# Websites asking me to turn off ad blocker **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035 "2017-03-12T22:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/61 "2017-03-13T17:00:47Z")
I’ve been using Adblock for years now, with very few problems. However, it accidentally got turned off a few days ago and, not realizing this, I logged onto the Straight Dope. What happened then was eyeopening. As far as I’m concerned, the site became basically unusable. Ever page I opened came with a large and very obtrusive advertisement, taking up a rather large portion of the screen. Each of these had to be turned off before the page could be conveniently read. I guess some folks have become used to this, but I wasn’t. I reinstalled Adblock ASAP, and the problem went away. I figure I’m already paying Comcast enough for my Internet access, and if some site doesn’t like this, they can take a flying f\*\*\*\* at a rolling donut. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/62 "2017-03-13T17:02:32Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Pray tell us-What sort of revenue-gathering advertising _wouldn’t_ fall under this category? Advertising is lying and manipulation by definition. So, none. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/63 "2017-03-13T17:03:35Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Sponsored content might not. At least they wouldn’t be pulling in code from God-knows-where like they currently do. How many sponsored websites are there that aren’t just off-shoots of the sponsor, but are otherwise independent? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/64 "2017-03-13T17:04:44Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Advertising is lying and manipulation by definition. So, none. So how much are you willing to donate to keep the internet ad-free? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/65 "2017-03-13T17:07:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > They aren’t. None of are saying “Ad-Free content at no cost!” No, they’re lying and just saying “content at no cost”. Honest peddlers put a price tag on their goods. They don’t “give things away” with Trojan horses and psychological warfare hidden inside. You’re essentially saying “Why would anybody just give candy away on Halloween? If you didn’t want to eat razor blades, you should have bought your own candy at the store”. No, I’ll continue to remove the razor blades, thanks. If their business fails because enough people aren’t slicing their mouths up, I certainly won’t shed a tear. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/66 "2017-03-13T17:09:15Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So how much are you willing to donate to keep the internet ad-free? I currently pay $50/month for internet. I’ll continue to pay $50/month. The internet already _is_ ad-free for me. I don’t really care if people like that or not. It’s 100% my choice. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/67 "2017-03-13T17:09:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > How many sponsored websites are there that aren’t just off-shoots of the sponsor, but are otherwise independent? Beats me. There’s certainly websites out there that run some sponsored content in among their usual articles. In a sense, it’s not my problem. Content providers will need to find a way to get money that doesn’t require a tech arms race with their community. Traditional web advertising barely works now with the industry down to a couple major companies that pay pennies to blast your site with clickbait and garbage. It’s not my job to solve that for them and it’s not my duty to accept the potential for malware under the current situation. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/68 "2017-03-13T17:10:30Z")
Again, TANSTAAFL. Websites cost money to operate. What’s your plan? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/69 "2017-03-13T17:11:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Again, TANSTAAFL. Websites cost money to operate. What’s your plan? My plan is to not run a website. If websites want a different plan from me, well, TANSTAAFL. Send me a check and we’ll talk 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/70 "2017-03-13T17:11:41Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Again, TANSTAAFL. Websites cost money to operate. What’s your plan? It’s not my business. Therefore, I don’t need a plan. If they want to make money off of me, they can do it honestly or not at all. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/71 "2017-03-13T17:15:36Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > It’s not my business. Therefore, I don’t need a plan. If they want to make money off of me, they can do it honestly or not at all. That $50 you pay each month? _None_ of it goes to those who operate websites, so basically you are saying you want the content from all those providers free of charge. edited to add: Pray tell us how they might do it “honestly”-Show us how it could realistically be done otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/72 "2017-03-13T17:25:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That $50 you pay each month? _None_ of it goes to those who operate websites, so basically you are saying you want the content from all those providers free of charge. > edited to add: Pray tell us how they might do it “honestly”-Show us how it could realistically be done otherwise. Well, considering that $50 is almost all profit for Charter Cable, why don’t the websites ask Charter? Meter my internet usage, pay the sites I visit a pro-rated amount based on how many (non-advertising) bits my browser requests from their site. Something like ASCAP does with radio stations and music venues. But honestly, why should I care? Why is it my job to tell multi-million or -billion dollar businesses how to extract more of my money? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/73 "2017-03-13T17:32:29Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Well, considering that $50 is almost all profit for Charter Cable, why don’t the websites ask Charter? Meter my internet usage, pay the sites I visit a pro-rated amount based on how many (non-advertising) bits my browser requests from their site. Something like ASCAP does with radio stations and music venues. > > But honestly, why should I care? Why is it my job to tell multi-million or -billion dollar businesses how to extract more of my money? Why the fuck would Charter want to do that, and even if they did how much do you think each website would receive that way? Do you even understand how many websites there are out there? You think most of the websites out there are run by multi-million or billion dollar companies? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/74 "2017-03-13T17:40:18Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why the fuck would Charter want to do that, and even if they did how much do you think each website would receive that way? Do you even understand how many websites there are out there? You think most of the websites out there are run by multi-million or billion dollar companies? :eek: Why the fuck would ASCAP want to do that? And even so, do you know how much each individual artist receives that way? Do you even understand how many musicians are out there? You think they are all millionaires? Charter sells me the internet. I pay them. If other companies are upset that they aren’t getting paid too, they can ask Charter. Seems fair to me. But you’d think these people would ask themselves that _before_ broadcasting all their valuable content for free into the ether. Not blast their content for free and _then_ try and guilt trip me for charity after the fact, for their own boneheaded mistakes. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/75 "2017-03-13T17:46:57Z")
The bottom line is that it gets paid for or it goes away-period. You have yet to offer a single viable solution to your supposed problem. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/76 "2017-03-13T17:50:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The bottom line is that it gets paid for or it goes away-period. You have yet to offer a single viable solution to your supposed problem. What problem? I don’t have a problem. I surf the internet for a flat $50 a month and see zero ads. _You_ seem to have a problem with that. But I don’t. What’s the solution to _your_ supposed problem? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/77 "2017-03-13T17:52:39Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > So you guys realise that big corporate sites and the big ad networks are very very quick to take down ads that are against the terms of service or that contain malware. > If you’re getting popups, auto playing music and malware so much that you need an adblocker then you’re either going to pirate sites, illegal streaming sites, or porn sites. > > Just saying… Have you ever checked out the Straight Dope Message Board? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/78 "2017-03-13T18:00:20Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > What problem? I don’t have a problem. I surf the internet for a flat $50 a month and see zero ads. _You_ seem to have a problem with that. But I don’t. What’s the solution to _your_ supposed problem? And when enough people do that, one of two things are inevitable: Either the ads find a way to circumvent your blocking, or your $50-a-month internet service will be void of most everything you are now viewing for “free”. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/79 "2017-03-13T18:01:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And when enough people do that, one of two things are inevitable: Either the ads find a way to circumvent your blocking, or your $50-a-month internet service will be void of most everything you are now viewing for “free”. Game on. Let’s see how the dice tumble. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035/80 "2017-03-13T18:04:34Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Game on. Let’s see how the dice tumble. What the hell does this even mean-“Game on.”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-asking-me-to-turn-off-ad-blocker/782035.md?page=5)