3 ms·

That's cute. Seems like a classic case of "you can't make someone understand something when their job depends on not understanding it", but in case anyone at Go

That's cute. Seems like a classic case of "you can't make someone understand something when their job depends on not understanding it", but in case anyone at Google reads this, here's a hint: People won't use Chrome if adblock is ineffective. They will use Edge, or Safari, or (in case you think you can make backroom deals with Microsoft and Apple to implement this in their browsers too), they'll use Brave. It's not a winnable game, save your money and play something else.

brucethemoose2 3y ago
> People won't use Chrome if adblock is ineffective Look how long the most of humanity stuck to Internet Explorer, even with Chrome literally stickied on the Google front page and IE's more dramatic drawbacks. Edge in particular is kind of a bloated mess now. I used to prefer it over the Chromium fork of the week (Currently Thorium and Cromite), but now its just too spammy and slow. No one is switching to that. Also I have extremely mixed feelings about Brave. Maybe even net negative.
- phendrenad2 3y ago
  > Look how long the most of humanity stuck to Internet Explorer Chrome surpassed IE usage within 4 years, so the answer is "not particularly long". > IE's more dramatic drawbacks Such as? > its just too spammy and slow Spammy yes, slow no. > I have extremely mixed feelings about Brave. Maybe even net negative Why?
- idonotknowwhy 3y ago
  I actual installed the unusable mess that is edge, on my Linux desktop, because I like the sound of it's text to speech voice. Turns out that feature is only available on windows. Uninstalled and will never try that piece of rubbish again!
blibble 3y ago
> People won't use Chrome if adblock is ineffective. post remote attestation they will if they want to use google services
- phendrenad2 3y ago
  > they want to use google services If they have to view ads to use them, that becomes significantly less of a sure thing
shiroiuma 3y ago
>People won't use Chrome if adblock is ineffective. They will use Edge, or Safari, or..., they'll use Brave. This simply isn't supported by evidence. Most users today do not use ad-blockers at all. People who do are in the minority, though it seems the minority is growing as more people get fed up with ads, and learn about ad-blockers somehow. Most users just aren't as motivated to avoid ads as you think they are. And it's not just clueless non-technical users: look at the countless comments here on HN in articles of this type from technical people who refuse to block ads because they think they're somehow obligated to look at them, and who call people like you evil and immoral. If adblock becomes ineffective on Chrome, I expect usage rates won't change much. If ad-blockers remain effective on other platforms and not on Chrome, I expect that users might slowly migrate to those other browsers, over the course of many long years, just like they did with IE, but it's still going to be a minority because, as it stands, it's only a minority that even cares. Other people are perfectly happy to be bombarded with ads.
- phendrenad2 3y ago
  Wait, you're using HN users as a metric? Are you trying for world's worst sample set?
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    No, I'm assuming HN users are probably the most technically capable and most likely to use ad-blockers, so if a large portion of them refuse, we can assume it's even worse in the outside world. Also, I don't have any stats handy, but the ones I've seen show that ad-blocker usage is well below 50% overall, according to various industry stats, though that number is rising.
    - phendrenad2 3y ago
      Well, I haven't seen these "HN users who refuse to use ad-blocker". Can you point to some example posts? I think you might have seen one or two and you're misreading the true sample size. Anyway, an important point here to remember is: Users are not dollars. We are not all equally valuable to advertisers. Drug companies spend tons of money sending targeted advertising to doctors. If you're a fast-food worker, you don't see any of those ads. You get generic untargeted ads. These lucrative individuals tend to be more technical (most doctors I know are computer power-users), and are more likely to use adblock. So a relatively small percentage of users using adblock, as long as it's the right percentage of users, could have a huge effect on Google's bottom line here.

brucethemoose2 3y ago

> People won't use Chrome if adblock is ineffective Look how long the most of humanity stuck to Internet Explorer, even with Chrome literally stickied on the Google front page and IE's more dramatic drawbacks. Edge in particular is kind of a bloated mess now. I used to prefer it over the Chromium fork of the week (Currently Thorium and Cromite), but now its just too spammy and slow. No one is switching to that. Also I have extremely mixed feelings about Brave. Maybe even net negative.

phendrenad2 3y ago
> Look how long the most of humanity stuck to Internet Explorer Chrome surpassed IE usage within 4 years, so the answer is "not particularly long". > IE's more dramatic drawbacks Such as? > its just too spammy and slow Spammy yes, slow no. > I have extremely mixed feelings about Brave. Maybe even net negative Why?
idonotknowwhy 3y ago
I actual installed the unusable mess that is edge, on my Linux desktop, because I like the sound of it's text to speech voice. Turns out that feature is only available on windows. Uninstalled and will never try that piece of rubbish again!

blibble 3y ago

> People won't use Chrome if adblock is ineffective. post remote attestation they will if they want to use google services

phendrenad2 3y ago
> they want to use google services If they have to view ads to use them, that becomes significantly less of a sure thing

shiroiuma 3y ago

>People won't use Chrome if adblock is ineffective. They will use Edge, or Safari, or..., they'll use Brave. This simply isn't supported by evidence. Most users today do not use ad-blockers at all. People who do are in the minority, though it seems the minority is growing as more people get fed up with ads, and learn about ad-blockers somehow. Most users just aren't as motivated to avoid ads as you think they are. And it's not just clueless non-technical users: look at the countless comments here on HN in articles of this type from technical people who refuse to block ads because they think they're somehow obligated to look at them, and who call people like you evil and immoral. If adblock becomes ineffective on Chrome, I expect usage rates won't change much. If ad-blockers remain effective on other platforms and not on Chrome, I expect that users might slowly migrate to those other browsers, over the course of many long years, just like they did with IE, but it's still going to be a minority because, as it stands, it's only a minority that even cares. Other people are perfectly happy to be bombarded with ads.

phendrenad2 3y ago
Wait, you're using HN users as a metric? Are you trying for world's worst sample set?
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  No, I'm assuming HN users are probably the most technically capable and most likely to use ad-blockers, so if a large portion of them refuse, we can assume it's even worse in the outside world. Also, I don't have any stats handy, but the ones I've seen show that ad-blocker usage is well below 50% overall, according to various industry stats, though that number is rising.
  - phendrenad2 3y ago
    Well, I haven't seen these "HN users who refuse to use ad-blocker". Can you point to some example posts? I think you might have seen one or two and you're misreading the true sample size. Anyway, an important point here to remember is: Users are not dollars. We are not all equally valuable to advertisers. Drug companies spend tons of money sending targeted advertising to doctors. If you're a fast-food worker, you don't see any of those ads. You get generic untargeted ads. These lucrative individuals tend to be more technical (most doctors I know are computer power-users), and are more likely to use adblock. So a relatively small percentage of users using adblock, as long as it's the right percentage of users, could have a huge effect on Google's bottom line here.