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
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don’t promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
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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.
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.
You have it backwards, Adblocking exploded after tracking became commonplace and invasive, and it has only gotten worse on that front. I get the vague impression you weren’t around for the days when malvertising was a chronic threat created exclusively by greedy companies without decent security controls. Bring back dumb ads and I’ll see them. I’m still going to block every form of JavaScript on your site that I can, but I’ll undoubtedly see your banner ads.
And I get the impression you weren’t around for the first ad blockers. I recall it very differently and unless you have something to back up your end of it we’re at a bit of an impasse.
I’ve been around far longer than you think.
There were no adblocking extensions for early internet explorer so consider its share 0.
Adblocking increased at twice the rate of new internet users as a result of certain folks despising the idea of being tracked and/or hacked. If every adblock developer worth looking at weren’t also a security enthusiast, you might have a point.
I’ve spent 20 minutes looking up statistics for a dude who’s very obviously trolling or roleplaying and I hate that. You’ve won, I slightly burned my chicken au jus.
https://dailywireless.org/internet/usage-statistics/?ref=hackernoon.com
https://www.statista.com/statistics/435252/adblock-users-worldwide/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers
What you consider it to be is irrelevant. An extension wasn’t any more the only way to block ads then than it is now. Ad blocking has absolutely been happening longer than there have been extensions to do it.
Which means it’s going to reach a critical mass at some point, no? What would you expect to happen then?
Damn am I sick of people falling on this regardless of what the disagreement is over or who it is with. Even if it were true, which it’s not, you have a better picture of the situation, at least if you’re willing to accept that someone legitimately disagrees with you.
I’m sorry to hear about your food
There were adblockers for Netscape but the esoteric process was uncommon for internet explorer. Look, if you want to understand why we’re all fine with the collapse of the internet into donation-based forums like this one, just check the history of the spread of tracking and malware through ad networks. This will get you started.
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-history-of-the-data-tracked-user/
Except it’s less likely to be donation based and more likely to be fee based.
The fact that you’re aware of any kind of ad blocking for Netscape reinforces my position that blocking was a leader in the arms race
And I think the overwhelming majority of us are fine with that. Your response is equal parts facepalmingly ridiculous and nostalgic. I appreciate it in a way you probably won’t understand for a long while.