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> The digital equivalent of voting with your wallet. And like voting with your wallet, it will be completely ineffectual in actually addressing the problem. >

> The digital equivalent of voting with your wallet. And like voting with your wallet, it will be completely ineffectual in actually addressing the problem. > Kind of like climate change Another area where the need for comprehensive societal solutions gets dumped on the individual instead, rendering it ineffectual.

have_faith 7y ago
Exactly. In theory they are effectual, if people actually did it... I'm a big proponent of top down climate change policy to force change as opposed to hoping if we virtue signal enough people will be shamed into driving a bit less etc.
- cyborgx7 7y ago
  I misread your comment then. I assumed you were saying this is the strategy we should adopt on those issues.
  - have_faith 7y ago
    With regards to climate change, definitely not. I just wanted to highlight that it's a similar mechanic at play. Perhaps I phrased it oddly. With regards to Ads I don't take as much a hard line approach as yourself (I remember our last discussion!). I'm very pro ad blocker use but not to go as far as banning them in any way. Something I've been thinking about is sending a header to websites informing them I'm going to block their ads so they decide not to send me the content if they don't want to. I feel no entitlement to their content as they should not feel any entitlement to what code gets to run on my machine once it reaches me. I might expand on this in a blog post some time soon but it's probably closer to an art project than something actually viable.
    - cyborgx7 7y ago
      >I remember our last discussion! I'm impressed. I don't think I ever remember individual usernames. >Something I've been thinking about is sending a header to websites informing them I'm going to block their ads so they decide not to send me the content if they don't want to. I've actually played with similar ideas in the past (my more moderate days). But my philosophy at this point is that they can choose to give me the data or not give me the data. And I'm free to do with it as I please as long as I don't distribute it without permission. And I'm even softening up on that limitation.
      - JoeSamoa 7y ago
        Thats the spirit.
    - JoeSamoa 7y ago
      I like this idea.
    - cameronbrown 7y ago
      > Something I've been thinking about is sending a header to websites informing them I'm going to block their ads so they decide not to send me the content if they don't want to. I feel no entitlement to their content as they should not feel any entitlement to what code gets to run on my machine once it reaches me. I might expand on this in a blog post some time soon but it's probably closer to an art project than something actually viable. An advantage of this is we'd skip the whole ad blocker and anti ad blocker charade and gain a metric ton of performance back.
olalonde 7y ago
Alternative theory: there aren't enough people who consider it a problem.
- moduspol 7y ago
  This. I normally just avoid commenting in these threads, but clearly most users don't see this as quite as big of a problem as the HN users that comment in these threads. And maybe, just maybe, they're right.
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    And maybe, just maybe, they just don't understand the issue in the first place and aren't aware of the implications.

have_faith 7y ago

Exactly. In theory they are effectual, if people actually did it... I'm a big proponent of top down climate change policy to force change as opposed to hoping if we virtue signal enough people will be shamed into driving a bit less etc.

cyborgx7 7y ago
I misread your comment then. I assumed you were saying this is the strategy we should adopt on those issues.
- have_faith 7y ago
  With regards to climate change, definitely not. I just wanted to highlight that it's a similar mechanic at play. Perhaps I phrased it oddly. With regards to Ads I don't take as much a hard line approach as yourself (I remember our last discussion!). I'm very pro ad blocker use but not to go as far as banning them in any way. Something I've been thinking about is sending a header to websites informing them I'm going to block their ads so they decide not to send me the content if they don't want to. I feel no entitlement to their content as they should not feel any entitlement to what code gets to run on my machine once it reaches me. I might expand on this in a blog post some time soon but it's probably closer to an art project than something actually viable.
  - cyborgx7 7y ago
    >I remember our last discussion! I'm impressed. I don't think I ever remember individual usernames. >Something I've been thinking about is sending a header to websites informing them I'm going to block their ads so they decide not to send me the content if they don't want to. I've actually played with similar ideas in the past (my more moderate days). But my philosophy at this point is that they can choose to give me the data or not give me the data. And I'm free to do with it as I please as long as I don't distribute it without permission. And I'm even softening up on that limitation.
    - JoeSamoa 7y ago
      Thats the spirit.
  - JoeSamoa 7y ago
    I like this idea.
  - cameronbrown 7y ago
    > Something I've been thinking about is sending a header to websites informing them I'm going to block their ads so they decide not to send me the content if they don't want to. I feel no entitlement to their content as they should not feel any entitlement to what code gets to run on my machine once it reaches me. I might expand on this in a blog post some time soon but it's probably closer to an art project than something actually viable. An advantage of this is we'd skip the whole ad blocker and anti ad blocker charade and gain a metric ton of performance back.

olalonde 7y ago

Alternative theory: there aren't enough people who consider it a problem.

moduspol 7y ago
This. I normally just avoid commenting in these threads, but clearly most users don't see this as quite as big of a problem as the HN users that comment in these threads. And maybe, just maybe, they're right.
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  And maybe, just maybe, they just don't understand the issue in the first place and aren't aware of the implications.