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Why watch? uBlock origin [1], the most recommended browser extension in the history of the internet, blocks the ads on Google. You can also right click and bloc

Why watch? uBlock origin [1], the most recommended browser extension in the history of the internet, blocks the ads on Google. You can also right click and block any element you don't want in your search results, like "Top Stories" and "Videos". You're still getting the search results, if there's content in your browser you don't want to see, you have more control over that than Google does. I haven't seen an advertisement in 10+ years. I don't really understand why anyone chooses to see them when they don't have to. And sorry if this comes off as confrontational, I just see so many people talking about advertisements and it's difficult to have to tell each individual that adblocking extensions have existed for close to 15 years [2]. I wish there was some better way to spread this information so no one would have to see ads or comment about their existence ever again. The internet is so much better without them. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adblock_Plus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adblock_Plus

chickenthirty 6y ago
uBlock Origin is great but doesn't work on Safari, which a lot of people use since Chrome is an incredible battery hog and Firefox is significantly slower on Mac. None of the choices of content blockers in Safari successfully block the majority of ads on the internet. Furthermore, it's not just about the surfaced ads. Even if you use uBlockOrigin, search engines like Google optimize for ad clicking, which will affect the search result ranking even if you have ads blocked. As a result, search quality has been steadily decreasing over the past decade (there have been hundreds of highly ranked HN discussions on this in the past). Finally, uBlockOrigin is an amazing tool developed by 1 person. There is always the chance that, in the future, there are developments in browsers or ad-serving technologies that render it obsolete (e.g if Google decides to make a breaking change to the Chrome Extension API, like Safari did). In that case, it would be worthwhile to have alternatives.
- imustbeevil 6y ago
  I totally agree, and there are already multiple options on both desktop and mobile for different adblockers. As to the search quality decrease, that's definitely more of a reason to desire an alternative than seeing ads is.
  - chickenthirty 6y ago
    Yeah, I think the search quality problem is often brought up here on HN because we're mostly engineers here, but article writers seem to always talk about the visible ads problem since it's easier to explain to non-technical users.
- mi100hael 6y ago
  This is changing in the next release of Safari. They will support the standard WebExtensions API so Firefox/Chrome extensions will be easily portable. https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/25/apple-will-let-you-port-google-chrome-extensions-to-safari/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/25/apple-will-let-you-port-go...
  - thombles 6y ago
    According to uBlock Origin's developer it is not enough https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/hdz0bo/will_ublock_origin_back_to_macos_big_sur/fvoc7wk/ https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/hdz0bo/will_u...
- freediver 6y ago
  We are building a Mac Webkit-based browser with web extensions support (including uBlock). if you want to try our alpha release feel free to get in touch.
- EricE 6y ago
  1Blocker on Safari has been comparable to ublock origin for some time now (and really excels on iOS - how I found them). I say "has" because recently Google changed something with Youtube and it isn't 100% effective against YouTube preroll ads - but other than that it's been just as good as ublock origin.
freeopinion 6y ago
I see two fundamental issues with this approach. The first is punative. While it does, kind of, punish bad behavior, it doesn't go far enough. You may deprive Google of some small revenue, but you're still giving them a lot that contributes to their bottom line. They can still claim a googol of clicks and eyeballs, etc. People will still see them as the end-all-be-all, and voluntarily submit their sites to google's attention--ignoring any other options. The second is the failure to reward. It is not enough to kill off bad actors if you haven't nurtured good actors to take their place. In this case, the good actor could even be Google. If there are efforts to do things differently, we should find the ones we like and reward them. They will benefit and their competition will observe and imitate.
8organicbits 6y ago
> sorry if this comes off as confrontational It didn't to me. I use ublock and take it a step further to use other search engines. Personally, I only notice how ad filled Google search is when I use someone else's computer.

chickenthirty 6y ago

uBlock Origin is great but doesn't work on Safari, which a lot of people use since Chrome is an incredible battery hog and Firefox is significantly slower on Mac. None of the choices of content blockers in Safari successfully block the majority of ads on the internet. Furthermore, it's not just about the surfaced ads. Even if you use uBlockOrigin, search engines like Google optimize for ad clicking, which will affect the search result ranking even if you have ads blocked. As a result, search quality has been steadily decreasing over the past decade (there have been hundreds of highly ranked HN discussions on this in the past). Finally, uBlockOrigin is an amazing tool developed by 1 person. There is always the chance that, in the future, there are developments in browsers or ad-serving technologies that render it obsolete (e.g if Google decides to make a breaking change to the Chrome Extension API, like Safari did). In that case, it would be worthwhile to have alternatives.

imustbeevil 6y ago
I totally agree, and there are already multiple options on both desktop and mobile for different adblockers. As to the search quality decrease, that's definitely more of a reason to desire an alternative than seeing ads is.
- chickenthirty 6y ago
  Yeah, I think the search quality problem is often brought up here on HN because we're mostly engineers here, but article writers seem to always talk about the visible ads problem since it's easier to explain to non-technical users.
mi100hael 6y ago
This is changing in the next release of Safari. They will support the standard WebExtensions API so Firefox/Chrome extensions will be easily portable. https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/25/apple-will-let-you-port-google-chrome-extensions-to-safari/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/25/apple-will-let-you-port-go...
- thombles 6y ago
  According to uBlock Origin's developer it is not enough https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/hdz0bo/will_ublock_origin_back_to_macos_big_sur/fvoc7wk/ https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/hdz0bo/will_u...
freediver 6y ago
We are building a Mac Webkit-based browser with web extensions support (including uBlock). if you want to try our alpha release feel free to get in touch.
EricE 6y ago
1Blocker on Safari has been comparable to ublock origin for some time now (and really excels on iOS - how I found them). I say "has" because recently Google changed something with Youtube and it isn't 100% effective against YouTube preroll ads - but other than that it's been just as good as ublock origin.

freeopinion 6y ago

I see two fundamental issues with this approach. The first is punative. While it does, kind of, punish bad behavior, it doesn't go far enough. You may deprive Google of some small revenue, but you're still giving them a lot that contributes to their bottom line. They can still claim a googol of clicks and eyeballs, etc. People will still see them as the end-all-be-all, and voluntarily submit their sites to google's attention--ignoring any other options. The second is the failure to reward. It is not enough to kill off bad actors if you haven't nurtured good actors to take their place. In this case, the good actor could even be Google. If there are efforts to do things differently, we should find the ones we like and reward them. They will benefit and their competition will observe and imitate.

8organicbits 6y ago

> sorry if this comes off as confrontational It didn't to me. I use ublock and take it a step further to use other search engines. Personally, I only notice how ad filled Google search is when I use someone else's computer.