Ads are a necessary part of the way things balance out at the moment. If you succeed in leading a significant boycott against them, the money to fund the services you are using will need to come from elsewhere - or those services will wither and disappear.
Ads are even part of the way this board is funded. Members (and anyone who cares to block them) don’t see them. If every single visitor blocks them, the revenue will dry up and one of two things will happen; either:
Our subscription charges will increase
or
The SDMB will run at a loss, and will close down
It’s not morally wrong to block ads (any more than it’s morally wrong to walk out and make a cup of tea when the ads come on TV), but ads themselves are not necessarily a purely evil thing either.
I don’t always find myself agreeing with you, mostly because your media experience is radically different than mine (and my experience of both the Internet and of media are pretty old-fashioned)… but I’ve bolded the main thing I DO agree with you on. The moral effect of adblocking is the same as the moral effect of commercial-skipping (by fast-forward on a DVR, by walking out of the room, by changing the channel, etc.). But, admittedly, because of the less robust economy of Internet media, adblocking probably has greater economic affect. There’s no Nielsen for the internet; it’s direct instrumentation of impression counts, and those are susceptible to adblocking. (I really don’t think Nielsen for TV advertising is as susceptible to the more primitive anti-commercial techniques used for live TV. I also wonder if Nielsen surveyees tend to be less resistant to advertising.)
I run a website - for fun and to share information more than profit. It’s self-funding due to the ads (which I keep separate from content and try to filter to keep out objectionable ad types).
I don’t object to the idea of people blocking ads when they visit my site (in fact if someone wanted to block them and didn’t know how, I would happily help them).
I guess if the ad revenue dried up completely, I would have to decide whether to fund the thing out of my own pocket, or let it die. I imagine the same is true of many other personal websites such as the hugely interesting woodgears.ca - if ads are the cost we must pay to continue to have quirky, useful, interesting little websites like that, I think they’re worth tolerating.
I didn’t mind ads too much in the early days of the internet. Then they started getting obnoxious and obscured the content, and that crossed a line. Bye-bye ads.
I think content providers deserve to get paid. I’m happy to view non-intrusive ads, i.e. non moving, non clickbait.
So in Adblock Plus I check the allow non-intrusive ad box, uncheck the Easy List box and check the malware domains box. Then I use Flash Control to block flash. Finally I use Ghostery to block Doubleclick and Adblade. That takes care of the clickbait.
And I can tell you even that isn’t accurate because many ads don’t pay per click or impression.
My best performing websites are paid for action (sale/lead), and the most relevantly monetized ones are more profitable being a buyer/owner rather than the seller of the adspace.
Now, it’s not like just because it’s a big company they deserve to get stiffed, but a few loads isn’t worth much. Her naive estimate (watch the video for more info on why it’s naive) is that she gets about US$1.70 per 1000 ads.
Ads seem to only really be sustainable (except for things like paying for cheap web hosting) if you’ve already hit a critical mass where one person using adblock doesn’t really matter. I’ve seen people gripe time and again, from webcomic artists to video creators. If they’re full time, it’s almost certain that they did it by either merchandising their work, commissions, or via donations/Patreon/Subabble.
I’m sure there are still people relying almost purely on ads for income, and in a real danger zone with rent and other living expenses. In fact, this was true of many video makers before the advent of Patreon. You specifically aren’t really hurting these people, because the worth of your ad is extremely low, but if their audience is composed of demographics such that 20% of them use adblock, it could be an issue.
I normally just whitelist sites I trust with people I like (unless I’m directly supporting them some other way), and leave it on as a shield otherwise.
Yes, I do! :mad: The ADA requires it!! “I-am-in-a-wheelchair!!”. The 5 magic words that must be yelled at full volume upon entering any place of public accommodation. Everyone there must look away from the person in the wheechair, and not look at them for the duration of their time there. It’s called equality.
I use Adblock Plus. One site I frequently visit took countermeasures. Instead of the page, I got ‘Unless you turn off Adblock, we won’t show you the page’. I turned off ABP for that site. As that particular site is dedicated to illegally copying and translating manga, I don’t feel they really have the moral high ground.
What if the person in the wheelchair is a hot chick with nice tits? Am I allowed to look then? I think equality demands I try to pick her up while speaking directly into her cleavage, just as I would with any other woman.