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Obligatory caution that's shared whenever AdNauseam is promoted on HN: Indiscriminately clicking links to ads on web pages will get you flagged as a bot or for

by cj 2y ago

Obligatory caution that's shared whenever AdNauseam is promoted on HN: Indiscriminately clicking links to ads on web pages will get you flagged as a bot or for "unusual behavior" and you may start seeing more captchas and things like that as your IP / browsing behavior are flagged.

guerrilla 2y ago
This is kinda good if you think about it since it'd create more friction in using ad-laden websites. Those that aren't blnuts with ads will be more likely rewarded with your attention. Seems fair.
- jcelerier 2y ago
  Except then it happens on every cloudflare-protected website and you're banned from 60% of the web
  - dsr_ 2y ago
    "banned from 60% of the web" suggests a terrible choke-point that everyone should avoid, regardless of convenience.
    - guerrilla 2y ago
      Agreed, still sounds like a win for me.
    - jcelerier 2y ago
      I wonder what you'll say the day you cannot connect to your bank's website anymore
      - dsr_ 2y ago
        On most of those days, I say "Don't banks realize that they are IT shops?" and suggest that they invest more in reliability.
        jcelerier 2y ago
        which they do by going to cloudflare
  - codedokode 2y ago
    I use tor and see captchas everywhere, some sites give me 403 and Youtube reguraly blocks the video and tells me to prove that I am not a bot by signing in (which I assume will block the Google Account as well). And in some cases any page on Youtube gives me 403 (and I don't even use an adblocker).
  - vachina 2y ago
    You should do this on CGNAT IP for maximum effect. I want to watch cloud flare ban an entire userbase.
bogwog 2y ago
I've had this plugin for like 2 years I think (possibly more), and never had any issue with this. Neither Cloudflare's nor Google's non-interactive captchas have ever labeled me as a bot, and I've never been blocked from any site. That could be because I've been so thoroughly tracked throughout my life already that they can detect me from mouse movements/keystrokes alone, or that adnauseam's behavior isn't obviously bot-like, or that the trackers already account for it's behavior patterns and filter it out as noise. In any case, if it has the potential to cause advertisers grief, then I'm going to continue to use it.
- notepad0x90 2y ago
  yeah, what the parent commenter said makes little sense. Google search certainly won't do this and not a lot of people use google as a cdn (and even if they did I doubt there is an adword/adsense integration like that). Maybe if you click like every result from a google search. Most annoying ads aren't served by the top ad providers anyways, there are a lot of ad networks and ad delivery services out there. The #1 cause of that bot experience is vpns and proxies. I get that 3rd rate experience myself, but even then it is bad but not unusable bad.
- prophesi 2y ago
  I've been using it for so many years that I'm not sure when I started, but I've never had issues being labeled as a bot. What should actually be noted is that Google has rejected the plugin from their store for ages so it does seem to do some damage to adtech.
  - surgical_fire 2y ago
    And this is probably the best argument in favor of AdNauseam. You can still install it on Chrome, but it is a manual process instead of just downloading from the Google Store.
geor9e 2y ago
I remember making an ad clicker. I got the idea after my Banjo-Kazooie website earned $12 in banner ad clicks organically. That check in the mail inspired 11-year-old me to create InfiniteMoneyGlitch.js. It chugged away all night. And when I woke up, I saw that I was promptly banned for life.
- noman-land 2y ago
  This made me laugh. Thanks for the story.
Larrikin 2y ago
I've been using it for atleast five years on every single device. This does not happen. What did happen was that Google banned it from the Chrome store and this sounds like the exact kind of rumor they would spread if it actually does work to help poison your ad profile.
kjkjadksj 2y ago
Using an ad blocker already does that. I can’t even use reddit outside a private browsing session because the main session is somehow identified to be a bot already and I get the “whoa there partner…” page. Same thing with other sites amazon serves a ton of captchas, so does google.
surgical_fire 2y ago
Maybe I am lucky, but I have been using AdNauseam for many years, and never had this sort of issue.

by cj 2y ago

guerrilla 2y ago

This is kinda good if you think about it since it'd create more friction in using ad-laden websites. Those that aren't blnuts with ads will be more likely rewarded with your attention. Seems fair.

jcelerier 2y ago
Except then it happens on every cloudflare-protected website and you're banned from 60% of the web
- dsr_ 2y ago
  "banned from 60% of the web" suggests a terrible choke-point that everyone should avoid, regardless of convenience.
  - guerrilla 2y ago
    Agreed, still sounds like a win for me.
  - jcelerier 2y ago
    I wonder what you'll say the day you cannot connect to your bank's website anymore
    - dsr_ 2y ago
      On most of those days, I say "Don't banks realize that they are IT shops?" and suggest that they invest more in reliability.
      - jcelerier 2y ago
        which they do by going to cloudflare
- codedokode 2y ago
  I use tor and see captchas everywhere, some sites give me 403 and Youtube reguraly blocks the video and tells me to prove that I am not a bot by signing in (which I assume will block the Google Account as well). And in some cases any page on Youtube gives me 403 (and I don't even use an adblocker).
- vachina 2y ago
  You should do this on CGNAT IP for maximum effect. I want to watch cloud flare ban an entire userbase.

bogwog 2y ago

I've had this plugin for like 2 years I think (possibly more), and never had any issue with this. Neither Cloudflare's nor Google's non-interactive captchas have ever labeled me as a bot, and I've never been blocked from any site. That could be because I've been so thoroughly tracked throughout my life already that they can detect me from mouse movements/keystrokes alone, or that adnauseam's behavior isn't obviously bot-like, or that the trackers already account for it's behavior patterns and filter it out as noise. In any case, if it has the potential to cause advertisers grief, then I'm going to continue to use it.

notepad0x90 2y ago
yeah, what the parent commenter said makes little sense. Google search certainly won't do this and not a lot of people use google as a cdn (and even if they did I doubt there is an adword/adsense integration like that). Maybe if you click like every result from a google search. Most annoying ads aren't served by the top ad providers anyways, there are a lot of ad networks and ad delivery services out there. The #1 cause of that bot experience is vpns and proxies. I get that 3rd rate experience myself, but even then it is bad but not unusable bad.
prophesi 2y ago
I've been using it for so many years that I'm not sure when I started, but I've never had issues being labeled as a bot. What should actually be noted is that Google has rejected the plugin from their store for ages so it does seem to do some damage to adtech.
- surgical_fire 2y ago
  And this is probably the best argument in favor of AdNauseam. You can still install it on Chrome, but it is a manual process instead of just downloading from the Google Store.

geor9e 2y ago

I remember making an ad clicker. I got the idea after my Banjo-Kazooie website earned $12 in banner ad clicks organically. That check in the mail inspired 11-year-old me to create InfiniteMoneyGlitch.js. It chugged away all night. And when I woke up, I saw that I was promptly banned for life.

noman-land 2y ago
This made me laugh. Thanks for the story.

Larrikin 2y ago

I've been using it for atleast five years on every single device. This does not happen. What did happen was that Google banned it from the Chrome store and this sounds like the exact kind of rumor they would spread if it actually does work to help poison your ad profile.

kjkjadksj 2y ago

Using an ad blocker already does that. I can’t even use reddit outside a private browsing session because the main session is somehow identified to be a bot already and I get the “whoa there partner…” page. Same thing with other sites amazon serves a ton of captchas, so does google.

surgical_fire 2y ago

Maybe I am lucky, but I have been using AdNauseam for many years, and never had this sort of issue.