What do people think about adblock extensions? If you use one, why do you use one, and if you have chosen not to, why? This may seem like an odd question to me but I'm doing some writing about the topic, so answers would be really useful!
I use them, and personally, I love them. When you are on a slower internet connection, and you are trying to load, say, the MLP forums, you can load the page faster w/o all the ads. Plus, if you're on Youtube, it can be a bit annoying watching the same one or two ads over and over. So, I think they are a really useful tool, and I'm glad that I have one.
On a slow computer, I use AdBlock and NoScript -- they make everything much easier and nicer. I keep AdBlock up everywhere, but on some sites that depend on ad revenue I do try to donate once in a while.
They're good simply because of how annoying ads have gotten. I don't need to have the entire page taken up by an ad I can't exit out of. What's worse is that oftentimes ads have invisible backgrounds so you click them when you want to click something else. Then there's the ads that just start playing really loud videos on pages that don't even have videos of their own. I realize that companies need to advertise to make money, but when the ads are that annoying, it actually makes me want to specifically avoid that company just because they're getting in the way.
I could not surf the web without an ad-blocking add-on. The way ads and pop-ups are scattered literally everywhere is just ridiculous. Plus, it reduces the risk of accidentally clicking on something and getting sent somewhere you don't want/need to go.
I adblock on accident because I use things like noscript and destroy a lot of cookies. But I'll usually let things like youtube ads play. It's not so much that I don't like ads. I'm way ok with helping people giving me cool content pay their bills. I just like a little bit of privacy. There's lots of places I just don't go at all when I'm at a wifi hotspot. Maybe one day I'll be an internet nudist like most people and just expose my browser to the open air of the internet with a devil may care attitude. But ads usually want to be tailored to your interests, and that means you showing a little skin so to speak.
I strictly do not use adblock, though I used to use to all the time. The only really annoying ads are those on youtube that you're forced to watch, but if it's a good youtuber that deserves some extra cash, I click those ads anyway. Most free websites rely on ads in the place of charging you, so you should consider that when viewing their pages with an adblock on. It's kind of like pirating, but not pirating wouldn't cost you any extra money. This is what I'm writing my study about; the number of people for/against pirating compared with those that are for/against adblocking. ---------- Post added 18th Feb 2013 at 02:44 PM ---------- Also, I like that advertising, rather than charging tax payers for services, simply move money from huge corporate businesses that have plenty to give, to those with barely enough to pay for their hosting. It's sort of like Robin Hood in that sense.
I'm gonna reiterate this. It really is night and day using adblock. The main benefit is that it also removes the space that the ad would have otherwise took up, thus meaning you can fit more actual content onto your screen.
Ad block, yeah. l love it. Some sites l go on regularly are so ad heavy my CPU usage increases noticeably. l've gotten requests to disable it from some sites lol. l did for one forum l went on so they could get their precious revenue e_e
Yeah. I started using it when YouTube started with the ads on almost every video. Don't have to deal with that problem anymore. Or shitty ads on websites.
I always use Adblock. I don't surf the web without it. I didn't use Adblock in the past but now ads have really made the web surfing experience terrible. It takes me longer to complete simple tasks since you have to exit out of the ads to view material and I won't be buying whatever it is that they're trying to sell me anyway. If the ads weren't so obnoxious and irritating to deal with then I probably wouldn't use Adblock. I think a lot of people realize that or at least I do. I think it is a bit extreme to compare Adblock with pirating content. For starters, one is illegal and the other is not . . .
I have heard the argument that AdBlock is unethical because it denies revenue to people providing the space for the content that I'm reading or looking at. I reject this argument for two reasons. One, I am resistant to advertising. The more I am subjected to it, the more I resent it and the less likely I am to buy the product from the firm advertising. Second, even if I'm being a "good citizen," I'm still engaging in click fraud. If I don't run AdBlock, I'm allowing the advertisement to be displayed to me, sure. If I click on it, I am (in some cases) generating revenue. But I'm definitely not going to buy whatever the product is. So if I click on it, I'm just exploiting a bad business model, and in the strict sense, that's fraud (morally it is without question, but legally difficult if not impossible to prove). I think a healthy way to look at the ethics of AdBlock is to think about what advertising fundamentally is. It's people paying for exposure of their product. They are not paying for people to buy their product. They are not paying for people to be forced to look at their product. They are paying for someone else to use some of their space for exposure of another product. It's just like a billboard. Yes, someone paid a lot of money for the billboard, but that doesn't mean that I'm a bad person for averting my eyes. AdBlock is basically the same principle.
I block ads not because I want to deny people money. Not because I hate ads--even though they are annoying, but because every single infection of spyware, adware, and virus I've ever gotten has come from an ad. That's why they're blocked and will remain blocked. Security.
I mainly use Adblock because I don't want to click on something and then have like 5 windows with ads pop up. I don't mind seeing ads on sites, but I have to admit that it's nice that Adblock removes the space that the ad would normally take up so you can fit more content on your screen. When there's a site that I like and it needs ad revenue, I'll gladly disable Adblock for that certain site.
