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> Advertising exists. You can't make it go away. That sounds like a challenge. :) FWIW I agree with OP, I block all ads, where ever I can. On web pages, and e

> Advertising exists. You can't make it go away. That sounds like a challenge. :) FWIW I agree with OP, I block all ads, where ever I can. On web pages, and even when streaming live TV. I have never agreed to view ads in exchange for viewing content. Advertisers and site masters may think there is a self evident implied agreement, but I do not. Advertising, no matter how or why it is served, always tries to steal your attention and force a mental context switch. Filtering this out using your mind is just tiresome and frustrating.

robbrown451 7y ago
I'm not saying that you can't make advertising go away for yourself, if you try hard enough. But I don't think you, or you and all the other people of your mindset, can make it go away altogether. I don't use adblockers, but I can't blame people who do. I'm not convinced the world would be better if everyone did. I do wish that there was legislation that required all ad supported web sites to have reasonably priced plans where people could pay to bypass the ads. Or something. But right now ads support a lot of services that I am glad are here.
- satori99 7y ago
  > But I don't think you [...] can make it go away altogether. If we can train neural networks to recognize things, then I don't see why those things can't be ads. Carl Sagan hypothesized a little about this in his 1985 novel Contact. Years before, he had invented a module that, when a television commercial appeared, automatically muted the sound. It wasn't at first a context-recognition device. Instead, it simply monitored the amplitude of the carrier wave... Before there could be any coordinated response from the television advertising industry, Adnix had become wildly popular. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Q6o51-W_z8MC&pg=PA226&dq=Adnix&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjFw7L0hMblAhWX8XMBHR64AaUQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Adnix&f=false https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Q6o51-W_z8MC&pg=PA226&d...
  - robbrown451 7y ago
    You sound like you are simply talking about ad blockers, which says to me you are missing the point. Not everyone will choose to use ad blockers. Also, if you do that effectively enough, you end up with people sneaking the ads into the content, as opposed to clear delineations between ads and content. Do you prefer that? Regardless, ads are here and a big part of the economy of the web. If I were Google, I would simply ignore the people who are so extreme that they can't see value in their attempts to reduce the annoyance factor of web advertising. Personally, I am ok with ads that do not significantly slow down the page, are very clear that they are ads, don't block content, and don't make me wait for content. I don't even mind if they have tracked me, although I'd prefer if I had some degree of control over that. On a web site I like, I am glad that the site owner gets a few pennies for my use of the site. I see a lot of ads -- often from Amazon -- for things like skateboard / roller skate parts, digital pianos, and "maker" things like Dremel tools. Sometimes I ignore them, but sometimes I look at them just like I would if I walked by that sort of thing in a retail environment: they catch my eye because they are things I like. Admittedly, sometimes I see ads for things like women's swimsuits or the like. Probably because, in a moment of weakness, I clicked on an ad to see a larger photo of a pretty woman in a swimsuit. I'd kind of like to be able to say "I'm not interested in this sort of ad," but then again, I really don't care that much. I suspect you can't wrap your head around my attitude, but that's what it is.

robbrown451 7y ago

I'm not saying that you can't make advertising go away for yourself, if you try hard enough. But I don't think you, or you and all the other people of your mindset, can make it go away altogether. I don't use adblockers, but I can't blame people who do. I'm not convinced the world would be better if everyone did. I do wish that there was legislation that required all ad supported web sites to have reasonably priced plans where people could pay to bypass the ads. Or something. But right now ads support a lot of services that I am glad are here.

satori99 7y ago
> But I don't think you [...] can make it go away altogether. If we can train neural networks to recognize things, then I don't see why those things can't be ads. Carl Sagan hypothesized a little about this in his 1985 novel Contact. Years before, he had invented a module that, when a television commercial appeared, automatically muted the sound. It wasn't at first a context-recognition device. Instead, it simply monitored the amplitude of the carrier wave... Before there could be any coordinated response from the television advertising industry, Adnix had become wildly popular. https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Q6o51-W_z8MC&pg=PA226&dq=Adnix&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjFw7L0hMblAhWX8XMBHR64AaUQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Adnix&f=false https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Q6o51-W_z8MC&pg=PA226&d...
- robbrown451 7y ago
  You sound like you are simply talking about ad blockers, which says to me you are missing the point. Not everyone will choose to use ad blockers. Also, if you do that effectively enough, you end up with people sneaking the ads into the content, as opposed to clear delineations between ads and content. Do you prefer that? Regardless, ads are here and a big part of the economy of the web. If I were Google, I would simply ignore the people who are so extreme that they can't see value in their attempts to reduce the annoyance factor of web advertising. Personally, I am ok with ads that do not significantly slow down the page, are very clear that they are ads, don't block content, and don't make me wait for content. I don't even mind if they have tracked me, although I'd prefer if I had some degree of control over that. On a web site I like, I am glad that the site owner gets a few pennies for my use of the site. I see a lot of ads -- often from Amazon -- for things like skateboard / roller skate parts, digital pianos, and "maker" things like Dremel tools. Sometimes I ignore them, but sometimes I look at them just like I would if I walked by that sort of thing in a retail environment: they catch my eye because they are things I like. Admittedly, sometimes I see ads for things like women's swimsuits or the like. Probably because, in a moment of weakness, I clicked on an ad to see a larger photo of a pretty woman in a swimsuit. I'd kind of like to be able to say "I'm not interested in this sort of ad," but then again, I really don't care that much. I suspect you can't wrap your head around my attitude, but that's what it is.