ZephyrXero's Journal: FlashBlock Yes, AdBlock No. "The social contract" with ads

Ok, I saw some people arguing over this issue a few weeks ago. I was always of the opinion that adblock would inspire more sites to require subscriptions and payments instead of being free, or at least for the "good stuff." Many news services keep their "exclusive content" reserved for subscription only users these days. This could also lead to sites just not supporting Firefox in fear that all of their readers will block their ads, which pay for their servers, etc... Then I saw someone arguing that when advertisers crossed the line from simple advertising to annoying ads like pop-ups, "eye blasters", automatic videos and whatnot they lost those rights. I started to think you know...that's true too. And I believe I've found the solution. Use Flashblock, but not adblock.

I installed Flashblock recently, and I am loving it! It's making my internet browsing so much more enjoyable than before, and I realize that the plain ol' banners and even the occational animated GIF isn't that much of a bother after living with all the flash based crap for the last few years. Now when webdevelopers look at their web stats and ad revenue they'll see a decline in Flash based (annoying) ad viewing but steady use of regular ads. This is the smart way to boycott ad abuse in my opinion...

Flashblock with simple pop up/under blocking...

[DigitumDei]

This is the configuration I came up with myself as well recently. Running a site myself I do realise that adverts are a necessity (unless you have a trust fund or something) and really its just the annoying pop up/unders and flash ads that I really hate.

So flash block and ff's built in popup blocking is all I use now.

Re:Flashblock with simple pop up/under blocking...

[negative3]

I went to a site recently that actually redirected me to a special page because I had Adblock running. The page simply stated that they did not want me viewing their site since I wasn't viewing their ads. I found the solution - setting Adblock to *hide* and not *remove* the ads let me browse the site without problem.

I somewhat undestand the point of view of the webmasters, but I think ads should be limited: no flash, no scripts, just pictures.

Ads? Who needs them.

[esukafurone]

I never click (and buy) through online advertisements so who cares if I block them? Nobody. :) Nothing wrong with adblock.

Ads Are Garbage

[Lost_Caribou]

You have to think about who's going to click on ads anyway, and how revenue is made. If you go to a site with "Free iPod" ads, will you click on the links? No, prolly not. Those of us that not only have firefox installed, but also use AdBlock aren't the one's they're advertizing for. If you don't plan on following through an ad, then it makes no difference if you choose to view it.

Now I know ads are nessisary, but in an ideal world they wouldn't be 90% scam/spam. Seriously no matter how many times you hit

Re:Ads Are Garbage

[ZephyrXero]

I believe you underestimate just how large a dent we are making with Firefox these days. You don't have to be a genius to install adblock either... it's having a bigger affect than I think you realize. For an ad based site, just a 10% loss in revenue is a big deal.