I literally haven’t seen anyone even mention it anywhere on the internet as if it never existed, when it comes to Ad blockers I always see uBO recommended with absolutely no mention whatsoever of ABP why? What makes it better than ABP? What happened to it? or maybe I’m wrong and ABP is not as well known as I think it is.

I have been using ABP for many years until someday don’t remember when I switched to uBO because I read that it is “the best ad blocker”.

I maybe need a history lesson as everything on the matter seems so vague to me and the whole situation is super weird

  • Yes we know of it. That’s why we actively avoid it. It doesn’t take many searches to figure out its downfalls. AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, and the non Origin uBlock are all owned by the same company and they allow corporations to pay to let ads through.

    •  Doug [he/him]   ( @Doug@midwest.social ) 
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      2 years ago

      it blocks all ads

      Am I the only one that has a problem with this? Unless you’re paying for use of a site then aren’t you basically being entitled to someone else’s labor?

      Someone made the site, created the content, and hosted it for consumption. Until money isn’t necessary for survival it seems reasonable to make sure they’re compensated for it.

          • You are right, I’m sequestering myself by avoiding malvertising on my expensive electronics. If you have any additional tips to aid in sequestering further, I’ll listen to those.

            •  Doug [he/him]   ( @Doug@midwest.social ) 
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              2 years ago

              We’re obviously not on the same page here.

              I object to blocking “all ads”.

              You responded to that by stating you lost trust for, presumably, everyone after a specific incident.

              To extend that it seems implausible that you could trust anyone, about anything, ever. If one instance of a thing can break your trust for everything like it, what other possibility could exist.

              On the other hand, if you’re blocking malicious ads, which is to say not every ad across the whole of the Internet, that’s a very different thing which I do not object to.

              Are we more clear now?

              • If there were an assurance of safety in advertising then I’d be fine with accepting ads. Insurance or somesuch. Credit card stolen by a pickpocket in a crowded street? Cancel, reverse charges, out an hour, a card replacement fee, and a few weeks of fuming as police do nothing. Multiple compromised devices on your network? Tough luck, buddy. Shouldn’t have used a well trusted site. Enjoy your months of confusion and hundreds spent.

                I lose nothing from blocking ads. Ads aren’t an experience to try out, as if pusillanimity has something to do with it. When sites go back to stock banner ads, I’m back in.

                •  Doug [he/him]   ( @Doug@midwest.social ) 
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                  2 years ago

                  You think no one has ever had to spend time and money dealing with a picked pocket or a pothole on a road they drive every day? It’s not always as easy as you make it sound. Just like a lot of times you run an antivirus and it takes care of everything. Not always but sometimes your whole identity is stolen and it can be years later and you’re still dealing with problems. Guess you shouldn’t have gone to the gas station you always go to.

                  Why would sites go back to stock banner ads when they’re so easily blocked. Why do you think they stopped? The same culture you’re now defending pushed them out. Now it’s an arms race with stronger measures on both sides all the time.

                  You lose nothing by blocking ads today. At some point the bill comes due and either you can’t block them so easily or you lose access to the content you want to see. You’re pulling pebbles away from a levee and telling everyone it’s safe because nothing has happened.

      • My issue is more with trackers than ads anyways, altrough ads that block so much that using the site normally becomes a pain in the ass are the other extend which is sadly also getting more and more common. But sadly most websites and services that let you pay to get rid of ads will still put everything full of trackers…

        Also, there are quite some sites that just copy content or or have an AI write content, made to rank high in searches, then is putbfull of adds to make money. Those are automated money-farms, and deserve blockers.

        I block everything, ads and trackers alike. Somewhat regularily I’m on the web without and it’s always a great reminder why I normally do use them.

        But I also pay for multiple websites and services I use regularily despite them working fine without paying or having “free” alternatives. After all, nothing is free and I rather pay with money than with data. And I also want to be paid for my work, and I can only imagine so do others. So I do agree with you there, and I highly encourage people to pay for stuff.

        But I won’t feel bad for blocking that shit, also not on the websites I don’t financially support. Because most of the time they are the ones that made it impossible to use their website privacy-friendly without blocking stuff anyways, even if I’m willing to pay.

        •  Doug [he/him]   ( @Doug@midwest.social ) 
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          2 years ago

          My issue is more with trackers than ads anyways

          Agreed. I have no issues with this.

          Also, there are quite some sites that just copy content or or have an AI write content, made to rank high in searches, then is putbfull of adds to make money. Those are automated money-farms, and deserve blockers.

          I agree here as well. Though the simplest solution is to avoid them altogether I don’t have an objection to working against deliberately malicious sites like this.

          But I also pay for multiple websites and services I use regularily despite them working fine without paying or having “free” alternatives. After all, nothing is free and I rather pay with money than with data.

          And with this I have no objections to anything else. My issue is specifically with the mindset of neither viewing any ad regardless of anything besides it being an ad combined with refusal to offer any sort of recompense. You’re supporting at least a few sites that you feel are worth supporting and that’s plenty for me.

        •  Doug [he/him]   ( @Doug@midwest.social ) 
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          2 years ago

          If you have so little attention to spare that an ad along side or even within content is too far for you how did you find the time to comment?

          Good on you for looking for free options. On the other hand that furthers the question about how much attention would really cost you…

            •  Doug [he/him]   ( @Doug@midwest.social ) 
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              2 years ago

              Another argument against not my position.

              If someone who does something for a living does that thing for you, do you pay them or scamper off beforehand? Why?

              Great. I’m glad you think it’s inconsequential. I think people being able to pay their bills is very consequential, so I raise my concerns where I see a problem.

              Though you’d think inconsequential would go along with how you don’t enjoy ads. Curious, no?

              If donating weren’t an option and there was, occasionally, an easily missed ad somewhere off to the side, what then?

                •  Doug [he/him]   ( @Doug@midwest.social ) 
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                  2 years ago

                  So it’s only a possibility for millionaires to serve ads and get paid from them? Someone should alert the podcasters and independent app developers.

                  It’s your moral responsibility to “subsidize income” when you’re consuming the content someone created in order to afford to live, no?

                  I’m with you, that’s the world I want to create and live in along side with everyone else. That’s not the world we live in today and a whole lot of people need to be able to survive before we can get to that point.

                  A whole lot of people seem to think I’m out here trying to encourage everyone to give up their time and bandwidth to donate to the rich. Not at all. But the idea that they’re the only ones who might be getting any money from ads is absurd.

                  Interestingly enough the library is possibly the analogy I needed. It’s funded by your taxes. Tiny little amounts that won’t make a difference to you at all but it’s still there. I would absolutely object to someone looking through everything I checked out on my way out the door (trackers) as well as salesmen lurking around the whole place (obtrusive ads). I don’t mind them setting up displays or flyers on community boards (unobtrusive ads) or late fees (payments). It’s also great that the writers and publishers (creators and hosts) are still getting paid since the library still bought the books. It may be tiny amounts per reader, but so are ads.

                  On the other hand I’m pretty sure most people agree that if you spend the day in a local coffee house using their free Wi-Fi and not buying anything that you’d be an asshole and it would be reasonable for them to kick you out.

      • @Doug @LinkOpensChest_wav I used to think this way but so much advertising today is malware. I’m happy for sites to write simple text or image ads that won’t even be detected by adblockers, much less actually blocked. It’s the pile of JavaScript that’s the problem, and it’s the pile of JavaScript that adblockers block.

  •  SyJ   ( @SyJ@lemmy.ml ) 
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    2 years ago

    It was recommended until they changed their business model to charging advertisers to be allowed through the blocking because they were “the good type of advert”

  •  The Doctor   ( @drwho@beehaw.org ) 
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    2 years ago

    Other folks who’ve commented on Adblock Plus have hit the important stuff. I just want to follow up with the comment that it also tends to bog down the browser after a certain point; browsing just got painfully slow on Firefox with it. I didn’t bother troubleshooting it because that was around the same time they started allowing ads, so I bailed and didn’t look back.