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I'm confused as to what ABP does that is more useful than just adding a blocked list to your /etc/hosts file. Moreso, as to how someone could work on it for 12
by aphextron 9y ago
I'm confused as to what ABP does that is more useful than just adding a blocked list to your /etc/hosts file. Moreso, as to how someone could work on it for 12 years. Exactly what am I missing here?
- praneshp 9y agoEasy. A quick google and couple of clicks led me to https://github.com/adblockplus/ https://github.com/adblockplus/.
- mistercow 9y agoI don't know much about the specifics of ABP's history, but there's an obvious arms race component to ad blocking that could keep a developer busy indefinitely.
- djur 9y ago1) There's a lot of cases where blocking an entire domain is either excessive or insufficient -- important assets can be located on the same domain as ads. Adblockers can target specific files and specific elements on the page. They also provide much better ease of use for the average user than updating a hosts file. 2) The list of ad domains, URLs, and elements has to be constantly updated. The plugin has to be kept up to date with changes in browsers. Advertisers occasionally come up with new techniques to bypass or detect adblockers, so those need to be worked around.