Thread in MPSIMS: YouTube “forbidding” ad blockers. Concerns, if any?
Can we get an official mod ruling on whether we can share how to use ad-blockers on the SDMB?
I know advice on how to avoid paywalls is forbidden. Not sure where this lands.
There’s no rule against the discussion of ad blockers, and they aren’t illegal.
That said, while I have absolutely nothing to do with the financial side of the SDMB, I have heard enough grumblings from folks higher up on the chain to know that ad blockers and their resultant loss of revenue for the SDMB is a rather sore subject.
I don’t see anything wrong with the youtube thread.
On the other hand, asking how to block ads that the SDMB is serving is basically asking “how can we deprive the SDMB of what little revenue it gets and desperately needs to keep the lights on”. It would probably be wise to keep anything SDMB-specific out of such conversations. Asking about other sites or asking about ad blockers in general should be fine though.
Any word on subscriptions? That might be an alternative way to add to SDMB revenue.
To be clear, I think we can “talk” about things like paywalls but cannot tell people how to get around a paywall.
Can we tell someone, in detail, how to block ads from a given site? Unfortunately, installing many ad-blockers will, by default, block SDMB ads too (with no instruction…just happens).
Not my place to offer advice on how the SDMB is run but:
-
Maybe find a way to ask people to whitelist SDMB on their ad-blocker (SDMB ads are not onerous…seems a fair ask).
-
FWIW, I have asked a couple times if the SDMB will have subscriptions. IIRC, I have been told it is being considered. But it’s been years. I think there are many who will give money. If coding up a whole subscription system and managing it is too much a Patreon might work. I dunno…just saying I think the SDMB could make more money. Just my $0.02 (I’m trying to give the website money but can’t)
IANAL, but this is my understanding of it.
Bypassing paywalls is illegal as it falls under theft of services.
Ad blockers, however, have been ruled by the courts to be legal. Don’t ask me why this also isn’t considered theft of services when you are depriving the host of income, but like I said, I’m not a lawyer.
We are owned by a media company, and they are sensitive to ad issues, so they might hand down a rule for us at some point. But until then, as long as ad blockers remain legal, you are free to discuss them. This includes how to set up one for a specific site.
No word on subscriptions. It’s a known issue, it’s on the list of things that needs to be fixed, but I haven’t heard anything about it in a very long time. I wish I had better news for you.
Thanks!
Just as an aside…my ad-blocker is disabled on the SDMB but I only see some ads. I see many spots blocked out for an advertisement but no ad is there (see image below). Others spots have ads. Dunno if all spots have not been sold or if there is something else happening. Just something to send up the corporate chain.
– But I do see this ad (I changed no settings…just saw this in a different thread…some ads seem to work):
/hijack
Depending on your browser, it may be set to allow “unobstrusive ads” or “safe ads” but block others. Again, huge variance by browser. You can also split how you support a site with adds by having different rules for different platforms. If I’m on a system with mobile data (cellphone, cellular tablet) I generally want some form of blocking, because especially auto-playing video ads can be data munchers. Over wifi, such as nighttime browsing on my kindle, not a worry, although far to many ads are seriously obtrusive depending on the site. Here, you’re correct, not so much.
It was also noted in a prior thread that some errors with rubberbanding in a thread -seemed- to be linked to how ads loaded, where those blank spots were waiting to load, and after you scrolled past, sucked you right back once they finally activated. It wasn’t consistent or confirmed for all, but there was substantial correlation for many users.
never mind, should have posted to linked thread.