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> In exchange for being exposed to advertising at a restaurant, you get free pizza. Are you required to sign a contract for this exchange to happen? In that c

• robomartin 5y ago
  You can twist and turn your way around arguments and convince yourself that you are not a thief. That's fine. Good for you. Enjoy. Behind all of this there are businesses, which consist of people with jobs who have families and responsibilities. Just because you don't see the effects of your actions it does not mean there are no effects. You are stealing something that costs money to create and support and you have convinced yourself that you are entitled to that something. Few people enjoy advertising. I don't. And yet I understand that most of what's on the internet is financed this way. If everyone ran ad blockers the internet would collapse overnight. I have friends with small businesses who's families depend on being able to find customers through online advertising. Ad blockers have consequences for families just like theirs.
  • cartesius13 5y ago
    No need to twist and turn anything. No contract, no obligations whatsoever. It's literally as simple as that. The content provider is free to stop providing the content at any time
    • robomartin 5y ago
      What happens when the content provider is treated to 100% ad blockage and a thousand people lose their jobs? Ad-blocking users think of sites as being completely devoid of any humanity. In most cases, nothing could be farther from the truth. You might have rationalized that you are not stealing anything. Yet, you are, you are stealing the work product of dozens to thousands or tens of thousands of people. Beyond that, you are likely costing others money. Your usage has consequences. A simple example is the cost of bandwidth, servers and support personnel. A loss of revenue due to ad blocking has to be compensated by raising rates to others, laying people off, etc. This isn't a victimless activity. I know folks try to convince themselves they are on a righteous path of some sort. That's a fantasy. You are stealing. It's no different from downloading free books from the many bootleg websites out there. Why go to Amazon and buy them when you can steal them. Hey, I ask for the content and they send it to me! I am not stealing! Sure.
      • cartesius13 5y ago
        If your business model is no longer profitable then you should go do something else. I'm not obligated to pay for cable when Netflix is cheaper and better. If your family depends on that Cable money to survive, well that's sad but not my problem. Make a better product, change your business model, do something. Again, content providers are free to stop providing content at any time. There's not much else to say here. It's not my problem of they deliberately decide not to do that These "please sir, have pity, think of the children" appeals are futile
        • robomartin 5y ago
          > content providers are free to stop providing content at any time There's a fundamental lack of morality in a philosophy that does not recognize and respect property. You know that you are interfering with the ability of a site owner and their employees earing money for their product. You know this well. This is what ad blockers do. And yet, as a result of the principles you purport to uphold, rather than choosing NOT to consume their product as a demonstration of your commitment, you take it and interfere with their business. You can jump around as many hoops as you wish in trying to justify this. The bottom line is that you claim to have principles and yet behave exactly as if you had none. People work to provide you with valuable content and services and you take it for nothing. This isn't an argument about Netflix or some other streaming service. This is about taking from others while actually promoting a complete negation of revenue. If your ad-blocking utopia comes to pass, none of these sites will have income. So, you'll take and take and take, until you kill them. The only people who say things like what you and many have said on this thread are those who have never started, run and managed a non-trivial business. Being responsible for payroll makes you learn things you can learn in no other way. When I see a business, a site, I see the people behind it. After all, we are likely not talking about junk sites and content farms here. I am sure you are not using an ad blocker just so you can visit that wonderful content farm you love to frequent. No, you are using ad blockers on sites that actually deliver valuable content and services to you. Content and services that, precisely because they are valuable, time, money and take effort to create, support and maintain. You know they use ads to finance the operation, and you block them. That is a morally putrid position to take and even worse to work so hard to justify.
  • foxfluff 5y ago
    I'm disappointed that after starting a conversation you consider very important, you don't actually want to participate and argue in good faith.