Do you use adblock? Why? Why not?

Of course. And I'll continue to do so as long as advertisement is detrimental to my online experience. If it wastes my time by forcing me to watch an ad before a video, if it distracts me from reading a text because of animations, if it tries to scam or shock me, I'm better off blocking it. I'm not against advertisement as communication that a useful product or service exists, I'm against advertisement abuse and greed.

I'll happily pay for, donate to, or otherwise support services important to me that need and deserve it.

I use AdBlock (and SponsorBlock on YouTube, and a cookie whitelist and a JavaScript whitelist) because only I decide what to see on my screen.

If you, as a creator, choose to use advertising to monetize your content you don't respect the limited lifetime of the people consuming your content or their security or about the way the marketing and advertising industry is destroying our society, such as (not exhaustive, just off the top of my head right now)

building a surveillance economy, destroying privacy in the process
manipulating people into voting in certain ways that are harmful to them and others
protecting harmful products from scrutiny (e.g. tobacco, alcohol, products with too much sugar or fat or low quality ingredients, the car and oil industries, corporate climate change denial,...)
encouraging overconsumption both in terms of quantity and in terms of items or services they don't really need
destroying content platforms with their mantra "not advertiser friendly", leading to dystopian self-censorship on e.g. Youtube

And then there is the way internet advertising can spread malware and compromise the security of websites in general.

If you do want to monetize content in other ways there are models such as subscriptions or Patreon-style that are a lot more respectful of the user.

Absolutely. I understand things aren't for free, but if you make my experience subpar I'm blocking ads.

I wish more creators would make content available across more platforms.
- Oh yeah, I completely forgot to mention the way the advertising industry has basically ignored every feedback from users for two decades or more by making ads ever more intrusive and obnoxious. They reap what they sow.

I have been with this idea for a very long time. But over time all the platforms got more and more greedy and I had the feeling that my privacy got more and more invaded.

Since that time, I have an Adblock and use DDG.

Sorry content creators.

Agree 100% with this

Yes, because I don't like subjecting myself to propaganda and having to hope I'm smart and strong enough to recognize it and avoid succumbing to it.

"People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you're not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs." - banksy

Adblockers are absolutely necessary because ads are a malware threat, never mind the scams and invasive popups. The cReAtOrS didn't care enough to ensure advertisements were safe, legitimate, or not horribly obnoxious so they did it to themselves.

I used to allow ads for certain sites but after malware attempts and scam ads, I block them across the board. If that upsets anybody, go whine to the shady advertises who made this a necessity to browse the web safely.

Well if I want to support creators, I would rather give them my money directly either by buying their merch or any payment plarform.

Nowadays ads are so intrusive. Also the way ads are delivered by knowing what I prefer is capitalistic at its finest. Not everything that I search are something I want to buy.

This comment shows "-1" dislikes for some reason and it's counted as an upvote.
- Lemmy probably didn't sync likes for that comment, it has plenty likes now.

Lmao what a stupid argument. If you want money paywall your content and see how many people really want to see it. You do not have the right to fill anyone's head with manipulative garbage propaganda just because you made a video about how much you love the second reich and want it to retvrn or wrote some shitty blog post.

People that call themselves CONTENT creators are the people churning out pure garbage for the bazinga-brained sake of contentcontentcontent and the quality of actually worthwhile shit would skyrocket if they would all just collectively quit because what would be leftover are the people who actually care and aren't in it for some ad views.

Artists, critics, musicians, designers, etc etc? They don't call themselves content creators like the bazinga-brained influencers in it purely to chase metrics. Tell the bazingas to fuck off.

yes because fuck ads

Counter point: Any creator blindly putting random ad networks on their site doesn't care about their users. Every ad should be vetted and served by the creator, those kinda ads are impossible to mass-block. If an ad swindles a user, it should be the creators reputation thats at stake.

I stopped having a bad conscience for blocking when one blog who begged promised to not autoplay any audio. The very next day it of course showed a very loud ad, and the creator excused it with "he didn't have any control over what the advertisement network showed".

They're creators alright, but what are they creating? The answer is a surveillance capitalist dystopia.
This is exactly what I was thinking. How many incredibly sketchy, scammy, or outright invasive ad scripts are we supposed to tolerate? For me the answer is "none" and I'm quite happy that way.

I don't like getting bombarded with ads.
It hides scam ads.
If the creator of something makes something I like I prefer to directly donate to them instead of giving up my privacy, and letting a company like google profit of it, and then they only give a small portion to the creator.

This "you don't care about creators" is a sham argument designed to make you feel guilty. I hear this about piracy a lot. "You're depriving all those blue collar people of a paycheck!" meanwhile the WGA has been on strike for weeks because big studios are screwing them over on pay. It's the corporate executives that are screwing these people over not some individual who downloaded a torrent or installed an adblocker. One only needs to look at who is funneling all the money into their own pockets and it surely isn't the general public.

I own my computer, and I control what is displayed on it. I can do anything I want to control what is and isn't on my screen. It is not my problem if the majority of content is reliant on an ineffective monetization method.

I do wish someone would make an ad block that faked impressions. But it would probably lose the advantages of fast load times, security etc.

This plugin supposedly kind of does that. I remember a few years ago Google removed it from the Chrome store, which I took as a good sign.

I never gave it a go though so I don't know how well it works nor if it's maintained; not only am I a bit too lazy to try to do some of that research myself, I also don't browse that many different websites to consider I could have relevant data.
I stopped using Ad Nauseum because it can only update after uBlock Origin is updated, but it fakes clicks. Not sure if it's actually effectice, but the express purpose is moreso to throw off targeted advertising iirc.
There definitely is/was an adblocker that clicks on ads but doesn't show them. Don't make me look it up, I don't care enough ;)
- I guess I haven't looked in a while, but I see this which like very interesting!
Faking impression is extremely hard to do, there are billion dollar companies out there that exist literally to stop ad fraud as their primary purpose.

As the de facto IT guy for my family, I block ads on all their computers just as a basic safety measure.

I can usually spot a fake download button and avoid scammy sites, but my parents and grandparents seem magnetically attracted to them

Plus there are ads now that give you plague just by loading them, which is uniquely horrifying to those of us who are informal tech support. D:

Yes I use an ad blocker. With some sites I visit, not having an ad blocker could mean the difference between my computer being destroyed by malware or saving myself by not clicking on malicious ads/full screen non-visible ads.

Also, if the content is coming from someone or some entity I am fairly certain doesn't need my monetary support, why should I bother seeing ads? That's just them leaching off me like a parasite. If I want to support a(n) person(s) and/or entity, I'd rather go as direct in helping find them as I can (such as through pateron or some other way).

“If you use adblock, you don’t care about creator’s point blank”

If I care about creators, it makes far more sense for them to run a Kofi tip jar of some kind and let us donate directly. Having thousands of viewers watch a cumulative 35 hours of ads so they can get 7c for it is ludicrous.

I'm not even kidding. The 'profit' creators get from ads is basically zero. If they want to monetise, they use Patron, Kofi, merch stores; or they line up sponsors that pay them directly (this comment brought to you by Raid™: Beats© by Legends®)

I would much rather pay a creator 10c a month and not have to watch 30minutes of ads of their platform. Way more profit for them, way better QoL for me, and it's not like I need to go out of my way to find ads.

If they care about creators and charities, they should donate money to them. They have very little use for your time, but your lifespan is the only resource you can never ever earn back. What a fucking waste to give so much of it away, and for nothing.

Yeah and I don't feel bad about it a bit. Few YouTubers have said that by donating one dollar they're profiting more than if you watch hours and hours of their ads.

The internet's practically unusable without it now. We'll always be in this rat race with advertisers and such. If I have the technical ability to circumvent every advertisement, I'll do it. Advertisers get plenty from the people without the tech know-how, and I directly support creators that I want to support. Maybe a bit of a "f you I got mine" position, but whatever. Zero guilt.

This is my issue. I don't mind a couple of tasteful, well placed ads. But so many sites are entirely unusable because of auto playing video ads, pop overs, and half the content is covered by ads that don't scroll with the screen.

On small sites with few ads I'll happily support them by whitelisting. On any site that has a pile of ads, especially if it covers content, I block them. Period. And I try not to go there unless absolutely necessary.

But I care of now being flooded with invasive ads popup and other shit

As an autist, I have many challenges involving the mental filtration of information. Too much clutter or non-relevant items and I become practically blind. The internet has largely become unusable to me. AdBlock means I can still use it all.

TV-style sudden/obnoxious ads are a sensory hell that feels like someone put my brain on fire. In effect, I am too disabled to be able to watch normal TV.

Because of this societal imposed disability, excluding me from using common services without experiencing real suffering for the sheer benefit of making more money, I have taken the following extreme stance:

“Viewing of any and all ads should require consent!” My mind is mine and companies trying to hold my limited focus/concentration by using psychologically manipulative tricks is simply invasive and violates my chance to remain cognitively functional.

There are some that do ads right. For example, LTT always notifies about “segues to their sponsor [SPONSORNAME]” allowing me a brief chance to pause the vid and choose for myself if I want to watch, skip, or leave.

While I usually do skip, there have been times I consented and watched an advertisement because of genuine interest or even for my own entertainment. (Hermitcraft Grian and Mumbo produced a great ad for Mumble. I still wish I could buy those Scar audiobooks)

So yes, I feel 100% justified to AdBlock everything and saying I don't care about the creators is flat out wrong.

My opinion is fairly similar as an ADHDer. Hard enough to navigate the information I need on the web without getting lost, adding ads as well just makes it impossible and overstimulating.

"If you don't pledge fealty to your feudal Lord, you don't care about the artists for which he is patron."

I don't care about creators who demand that I surrender my privacy as the only valid show of support for them.

That's it for me, way to put it. If a creator wants (as most do) money, let me donate. Don't shovel ads down my throat, I won't sympathize with your situation since you're fucking both of us over
- But my Lord is good, right, and honourable, and if he sees fit to install a cryptominer on your system through an ad exploit, surely he has his reasons!

I use adblock because it makes the internet usable. There's just so much crap shoved in your face these days. Not just ads that are blocked, but sponsored search results and SEO crap that you have to use your time and energy to filter out. I don't know how anybody actually buys stuff or responds to internet ads. I'm more and more on the Dead Internet Theory bandwagon.

I've never heard that argument.

i use ad blockers everywhere.

The argument was undoubtedly put forward by someone selling ads.

The "If you use adblock, you don’t care about creator’s point blank" is such a stupid argument and complete misunderstanding of the economics. There are other far more efficient ways to support creators than watching ads. Watching an hour of ads will generate a few cents for the creators and orders of magnitude more for the monopolistic platforms that host the content. The ads model doesn't fairly reward creators. I guarantee I give more to creators (via various means) than the misdirected "creator saviour" that wrote that ridiculous quote.

The internet was always a place to share. The recent move to monetize everything is destroying the internet. So no, I don't care about content creators being paid. Even so, ads are annoying, they take up my time, bandwidth and break pages and are so completely irrelevant to me.

Yes. I hate ads that interrupt my experience. Whether they're midroll ads, baked-in ads, animated banner ads, cycling banner ads, or popup ads, I don't want them. The least annoying of the invasive ads are baked-in ads because I can skip them.

“If you use adblock, you don’t care about creator’s point blank”

Correct, I don't care. Run ads that don't bother me. Have a sponsor logo in the corner, do a video reviewing their stuff, whatever. Your options aren't just to annoy me.

This.

If you're a creator or platform that runs intrusive/invasive ads, you don't care about users

Yes I use graphine OS on a Google pixel and have nearly all FOSS apps. The few apps I can't get FOSS I cut off network access to. (Alwsome graphine OS feature)

On my home computer I use uBlock, sponserblock, and I have a piehole running.

My ethics on this mimic that of modern multiplayer games. Games make a much larger amount of money praying those willing to dump hundreds into cosmetic items so now the game is free for me. Eg. leage, overwatch, apex, halo etc. . .

I see other distributed content in this same way. If someone love a content creator so much that they will drop money on merch, or patron good for them. They make up the majority of the money the content creator makes anyway so I don't really lose sleep over it.

You're like me lol. Graphene, ublock, I use libretube and newpipe x sponsorblock, I use adguard home. I would also recommend the libredirector extension to redirect to youtube piped or something.

between malware, phishing, tracking, bloat, bandwidth hogging, and whatnot, an adblocker is as necessary as an antivirus – advertisers have had multiple opportunities over the decades to behave and consistently refuse to do so
most of us are perfectly willing to pay content creators directly (subscription, coffee, Patreon, merch, etc.)
publishers are not content creators – and publishers are perfectly happy to screw creators over just as much as they screw visitors/viewers/readers (as an example, WGA strike is already on day 51 and counting)

I don't do a thing without ad blockers. I decide what junk I open and what I watch. When a site has ad blocking detection, it's not worth my time, ever. Ads are the cancer of the current society. When I have something, ads are useless, when I don't have it, ads are equally useless, as I don't want and need it.

When creators of content create good content, I pay, same for apps. Ad companies leaching of the creators content need to be banned. (Those companies earn a lot more then content creators on those ads)

When there is an adblocker that will trigger the payment without me having to watch the ad (or even pull it over the web) I'm fine with it, else, no ads revenue. I pay for my data subscription, I decide.

Anybody not using Firefox + DuckDuckGo + uBlock in 2023 is asking for Spyware.

I prefer startpage as a search engine.

the argument feels like guilt tripping poor people for not making their masters richer. if you only care about getting paid, I do not give any fucks about your content because it's probably garbage anyway. it seems the only "content" people like this produce are shitty hottakes of them ranting about something they don't understand.

tl;Dr if your content is just a recording of yourself then it's accurate to say I don't give a shit about the content creator in that scenario.

Personally I use ublock origin. Adblock sold out years ago and now companies can pay them to get around their blocker.

I'm not a hardcore capitalist. Also i can't watch all the ads the corporations would like to feed me every day. So i'm fine with using an adblocker. Don't give stuff out for free on the internet if you don't like this. But since you ask: I really don't like that strategy to commercialize everything, to finance everything by selling ads and user data...

undefined> capitalist

are you a capitalist tho? I mean, I consider myself a capitalist and let's just say people don't agree with me a lot here. anyways, how has this platform been treating you
- lol. i watched way too much star trek when i was a kid. i would consider myself as someone who dislikes capitalism. but that's my private thing. i like having money available to buy food, eat nice noodles or go on vacation every now and then. but i wouldn't be sad if that somehow worked without the concept of money or some of the big companies.
  
  i like this platform. i'm fine, thanks for asking.

If I had to use the internet without ublock then I think I would prefer to not use it at all. And I'm saying it as a person who makes some money off ads on a website. I would never put an ad-blocker-blocker on my website though. I just assume users don't care about the ads if they don't block them.

Yes. I don't give a shit if it's immoral.

Advertisers keep pushing for a more and more obtrusive browsing experience, while shoving consumerist junk in my face to try and drain my wallet.

And I'm just supposed to be okay with that?

Nope, I block all the ads I can.
The fact that it isn't is just a bonus.

Of course I do. Can't fathom how people still browse the web without adblockers. Especially when so many ads lead directly to malware. And ads are extremely distracting and annoying. Life is too short to be wasted on ads. Also creators are getting paid pennies on the dollar anyway.

I use ublock origin: https://ublockorigin.com/

The internet is unusable without a good adblock.

ublock origin and libredirect are basically a must for browsing the internet. Reddit, Fandom, and Medium are the most unusable websites, those websites are parasites so it gives me joy that I deprive them of revenue.

I'll have to look at Ublock. I used AdGuard for a while but can't get it to function with a VPN (except for the one they offer, which was terrible).
- They have a DNS offering as well. For android you go to Settings > Network and Internet > Advanced > Private DNS and change the DNS to dns.adguard.com.
ayy the only 2 extensions i need for happy living. that plus firefox configured for privacy and anti-tracking

I don't understand how anyone can live without adblock

If you take a free newspaper out of your mailbox and move the ad insert straight to the trash without looking at it, are you doing something morally wrong?

I find it astonishing how many people fail to make the mental bridge from our physical world into the internet. Talking about spam emails with my mom, I once asked her: If you find a sandwich from an unknown sender that you didn't order in your mailbox, would you take a bite because it might be tasty?

I think she doesn't understand the analogy to this day ...

If the ads were less intrusive (some ads even show a video with the audio unmuted!) I probably wouldn't use an adblock.

Yes, uBlock Origin on Firefox and AdGuard on mobile devices. Can't live without adblock these days, especially for watching YouTube.

Same here, uBlock on Firefox with my desktop. On mobile you should try youtube ReVanced.
- How's revanced compare to Newpipe?
I realized I barely used Netflix so I got YouTube premium instead. No ads but I still support the videos I watch :)
uBlock Origin also works for the Firefox app on android. You can even enable background playback with an addon for YT.
- I use it on Firefox for Android too. But for YouTube I just use ReVanced 😉

I stopped caring about the ethics of ad—blocking, I got sick of seeing scams, gambling ads, and shitty mobile games, crappy services that no one actually benefits from, and malware. I have ZERO tolerance for these sorts of ads. If an app has ads, I immediately uninstall it; if a website blocks adblockers, I stop using it.

The type of ads I might be willing to accept would be contextual ads (rather than personalised ones), and they should be individually vetted by either the content creators, or their community. If I visit a Linux forum, stuff like Linode or Tuxedo Computers would be effective, if I visit a Kendo forum, ads for shinai and other kendo supplies make sense, since we are the target audience, and there is no need to violate people's privacy for this ad model. These ads would need to be non-intrusive, and not take too much space as well, and not over content, and certainly not staying on the screen as I am scrolling.

This is why when watching YouTube videos, I block ads, but I don't block sponsors.

I've used it for the past decade. Literally the only time I see ads is when I look at other people's devices and wonder how TF they use them.

I'm using adblocker and sponsorblock on all devices (phone, Laptop, TV). There is no creator I like so much that I would endure those nuisances.

I do have paid subscriptions as well as ongoing patreons for some to ensure they get at least some revenue, but third party ads/ads spliced in from the main platform itself will not be tolerated.

Teach me the way to use adblock on (i)phone and (smart)TV please, i have long abandond the idea to watch youtube on annything but a proper computer OS.
- On iOS, adblocking comes down to installing two apps:
  
  For youtube ads: Vinegar, it's easily worth the two dollars.
  
  For other sites: Ka-Block, it's free #^-^#
  
  edit: On Smart TV, it's a fair bit more difficult. For my Roku, I have an Invidious client called Playlet. It's not nearly as full featured as the official app, but it's the best I have right now.
- Can't help you with iPhones, sorry. Never had an Apple device. You could blacklist known ad-servers through your router though, if that's an option (for home use, at least). On Android it's simple enough with this app: https://github.com/polymorphicshade/NewPipe/releases
  
  If your TV is Android based, https://smarttubenext.com/.
  
  It's a native TV app that captures the original youtube stream and displays it completely without ads, and comes with a sponsorblock implementation as well. Works amazingly well and is updated about weekly.

Do I use adblockers? Yes

Why? Honestly it's not about the ads, nor the tracking, or user privacy (though it is a perk). Nope I block ads for simple device security.

Fake links to sites I never wanted to visit with fake download buttons, or play buttons which download viruses or malware to my machines. I remember having a machine with Norton, and having to re-install the OS every year or so since too many accidental clicks caused me to download the wrong things.

And don't get me started with those old grotesque ads found on the bottom of pages. Nor the cleanup of my Grandparents machines with Viruses that live in RAM, or Ransom Ware which a cousin installed while looking for minecraft skins.

An AdBlocker is a security tool on the internet, it makes sure that the links you are clicking are from the site itself. It helps simplify the decisions needed since now instead of 2-10 download and play buttons, there maybe 1 or 2.

My Grand Parents don't have viruses any more, I don't get viruses any more. Sure it sucks that the site I visit doesn't get the $0.05 which it might get from ads if I visit. But after trying to do it legitimately for years, I just can't trust ad providers (even on Google) to get me the correct links or information any more.

Browsing the internet without content filters(adblock) is like going through a dungeon naked without armor. Too many risks which are not worth it.

I use Adguard and ublock origin. There's too much tracking, ads, crapware and even malware if you choose to not install one.

Even the FBI recommends to install an adblocker. https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/fbi-recommends-ad-blocker-online-scams-b1048998.html

Here's a hacker news discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28631005

You said it better than I could've

Recently tried a couple sites without an Adblock and it felt like the "good old days" of constant pop ups and garbage loading in the background while trying to read an article. The best are those autoplaying videos that don't start muted.

So with that said, yeah, I think I'm gonna keep that Adblock on!

If you use adblock, you don’t care about creator’s point blank

If you put ads on your website, you don't care about users point blank.

The story of internet ads is a classic greed to ruins fable. People put up with static picture and text ads for a very long time, and many, myself included, still don't mind them. In fact, self-hosting picture and text ads is almost guaranteed to get through adblockers.

But then the ads started moving. They started playing sound. They started executing code and phoning home to third party servers and collecting user data without consent. They started consuming more system resources than the webpage itself. Malware started being distributed through it, and there was even a recent breakthrough of ad cryptominers, because, again, they literally execute arbitrary code on your computer!

At this point our trust in ads are irreversibly broken. We will never tolerate ads again like we did when they hadn't done all this, even if they promises to clean up their act. Adblock was developed as not just something to remove unsightly ads, but also, and I do not exaggerate when I say this, as a line of defense for the security and usability of your computer. It's like an antivirus, but it kicks in before the virus even reaches your computer! For this reason, I think adblockers are not only okay to have, but essentially a mandatory item for browsing today's internet. If you want revenue in spite of that, maybe set up a tip jar and/or go back to self-hosted text and picture ads, I'm not disabling adblock and opening myself to harm because, no offense, I genuinely do not trust you.

At this point, the internet is so goddamn unusable without an adblocker that I don't know why anyone would try.

At work, I'll occasionally start talking to someone about some fandom like Star Wars or Pathfinder or whatever. I'll go to the wikia or fandom page for them and suddenly I get a million popups and half the page is covered in ads. It's actually so bad that my work's filter will occasionally block a site because they'll say that the ads are too bad.

The only time I see ads now is when I watch YouTube or Hulu on my TV, but even then I try to cast from my desktop (though Hulu ads seem to break through). I understand the idea of supporting creators, but for most YouTubers, their money comes from the sponsorships, not from me watching an ad.

If your TV is an Android TV, try out SmartTubeNext.

I use an adblocker but I turn it off for sites I like and want to support.

Yes, always have and always will. The internet is just plain hostile without one. Watching others browse the web without one is fascinating to watch. I don't really care much for the "moral" side of things.

Just for fun, I checked my self hosted AdGuard DNS and 60% of queries were blocked! That's insane. That's just DNS level blocking.

Yes, I use adblock. Most sites I visit didn't have ads on them 15 years ago. I don't want to see the ads now. As others have said, they are way too scammy and intrusive.

But your second point about not caring about the creator, i always thibk about this. YouTube. They will do two 15 second unskippable ads for a 5 second video... and then the creator of that video DOES NOT SEE A CENT FROM THE ADVERTISERS OR YOUTUBE! Why? Because its not monetizable, thats why! Why would I waste my time over that kind of crap? Or, worse yet, if I wanted to watch another advertisement on YouTube, I have to watch an ad to watch an ad? Why does that make sense? It's not the consumers that don't watch ads that don't care about the creators. It's a platform that monetizes its users and then doesn't pay them for it.

Which don't get me started on Reddit...

I absolutely use AdBlock. I can't be on the internet without it. If creators make things I find valuable, I support them. I don't feel a need to consume ads for them though

As I have no obligation to actually pay attention to any ads, so I see no reason why I would be obliged to download and display them.

Also, 'point blank'? Shouldn't that just be 'period'?

I'd say that ads don't care about creators.

We should be paying creators for content and that's not what ads do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np5ri-KktNs

Yes. I have a whole house dns adlock AND iuse a browser adblock as well.

Too many websites are COMPLETE SHIT TO NAVIGATE without adblock. They will be slow to load because of all the ad servers loading in. They fill so much of their space with ads that the main Co tent you're there to see is obfuscated. They break content up with ads, so you're forced to scroll past them.

I have never understood why we legally allow advertising at all. Why should we let companies harass literally anyone with advertisements? I know literally nobody who likes seeing ads on any kind of content. It's an incredibly annoying thing we have normalized, and it needs to get cut back.

Some ads are just fraud too.
- I always love going onto a completely innocuous and SFW site and getting five popups of porn shoved in my face. I love when I'm in public and that happens. /s
- Some are malware unbeknownst to the ad delivery service, which gives even more reason to use an ad blocker.

I use uBlock Origin and just directly donate to creators I follow

Reminder that AdBlock doesn't block all ads. It blocks ads that hinder usability across the web. Without AdBlock, I simply would never visit 3/4 of the internet.

I pay for content that I enjoy, but the general web is intolerable without an ad blocker.

Once upon a time, I used to care and disabled adblocking by default.

But then they tried adding malware and ridiculous amounts of requests to third-party sites I didn't consent to share, and is actually consuming metered data on mobile back then when unlimited data wasn't an option.

So yeah, I'm adblocking by default now that it's been abused and it's necessary for self-defense.

Yep, absolutely. Not only do I block ads, but trackers and analytics too.

I use an adblocker (uBlock Origin).

It blocks some malware. Also, most ads are low quality scams and there are too many everywhere. I do like to get tracked everywhere just by viewing ads.

Some web advertisers put diseased teeth and toenails in their ads, for the specific purpose of attracting readers' attention away from the creator's work those users are actually trying to read.

Why do advertisers hate creators so much?

The argument to turn off your adblocker is like a circus ringleader demanding the audience’s money for the sake of the lion, even while he beats the lion.

yes, because no ads basically means my antivirus software has nothing to do. Creators have no choice over what ads are served up with the content and 99% of ads are loaded with malware whether you click on them or not.

Creators need to come up with better ways to monetise their content instead of relying on them.

I like being able to surf the internet without having 90% of my screen plastered with ads as I scroll. Also fuck those ads that load 10 seconds after the article causing you to click them when you go to click on a link.

I wouldn't be able to function online without an Ad Blocker, use uBlock on my PCs, PiHole at home and AdGuard DNS when on a cell phone. If I like an individual creator, I'll join their Patreon or make whatever donation they prefer.

For anyone else uninformed, like I was, you too can easily block ads on your phone (yes even in apps) with the AdBlock DNS.

It's really easy to do. In your network/wifi settings there should be an option to add a Custom/Private DNS. Add:

dns.adguard.com

And then select it. The next time you open your apps, all ads should be blocked. Hope it helps!

Advertising is a form of hostile content. Advertisers mean us harm. They might have some tenuous moral right to try to expose me to their manipulation, but I am not obliged to co-operate and my moral right to protect myself is much stronger. This is implicit in every form of advertising. You are not doing anything immoral by buying a magazine and then not reading any of the ads it contains.

Arguments against ad blockers require that there are not alternate ways of exploiting content production, or any reasons to produce content other than financial gain.

I usually run my adblocker because there have been too many instances of malicious ads and just overly annoying advertisements. I will support creators directly when possible, and in other cases will disable the adblocker for specific sites that I trust and find value in. The advertising industry did this to themselves, I don't feel bad for using the blocker.

I use ad blockers because ad companies are stalkers and ads are roofies. No matter what I do or where I go, an ad company is creeping on me, trying to manipulate me into buying something I don't need.

Fuck ads. Fuck ad companies. I don't need to be harassed into buying something. If a product is useful, it's quality will speak for itself.

Absolutely. Not using adblock is just asking to get malware, on top of ads being wildly obnoxious. And most sites are CRAMMED with ads to the point that they're basically ureadable.

I also subscribe to a lot of patreons and such because I want to support creators. But I'd stop consuming someone's content before I turned off my ad blocker, if they decided that was the hill they wanted to die on.

To me, Adblock (Ublock Origin, actually) comes with the internet package. I mean, if I'm connected to the internet in any way, I have to do it with several layers of adblocking. Sometimes, when I have to use someone else's phone or compute, I'm appalled at how pervasive ads are. It's crazy what other people tolerate. I ask them, 'how do you get by with so many ads?' And, to my surprise, some will say, 'it's normal, no biggie.' Then I rejoice yet again for adblocking technologies and for how much they contribute to my well being and sanity. So, do I use adblockers? Most definitely!

Yes I do, screw ads. I use uBlock Origin on all my browsers and I run a home server with Adguard Home in it (I prefer Adguard Home instead of Pi-Hole, the former is super easy to update and it only runs on 1 service).

I often connect to my home server from my cellphone with Wireguard or OpenVPN to go through Adguard Home when I'm away.

Who the hell doesn't use adblock ? Seriously, it's been at least 20 years that it's necessary to browse the web.

Some people like Lemmy admin's and other fediverse people try to rebuild a free internet where it's not needed. But unfortunately, in most of the web it's necessary. Your friend is doing a political statement about adblock there is nothing wrong in not agreeing with right wing people

I use ad blockers. I do feel for people who are trying to make a living producing content, I really do.

BUT I really, really, am against letting the big tech companies that serve the ads make the majority of the money. It's beyond messed up how little content creators make compared to what companies like Google make with ads. Ads make some companies so much money they sink tons of money into finding more ways to creep on our personal lives.

Kind of related but not completely is how Apple and Google take cuts of money spent in apps and to pay for paid apps in their app stores. Like wtf? Sure, I can understand these tech companies need money to run their servers and all that, but jfc why do they need such a huge cut? App devs, artists (YouTube and Spotify, I'm looking at you), writers, whatever all create content people enjoy and tech companies just corner the market and force people who are usually not great with computers or tech, and they just fuck them. Content creators have no say.

This conversation made me go install Adguard Home in my house.

Ads can deliver viruses, many ads are animated or have sound, or both. If every ad were static and safe, I wouldn't mind so much... but alas, that's not a thing. So AdBlock it is!

I like to change the metaphor. We're not visiting websites. We are inviting them into our homes.

But when we open the door, our friend brings a group of rowdy drunks with him, they're rummaging through closets (privacy invasion), they drink the beer (draining batteries and using internet data volume) and maybe they damage things (malware) - so I have a bouncer. If you're not invited, you're not getting in.

As for creatives, I'll happily tip them, i have no issues with sponsored content (as long as it is declared) - they probably get more from that then the ad-impressions.

Of course I do. The world has gotten absolutely insane with the amount of advertising blasted at us every second of every day. Billboards, posters, magazines, tv, radio, banner ads, sidebar ads, pre-video ads, mid-video ads, post-video ads, spam email, forum posts, polls, tweets, facebook posts, influencers... it's fucking everywhere. You can't even fill your car up with gas without the pump blasting an ad at you now. I'll take any and every opportunity I have to stop that shit from entering my purview.

Maybe this will help with the pumps but the majority of them can be silenced by pressing the 2nd from the top right button. I've found very few stations that disable this and the ones that do I avoid.

I use Privacy Badger to block trackers, and uBlock to manually block especially annoying ads. Everything else is allowed. So if an ad isn't obnoxious and doesn't track, it gets through. It's not perfect but I figure that's a reasonable compromise.

Yes, I absolutely use adblock, I couldn't imagine browsing without it. I support creators I like by donating them money or joining their patreon.

That’s an overly simplistic take.

Over the years, ads have become louder, bigger, more intrusive, more voluminous, and alarmingly much more “personal”

I value my peace and my privacy.

I support creators with donations, subscriptions and purchases. If it’s an exclusively ad-supported service that does so respectfully and reasonably, I might whitelist it.

Everything else gets blocked. I use AdGuard and their extensions, and a VPN set to a Swiss geo helps with the rest.

Citizen 36278 you must resume staring at this provided advertisement for 3.2657 minutes or food will not be dispensed.

It’s not just ads though, it’s the tracking that bugs me

Every so often I try seeing if I can do without adblock. But man, the distraction, and the CPU usage, and the malvertising, ...

That CPU usage is real. Been using adblock for a long time privately. Got a new work computer without adblock and goddamn the fan goes crazy just browsing simple sites with text (likely the movement in ads, if not all the trackers and JavaScript that is being loaded in the background). I also feel like getting dumber just seeing the damn things, they sure know how to attract attention and I feel duped each time my eyes are drawn to one.

Every time I browse without adblock it blows my mind how shitty an experience it is. I genuinely don't know how people browse the internet every day with so many ads being shoved in their faces.

Watching this YouTube video makes me realise I have no regret using Adblockers.

For me it was this one. I mean, I had no regrets prior to watching it, but this cemented my beliefs.

I more or less agree with the sentiment, which is why I disable my adblock on sites I use regularly, with 3 exceptions:

If the ads are egregious, adblock stays on. Half- page content blocking ads stay blocked. Auto playing noisy video ads stay blocked. You get the idea.
If they have tracking JavaScript that isn't blocked by regular built browser built in blocking stuff then my ad block stays on. They can have my data or they can throw ads at me. Not both.
Any site that I am paying for the ad block stays on. If I'm paying for your service, you don't get to advertise at me and you don't get to throw a bunch of tracking crap at me.

The internet is an usuable hellhole without uBlock Origin. I don't give two shits if creators are losing money. All you're 'creating' for me is annoyance with those invasive autoplaying video abombinations.

I use a selfhosted public DNS which runs AdGuard Home where I have multiple block lists running that filter my whole Internet Access from Home, which not only makes my internet at home a lot faster because Ads and other annoying or malicious sites don‘t even get loaded/sent to my home network, but makes it also safer. I run it on a VPS since I have my parents and friends use it too.

Please don't do this unless you understand and can manage the security implications of a public DNS server.

sometimes I just want to see that 5s section that I missed and I am not sitting through a full minute of ads for that.

the experience has got so bad that adblock is now a must. Crazy that I used to even whitelist youtube when their ads are of sensible length.

I remember the dark old days when I did not use adblock and then Brave came along and introduced me to the idea and everything was so simple, so much better. I block cookies and scripts on news sites and everything has been far better than what it was a few years ago.

I use Firefox + Ublock now and it has blocked a few million ads for me!

internet is bloat

Theres no ads on lemmy (:

I use Pihole to filter ads network wide. I also have Tailscale setup so I can route all my DNS requests through my home network and filter mobile ads as well.

Fuck ads.

Web is unusable without.I donate to content creators . They make more money, im less pissed off. Win win.

I use adblocking either through Chrome extentions or by using Brave Browser. I don't feel good about not supporting some websites, but ads have become extremely intrusive and excessive. It's not my fault that ads try to finger my brain at every chance whenever I am on the internet. I do it for my own peace of mind.

I use them. And I won't pretend that I do it for moral reasons - it's because I do not want to see ads or waste my bandwidth with ads, period.

And I don't usually whitelist content creators because I know that most money won't get in their pockets, it'll go for Google or Meta or whatever. In a few cases however I might buy some stuff from the creator (if I got the money...), specially if it's a book or similar.

Supposedly this is about YouTube ad blocking but this applies everywhere.

Anyone who thinks you ought to unblock ads for the creator's sake is propagandized to hell and back by advertisers who exploit creators by monetizing their content.

Oh! Milord is so good! He lets me paint in his shed but only if I paint 5 paintings a day with my own paint and he'll even let me keep a penny a week from his sales of my paintings!

I use it because I feel like ad's are forced on me at every turn in my life. Its not just the internet, but everywhere I go IRL. Bilboards on every road and highway. I actually think billboards should be illegal everywhere as they are an eyesore. Ad's at the gas pump when I'm filling up. Restaurants I go to with signs for unrelated businesses. At the store when the radio is playing. The radio is it's own mess. I have no idea how people listen to 3 songs an hour with no option to skip a song you don't like.

Oh yes, I use ad blockers. Some of the stuff that some ads have going on today feel like a form of malware, tracking you all over the internet. Not to mention the occasional actual malware that no one seems to screen ads for. No thank you.

Adblock and Sponsorblock. Also Enhancer for Youtube that hides those pesky YT Shorts.

Why? Fuck ads, that's why.

Absolutely. I can still support a creator without watching terrible ads, and I really don't like selling my soul to DoubleClick.

ublock-origin all the way. I hate ads.

I'll buy merch and/or donate to the creator but I won't watch ads

It is the one universal truth. Viewers do not want ads.

Why then should I care about a content creator who doesn't care about their viewers?

If you have built your business model on giving people what they don't want, AND have the audacity to insist that people make it easier for you to give them what they don't want, then you can fuck right off.

No. I do not care about creators who rely on ads. You'll take my Ublock Origin from my cold, dead hands.

I believe that without an adblocker, there is a high risk of encountering malware on the very first website I visit. Moreover, the presence of data-intensive ads can significantly slow down the website, making it much faster when using an adblocker.

Yeah I use adblock.

If you use adblock, you don't care about creator's point blank

Depending on what kind of content they serve, they usually still make a lot of money.

Ads have become so invasive that most sites are simply unusable without ad blocking. If I care about the creator, I usually pay the creator in some way.

I use Rethink with NextDNS, and Vivaldi's ad blocker.

Wanna know why I use ublock origin eveywhere? If you're brave (and dumb) go to wordhippo.com with a "naked" browser (no adblock and default privacy settings). Then come back and talk to me when you've removed all the malware from your system.

I use an tracker blocker, because the way advertising is done today by google and similar is immoral, and its shocking that it is not illegal.

The way ads are put on duckduckgo, based on your search terms, or the way companies sponsor creators is great, that's the way advertising should be, and Iwant to support that.

But if you are going to be a creepy company (Google, Meta, ...) who wants to unconsensually track and profile me when my browser explicitly includes do not track requests, in order to manipulate my beliefs of purchasing habitats. As somebody who is aware of the problem, not using a tracker blocker like privacy badger would be wrong and immortal, because by allowing them to make money though abusing me, i would be supporting and aiding them in the evil they engage in.

Use a tracker blocker, don't help google be evil, and don't support anyone who demonizes you for refusing to support modern evil for their personal gain.

I use a PiHole in tandem with Ublock and Privacy Badger mostly because I loathe Meta and try and block as much of my foot print as possible.

Seeing half my bandwidth being reduced by 50% is the cherry on top.

I use it because the advertising industry is trying to gobble up as much personal info about you. Ad banners are more than just displays for ads, they’re embedded trackers surveilling your browsing activity. I’d be happy to see some ads if they were truly privacy preserving.

For now, I just donate to my favourite creators or use subscriptions like YouTube Premium to pay creators for the content I consume.

Partially ibecause I hate ads. part of it is personal security along with ads AdguardHome server blocks malware and porn for the kids. There's a ton malware that gets delivered through ads

It'd be neat to have an adblocker that appears to the advertiser as if it's showing and even interacting with ads.

It’s a bummer that blocking ads prevents some creators from getting money, but I’m not losing any sleep over it.

I don’t mind sponsored segments in videos and podcasts. However, the ads on YouTube and on many websites are invasive and annoying. That’s why I block them, and I won’t be turning it off.

By default I have AdBlock (uBlock origin) on, but I generally turn it off for YouTube and Twitch to support content creators (except when the creator is unmonetized, then I leave it on).

And I also turn it off for a some websites that are free of corporate BS and have interesting content. Funny enough, most of these websites happen to not have any ads or trackers in the first place.

Ads are bad for me, and for the most part, they're bad for the planet. So I use an ad blocker everywhere.

I'm aware that the web has a monetization problem without ads. But not blocking them doesn't help address the problem in any ways. I donate a little bit to creators I really like instead.

I use Adblock because YouTube has too many ads, and anywhere else makes me feel like I'll get malware if I turn it off.

If a creator is really useful, I support them directly through donations or paid subscriptions. Other than that, I can't stand ads.

I always use adblock on every device I browse with, no exceptions. I honestly wouldn't use the internet without it in any significant way. When other people try to show me videos on their phones and double ads play in front or in the middle, I get so irritated I wanna scream. I have no idea how people use the internet without ad block, it's just so over the top now days.

And no, I piss on the idea that by using ad blockers you are "stealing" from the creators. That's absolute garbage imo. I never signed a contract with them to watch X minutes of ads in order to consume their content. Plus, most creators now just embed ads in their videos anyways, so ad blockers don't do anything for those, I just skip over them in my browser.

If you wanna support a creator, donate to them, buy their merch, link to their content from yours and give them free advertising/publicity. The idea that I "owe" a content creator some fraction of a cent of ad revenue by letting some random clip about ball hair trimmers or protein bars play for 15-30 seconds is laughable. If they are really opposed to their content being consumed for free online, then lock it all behind pay walls or don't release it online at all.

I know that's a hard-line position in some people's minds, but it's what I truly believe. Also, the creators that I consume a ton of content from, I've donated or purchased 100's-1000's of times more than what they would ever make off me watching all of the YT ads that play before/during their vids.

Plus, most creators now just embed ads in their videos anyways, so ad blockers don’t do anything for those, I just skip over them in my browser.

If you're skipping those manually, may I introduce you to the magic of SponsorBlock?

Essentially, it's an ad blocker for sponsor segments¹ in YouTube videos: it automates "let's skip this part". It's not perfect because the segments to skip are crowd-sourced, but for videos that are fairly popular and not very recently uploaded it does a pretty good job.

¹: And other potentially undesirable parts, like non-music segments in music videos. You can configure the types of segments you want it to skip.
- It's not just for fairly popular stuff. Anything with any amount of popularity has a good chance of having someone who is really on the ball. I've found videos uploaded a few hours ago by a channel with less than 1M subscribers already fully tagged for Sponsorblock.

I use an ad blocker in all my clients plus pihole on my local network... And outside with a VPN.

Man I don't even know how people use the internet without an adblocker. It's literally impossible to focus on the content with all the pop ups and banner ads it's such a bad experience.

to block ads

This is the pcgamer website without adblock!

I discovered this this morning as I was trying out a Lemmy app (thunder) instead of my ad blocked Firefox and followed an article link.

In less than 600 words there were:

3 full page ads to dismiss
an auto playing video taking up 1/4 of the screen that follows as you scroll
a sticky animated footer banner
and a half page animated ad between each paragraph.

Fuck that. Fuck any organizational that does that to it's product or has that level of contempt for it's users.

I support content creators but ad block is necessary for safety, privacy, and the overall usability of the Internet.

I even sometimes walk out of the room to do something else when the TV adverts come on, otherwise I ignore them. No one has ever accused me of denying a tv channel of revenue.

I use uBlock Origin on individual devices and a Pi-Hole on a network level.

My reasoning:

As a web developer, everything I make and publish is either for fun or for profit. The things I create for fun, I don't expect to make money or even be financially sustainable. If I did, they would be things I create for profit. If I create something for fun, I try to either leverage a free hosting service or host it myself, to avoid outrageous costs. If I create something for profit, I tend to use a simple subscription model. If someone wants to use something I've created for profit, they can pay me for it. I would love to throw money at the sites I use on a regular basis to help sustain them. I do so with a YouTube Premium subscription, paid subscriptions to apps that I use, Github sponsorships, and several Patreon memberships.

As such, by using an ad blocker, I'm not expecting anything of others that I wouldn't do, myself.

As someone with both ADHD and autism, I will never require someone to pay me using their attention. Some of us have a limited supply of that, and have to ration it as-is.
I have never once seen an ad on a website, banner or otherwise, and thought "Wow, I should buy that."
They are a waste of my screen space, CPU cycles, network bandwidth, patience, attention, and time.
I don't want to be tracked.
They often reduce performance of the content they are meant to compliment and support, which will make me less likely to stick around. A while back, I encountered some ads on a web game was built using WebGL. Any time ads would load, there was a half-second pause in the game, even on my rather substantially-spec'd PC (Ryzen 9 5950X, 64GB DDR4-3600, GTX 3080).

Ads annoy me to no end so yes. I use NextDNS on all of my devices + uBo in my browsers

uBlock origin on my PC, AdGuard on my Google Pixel

I do want people to make their money but not to the point I get malware from a single click.

Absolutely I use ad block. Ublock origin, plus a couple other privacy related extensions, plus browser configured with most privacy settings turned up all the way.

Most publishers seem to have no interest in giving me a good browsing experience, only in shoving as many ads as possible down my throat and violating my privacy as much as possible. So I have zero sympathy. I have sympathy for the smaller websites that then get locked as well, that wouldn't otherwise have intrusive ads, but I am not going to subject myself to the larger ones just for their benefit.

Without ad block I have found a lot of websites almost totally unusable, or significantly more time wasting. Reddit is of course a big one, new Reddit without ad block is a total clusterfuck. YouTube is also pretty bad.

Thing is, I'm happy to pay. I'm looking forward to an era when I can do microtransactions in crypto to pay a website a couple pennies for content I like.

Wow, there are a lot of comments describing how neccessary it must be to use adblock. I don't think I can actually change anyone's mind here, but I'm going to share my perspective anyway:

While I don't agree with the statement quoted in the original post, I do think that ads are neccessary for most websites I visit to function. Not because of the content creators, but because of the companies running the platforms.

I know, ads can be problematic. But to outright block all ads is no solution. Privacy and data protection are very important to me, so I'm against every form of targeted ads. But just generic or maybe contextual ads? I don't see any harm in that. Malware is mentioned often in other comments. I disable JavaScript whenever I can. That's absolutely enough for blocking all ads to not make any real difference in terms of security. Although I have to admit that blocking scripts also blocks some ads.

But still, I see all ads on YouTube and search engines for example. And I'm happy to see them. It's incredible that such platforms, providing so many people with access to so much content from so many other people can actually exist. There are a lot of resources needed for this.

And if I still don't want to see ads simply because I don't want to? Then I don't have to, even without any adblockers. If I don't think a website is worth the ads it thinks it needs to show me, then I don't have to use it. I can just leave. If it is easy to provide the same service without ads then there must be countless alternatives already.

Have you ever heard of a website that went down because they didn't get enough ad revenue? I do get your point, but I also feel like a huge majority of websites (and all that I use) do just fine even If I use Adblock. I just personally feel like using Adblock is doing very little harm but has so many benefits.
Yes this works for websites with a large user base, me and my friends made a better wiki than existing one for an old game we all play, we tried using ads but we barely made pennies, we switched to using a "support us" tab in menu and we earned about $3 a month, more than unregulated ads that had a lot of sexual content.

We didn't hope to profit, heck one of us was actually running it on their own server, but the money was enough to pay for domain name and anything else was given to main programmer.

uBlock Origin or the built-in adblocker, depending on the browser I use. On iOS I use AdGuard.

I treat adblockers the same as an antivirus at this point, there have been multiple times that I've seen ads for scams and malware, so I save myself the headache and use an adblocker. I believe it was Linus from Linus Tech Tips who said adblocking YouTube ads is piracy, if so then call me a filthy pirate.

I use unlock origin because it blocks ads and other annoying web features like cookies and newsletters popins.

Ads are mental poison, so yes.

I just whitelist ads/domains which follow EFF DNT standard (Automatically via AdNauseaum but should be working with any Adblock Plus/uBlock Origin standard adblockers https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/wiki/FAQ#how-and-why-does-adnauseam-make-exceptions-for-non-tracking-ads). https://www.eff.org/files/effdntlist.txt As you can see, this whitelist isn't that long, hence I do block most of the ads with my ad blocker. Outside individual exceptions, that's the only whitelist I have. Other than that, It's no pity. Doing so, I don't think I really ruin other individual's revenue, which are still done via ads online. Nowadays, it's more of sponsored content or affiliation links it seems, as advertisers adapt to the popularity of adblocker users instead of trying to fight them by being more and more aggressive with them (Which has been found to just reduce actual potential website users if it's too aggressive with pop-ups and all).

I use AdBlock, PiHole, and several tracking protections because I'm fucking tired of being treated like a product by bigtech. I also have various websites blocked on the DNS level, using only privacy-respecting frontends (youtube, reddit, twitter)

I use ad-blockers because I'm not a masochist. 🤨

I use adblock wherever I can as ads have only become more annoying and intrusive over time. It's incredibly frustrating going to a site and having three banner ads covering 60% of the screen, or seeing an unskippable ad interrupt a YouTube video every 90 seconds. It's wasted time I will never get back, and it feels like theft of my life. I wish I could have adblock everywhere outside of the internet.

Yes. When I visit my parents, who don't use adblocker, I get really anxious when I have to face the enormous flood of ads that you get without it. I wouldn't be able to concetrate to anything if I were interupted frequently with ad breaks. I also hate how ads volume loudness has been maximized, so they sound more loud than normal content.

Why not help them and install ublock origin?

Fuck ads. They always fuck me when I try to make money online. If the only way I'm allowed to make money is with "a real job" then they should "get a real job" too. Fuck 'em.

Yes, I haven't seen an advertisement short of billboards on the highway in years.

I understand the necessity for advertisements in funding the internet. I would happily pay $5 or $10 one time to use my favorite sites, but obviously the majority of sites will always be advertiser-funded.

The major reason I still insist on using ad and tracking blockers (plus other userscripts and whatnot) it's because of how unbelievably insane online advertising has become. There is so much predation and privacy violations that it boggles the mind. Advertiser companies can collect databases larger than most people's closest family and friends know about them. By using many diverse and complicated methods, they can know things like your sexuality, your exact age, your current location, your race, your gender, your height, your weight, your address, and so much more. They also will sell all this information to consolidators at a drop of the hat.

Not only that, but with things like invasive pop-ups, fake download buttons, annoying interruptions every few seconds while consuming your content, and other invasive and annoying advertiser practices have made the modern web practically unusable without an ad blocker.

Now, if companies didn't basically steal and then sell your soul, and they didn't detract from the actual media in the most annoying and predatory ways possible, I might consider turning off my ad blocker. I don't actually hate advertisements, there are plenty of ads that I've seen that I absolutely love, but the kind of advertising that has become the face of the modern internet is just unacceptable and I will not yield for any morality reasons until advertising firms do the same.

If I don't block ads, then I'm stealing from the advertiser who's paying per impression to someone who isn't interested in their crap.

If the ad makes noise, moves around the screen, crashes my browser, or otherwise actively interferes with my ability to obtain the information I was looking for, It'll leave me with such a negative impression that I won't buy anything from that brand, now or ever -- or from the creator who allowed them to break an otherwise good website.

So really, by blocking ads, I'm defending the good reputation of both creators and their sponsors.

Probably close to 20 years ago at this point, when visiting the official forums for a game I loved, my computer was infected by malware delivered by a malicious ad. This was not some seedy part of the internet, but a website hosted by a major game publisher whose product I enjoyed.

Try as I might, I could not revert the damage caused by the virus, so the only recourse I had was to just blank slate wipe it clean and start over.

Today, I acknowledge that most websites more tightly control the ads they host, but the trust is forever broken. As soon as the option became available to me, I installed the best adblocker I could find and never looked back. No exceptions.

The truth is that every ad is malicious, to small degrees. They want to commodify your eyeballs and take up space in your mind. They're trying to create a need where one does not exist, and will use whatever tactic they can to try to part you from your hard-earned money. They're a barrier between you and the content you want to enjoy—in many cases content that you paid to enjoy.

Even if it's in the name of supporting a website/service I enjoy, I can't confidently turn off my ad blocker anymore. It only takes one malicious ad to sneak through the cracks to cause disaster.

There has got to be a better way of running an online business without having to completely fill the space with ads.

Probably close to 20 years ago at this point, when visiting the official forums for a game I loved, my computer was infected by malware delivered by a malicious ad. This was not some seedy part of the internet, but a website hosted by a major game publisher whose product I enjoyed.

Going to guess it was Blizzard? I remember a huge fiasco about that. If you visited their forums you were at risk of getting infected for about half a day.

As I can remember I have always been using ad blockers. The few times I don't is when I buy a new device and I have to setup the browser, but the first thing I search is the browser store and install uBlock Origin. The internet is unusable without it, too many ads, too many sponsored sites. Without an ad blocker I would probably not use internet this much since the experience is awful

I can’t imagine surfing the internet without adblock (ublock on desktop and adguard on iOS)

Yes! Mostly because of the trackers. I also use Firefox's strict tracking protection and resist fingerprinting.

Sometimes I see how some friends and relatives browse the web. From googling a recipe to watching hours of youtube videos. Shockingly, they spend like 10% of the time staring at advertisments, waiting for them to pass by. Sometimes, when they are close friends, I "confront" them about it and 90% of the time their answer is "I didn't even know you can block them". Not once have I heard "I do it to generate money the creators and or websites".

My girlfriend used to show me youtube videos on her phone and she used a "trick" where you report the unskippable ads or whatver and then you get through them quicker. Having to wait for HER ads to pass started to annoy me so much that I upgraded my YouTube subscription to family. Now her and her siblings get to enjoy ad-free YouTube content.

I do, I hate fucking ads.

I use PiHole on my home network to block ads across all devices. I mostly use it specifically for our smart TV as our Samsung loves to display Big Mac ads and track the hell out of everything. This way I can still stream to it. I have my phone and computer routed through it but my girlfriend doesn’t like how it slows down TikTok. Probably a reason for that 😁

I block all ads, I rather tips some moneroj or sats to creators, buy some merch, etc. From my point of view giving 5$ to a creator will be more profitable for him/her than watching a hell lot of ads

I use Pi-hole, which is great since it is network wide. Doesn't do much for youtube, so for that I just download videos using yt-dlp. Downloading the video has the added bonus that you get the highest video quality for 100% of the video.

Of course, why wouldn't I? If I want to support a creator then I'll donate or buy some merch.

Yes. I once was using an old laptop for travel and didn't care if it got lost. It hadn't been updated years but I got a nasty virus from visiting Spotify once that embedded itself into the tcp/ip stack. Not that I cared much for the laptop but it was a wakeup call that ads contain viruses. I've ran adblockers before that incident on my main computers but since it was old I didn't I have everything up to date. Since then I've made sure to install ublock origin on any computer I touch. Even friends and family with their permission.

I could write an essay on why I block ads but the other comments sum it up pretty well.

Every now and then I turn off my ad-blockers (Pi-Hole, ABP, uBlock Origin, and Ghostery) for a particular site that I feel bad for blocking...and then re-enable them all once all the adverts -- and sheer volume of trackers -- spew data left, right, and centre. Unfortunately ad-blockers are just like condoms: they keep your machine virii-safe[r]. Much better use of your time, and likely better for a creator's pocket, is supporting them via Pateron or whatever gubbings they offer.

I also have an alternative use for uBlock Origin too -- blocking webpage elements on certain sites (such as WRC) that like to spoil things on their landing page when all you want to do is login and watch the event without being spoiled...!

I don't know in today world how to use the web without AdBlock, got to work and was task analysing how other companies present their products, there is so much ads today on YouTube it's insane, I added Unlock instantly.

You have to be worth it for me to accept ads on your website, and short is my whitelist. But monkeytype.com is an example of a website I voluntarily leave ads on

I do, because they are my devices and I get to choose what they do. Not some content creator.

I use adblocker because I hate pages being full of them and specially with pop-ups

I use adblock (uBlock origin) because the internet is nigh unusable otherwise. It's incredibly risky (even irresponsible) to not have adblock turned on given the danger of malware, or malware in the guise of advertisements. However, I'd whitelist sites that are decent about it--though in practice, I find it risky to temporarily disable my adblock just to test things, much less to whitelist them.

Most of all, there are other, better, ways to support content creators in the internet.

Well if the content creator cared about the consumer they wouldnt make it impossible to enjoy thier site without adblock. plenty of community run sites have ads that arent annoying and im happy to allowlist em

I use AdBlock because I don't want to sacrifice 70% of my viewport to obxonious and intrusive targetted ads. I never click on ads anyway.

As Louis Rossmann said, supporting a creator directly via patreon Kofi or other means has way more impact than watching ads.

I've used adblockers from the very beginning when there were just banner and popup ads. It always blows my mind when I happen to use the web on a device that doesn't have an adblocker, some pages are almost unusable without one.

Ever since my Unifi Dream Machine Pro router was updated with VPN and pihole functionality, I haven't needed to use any adblocking. I can route all my traffic through my home network and it blocks ads in every context, including in apps.

As might be obvious, I completely disagree with the tweet. I hate ads. They're predatory and abusive and they ruin the internet. Anybody who is willing to be responsible with ads has a donate/subscribe option anyway. The auto play video people with dark patterns etc. need to be obliterated. But I probably hate them even less than I hate sites like the New York Times, which charge a subscription fee and then fill their site and apps with ads anyway. Fuck off.

uBlock Origin on desktop and Blokada on Android

The internet is literally unusable without one these days.

I use Brave Browser much of the time on mobile, in which case I am blocking ads.

On the desktop, I only block trackers. I find it does seem to break some of the less palatable ads.

I started getting YouTube Premium (formerly "Red") when I subscribed to Google Play Music back in the day, and find it well worth it.

If a site is a mess of ads, I will take my attention elsewhere.

Otherwise, seeing responsibly-implemented ads costs me little/nothing to offer a little bit of support to someone who has offered me a little bit of content.

This is probably the totally wrong audience for this (good day for no karma), but I don't think ads are inherently evil. I'm on Lemmy because I love open source and community-controlled projects!

Honestly, everyone should give up on ads and instead start making quality content and add a donation page so we can freely donate if we find the content helpful.

For the longest time I use:

for blocking ads: uBlock Origin, Disconnect, Privacy Badger, Ghostery
for search: DuckDuckGo
mobile ads blocking: AdGuard

I donate or buy merch from creators directly. Many of them voiced that majority of the revenue doesn't come from ads, but from sponsorships and direct donations/purchases.

I've never used them.

If I like an app or site, but the ads are annoying me, I do one of these:

If there's an option to pay the creator/aggregator to eliminate the ads, and the cost/benefit is worth it, I'll pay.
If there is no option to pay, but the app/content is worth the ads annoyance, I'll keep using the app/site and watch/skip/ignore the ads.
If there is no option to pay, or there is, but the price is higher than what I perceive as the app/content value, I'll stop using the app/site.

For example, I paid for Baconreader Premium, but I watch YouTube ads, and I removed several sites from my google home page feed because they had more ads than content.

I'm also stop using Reddit, as I don't think it's worth enduring their obnoxious native app.

And no, I don't use pirated software, nor watch or listen to pirated movies or music. If something is priced above what I consider it's worth, I just don't use it.

Yes, Baconreader Premium could be consider as a "reddit ad blocker", but it operated within Reddit's approval. Now Reddit changed their rules, and it's their rules.

If something is priced above what I consider it's worth, I just don't use it.

Tell that to every student who has to pay unreasonable amounts every semester for textbooks...
- ...or to a diabetic person whose health plan does not cover all the insulin cost they need.
  
  I should have specified that I was referring to superfluous stuff.
  
  For basic needs like education and health, any cost is too expensive. That should be sponsored by the whole society and government, and be free.
  
  In some cases, they are. My bachelor's degree (5 years Engineering) costed me zero (in monetary units). Even the printed material was free, from the uni printhouse.
  
  We also have the largest free universal health care system in the world, and it's even pretty decent in some regions of the country (Brazil).

I do, and I don't care if creators and companies that are already rich aren't getting 50 cents more.

If I really like a creator, I’ll donate to them. Ads are an intrusion on privacy, and everybody has the right to block them without moral backlash.

Lmao yeah uBlock Origin reks the internet fr. After chromium shifts to manifest v3, I'm switching to librewolf and uBlock to retain the same experience I've been having

I am currently using LibreWolf (I am assuming that's what you meant by librefox), and aside from getting used to a non-chromium-based browser (which is almost all of them nowadays), it's really fine.

Besides, why wait to try it out? Get used to it before you have to.
- Ah yes LibreWolf my bad I'll edit the og comment. Yes I do use it side by side, by switching I meant solely using that then

I use various ad blocks, some of which come with my browser. My purpose in using them is to block pop-up ads, block questionable ads, and hopefully eliminate some tracking. However, when I see a site that has notified me that they have detected adblocking, and I actually think that I can trust the site, I will disable the AdBlock for that site. Of course, If the site doesn't seem like one I could trust, or I have no intention of returning, I will leave AdBlock in place and never venture to that website again. I am for supporting the websites I visit on a regular basis either by allowing them to show me ads, or on rare occasions (infrequent) subscribing to their content.

Yes, I use an adblocker (several, actually). However, as someone who pays a number of 'creators' / media sources directly rather than watching ads, I don't agree that I "don't care about it". Ads are:

pointless for me, since I rarely if ever follow up on them;
annoying because of the repetition;
a good way of losing my attention. If something irrelevant interrupts (e.g., mid-roll ads on a video) then I will stop paying attention to the ad and forget to come back to the video;
potential security issues (in case of active content on web pages);
slow down the web and reduce usability, which I get very impatient with.

If a website serves ads, then using ad blockers will give me the opportunity to have a look and see if I like it without getting annoyed and closing it without looking. If I want to keep using it and there's an option to pay a reasonable fee to a reasonable organisation that will use the money appropriately to remove the ads, then I'll do it. If there's an ad-free site that I end up consistently using, then I'll consider sponsoring it if that option is available.

But if something is only available ad-supported and no other option is available, then ultimately I just don't agree with their business model and won't buy into it. If I have the opportunity to provide that feedback, I will, but if a website/"creator" just says "tough, you have to look at my ads (or some other unreasonable option)" then the reply is simply "tough, I won't" and that's that. Things don't usually work out that way though. Most sites I use are not in that category and in the future I aspire to make that no sites at all, so theoretically the ad blocker is not required, but remains there as a security/anti-tracking safeguard.

If someone wants me to read their site, they won't have it overloaded with intrusive ads, hammer me with popups, and plant tracking cookies in my browser.

If they do have all that stuff? I'll still read their site, but they aren't gonna make any money off me doing it.

Yeah, I use ublock origin. I don't like the ad model and many ads on the web are privacy invasive. I'm not averse paying for content (something I'm doing for some of it) but I won't watch ads to fund creators.

Yes, I use uBlock Origin. Back in the day, I didn't bother with adblockers, but by late 2009 the ads grew so intrusive I couldn't take it any more. If creators can't fund themselves without ads, they should find a new business model.

Absolutely. Ublock origin which also blocks YouTube ads and running a pihole for my home network for the rest of the devices.

I use adguard.

I use a mix of uBlock Origin and NextDNS to block ads. I would support creators if they or the platform itself can clearly mark which part is an advertisement. I also donate to creators I think are adding value with their contents. Unfortunately, majority of creators aren't being very upfront on whether or not they're sponsored, platforms are mixing advertisements with legitimate contents/results.

i block a lot of the excessive tracking, but not all ads specifically. i think its better to not go to the site at all and find a competitor that does not have as many ads. going to the site when you have that bad of an issue with it sends a bad signal to the people running the site.

It's one of the first things I install on any pc. I can't stand the internet without an adblocker.

Been using adblock for years now, I haven't seen a single ad on my devices since then.

Last week my wife used her iPad so we could watch a video and I saw 2 ads in a row, it was kind of a strange experience.

If a creator needs money I'll donate directly to them, and if the only way to support is ads, then what a shame, I'm not gonna watch ads just because of a creator.

I use adblock almost everywhere, except for a few sites with decent ads and creators I support.

Apart from that, I try to support the few creators I appreciate the most in other ways.

Yes, AdGuard Home running network wide, then on my web browsers uBlock Origin on top of that.

Many websites are a cluttered ugly mess with ads and I dislike them. And don't don't me started on trackers.

I used to disable ad blocking on Youtube so creators don't get screwed until Youtube decided to play an ad in the middle of a concert recording. I use both UBlock Origin and AdGuard now, not because I don't care about creators, but because I want the internet to actually be usable. Unintrusive ads are fine, but I don't trust sites to not start with popups and auto-play video ads so they all get blocked.

There's no point on using both AdGuard and uBlock Origin.
- There are ads outside of the browser not reachable by ublock

I use Brave to block ads, and I let their privacy-respecting, non-intrusive ads pay participating creators. Sometimes I cash out me BAT and use the money to donate to creators. On YouTube, I use sponsorblock with YouTube Premium to support the creators. I want to support the creators, but on my terms.

So far for every project that I care of, creator, software or news, I pay for. Everything else, like YouTube or Social Media are mostly alive because of my content or my user data. If that's not enough then I won't really miss it. I grew up with much smaller communities and so far every site that was complaining about AdBlock, also wasn't worth disabling it. For some streams I turn off adblocker once in a while until I can't take the ads anymore. Sites that complain undervalue sharing of articles, a click doesn't cost them as much as a possible ads viewer would gain them.

I use ublock origin on desktop. For YouTube I love Sponsorblock and started to use dearrow to remove gaping mouth thumbnails and modify click bait thumbnails.

On mobile I do not usually have an ad blocker set up so I just don't browse the Internet much at all from it. I do always use some kind of ad blocking YouTube player though. I really love sponsorblock.

I most certainly feel fine about it.

Especially since most of what I want to see is by people passionately showing off their hobby. When nobody tried to get paid for content I found I enjoyed it more. Nowadays I costume less and less content.

Neurological warfare with a side of malware? Where do I sign up

I use pihole, brave, sponsor block and ad blocker. I also have hardware firewall. If the content is good, I donate or subscribe.

Not all creators are influencers, but all influencers are one-person ad distrubutor agencies. Most of the influencers business model is based on ad revenue and making ads themselves (collabs).

If I need to purchase a product or service, I will go on the web and research to find out which brand/product line will serve my purpose the best. If I see ads on the web while doing that, I do not mind. Understandably, advertisement is the only way a Company/Brand can let people know about their products/services.

But when I am relaxing in my couch in the evening and watching some video / reading some news article - I wouldn't stand any effin pop-up telling me about the latest thing around. To me that's trespassing into my attention.

So Nope. That's "Me Time", and I wouldn't entertain intrusions.

I am a big fan of uBO (I use that in Firefox), and in my Android Phone I use PersonalDNSFilter (pDSNf) with custom adblock host lists to block content at DNS level (Blokada works equally well I've heard).

Yes, I do. And I do since I don't want to watch ads and being interrupted with the video. I also have a sponsorblock extention. I use those since ads are always the same. I know what NordVPN is and I won't sign up for that thing. Also, ad revenue on YouTube is near zero for creators but fir YouTuve itself I imagine it's pretty huge. So I'm bit damaging my creators. If I want to support them, I'd rather sign up for Patreon.

I use an ad blocker on my network (pi hole), but also pay for content where I get a lot of mileage out of it to support creators and ensure they continue to produce the content I enjoy consuming (YouTube Premium, Ars Technica, Patreon, Washington Post, etc). I think it’s largely a matter of what you can afford though and I’m lucky enough to be able to afford supporting creatures this way, if you can’t I’d say support the ones you can afford to and for the ones you can’t be sure to at least boost engagement to help them stay relevant and continue to be able to produce content.

I use ublock, but I try not to block ads. All I block is tracker, annoyance, and other malicious components. I feel like content creators need to make money somehow, as long as the ads don't contain tracking (admittedly, most of them does contain trackers), I am okay with it.

I use adblockers wherever possible. For instance, Iceraven with Ublock Origins in my phone, Firefox with Ublock Origins in PC, Infinity for Reddit (will stop using on 30th June), XManager for Spotify and Revanced Extended for YouTube.

@tsukii I don't use adblocker but I use Safing's Portmaster and Vivaldi Browser with built-in ad-and-tracker-blocker enabled plus uBlock Origin - using plus Librewolf as well.

Hope that helps 🥰

But but but, I don't care about the creator. So yes I use adblock

100%. In addition to uBlock Origin on my browsers I run pi-hole on my home network and a WireGuard server for mobile devices when out in the wild so I can continue to run DNS through the pi-hole.

I care about creators, it's marketing departments that I don't care about. I'm not going to click your ads or buy your products anyway, so who cares if I see the ad or not? If a marketing department chooses to not pay a creator because of this then that's on them, not me.

I use ublock origin because the modern web is unbrowsable without it. I also use the Firefox Reader View to get around those pesky newsletter popups.

I use it and when I find a creator, or website that I find myself going to often and enjoying I’ll unblock them.

I definitely do. The internet has become almost unusable without one. I wouldn't mind one ad every now and then when reading articles or watching YouTube video's. If that supports the creators without me having to pay, it'd be an okay compromise to me. The problem is how greedy they've become. Many webpages are an ad-ridden hellhole. Watching YouTube in the app interrupts you constantly with ads. And to top it all off they track your every move. Privacy is dead without an adblocker. For a long time I was in camp "watch ads to support creators", but the greed in the ad industry has absolutely destroyed that goodwill many years ago.

yes :) if i like something, i will pay for it. as opposed to giving google 97% of the creator’s ad revenue

I used to on my phone, but then i started using foss apps and disabling JavaScript, so i never see ads unless sponsors are in a yt vid i watch

You can use sponsorblock to block sponsors in YouTube videos. It comes in the newest version of YouTube revanced
- No thanks. I'm not using closed source youtube client. Newpipe works perfectly. :) thank you though

If you use adblock, you don't care about creator's point blank

This sounds a lot like not tipping being a bad thing.

Ads and tipping denigrate my daily experience. So I'm not going to suffer either.

Blocking ads is also just more secure as it's a vector for so many exploits.

In conclusion, I don't agree with them at all.

I tend to leave it off for most sites unless the ads are overly obtrusive, I've already donated to that company/creator, or I actively don't want to support the website (e.g. Reddit).

I'm also in the Pihole gang. Sometimes, using an app outside of my home network reminds me, that I should buy the add free version, because I use it all the time.. I don't care too much, if an app or website shows some ads. Butin general they are designed as nuisance or trap. And I don't like that. On my work machine I use ublock origin, since for some reason my work does not block ads on network level.

Yes, I use uBlock and Pihole. I VPN into my local network to have ads blocked when out and about. I still whitelist some sites which I know aren't abusing me with suffocating ads, but browsing without ad block would be compromising my security.

It's more about the mechanism of ads. If you ever read only a brief summary of Pavlov's work, you will know the difference between the mechanism of brainwashing and ads (which is none). It's not just unethical but borderline dangerous to society. The same with corruption. if you call it lobby and doing it in a suit, it's okay.... I really hope a meteor will come soon, before this shitty human race will be multi-planet trash...

I turn it off on YouTube after I saw they rolled out the content blocking experiment for ad block users. But for everything else I leave it on, except twitch because the twitch community already get shafted by the 50/50 split.

Lots of comments here already, but I'll dive in too.

Yes, I block the ever loving shit out of ads at any and all levels. I will gladly, happily, and freely drop a few bucks to creators I like now and then. Make it easy for me and I'm in. However, I will not be subjected to endless YouTube ads, banners on every website I visit, etc etc.

My wife doesn't understand it in the least, but that's ok. I block ads for all my devices at the DNS layer, use modified apps to help out where that's less useful, or just forgo using a website/app/service if it's intrusive in any way.

I hate ads with a passion, especially after having worked with them really heavily during part of my career. I know what kind of insanity is being tracked and used here and my knowledge is a decade old at this point. Don't even want to think about modern day equivalents I don't know diddly about. So, scorched earth policy suits me just fine.

But again, I would love to drop a few bucks now and then for creators I like, whether thats an individual or a company. Just make it easy and it's yours. No problem at all.

Ive used AdBlock for about 15+ years, at first because YouTube was getting a little overboard with their ads. Now I've kinda became a privacy nut and still use stuff like UBlock Origin but more for stopping weird trackers and cookies that invade my privacy and sell my data

EDIT: I've since learned to allow just ads for certain cites to support others as long as it's for content creators or small business. I also enjoy donating to FOSS creators when I can afford it, which is something we should all consider doing to help support FOSS that doesn't really on our data to pay the bills.

I have been using adblockers for more than 20 years, probably read a post about it on Slashdot and I think userfriendly.org could have mentioned it.

A site added big blinking ads left, right and top and that pissed me off, I installed AdBlocker on FF and never looked back.

@tsukii I don't, because TROMJARO do everything fir me.

How long have you been using TROM-Jaro for?

TROM-Jaro looks really cool. I had not been aware of this distro. Thank you for mentioning it. I will be test-driving it soon.

I was a long time Ubuntu user, until 2020, when switched my daily driver to Pop!_OS. I was still running Ubuntu as a dual boot with windows (that I need for that one program) on my work laptop, until a few weeks ago, I switched the Linux boot partition to Pop!_OS.
- @Cola7608 It is my first linux distro from moving away from Windows. I use it from the first day it is already 6 years. Even my mother( computer retarded) using it without a problems. Windows for her was impossible mission.

I don't use ad blocker while at work, except to block YouTube ads.

One of the first things I did when i started working where I'm now was to install adblock on every co-worker's profile because they liked to play music from youtube.

I do everything under the sun pretty much. Ublock origin, NoScript, chameleon extensions on Librewolf (and others). I “subscribe” to YouTube channels via rss feeds. Open up the newsboat feed reader from my terminal and an extension called “Alter” redirects me to an invidious instance. NoScript blocks everything pretty much as I just need the url. Then I use yt-dlp with the sponsorblock flag.

I only visit YouTube when I have a bunch of new “subs” that I found through word of mouth (reading blogs, HN, Mastodon, Lemmy, etc). I could just use invidious rss feeds, but if the instance goes down I would have to start all over again. There are other ways of achieving this same effect, but this is how I choose to consume yt now.

I don't, because I know that ads are part of free content "agreement"

i do not use adblock on content creation sites like youtube

its a small effort for what i assume is a small bit of support for the content im watching

i just never had an issue with ads, theyre unobtrusive and i can just do something else while theyre playing