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I have a confession to make. I don't really have ad-block. If your site is too ad-infested, I stop using it.
by giancarlostoro 2y ago
I have a confession to make. I don't really have ad-block. If your site is too ad-infested, I stop using it.
- Waterluvian 2y agoThat feels like a pretty fair approach. If you don’t mind, I’m truly curious why you don’t Adblock? There’s no wrong answer here. ;)
- Lord_Zero 2y agoThere might be...
- hirvi74 2y agoNot the GP you are asking, but I do not use an ad blocker because I predominantly use Safari as my browser. I would absolutely love one, but after Apple made all those API changes years back, I gave up trying to find one that works well and is privacy friendly.
- azinman2 2y agoThe changes Apple made were to increase privacy. Content blockers that have access to the page have no network access. A separate process that does can only update the blocking rules. I quite like Ka-block
- gerdesj 2y ago"The changes Apple made were to increase privacy" Apple gobbles personal data too and processes it and sells it etc. They are simply rather better at looking ... friendly. They really are very good at that.
- azinman2 2y agoWhere is Apple tracking your usage across the web? This data is sold to who? These are big claims. Disclosure: I work at Apple, and have seen zero evidence of anything but trying to make things continuously more secure and private. This in fact makes my job (machine learning) much harder because I don’t have user datasets to leverage.
- dahart 2y ago> Apple gobbles personal data too What data and how do you know? This seems to be a popular talking point, but I’ve yet to see evidence. It doesn’t make that much sense to frame Apple’s privacy stance as similar to Google’s or Facebook’s. Apple isn’t an ad business, and Google and Facebook are, plain and simple. I don’t work for Apple, and I don’t use an Apple laptop or desktop, but I don’t buy this Apple is as bad as businesses that are primarily built on ad revenue and are actively eroding privacy. I’m sure they’re not perfect, but I feel like Apple is relatively serious about privacy, making real changes that generally protect consumers, and setting a better example than many big tech companies. Are you sure they don't look better because they really are better?
- shiroiushi 2y ago>I’m sure they’re not perfect, but I feel like Apple is relatively serious about privacy, making real changes that generally protect consumers Then why do they push their crappy browser on iOS which doesn't allow ad-blockers?
- dwighttk 2y agoSafari does allow ad blockers.
- shiroiushi 2y agoIt does? I see constant complaints online from iPhone users asking how to, for instance, block ads on YouTube, only to be told "buy an Android and install Firefox" because ad-blockers on iOS don't seem to do this.
- dahart 2y agoAre you talking about the browser or the YouTube app? Most iOS users watching YouTube use the YouTube app, not the Safari App, so they’re obviously asking how to block ads because the app isn’t a browser, not because Safari doesn’t allow ad blockers.
- chithanh 2y agoI don't think Apple (or Google, Microsoft, …) sells your data. Or can you point me to the website where I can buy user data from them? What I would admit is that Apple is maybe not as motivated to protect your data from unintentional leaking. Without user data, Google would be almost nothing. So they have to be extremely careful to maintain the trust of their users. For Apple (or Microsoft) their business is still sizeable enough with out user data.
- internetter 2y agoCheck this out: https://kaylees.site/wipr.html https://kaylees.site/wipr.html. It's no UBlock Origin, but it still does an excellent job on many sites.
- stogot 2y agoHow do I know tools like this don’t send data home? Does Apple’s API work in a specific way to deny that?
- carlosjobim 2y agoNextDNS, Adguard, Wipr are a few that work.
- Nextgrid 2y agoAdGuard is pretty good when it comes to Safari, and has a way to convert uBlock-style rules into the Safari blocking framework (well at least as much as it can), so you can use Easylist/etc.
- dwighttk 2y agoI use 1Blocker
- gitaarik 2y agoWhy don't you just use a different browser that gives you more control?
- hirvi74 2y agoI find the ecosystem integration and cohesion to be the most compelling reason. Everything "just works." Apple keychain is good enough that I stopped using other password managers and works great with Safari, Messages.app and Mail.app integrate well with Safari, AppleScript works well with Safari, etc.. I do have other browsers, but I only use them for specific needs. Like I keep some version of a Chrome-based browser around solely for if I need to Chromecast something. Other wise, I do not enjoy using third party browsers like Chrome, Firefox, etc., which I use at work all day. Safari's web developer tools are not my favorite compared to other browsers, so I try not to develop much with Safari other than testing.
- tpierce89 2y agoI use the DNSCloak app and run the Adguard DNS VPN from their list. It is free and blocks many ads in safari.
- bookofjoe 2y agoBecause I don't know how to install one nor do I have any interest in learning how.
- Waterluvian 2y agoMakes sense. Pretty sad people think that’s downvote worthy. It reminds me how easy it is to be ignorant to users. :(
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tyleregeto 2y agoI don't use one either. I actually think ads are a good system for supporting content, and I do want to support the creators of the content I consume. I also have a low threshold for obnoxious sites, and will just bail and not return if I get annoyed.
- hunter2_ 2y agoDo you ever make a purchase due to having seen an ad, ideally by clicking on the ad? If not, then in some sense you're still getting something without paying for it. (You're paying with your time, but that's not valuable to anyone unless it ultimately results in paying with money.) But better to screw the people pushing ads than the content creators!
- juanani 2y agoI personally have a long list of products not to buy. If you somehow repeat the same ad and I remember your product, I stop buying said product. If youre wasting your money on spamming ads, your product sure as shit isnt better than competitors', since they waste less on ads, more on product. I dont use ad blockers, they make it harder for me to find out who has the poorer product.
- shiroiushi 2y agoWow, that sounds like a ton of work. I think a better idea is to use an ad-blocker, but run a program in the background that downloads the ads (or maybe just samples them, to save bandwidth and resources), processes them to find brand names, and then stores these brand names in a database so you can find their relative frequency and assign a score to each. Then you can just query the db when you want to buy something to find that brand's acceptability score.
- tyleregeto 2y agoI would say not very often, but yes, very recently even. I've been researching new backpacking gear this summer, looking on sites that are known to me, so I've been seeing lots of ads for that type of stuff naturally. One store kept popping up that I was not familiar with. So I clicked eventually, and did some online searching about the company to make sure they are legit. Turns out they are a local independent store. I've made two purchases from them since, and price compared against them for other purchases. Their ads are more likely to catch my eye in the future now.
- giancarlostoro 2y agoAfter the first scandal about one adblocker being bought out, and letting by Google ads, I tried the next one in the list, then kept hearing about the issues, and then I realized, I am better off just not visiting sites that: A) Want me to pay to view a one-off article B) Want me to not see any of their content cause its ad infested. To be fair, if Firefox's Reader Mode doesn't suffice as a bypass, then I really don't bother coming back.
- bravetraveler 2y agoI do that too when my adblock is a little behind the adversary
- MattGaiser 2y agoTypically people with this attitude have no-JS or something though for privacy reasons. That would cut a lot of ads down. Or do you not use any blockers at all?
- giancarlostoro 2y agoI used to, I don't even bother with any of that. If I really need to I maybe bust out reader mode on Firefox, but very rarely. Especially at work most sites I visit aren't ad infested hellscapes, like StackOverflow and its relatives are not ad infested, neither is wikipedia, etc.
- marginalia_nu 2y agoYup, same here.
- lupire 2y agoWhat's an example of a site that is on the high end lft amount/style of ads that you tolerate?
- giancarlostoro 2y agoGood question, if I can't read the article whatsoever, then that's my time to leave. I don't mind ads, but if they take up all of the content, then its just not worth it. If you trick me with ads as if it were content, like some download sites do, I hate you.
- downrightmike 2y agoBy then, its too late if there was malware on there.
- giancarlostoro 2y agoIf there was, I'd be really surprised if they built it to know how to run on an OS that isn't Windows dynamically.
- Zambyte 2y agoThis is one thing I really like about Kagi - I don't have to remember which sites to not use due to ads, I simply add the site to my account-wide block list, and I never see it in search results again.
- bravetraveler 2y agoOne can achieve the same thing for any website, not just their search results, with the browser extension 'uBlock'. Yes, you have to write a pattern. It saves you money while not supporting the erosion of autonomy. What's better than free vegetables? Delivery. I'm away from my computer right now but I'll copy one of mine later/reply with it. The edit window here is unfortunate.
- bravetraveler 2y agoJust missed the edit window! I'm here to deliver. Two kinds, either will be accepted in the "My Filters" section of the plugin. Edit as desired, the domain is just a recent example. Eradication/filtering: ##a[href*="eng-leadership.com"] Shown, but blocked on-access: ||eng-leadership.com^$document To keep the hacker spirit alive, I leave the reader with an exercise. Consider other approaches or HTML tags. Anchors aren't their only vector, hence the document method. HN has a 'hide' button that could be leveraged for nicer integration, removing related widgets.
- Zambyte 2y agoThank you for sharing, I'm sure people will find this useful. An extension is not very helpful for my needs though. I often use public computers at a local makerspace, and it is much easier for me to scan a QR code to sign in and then close the incognito browser when I'm done than it is for me to carry around my uBlock configuration. Solving my problem the "hacker way" would essentially be reimplementing Kagi, or hosting a service to do it. I already host Open WebUI and that is really moving along; maybe it can replace my Kagi needs someday, but for now I am pretty happy with continuing to use Kagi.
- veunes 2y agoIt’s a good way to support sites that respect the user experience while steering clear of those that don't.
- soulofmischief 2y agoAd-blocking is also about controlling what resources are loaded and executed by your computer. You won't know you were subject to a drive-by 0-day until it's too late and your computer is a botnet or your bank account drains. Not blocking ads also normalizes predatory ad-tech surveillance. There is a lot more going on beneath the surface of just "annoying ads in my face" which need to be accounted for, since browsers do not ship with effective, granular security controls.