4 ms·

Who would ever not want to block ads? The only people watching ads are likely those unable to figure out how to block them.

jefftk 6y ago
I don't block ads, and didn't block them even before I decided to start working in advertising. The ads are what fund most sites I visit; I like the sites and I wouldn't want to freeload. If a site's ads are too annoying I leave.
- oska 6y ago
  Funding a site by mind pollution, which is what push advertising is, is antisocial behaviour. The onus is on the site publisher to find an ethical source of revenue (just as with any business model). Putting up content on the web and funding that publishing are two different things. It's fine to be interested in and read the content while blocking an antisocial means of funding and that is not freeloading. It's protecting yourself from abuse.
- istjohn 6y ago
  I wanted to write a snarky response to this and went to look for some ad hominem seasoning for my zinger on www.jefftk.com. But I got played. It's hard to hold malice against someone who donates over 50% of their income every year [0]. Good on you. I'm going to keep using my adblocker, though. 0. https://www.jefftk.com/donations https://www.jefftk.com/donations
  - oska 6y ago
    From that page: > Julia and I believe that one of the best ways to make the world better is to donate to effective charities. I would argue that the best way to make the world better is to First do no harm. Making a large income by pushing ads at Google doesn't uphold that rule, in my opinion. And perhaps this person's sensitivity around their job is why they feel the need to publicly list their donations, rather than giving quietly. Public philanthropy has often been used as a way to try to deflect criticism from how the money was first made.
    - istjohn 6y ago
      Public philanthropy by billionaires of what for them is actually a miniscule portion of their wealth is suspect. But this is not that. I can't speak for Mr. Kaufman, but I imagine he shares this information publicly not to brag, but to encourage a new norm of publically donating a significant portion of one's income to effective charity. He and his partner may have literally saved hundreds of lives with their contributions over the last few years alone[0]. What have you done for the world lately? For myself, the answer is: not enough. 0.https://www.givewell.org/how-we-work/our-criteria/cost-effectiveness/cost-effectiveness-models https://www.givewell.org/how-we-work/our-criteria/cost-effec...
    - jefftk 6y ago
      > Making a large income by pushing ads at Google doesn't uphold that rule If I thought my work in advertising was harmful I would stop. I think it's probably slightly positive: https://www.jefftk.com/p/value-of-working-in-ads https://www.jefftk.com/p/value-of-working-in-ads > perhaps this person's sensitivity around their job is why they feel the need to publicly list their donations, rather than giving quietly I've been listing my donations publicly since before I started working in ads. I wrote https://www.jefftk.com/p/make-your-giving-public https://www.jefftk.com/p/make-your-giving-public when I was working on open source software that rewrote web pages so they would load faster.

jefftk 6y ago

I don't block ads, and didn't block them even before I decided to start working in advertising. The ads are what fund most sites I visit; I like the sites and I wouldn't want to freeload. If a site's ads are too annoying I leave.

oska 6y ago
Funding a site by mind pollution, which is what push advertising is, is antisocial behaviour. The onus is on the site publisher to find an ethical source of revenue (just as with any business model). Putting up content on the web and funding that publishing are two different things. It's fine to be interested in and read the content while blocking an antisocial means of funding and that is not freeloading. It's protecting yourself from abuse.
istjohn 6y ago
I wanted to write a snarky response to this and went to look for some ad hominem seasoning for my zinger on www.jefftk.com. But I got played. It's hard to hold malice against someone who donates over 50% of their income every year [0]. Good on you. I'm going to keep using my adblocker, though. 0. https://www.jefftk.com/donations https://www.jefftk.com/donations
- oska 6y ago
  From that page: > Julia and I believe that one of the best ways to make the world better is to donate to effective charities. I would argue that the best way to make the world better is to First do no harm. Making a large income by pushing ads at Google doesn't uphold that rule, in my opinion. And perhaps this person's sensitivity around their job is why they feel the need to publicly list their donations, rather than giving quietly. Public philanthropy has often been used as a way to try to deflect criticism from how the money was first made.
  - istjohn 6y ago
    Public philanthropy by billionaires of what for them is actually a miniscule portion of their wealth is suspect. But this is not that. I can't speak for Mr. Kaufman, but I imagine he shares this information publicly not to brag, but to encourage a new norm of publically donating a significant portion of one's income to effective charity. He and his partner may have literally saved hundreds of lives with their contributions over the last few years alone[0]. What have you done for the world lately? For myself, the answer is: not enough. 0.https://www.givewell.org/how-we-work/our-criteria/cost-effectiveness/cost-effectiveness-models https://www.givewell.org/how-we-work/our-criteria/cost-effec...
  - jefftk 6y ago
    > Making a large income by pushing ads at Google doesn't uphold that rule If I thought my work in advertising was harmful I would stop. I think it's probably slightly positive: https://www.jefftk.com/p/value-of-working-in-ads https://www.jefftk.com/p/value-of-working-in-ads > perhaps this person's sensitivity around their job is why they feel the need to publicly list their donations, rather than giving quietly I've been listing my donations publicly since before I started working in ads. I wrote https://www.jefftk.com/p/make-your-giving-public https://www.jefftk.com/p/make-your-giving-public when I was working on open source software that rewrote web pages so they would load faster.