly the same. There are a few people on Slashdot who are happy to install the software of a lying spammer, just like there are plenty of old people who click links in spam email. Those are your users. It's nothing to be proud of, but you still quote those people to try and show that you have some sort of following here. You don't, people don't like you here. For every 1 of those people that you quote saying that they use your software, there are thousands more who will never install it just because of the fact that you are a lying spammer. That's about the same success rate as any other lowlife spammer, send out 1000 spam emails and maybe you'll get a bite or two, that's what they live off and that's what you live off also. So go ahead, call out the handful of people among the millions of Slashdot users who say something good about your software, because that's all you have left. You have no goodwill here, and both the management and other users want you to leave. But, just like genital herpes, here you are. You are the herpes of the internet, APK.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    2. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apk's never been told to leave by slashdot management past or present. whipslash said apk's free to post just not as much on his program but he never told apk to leave or stated he wants him to. Your lies are your undoing.

    3. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      APK, seriously, what is the point of making that post in the third person? Is there any purpose at all? You just want to point out again that you have multiple personalities? Is there any point?

      whipslash said apk's free to post just not as much on his program but he never told apk to leave or stated he wants him to.

      So saying "APK's days are numbered" means that he wants you to stick around for a while? When he implements filters to stop your incessant advertising, and you respond by personally trolling him, you're trying to make friends? You think people enjoy seeing that shit from you? You think that anyone at all sees that kind of embarrassing behavior from you and thinks "wow, I hope I get to see more of that"?

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    4. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amicusnycl whipslash never said apk has to stop posting and as you can see he hasn't stopped (or no one can stop him least of all you). Get on topic and grow up. You failed.

    5. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      If he tells you that he doesn't want you to post any more, would you leave? I seriously doubt you would. You already claimed once that you were finished posting, but like a disease, here you are again.

      And this topic is about ad-blocking. You're a spammer, so this is on topic.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    6. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      amicus apk's made you eat your words again and you're pissed about it so stfu already you limp impotent whimp, please! He told gothisasswhipped(by apk)slash if he would've asked nicely initially he'd have left.

    7. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      Answer the question, APK. If the management of the site tells you that they don't want you here, are you going to leave? I know the answer to that question, I just want you to say it.

      The fact is that the management does in fact want you to stop posting your spam and your trolling bullshit, which is why they are implementing filters specifically to stop your posts, but that doesn't mean you're going to stop. You are generally unliked enough around here that people consistently mod your posts down (and, sorry, trotting out a few unlinked quotes of anonymous people saying "you know, his software really doesn't suck all that much" is not evidence that you are liked). You're not honorable enough to figure out when you're not wanted and move on, no, like a 13 year old kid you take it as a challenge and insist on some pissing contest. It's pathetic man, you seriously need to grow up and find a better way to spend your time. How about devoting your energy to finding someone who's going to love you for the next few decades? You think a better use of your time is to just kind of irritate and annoy people who don't really want you around? Have a little self-respect. Look at you, you are reduced to posting in a third-person voice still trying to insist that you've won something. PA-THE-TIC

      You've already said you're done posting here. At least try to live up to your word on one goddamn thing.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    8. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amicusnycl nobody told apk to leave slashdot. Others like apk's posts which you ate your words on here http://slashdot.org/comments.p... so stop crying and trying to speak for everyone here in absolutes amicusnycl. You failed and are wasting your time. Accept it. You lose.

    9. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      The guy who refuses to even post as himself, and instead tries to act like someone else supporting him, is telling me that I lose. That is funny as hell.

      Learn how to read APK, this is not speaking in absolutes:

      You are generally unliked enough around here

      I phrased it that way for a reason. Now live up to your word and go away.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    10. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Take your own advice: Learn to read as you eat your words amicusnycl. Many support and like apk http://slashdot.org/comments.p... you fail: Quit crying loser.

    11. Re:When browser addons do all this for less? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      No, "many" do not support or like you. You are able to write a handful of quotes out of a userbase of 4.5 million plus, that is not "many". That is "a few". Very few. "Many" people want you to take your spam and shove it up your ass, that's the difference between "many" and "a few". "A few" people still find it amusing that you post as a third party. "Many" people think you're pathetic. Are you understanding the difference?

      If you want to prove me wrong, then put a poll on Slashdot asking what people think about you and your posts. I'll wait to watch it appear so that you can show me how much I fail. Continuing to link to a post where you trot out "a few" people saying something vaguely non-negative about you continues to be pathetic, and you are not proving me wrong in any way by doing that. That post you continue to link to, which you think proves some point of yours, is not evidence of anything, is not embarrassing for me or anything like that, it does not prove me wrong on anything that I've said (including the quote from me you included), and only shows how pathetic you actually are. You've got 4.5 million people here and you can produce 8 quotes of people saying something that is not completely negative about either your software or using hosts files in general. Yeah, some of those people are just saying the equivalent of "hosts files work", which I've never even argued against, but you're trying to use it as evidence that I'm wrong. You're an idiot, APK, admit it. Stop with the pathetic third party posting, it's embarrassing for you at this point. Hopefully at least one of your personalities can realize that and try to spread that information around the hive in your mind. Your "many" personalities are apparently completely unaware of how pathetic you look to everyone else when you keep up this stupid charade, as if any AC is watching this story from 2 weeks ago. I suspect you might be aware a little bit, which is why you refuse to post as yourself (or did those filters catch up to you?), so take a hint, live up to your word, and go away.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  199. Ads are so dumb by MoarSauce123 · · Score: 1

    If I am forced to turn ad blocking off I get ads for stuff I already own or stuff I would never buy or cannot afford. With all the data collected from who knows where the advertisers should know that I am in for inexpensive beer, inexpensive HDDs and SSDs, and looking for flights to Europe that do not cost a month's salary. If you blast me with ads at least make them useful. Stop the carpet bombing of ads which is proven not to work. And no, not looking for a new carpet.

  200. Having to pay for a whole year for one page by tepples · · Score: 1

    Provide enough value I'm willing to pay for it directly. I do that with several websites I frequent.

    Say you visit 100 websites in a month, and on many of them, you view one or two pages. How willing are you to pay $20 for a year's subscription to view only one or two pages?

  201. Amicusnycl time to EAT YOUR WORDS again, lol! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: Lotana & you BOTH must "eat your words" & I think it's just priceless-> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

    * Tell us:

    HOW DID EATING YOUR WORDS TASTE? A bit like your FOOT in your MOUTH, washed down by the bitter taste of SELF-defeat, perhaps?? LMAO...

    APK

    P.S.=> Shouldn't speak in absolutes or for everyone like you did - now you have to eat those words... apk

  202. PSAs by a local utility monopoly by tepples · · Score: 1

    If you do have a monopoly I am not likely to buy your product at all because of the lack of competition.

    Say your local power company places public service announcements about avoiding power lines or advertises a heat pump, or your local high-speed Internet monopoly advertises about upgrading Internet speed or bundling the same company's land line or pay TV. Is that an excuse to, say, leave Slashdot and join the Amish?

  203. But what should US residents do? by tepples · · Score: 1

    Then you have to violate anti-circumvention law (17 USC 1201 and foreign counterparts)

    Only if i live under jurisdiction of that law. [...] In my country I ma allowed

    First, where do you live that has not implemented the WIPO Copyright Treaty? Second, what should the average Slashdot user in the United States do to improve his own lot, especially when up against the power of DisneyPAC?

  204. Buy the whole buffet for one thing by tepples · · Score: 1

    Provide enough value I'm willing to pay for it directly.

    That'd be fine if we had micropayments. But with the per-transaction fees of the payment processors we have right now, both credit cards and Bitcoin, it would more likely end up the case that each site would want a separate $10 per month or $20 per year subscription to the whole site in order to read past the abstract of even a single page. That'd make it often cost-prohibitive to search for multiple opinions about a particular topic, as reading all of the top ten results from a search engine would require a year's subscription to each of ten sites.

  205. If most sites chose not to serve you by tepples · · Score: 1

    Would you find it a substantial loss if more than 90 percent of the sites you visited in a typical week chose not to serve you the content until you pony up $20 for a year's subscription?

    1. Re:If most sites chose not to serve you by FunkSoulBrother · · Score: 1

      Would you find it a substantial loss if more than 90 percent of the sites you visited in a typical week chose not to serve you the content until you pony up $20 for a year's subscription?

      I'm not sure I would. I'd say out of most of my web browsing:

      20% is forums like Something Awful and Slashdot which would effectively function fine as free newsgroups.

      20% are news/journalism stuff which might be the most dependent on ads.

      20% is sports scores/gambling stuff which would be online regardless of ads. The gambling sites have a real product to sell, and the sports scores sites exist to promote a real physical product.

      20% is porn that i'd pay for if all the free sites went away, I'm sure of it.

      20% is e-commerce stuff like Amazon which exists without advertising.

      So yeah, I think if the news sites did real hard hitting journalism, I'd throw them my $20 for good reading. The rest pays for itself.

      Fuck internet advertising.

  206. It's your problem because THIS site has ads by tepples · · Score: 1

    That sounds suspiciously like "not my problem".

    You posted this comment to Slashdot. Slashdot is ad-supported. Without ads, Slashdot would not have the money to continue taking posts such as yours. Therefore it is your problem. Or would you prefer that Slashdot instead be paywalled?

  207. Who'd host the NNTP server? by tepples · · Score: 1

    20% is forums like Something Awful and Slashdot which would effectively function fine as free newsgroups.

    Who would sponsor the forum's NNTP server now that most home ISPs no longer provide Usenet access as a standard feature? And how could Slash-style crowd moderation be implemented on top of NNTP?

    20% is sports scores/gambling stuff which would be online regardless of ads. The gambling sites have a real product to sell, and the sports scores sites exist to promote a real physical product.

    Not being a user of either sort of site (nor pornography for that matter), all I can do is guess: Gambling sites are illegal in most of Slashdot's home country, and sites like DraftKings are specifically targeted. Sports score sites operated by cable television networks, such as CNN- and TBS-affiliated SI.com, might go paywalled to encourage users to subscribe to cable television. Sports score sites operated by leagues might go paywalled to encourage users to attend games in person or subscribe to the league's out-of-market cable package.

    So yeah, I think if the news sites did real hard hitting journalism, I'd throw them my $20 for good reading. The rest pays for itself.

    Until you discover that the articles you want to read are scattered across a dozen sites. Then it balloons from $20 to $240.