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If enough people start doing this, AdBlock will somehow react to get people to see their ads again. Just because you got rid of the problem doesn't mean the co

by antris 8y ago

If enough people start doing this, AdBlock will somehow react to get people to see their ads again. Just because you got rid of the problem doesn't mean the conflict of interest isn't there. And if there's a conflict of interest, it's just a matter of time before something happens. Having an extension in your browser that you can forget about is much easier on your nerves than an extension that doesn't do anything bad at the moment, but could.

kazinator 8y ago
> If enough people start doing this, AdBlock will somehow react to get people to see their ads again. That's a hypothetical future problem, not requiring action today. If ABP is blocking all ads for me, why would I care about a conflict of interest? In fact, I agree with it; I like that advertisers are victimized, paying extra to be on whitelists yet still not reach people because of a simple checkbox in the settings. Are they victimized, though? Users who install ABP yet say yes to acceptable ads are a special demographic. Why would the gatekeeper to that demographic give away free access to that demographic? If someone pays for that access, it probably means that they perceive value in it for them. Ads are more valuable if better targeted and all that.
- antris 8y ago
  > If ABP is blocking all ads for me, why would I care about a conflict of interest? You might not care, but if you are recommending others an extension to use for blocking ads, you cannot do it solely on your own preferences. Imagine being recommended as alternatives an adblocker that you can install and forget or an adblocker that you need to configure and keep on watch in case it starts showing ads anyway. Having no experience with adblockers before, which one would you choose?
  - kazinator 8y ago
    I can't recommend based on my preferences? What? > in case it starts showing ads anyway. This hasn't happened with ABP, and could conceivably happen with any ad blocker, even one whose developers are saints (due to a bug). Basically "might happen" is just FUD. Reminds me of 1990's anti-Linux FUD. Don't use that, it might not support some sound card or video card you might want to buy later, even though it works now! You might run into a problem that needs support and then you're screwed. Etc.
    - antris 8y ago
      So this discussion has devolved to the point of cutting out words from sentences to change their meaning and using the new sentence as a straw man. Here we go again HN.

by antris 8y ago

kazinator 8y ago

> If enough people start doing this, AdBlock will somehow react to get people to see their ads again. That's a hypothetical future problem, not requiring action today. If ABP is blocking all ads for me, why would I care about a conflict of interest? In fact, I agree with it; I like that advertisers are victimized, paying extra to be on whitelists yet still not reach people because of a simple checkbox in the settings. Are they victimized, though? Users who install ABP yet say yes to acceptable ads are a special demographic. Why would the gatekeeper to that demographic give away free access to that demographic? If someone pays for that access, it probably means that they perceive value in it for them. Ads are more valuable if better targeted and all that.

antris 8y ago
> If ABP is blocking all ads for me, why would I care about a conflict of interest? You might not care, but if you are recommending others an extension to use for blocking ads, you cannot do it solely on your own preferences. Imagine being recommended as alternatives an adblocker that you can install and forget or an adblocker that you need to configure and keep on watch in case it starts showing ads anyway. Having no experience with adblockers before, which one would you choose?
- kazinator 8y ago
  I can't recommend based on my preferences? What? > in case it starts showing ads anyway. This hasn't happened with ABP, and could conceivably happen with any ad blocker, even one whose developers are saints (due to a bug). Basically "might happen" is just FUD. Reminds me of 1990's anti-Linux FUD. Don't use that, it might not support some sound card or video card you might want to buy later, even though it works now! You might run into a problem that needs support and then you're screwed. Etc.
  - antris 8y ago
    So this discussion has devolved to the point of cutting out words from sentences to change their meaning and using the new sentence as a straw man. Here we go again HN.