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Google's incentives here are still antithetical to my own, so I'm going to stick with uBlock. For example, on Google search, ads masquerade as legitimate searc

Google's incentives here are still antithetical to my own, so I'm going to stick with uBlock. For example, on Google search, ads masquerade as legitimate search results. These used to be highlighted in light yellow, clearly marking them as different from organic search results. Now, they only have the word "Ad" in light grey text. This notice is on the right, intentionally where it will be overlooked when reading through the titles of each result. I can't imagine that Google would start blocking their own ad network, let alone their own ads. Therefore, I'm sticking with an ad blocker that I control.

nothrabannosir 9y ago
> These used to be highlighted in light yellow, clearly marking them as different from organic search results. The specific shade of yellow was indiscernible from background white on a cheap laptop at almost any angle. I wish I'd taken a photo when I noticed. I knew people who had never even noticed the yellow, at all, let alone understood it was ads. I know, Never Attribute To Malice and all that, but hot damn, that must have been a massive multi million dollar move of "ignorance".
- jacquesm 9y ago
  I am more than happy to attribute it to malice because that is exactly what Google did with their competitors when they were just starting out.
- quesera 9y ago
  Google is the company that user-tested 41 shades of blue¹. Malice or not, that yellow was surely intentional, and working as intended. [1] http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html
- MereInterest 9y ago
  > I know, Never Attribute To Malice and all that, but hot damn, that must have been a massive multi million dollar move of "ignorance". I think that this saying gets misapplied quite frequently. If you are talking to someone one on one, then you should assume that they are simply mistaken. Otherwise, you don't stand a chance of convincing them to see things another way. On the other hand, in trying to predict somebody else's actions, assuming malice can give the most accurate prediction. On the part of Google, I don't know whether the nigh-unidentifiable ads are the result of some cackling executive trying to trick people to click on ads, or whether it is the result of overzealous A/B testing that stumbled upon a dark pattern. In the end, it doesn't matter, and either one is a good approximation of what will happen in the future.
jacquesm 9y ago
Remember when Google claimed that paid inclusion was one of the worst sins a search engine could commit? One so bad that it made it claim other search engines were evil?
- oldcynic 9y ago
  Now we have google shopping search entirely pay to play.
  - paulie_a 9y ago
    I've attempted to use that a few times, I won't even waste my time on that garbage search anymore
- afandian 9y ago
  I'd love to see the original claim. Got an archive link?
  - oldcynic 9y ago
    This gives a fair coverage of the history, and hypocrisy: https://marketingland.com/once-deemed-evil-google-now-embraces-paid-inclusion-13138 https://marketingland.com/once-deemed-evil-google-now-embrac...
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    https://marketingland.com/once-deemed-evil-google-now-embraces-paid-inclusion-13138 https://marketingland.com/once-deemed-evil-google-now-embrac... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_inclusion#History_of_paid_inclusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_inclusion#History_of_paid... References directly the founders letter, I do not have a link to that but I am not making this up.
    - afandian 9y ago
      Thanks. I don't think for a secnd you're making it up! It's just the halflife of information is almost as short as principled decisions...
bambax 9y ago
> I'm going to stick with uBlock Yeah, me too, but I don't think Google hopes to convince adblock users to revert to an adblock-free experience. They're probably hoping (as is indeed stated in the article) that by removing the biggest pain points they will stop new users from seeking adblocking solutions. We'll see what happens, but it doesn't seem an unreasonable thing to hope for.
tyfon 9y ago
> I'm going to stick with uBlock. Same, and that is on Firefox too (both mobile and pc). I don't understand companies, when I run some ad-block I clearly state that I _do not want to see ads_. Period. It doesn't matter the format or how it looks, I just don't want too see ads and I get pissed if I do so it's actually bad for the company advertising.
RamenJunkie_ 9y ago
I went online today to make a payment on my Lowes card. I do a search for "Pay Lowes Credit Card" The first couple of results are legit but everything afte ris some BS Scam.

nothrabannosir 9y ago

> These used to be highlighted in light yellow, clearly marking them as different from organic search results. The specific shade of yellow was indiscernible from background white on a cheap laptop at almost any angle. I wish I'd taken a photo when I noticed. I knew people who had never even noticed the yellow, at all, let alone understood it was ads. I know, Never Attribute To Malice and all that, but hot damn, that must have been a massive multi million dollar move of "ignorance".

jacquesm 9y ago
I am more than happy to attribute it to malice because that is exactly what Google did with their competitors when they were just starting out.
quesera 9y ago
Google is the company that user-tested 41 shades of blue¹. Malice or not, that yellow was surely intentional, and working as intended. [1] http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html
MereInterest 9y ago
> I know, Never Attribute To Malice and all that, but hot damn, that must have been a massive multi million dollar move of "ignorance". I think that this saying gets misapplied quite frequently. If you are talking to someone one on one, then you should assume that they are simply mistaken. Otherwise, you don't stand a chance of convincing them to see things another way. On the other hand, in trying to predict somebody else's actions, assuming malice can give the most accurate prediction. On the part of Google, I don't know whether the nigh-unidentifiable ads are the result of some cackling executive trying to trick people to click on ads, or whether it is the result of overzealous A/B testing that stumbled upon a dark pattern. In the end, it doesn't matter, and either one is a good approximation of what will happen in the future.

jacquesm 9y ago

Remember when Google claimed that paid inclusion was one of the worst sins a search engine could commit? One so bad that it made it claim other search engines were evil?

oldcynic 9y ago
Now we have google shopping search entirely pay to play.
- paulie_a 9y ago
  I've attempted to use that a few times, I won't even waste my time on that garbage search anymore
afandian 9y ago
I'd love to see the original claim. Got an archive link?
- oldcynic 9y ago
  This gives a fair coverage of the history, and hypocrisy: https://marketingland.com/once-deemed-evil-google-now-embraces-paid-inclusion-13138 https://marketingland.com/once-deemed-evil-google-now-embrac...
- jacquesm 9y ago
  https://marketingland.com/once-deemed-evil-google-now-embraces-paid-inclusion-13138 https://marketingland.com/once-deemed-evil-google-now-embrac... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_inclusion#History_of_paid_inclusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_inclusion#History_of_paid... References directly the founders letter, I do not have a link to that but I am not making this up.
  - afandian 9y ago
    Thanks. I don't think for a secnd you're making it up! It's just the halflife of information is almost as short as principled decisions...

bambax 9y ago

> I'm going to stick with uBlock Yeah, me too, but I don't think Google hopes to convince adblock users to revert to an adblock-free experience. They're probably hoping (as is indeed stated in the article) that by removing the biggest pain points they will stop new users from seeking adblocking solutions. We'll see what happens, but it doesn't seem an unreasonable thing to hope for.

tyfon 9y ago

> I'm going to stick with uBlock. Same, and that is on Firefox too (both mobile and pc). I don't understand companies, when I run some ad-block I clearly state that I _do not want to see ads_. Period. It doesn't matter the format or how it looks, I just don't want too see ads and I get pissed if I do so it's actually bad for the company advertising.

RamenJunkie_ 9y ago

I went online today to make a payment on my Lowes card. I do a search for "Pay Lowes Credit Card" The first couple of results are legit but everything afte ris some BS Scam.