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This is a perfect case for disruption. Make a company whose ads are so unobtrusive, so free of tracking, so non-creepy, and so fast that I would actually want

This is a perfect case for disruption. Make a company whose ads are so unobtrusive, so free of tracking, so non-creepy, and so fast that I would actually want to unblock them specifically. Gruber's on that, which is great, but 99% of the rest of the ad industry is full of everything wrong with it, and there's no guarantees Gruber's service won't start running malware tomorrow. If there's a door open to a room that's filled with 9900 assholes and 100 decent people, even though it's not fair to the 100, it's still a good idea to shut the door. Similarly, right now, the best bet is to set your adblockers in the least permissive way possible. EDIT: Also, with regards to the decentralized "ad industry", look at what happened in the spam/commercial email industry. The bad companies have been chased out, and the good ones are well regulated. That was many disparate groups, but along with improvements in spam blocking, they've proved themselves ready to sit at the adults table. Advertisers now have a chance to do the same, and Adblock will help us keep them honest.

krapp 11y ago
I'm not certain such a company would be successful. I think the number of users willing to unblock ads that are already being blocked will be in the minority - and more than likely any such "ethical" advertising would be blacklisted as soon as possible. An ad blocker that does allow so-called "ethical" ads by design would probably be considered spyware.
- wanderfowl 11y ago
  Well, that's the thing: Nobody actually likes ads. At best, people like what ads allow (e.g. free content, services, etc), but they're a necessary evil even there. If given the choice between two universes, one involving ads and one not, which were equal in all other respects, there would be no line to get into the ad-ful one. And I think the ad industry is going to need to give up on tracking as a concept. No matter how they do it, it's basically the same concept as the massive data collection the NSA is working towards which everybody hates, except ad companies don't even have the illusion of protective and pure motives.
  - eli 11y ago
    I don't really agree with that. The people who truly want zero ads are, I think, in the minority. If I'm reading a blog about Django and it's got an ad with a discount code for DjangoCon, I actually want to see that ad -- and not just because it supports the blog. The other day I put an item in my cart on an ecommerce site and forgot about it until I saw a "retargeted" ad reminding me to complete my purchase. I wanted to complete the purchase, I just forgot. I want that ad. For some non-tech examples: consider how many people would opt for an ad-free Superbowl or an ad-free fashion magazine. Some would, but certainly not everyone. Many people like those ads. I think people hate ads that are not relevant to them. Third party tracking cookies have many problems, but they're one way to help make ads more relevant. (Disclaimer: I'm cofounder of an ad-supported B2B news organization)
eli 11y ago
I don't understand your point. How would this new company you describe be different from Gruber's Deck?

krapp 11y ago

I'm not certain such a company would be successful. I think the number of users willing to unblock ads that are already being blocked will be in the minority - and more than likely any such "ethical" advertising would be blacklisted as soon as possible. An ad blocker that does allow so-called "ethical" ads by design would probably be considered spyware.

wanderfowl 11y ago
Well, that's the thing: Nobody actually likes ads. At best, people like what ads allow (e.g. free content, services, etc), but they're a necessary evil even there. If given the choice between two universes, one involving ads and one not, which were equal in all other respects, there would be no line to get into the ad-ful one. And I think the ad industry is going to need to give up on tracking as a concept. No matter how they do it, it's basically the same concept as the massive data collection the NSA is working towards which everybody hates, except ad companies don't even have the illusion of protective and pure motives.
- eli 11y ago
  I don't really agree with that. The people who truly want zero ads are, I think, in the minority. If I'm reading a blog about Django and it's got an ad with a discount code for DjangoCon, I actually want to see that ad -- and not just because it supports the blog. The other day I put an item in my cart on an ecommerce site and forgot about it until I saw a "retargeted" ad reminding me to complete my purchase. I wanted to complete the purchase, I just forgot. I want that ad. For some non-tech examples: consider how many people would opt for an ad-free Superbowl or an ad-free fashion magazine. Some would, but certainly not everyone. Many people like those ads. I think people hate ads that are not relevant to them. Third party tracking cookies have many problems, but they're one way to help make ads more relevant. (Disclaimer: I'm cofounder of an ad-supported B2B news organization)

eli 11y ago

I don't understand your point. How would this new company you describe be different from Gruber's Deck?