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It’s in googles best interest to maximise the amount of time people spend on the web not viewing their adverts? What on earth?

by orf 3y ago

charcircuit 3y ago
It's correlated. When people spend more time on the web, they do more Google searches, which will show more ads. So both the time spent not viewing their ads AND the time spent viewing their ads both increase.
- ndriscoll 3y ago
  Except if they're blocking ads and the ad blocker actually works (as e.g. uBlock Origin does), they're spending zero time viewing ads. I never see any Google ads ever. Does the built in adblocker in chrome do that? Or does it... not block ads?
  - charcircuit 3y ago
    Chrome only blocks ads that violate the Better Ads Standards https://www.betterads.org/standards/ https://www.betterads.org/standards/ The ads that are shown on Google searches follow this so they are not blocked by Chrome.
    - ndriscoll 3y ago
      Right so it doesn't do what an adblocker is supposed to do, which is block ads. It doesn't do that because it's not in Google's interest for it to do that.
      - charcircuit 3y ago
        It does block ads. It blocks ads that are harmful to the web ecosystem. Chrome blocking all ads would hurt the web ecosystem tremendously as it interferes with how many sites are monetized. It is not in Google's interest to kill the web. They want to ensure that it keeps growing.
    - goku12 3y ago
      Looking at the site you linked, it's clear that the objective of the standard is to show you ads without annoying the users enough to force them to install ad blockers. So the standard isn't about preventing targeted ads at all. And the ads don't have to cross the 'annoyance threshold' to be harmful to its audience. For example, cross-site tracking used by ad tech is a privacy nightmare in itself. There are good reasons to block all targeted ads altogether.
- orf 3y ago
  So… it’s not really an ad blocker then. Because it’s developed by the world’s largest advertising company.
  - charcircuit 3y ago
    It blocks ads so buy definition it is an adblocker.
    - orf 3y ago
      Putting a sheet of paper over my computer screen is by definition an adblocker as well? Except it’s definitely not, because that’s not its intended purpose.
      - charcircuit 3y ago
        >Except it’s definitely not, because that’s not its intended purpose. Chrome's adblocker's purpose is to remove ads though so your example isn't the same.
        orf 3y ago
        So it’s a selective ad-remover, not an ad-blocker then.
        charcircuit 3y ago
        Those are the same things. What do you think filter lists are which is how pretty much every ad blocker works? They literally are a list of a selectors for ads that should be removed.
        orf 3y ago
        Sure, and while you may pedantically argue that an antivirus software that selectively allows specific viruses on your computer depending on the author is still a antivirus software, most people wouldn’t.

It’s in googles best interest to maximise the amount of time people spend on the web not viewing their adverts? What on earth?

by orf 3y ago

It’s in googles best interest to maximise the amount of time people spend on the web not viewing their adverts? What on earth?

charcircuit 3y ago

It's correlated. When people spend more time on the web, they do more Google searches, which will show more ads. So both the time spent not viewing their ads AND the time spent viewing their ads both increase.

ndriscoll 3y ago
Except if they're blocking ads and the ad blocker actually works (as e.g. uBlock Origin does), they're spending zero time viewing ads. I never see any Google ads ever. Does the built in adblocker in chrome do that? Or does it... not block ads?
- charcircuit 3y ago
  Chrome only blocks ads that violate the Better Ads Standards https://www.betterads.org/standards/ https://www.betterads.org/standards/ The ads that are shown on Google searches follow this so they are not blocked by Chrome.
  - ndriscoll 3y ago
    Right so it doesn't do what an adblocker is supposed to do, which is block ads. It doesn't do that because it's not in Google's interest for it to do that.
    - charcircuit 3y ago
      It does block ads. It blocks ads that are harmful to the web ecosystem. Chrome blocking all ads would hurt the web ecosystem tremendously as it interferes with how many sites are monetized. It is not in Google's interest to kill the web. They want to ensure that it keeps growing.
  - goku12 3y ago
    Looking at the site you linked, it's clear that the objective of the standard is to show you ads without annoying the users enough to force them to install ad blockers. So the standard isn't about preventing targeted ads at all. And the ads don't have to cross the 'annoyance threshold' to be harmful to its audience. For example, cross-site tracking used by ad tech is a privacy nightmare in itself. There are good reasons to block all targeted ads altogether.
orf 3y ago
So… it’s not really an ad blocker then. Because it’s developed by the world’s largest advertising company.
- charcircuit 3y ago
  It blocks ads so buy definition it is an adblocker.
  - orf 3y ago
    Putting a sheet of paper over my computer screen is by definition an adblocker as well? Except it’s definitely not, because that’s not its intended purpose.
    - charcircuit 3y ago
      >Except it’s definitely not, because that’s not its intended purpose. Chrome's adblocker's purpose is to remove ads though so your example isn't the same.
      - orf 3y ago
        So it’s a selective ad-remover, not an ad-blocker then.
        charcircuit 3y ago
        Those are the same things. What do you think filter lists are which is how pretty much every ad blocker works? They literally are a list of a selectors for ads that should be removed.
        orf 3y ago
        Sure, and while you may pedantically argue that an antivirus software that selectively allows specific viruses on your computer depending on the author is still a antivirus software, most people wouldn’t.