To ad block or not to ad block

[Tech9]

Just that they are comparable when it comes to basic ad blocking.

In my understanding adblocking is a personal thing. I personally hate broken pages and search links. Sometimes ads are very relevant to searches and useful when comparing products or prices and when waiting for availability. I've purchased quite a few things online based on ads including a car that I found is now available in Canada, from an ad. I also support few sites with ads enabled including SNB Forums. It perhaps makes very little difference, but still something. Forced adblocking just because you have access to the router settings is similar to applying parental controls on your relatives. In our household everyone is 18+ already and can make own decisions. No need to play bad ISP with restrictions at home. So my adblocking recommendation is - let the users decide. There is no good router DNS-based adblocker. Ads serving got smarter and adblocking needs something smarter as well.

 

[johndoe85]

In my understanding adblocking is a personal thing. I personally hate broken pages and search links. Sometimes ads are very relevant to searches and useful when comparing products or prices and when waiting for availability. I've purchased quite a few things online based on ads including a car that I found is now available in Canada, from an ad. I also support few sites with ads enabled including SNB Forums. It perhaps makes very little difference, but still something. Forced adblocking just because you have access to the router settings is similar to applying parental controls on your relatives. In our household everyone is 18+ already and can make own decisions. No need to play bad ISP with restrictions at home. So my adblocking recommendation is - let the users decide. There is no good router DNS-based adblocker. Ads serving got smarter and adblocking needs something smarter as well.

You can allow affiliate ads, the ones that comes from searches.

I have become Nazi over ads since all the newspapers filled their pages with ads, all the popups etc.

Constant tracking and such. It's not a companies right to stuff my face with ads that are aimed and tilted towards to lure me into making a decision i have not intended to do.
A psychological warfare where the people are not aware of that they are being attacked. I'm not going to sponsor that or walk around unprotected.
Not will i let my less knowledge (than me) relatives be sitting ducks either. So i help them, if they want, with as much adblocking as possible.

And this advertising world we are living in should be regulated, the opposite should be true from how it looks like today.
It's not the companies right to stuff ads in our faces 24/7 through internet, tv, radio, commercial pillars around the cities and highways.

If a company want to communicate with me it's going to be on my own terms, when I decide when and how. Not the opposite.
And no, i don't care about that companies survival at all. I care about my own peace of mind.

Commercial in my view, especially since it attacks or influence if you will, our brain so much should be considered a warfare of psychology and thus forbidden in the free world. It's my freedom we talk about and not some companies freedom. They are supposed to bring service to the market yes? Not hammer down on the good and free citizen of this world for their own economical survival. Which by the way is just a made up system that comes from a human head and thus making it an idea. Not something that we MUST consider since it's not part of the nature. We are not religious slaves to an idea now are we?

I float out a bit here but it touches everything in my view.

This is my 2 cents on the matter.

 

[Tech9]

If a company want to communicate with me it's going to be on my own terms, when I decide when and how. Not the opposite.

Here is a different view - If you limit the number of free services you use the number of ads you see will go down. You visit the sites voluntarily and no one forces you to do it. If you don't care about their survival why do you care about the content they post online... including SNB Forums?

 

[johndoe85]

Here is a different view - If you limit the number of free services you use the number of ads you see will go down. You visit the sites voluntarily and no one forces you to do it. If you don't care about their survival why do you care about the content they post online... including SNB Forums?

I have ads unblocked here if that's your concern.

And when it comes to ads on TV they send it regardless if you paid for the channel or not. Same with the boards and pillars in the city or the highways. You bought the car, paid for gasolen and pay taxes for the road. Yet you face commercials there?

For newspapers online i don't care if they starve to death, i have stopped buying the newspapers because of all the nonsens they put there, including ads.

And atleast here in Sweden the TV, radio and newspapers get support from the government to run their business. Thats taxpayers money.

Exactly what place would be a good example to visit without an adblocker?

How about windows? I bought that yet they collect data about me and my habits and make even more money out of it.

Or Facebook which collect data and use it for profit, not really telling the users about it except maybe in some fine print well hidden somewhere in some half encrypted language that you most likely need spectral of a lawyer to read and understand.
Btw i don't have Facebook anymore since many years back. But they seem to be collecting data anyway.

The same with my cellphone, my property comes with preinstalled programs and some can't even be uninstalled. If you use the masterkey in your own house you loose your insurance for the house? Or in this case, the warranty for the cellphone if you get admin/root rights.
Are you owning what you paid for or is it someone else property?

It's alot of sneaky shirt out there where they see people as prey that they can do whatever they want with.
Think of Coca Cola and their hidden commercial where they put a picture of a Coca Cola bottle in every 30 picture or so. Your eyes don't register that but your brain does and all of a sudden out of the blue you are thirsty for a bottle of Coca Cola. How convenient for Coca Cola, right?

 

[Tech9]

How about windows?

How about your Asus router? What are you going to do about it? In your case I would get rid of it immediately. A device with ads in firmware.

Exactly what place would be a good example to visit without an adblocker?

You obviously got ads allergy. Why do you enforce your diet to everyone using your network? This is my question. By heavily filtering Internet content you apply form of censorship on your family and disrespect their personal choice. If one day you decide you're done with cellphone use for whatever reasons... are you going to forcefully collect all cellphones from your family members too?

 

[johndoe85]

How about your Asus router? What are you going to do about it? In your case I would get rid of it immediately. A device with ads in firmware.

View attachment 50841



You obviously got ads allergy. Why do you enforce your diet to everyone using your network? This is my question. By heavily filtering Internet content you apply form of censorship on your family and disrespect their personal choice. If one day you decide you're done with cellphone use for whatever reasons... are you going to forcefully collect all cellphones from your family members too?

Yeah i've seen that ad.. Made my eye twitch.

I have functionality on. I'm not blocking 100% of everything. I got affiliate ads turned on, i use the syncing of data from webbrowser up to the cloud and such.

But the rest is going to /dev/null

Question is though, why would i not protect others? Why should everyone invent the wheel once again, by themselfs for themselfs?

I think you have taken this liberty thing so far that you have left your loved ones hanging in the air where they have to fend themselfs against the internet and the manipulative psychological warfaring companies.

Regarding the cellphones, they are toxic and if they are becoming even more toxic in the future (which they likely will), they are a goner.
It's not freedom to be addicted to a tech device which mangles you with comercials and other crap 24/7.

 

[Tech9]

I think you have taken this liberty thing so far that you have left your loved ones hanging in the air where they have to fend themselfs against the internet and the manipulative psychological warfaring companies.

We just have different approach. Mine is education, yours is limitation. We are not going to be around forever to protect them.

By the way, to test the difference in the approach tell your family members you are protecting them with a software coded in Russia. See what happens.

 

[Smokey613]

You obviously got ads allergy. Why do you enforce your diet to everyone using your network? This is my question. By heavily filtering Internet content you apply form of censorship on your family

I also enforce network wide ad blocking…. but my wife’s devices are configured to bypass the filtering.

 

[Tech9]

This is called experience.

 

[johndoe85]

We just have different approach. Mine is education, yours is limitation. We are not going to be around forever to protect them.

By the way, to test the difference in the approach tell your family members you are protecting them with a software coded in Russia. See what happens.

Is it better if it's coded in the U.S? They all spy on us.
The economical system is not from nature thus it's a man made idea. Through this man made idea people are enslaved and suffer madly. Are the good and well minded people in the USA trying to break the chains? Or are they enforcing them with all the power they got?
It's more than a philosophical question.

Besides, how exactly are you educating your family members by exposing them to ads?
You don't get tougher and get thicker skin by getting exposed to violence, the opposite is true.
Learning how to fight on the other hand is a complete different thing.
Are you teaching your family members how ads get created, developed and implemented in the real world? How the psychological behind it works, that they use psychologists to create these ads (on top level atleast). Take the Coca Cola ad that was well hidden on TV showing a bottle every 30 picture. No one comes up with that without that kind of education.

The loot systems in games that make children addictive to playing the game and buying loot boxes. It's a casino, the whole world is a casino. And the house always wins. Are they aware?

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

Besides, how exactly are you educating your family members by exposing them to ads?

If you shield them from what they can't have, they will only want it more!

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

My score is 83 with Diversion, in a hotel room in the southwest of the US, using my VPN on the router at home.

I can't wait to test your overhaul beta next release of diversion!

 

[johndoe85]

If you shield them from what they can't have, they will only want it more!

It depends on what it is. Ads is not one of these things.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

It depends on what it is. Ads is not one of these things.

That also depends, because a childs mind can be easily influenced peeking over mommies shoulder at shopping network ads!

 

[johndoe85]

That also depends, because a childs mind can be easily influenced peeking over mommies shoulder at shopping network ads!

But you don't care about mommy being addicted to shopping through i.e ads? Do you tell her you love her and also mean it?
If you are going to rally, atleast do it with style.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

But you don't care about mommy being addicted to shopping through i.e ads? Do you tell her you love her and also mean it?
If you are going to rally, atleast do it with style.

No one is rallying. This is just to say that there is no definitive way. What works for one person, doesn't always work for another. There is no "universal law" here. No rockets requiring scientists agreeing.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

By the way, to test the difference in the approach tell your family members you are protecting them with a software coded in Russia. See what happens.

Or, tell Russia you are protecting your family with their software, see how that works out for you and the few russian developers who are trying make a difference for other people to have a better online experience.

 

[johndoe85]

No one is rallying. This is just to say that there is no definitive way. What works for one person, doesn't always work for another. There is no "universal law" here. No rockets requiring scientists agreeing.

I agree. If someone ask's me to unblock something i will do it. But in general, from my point of view, i go with protection first and then whitelists.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

I agree. If someone ask's me to unblock something i will do it. But in general, from my point of view, i go with protection first and then whitelists.

Nothing wrong with that. That is how you determine what should or shouldn't be blocked.

Here is what I don't block:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jumpsmm7/GeneratedAdblock/master/Allowed.list

 

[johndoe85]

Nothing wrong with that. That is how you determine what should or shouldn't be blocked.

Here is what I don't block:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jumpsmm7/GeneratedAdblock/master/Allowed.list

How did you come up with that list? I see alot of bitcoin affiliates, the rest is unknown.