Wondering how much of the Lemmy user base wouldn’t use an adblocker. If you do use one what other blocking do you use to circumvent data collection, YouTube and reddit front ends and things alike?
I don’t block anything. I work in accessibility, so it’s important to me to know what the experiences are like for my fellow users with disabilities. I also don’t want to recommend sites or apps that are riddled with inaccessible ads. I’d rather not give them traffic at all. Though even though I let them track me, I still get ads in a language I don’t speak for cars I can’t drive. What’re they doing with all that data?
So me seeing ads in random languages is not me being clever with identity obfuscation, but big data being big stupid?
And thank you for your work in accessibility 🫡
Apparently! I don’t hide my data in any way, and constantly get ads in languages I don’t speak. Usually French, but sometimes Hindi or Chinese. And as a blind person myself, I’m not sure that my well paid full time job working in large enterprise and big tech accessibility is altruism deserving of thanks haha.
How are you presumably having websites presumably displayed in one language and ads displayed in another language?
I assume it’s because I live in Canada, and big American data just assumes all Canadians speak French. I regularly get French ads on English websites.
Right, thought it was a trick and I was intrigued.
If you presume it, it will come
A lot of people. For many, it’s not even something they know exist. Even setting it up for them is a bother because of the occasional site it breaks, and the complete lack of technical awareness.
There’s also many of us who don’t use a laptop/PC to access the Internet.
I have adblock on my phone ;)
There’s Android browsers with AdBlock. Mozilla is one of them…
firefox and ublock origin works on a phone just as well
I almost exclusively use my iPhone - I have ad blockers on it. AdGuard, Banish, and Vinegar.
Custom dns
Firefox on Android and its many derivatives (I use Fennec) have uBlock Origin as a browser extension.
I use uBlock Origin and Consent-o-Matic. Works like a charm!
Consent o matic is a new one for me. Thanks!
You’re very welcome!
One question though.
Can’t you enable a filter list on uBlock Origin that removes all cookie consents?
I think I have it on. It’s under “Annoyances”. Maybe it’s not as good since you have them both?
I’m sure there is, but tbh I don’t know how, since I don’t need it.
The way Consent-o-Matic works is that it accepts all, securely deletes all of it immediately before it can do anything. That way the site thinks you have all of it so it won’t ask again, but you actually get none of it.
All this plus removing the consent- and other pop-ups for you. A few of the nastier pop-ups might be on your screen for a tenth of a second or less as Consent-o-Matic gets rid of it for you, but otherwise it’s like they were never there to begin with!
Does it work better than “I don’t care about cookies”, if you’ve tried both?
Can’t you enable a filter list on uBlock Origin that removes all cookie consents
What what what?!?! Ive used ublock for years and i didn’t know this
Yeah haha, there’s actually some nice block lists in the settings you can turn on.
Also region specifics.
What is the difference between that and “I still dont care about cookies”?
That addon accepts all the cookies.
Consent-o-Matic blocks all the cookies.
I know some of family don’t because they mostly rely on mobile devices and devices like Chromecasts where installing ad blockers can be a challenge. They don’t use traditional computers.
They know apps like NewPipe exist but the effort to port things over or not get recommendations is too much for them.
I do use ad blockers and open source front ends/software/alternatives. Ex. AntennaPod instead of Spotify for podcasts and Linux instead of Windows because I didn’t like ads in the start menu (amongst numerous other things).
I’m so proud of my kids who will demand adblockers if something in their YouTube app or their browser is broken. Even though they like to see toy ads now and then. But when they get the amount a regular mortal receives it’s too much, even for them.
I get you. I like receiving honest real reviews for things rather than be advertised to. Let their quality speak for it. I also hate even minor spoilers for movies/TV shows/video game that you see in trailers.
The biggest thing I miss from seeing ads is knowing what movies are in theaters… And I never think about looking haha.
2 alternatives could be to follow an RSS feeds for trailers or turn on notifications for a movie trailer or review YouTube channel.
That is an excellent idea. Haven’t done rss feeds in a long time.
My mom uses Edge, told me not to block Facebook ads and clicks on most of the clickbait articles on her MSN home page. It’s like she WANTS them to collect as much data to sell and spy on her as much as possible 🤦
You’ll be surprised how many people likes ads, and likes how much they know about you.
I don’t agree, but I can see the logic in that. If you see ads anyway, why not see them specialised to you making them somewhat relevant.
Awful take I know, but it’s the reality for many people.
That’s not necessarily an awful take, to be fair. That is arguably to the benefit of the consumer, that they can learn about products that are relevant to them.
I’m completely disconnected from what new movies and TV shows come out after years of blocking all ads. I can see wanting to change but ads have only gotten more annoying so I have no desire to change yet
Personally, I get actually relevant Instagram ads pretty frequently, particularly for various events that I’m interested in. I’ve seen more than a few shows specifically because I saw an Instagram ad.
I’d naturally prefer no ads, but when they are necessary - and someone does have to pay the costs of running large platforms - I would prefer them to be actually relevant. It’s still ultimately my decision as to whether I buy something or not.
I don’t, without the advertising a lot of the content can’t exist and I like the context to exist.
Yeah, that’s generally my take as well. Can’t exactly expect people to make, curate and host content without any kind of funding, and despite what people may claim, it’s a very low percentage of people who will actively pay for what they consume.
Then I have the Plugin for you two.
They block all ads like uBlock, but they make sure to click and view them first without you noticing. They’ll also send the wrong information about you to the advertisers.
The content creators will actually receive more money that way.
This is a double edge sword.
Ad revenue has enabled poor content to exist.
Ads on useful content detracts from that content, and disrespects a user’s time/attention.
If you pay them a single one time purchase of £1, that will be worth more to them than all the adverts you ever have or will watch.
I have AdNauseum on with the “Hide Ads” button unchecked and “leave non-tracking ads alone” option enabled. Privacy Badger is on too to detect tracking scripts.
I can safely ignore ads generally but what I want is to discourage the practice of annoying placements to farm clicks. If they want clicks then they can have as many of my fake ones as they wish.
By default I’m using adblocker but when I notice I’m visiting a new site more frequently like wikis for games, I disable it and keep it off if the site is usable.
Removed by mod
I need to start doing this more. I just forget
Lady I used to sit next to at work didn’t use an ad blocker. She also would have like the “do you want to install this plugin?” thing open in her ide for weeks. I don’t know how she did it. She’s a software developer so she’s reasonably tech literate. It just didn’t bother her enough to think about doing something about it.
reminds me of one of my coworkers years ago, we all had cubicle desk computer jobs but oh Lord she had so many scribbled on post-it notes stuck all over her cubicle and all over the edge of her computer screen 🤦♀️ She was an older lady close to retirement age.
Some people just prefer post it notes.
I used to use a notepad but now there’s too much going on so I have to use a spreadsheet.
If you do use one what other blocking do you use to circumvent data collection, YouTube and reddit front ends and things alike?
Firefox on maximum security will get rid of all cookies when you close the window (ie exit from Firefox, not just close the tab). If there are sites that require cookies, you can use Firefox containers to stop it collecting data across other sites).
I do use adblockers but there are sites which deserve the revenue (and don’t bombard you with shite) so I try to remember to whitelist them. But I’m not as diligent about this as I should be. Someone does have to pay for it and we don’t have a decent system to do that without advertising (yet). I can’t subscribe to the eleventy million sites I visit so advertising is a necessary evil (atm). Obviously, denying bad sites the advertising revenue is a public service, so there’s that.
I haven’t bothered yet because I don’t really frequent the types of sites where the ads get in the way (although my occasional Youtube visits are starting to convince me to use one).
I do use a plugin made by the EFF that blocks certain tracking cookies though.
This certain plugin, is it Privacy Badger?
That’s the one!
I asked a friend of mine about this recently and she told me it was because it helps her kids learn patience.
That got me thinking about it, I personally learned a rather large amount of patience because of ads when I was growing up so it made a lot of sense to me.
Ads teach people patience? That is the worst justification for ads I’ve ever heard. She’s probably in the advertisement industry so she’s pro-ads.
or she’s not computer literate enough to install ad blockers and too proud to admit her lack of computer literacy.
Holy shit, this is worse than reddit lately. You read an anecdote about a lady, made up her whole life and got angry about what you just made up. Fucking hell.
And as the coup de grâce, their name is LemmyKnowsBest.
Not her whole life, just the argument she was using.
No, they have a point. In hindsight, I definitely can see how the unskipable ads of cable TV resulted in a greater deal of patience. I’d be interested to see a more academic study of it, but anecdotally I definitely can see it.
As long as she doesn’t buy anything they ask for that is coming from ads and tells them that the products advertised are probably the worst of their kind I would be okay with it.
Ads growing up didn’t track you all over the internet.
No, because I want the content that I consume to be financially viable. You either accept the ads, or seek out other sites with other payment models.
Or, I do whatever I want. Since that is an option.
Sure. You can. But it comes with the risk that the content you’re consuming will go away.
Nobody is obliged to create things for you for free.
I don’t understand how someone can have a take this cartoonishly ridiculous in 2024. Are you effin serious me boy? I mean dude.
Maybe you’re just book smart. I… Whew! I don’t like to ad hominem but goddamn
It’s interesting how your post has a complete lack of actual content or arguments.
It’s interesting
It is?
If the content I am using can’t exist without my data harvested and me blasted with ads, I rather not have the content.
Never said anyone is “obliged”. Content will go away anyway eventually, or more often I will go away before the end.
To say it all: usually I find content interesting as long as the creator is doing it out of passion. There is a very clear difference the moment he/she realizes it is possible to get money out of it: and that’s when I usually find another creator.
This. I don’t skip the ads on creators I like because I want them to keep creating.
Fuck that, the internet is free and for the people, let’s make it unviable so we can reclaim it!
can i have sex with your spouse too
I don’t use one because I feel that the more people use ad blockers, the more intrusive and annoying the ads will be for people that aren’t using one, and less overall content will be available for free. The only ads that I can’t stand are video ads, and that’s why I have YouTube premium.
The more intrusive and annoying the ads become, the more people will retaliate. This is war. eventually we will smash out those annoying ads. somehow. There must be some other more civilized pleasant method for companies to make profit. This is getting out of hand.
I mean, there are other civilized pleasant methods for companies to make profit. For users to pay.
That’s why lots of places now have an ad-free subscription option. If you really want to smash out ads, pay for the ad-free subscription service.
well I remember in the late 1970s when cable TV became a thing, the concept was you pay for it so there are no ads.
Then guess what happened?
few years later we were still paying for cable TV and then they started including ads. We were outraged at first but then it became normal and we got used to it.
Now YouTube is doing it, including ads even though we’re paying for it
Amazon prime is doing it, including ads even though we’re paying for it
and other streaming services, I can’t name everything but pretty much every company is doing it. Even though people are paying for the service, there are still ads.
YouTube is not doing it, I use YT premium and I never get a single ad. Ever.
And I know that ad supported cheaper versions of a lot of streaming services are becoming more common, but, to my knowledge, all of them have an ad free option. It may be more expensive than their cheapest tier, but they do have an ad free option.
If you want to see the internet less dependent on ads, the only way to do that is to be willing to pay for it yourself. Because streaming video content online is actually extremely expensive to do. And someone has to pay for it. If you as the consumer aren’t paying for it then someone has to pay for it on your behalf. They’re only going to do that if they can get something out of the deal.
YouTube is not doing it, I use YT premium and I never get a single ad. Ever.
*yet
It will come, once their subscription gets traction.
YouTube subscription does have traction… And like I said, every streaming service has an ad free option. Some of them have an ad supported cheaper option, but they all have some option that allows you to consume the content without ads. It seems like you’re kind of just talking out of your ass.
There’s an economics of everything at play here, broadcast television had ads, cable TV at first didn’t but it was also significantly more expensive. Cable TV wanted to lower prices to attract more customers, and in order to do that they started receiving more money from advertisers to make up the difference. Not all of the cable TV channels did this. However, even to this very day there are plenty of cable TV channels that don’t have ads. They are considered the premium channels that you have to pay extra for.
The same thing is going to continue to be true on the internet as well, You will always have options to avoid ads by paying for the content that you want.
YT Premium may not have ads, but they sell your data anyway.
And that’s why you fuckin SUCK
