4 ms·

Ads are psychological warfare. Adblock is digital self-defence.

by saubeidl 1y ago

lynx97 1y ago
[flagged]
- AndrewDucker 1y ago
  Installing an adblocker is trivially easy. I just checked, and it took me 5 clicks total, and typing in "Ad blocker" in the addons search.
  - eviks 1y ago
    Yes, especially if you ignore all the risks - does that solution you googled in 5 seconds steal your data after 5 clicks - it is easy
    - AndrewDucker 1y ago
      The risks of installing an add-on inside Firefox using their own Addon store? What's Google got to do with that?
      - lan321 1y ago
        I assume parent is linking at googling being absolutely ass nowadays with sponsored links leading to malware. Then again that's not an adblock issue but an ad issue.
      - eviks 1y ago
        I wasn't talking about your personal case where a tiny browser is relevant, but a huge search engine isn't (this is the same mistake that led you to believe it's trivially easy), but about the "non-elitist" general public
        AndrewDucker 1y ago
        It's just as easy in Chrome. And over 30% of the population use an ad blocker. So clearly not as hard as all that. https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users
  - lynx97 1y ago
    Tell that to my mom.
    - saubeidl 1y ago
      Be a good kid and install it for her.
- saubeidl 1y ago
  The solution is making adblockers more user-friendly, not making them illegal. Ads are categorically bad, it's not just about being "fraudulent". Their stated purpose is to manipulate people to buy things - things they didn't intend to buy before, wasting their money and our planets limited resources.
  - viraptor 1y ago
    Not even just buy specific products. There are massive campaigns to support whole industries which should've failed a long time ago. Every time Climate Town digs into the history of something like this https://youtu.be/NQiLly6Z1xs https://youtu.be/NQiLly6Z1xs it makes me angry about the advertisement as a profitable business.
    - lynx97 1y ago
      Dairy industry going for school kids isn't really US specific. We have the same weird stuff here in the middle of Europe. It used to be worse in the 80s, but the milk industry is still strong with ads and lobbying. I still remember noticing the contradiction as a child. "School milk" ads at the same time as my first biology teacher explained to us that cow milk isn't really a good idea. Those are the small moments where you learn, as a kid already, that the world is full of manipulation and dishonesty. One of the thausand cuts that tells you "public" society can't really be trusted.
- frereubu 1y ago
  That is a long way from the strongest possible interpretation of the comment you're replying to. What they're saying doesn't have any bearing on your thoughts - both can be true.
- otikik 1y ago
  Well not a lot of people are good at self-defense either.
  - lynx97 1y ago
    Thats pretty much my point. Imagine politicians going "The world is insecure, we can't do anything about it, please attend a self-defense course to fix it yourself."
    - priced_in 1y ago
      Well... You might find this read interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_Sta...
- HenryBemis 1y ago
  To paraphrase the words of the lady in the political scene: "keep your filthy hands off my computer." I will run on my PC whatever I want and you don't dictate it I want to run adblockers or not. I don't think anyone minds the ads. I think we all mind the tracking, data brokers, and that OUR data and OUR profile are mishandled by a bunch of greedy thugs. So yeah, cat and mouse till the end of time. I don't know about you/others, but I prefer the thousands of books from Gutenberg (and spend my remaining years reading from the ancients) that having some bunch of a-holes trading what I like and what I won't, without my knowledge of approval.
  - eviks 1y ago
    It's the opposite, ads are what everyone sees with their own eyes and wants to remove since they interrupt consumption. All the tracking is something a small % is even aware of.
  - captain_coffee 1y ago
    Ah no - literally everyone absolutely *DOES* mind the ads, let's get this clear. Not sure if you're trolling or not.
  - account42 1y ago
    No, I mind the ads. I mind the online banner ads. I mind the ads inserted into videos from hosting platforms or from creators. I mind the ads on physical billboards. I mind the ads people wear. I want none of them.
- viraptor 1y ago
  > only a select few are capable of installing and maintaining an adblocker. You mean the select few 31% ? https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users There's no maintenance either.
- hansmayer 1y ago
  Elitist? I beg your pardon? It is literally a couple of clicks and some fuddling with the settings.
- dismalaf 1y ago
  You can always just use a browser that has one built in...
  - pixxel 1y ago
    [dead]
- _Algernon_ 1y ago
  It's not elitist to expect people to be able to perform a google search and a couple of clicks to install an ad blocker. This level of paternalism towards adults is insulting.
throwaway290 1y ago
[flagged]
- dbspin 1y ago
  Modern advertising was invented by Edward Bernays in his book 'Propaganda'. It is literally and specifically designed to manipulate beliefs and behaviour. Broadcast TV was created as content to package advertising, not the other way around. The social impact of advertising is enormous - primarily in reenforcing the helplessness and delusion of inevitably around disengaged consumer capitalism that Mark Fisher referred to as Capitalist Realism. It's pure, constant, unending manipulation - in public spaces, in private spaces embedded in in every drop of media in both explicit and disguised forms. It negates our ability to trust one another and what we see and read. It makes the worst and least democratic aspects of modernity seem eternal and unchangeable. It creates awful incentives and enforces disingenuousness. Advertising is a psychic poison.
  - throwaway290 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - saubeidl 1y ago
      > Manipulating beliefs and behavior is propaganda. What do you think "changing brand perception and driving purchases" is, other than a euphemism for the above?
      - throwaway290 1y ago
        If you can't differentiate between things like "you should hate another country" (propaganda) vs things like "you should know about this product" (ad), I don't know what to tell you.
        saubeidl 1y ago
        One is nationalist propaganda, the other is capitalist propaganda. Both are propaganda.
dang 1y ago
"Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Ads are psychological warfare. Adblock is digital self-defence.

lynx97 1y ago

[flagged]

AndrewDucker 1y ago
Installing an adblocker is trivially easy. I just checked, and it took me 5 clicks total, and typing in "Ad blocker" in the addons search.
- eviks 1y ago
  Yes, especially if you ignore all the risks - does that solution you googled in 5 seconds steal your data after 5 clicks - it is easy
  - AndrewDucker 1y ago
    The risks of installing an add-on inside Firefox using their own Addon store? What's Google got to do with that?
    - lan321 1y ago
      I assume parent is linking at googling being absolutely ass nowadays with sponsored links leading to malware. Then again that's not an adblock issue but an ad issue.
    - eviks 1y ago
      I wasn't talking about your personal case where a tiny browser is relevant, but a huge search engine isn't (this is the same mistake that led you to believe it's trivially easy), but about the "non-elitist" general public
      - AndrewDucker 1y ago
        It's just as easy in Chrome. And over 30% of the population use an ad blocker. So clearly not as hard as all that. https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users
- lynx97 1y ago
  Tell that to my mom.
  - saubeidl 1y ago
    Be a good kid and install it for her.
saubeidl 1y ago
The solution is making adblockers more user-friendly, not making them illegal. Ads are categorically bad, it's not just about being "fraudulent". Their stated purpose is to manipulate people to buy things - things they didn't intend to buy before, wasting their money and our planets limited resources.
- viraptor 1y ago
  Not even just buy specific products. There are massive campaigns to support whole industries which should've failed a long time ago. Every time Climate Town digs into the history of something like this https://youtu.be/NQiLly6Z1xs https://youtu.be/NQiLly6Z1xs it makes me angry about the advertisement as a profitable business.
  - lynx97 1y ago
    Dairy industry going for school kids isn't really US specific. We have the same weird stuff here in the middle of Europe. It used to be worse in the 80s, but the milk industry is still strong with ads and lobbying. I still remember noticing the contradiction as a child. "School milk" ads at the same time as my first biology teacher explained to us that cow milk isn't really a good idea. Those are the small moments where you learn, as a kid already, that the world is full of manipulation and dishonesty. One of the thausand cuts that tells you "public" society can't really be trusted.
frereubu 1y ago
That is a long way from the strongest possible interpretation of the comment you're replying to. What they're saying doesn't have any bearing on your thoughts - both can be true.
otikik 1y ago
Well not a lot of people are good at self-defense either.
- lynx97 1y ago
  Thats pretty much my point. Imagine politicians going "The world is insecure, we can't do anything about it, please attend a self-defense course to fix it yourself."
  - priced_in 1y ago
    Well... You might find this read interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_Sta...
HenryBemis 1y ago
To paraphrase the words of the lady in the political scene: "keep your filthy hands off my computer." I will run on my PC whatever I want and you don't dictate it I want to run adblockers or not. I don't think anyone minds the ads. I think we all mind the tracking, data brokers, and that OUR data and OUR profile are mishandled by a bunch of greedy thugs. So yeah, cat and mouse till the end of time. I don't know about you/others, but I prefer the thousands of books from Gutenberg (and spend my remaining years reading from the ancients) that having some bunch of a-holes trading what I like and what I won't, without my knowledge of approval.
- eviks 1y ago
  It's the opposite, ads are what everyone sees with their own eyes and wants to remove since they interrupt consumption. All the tracking is something a small % is even aware of.
- captain_coffee 1y ago
  Ah no - literally everyone absolutely *DOES* mind the ads, let's get this clear. Not sure if you're trolling or not.
- account42 1y ago
  No, I mind the ads. I mind the online banner ads. I mind the ads inserted into videos from hosting platforms or from creators. I mind the ads on physical billboards. I mind the ads people wear. I want none of them.
viraptor 1y ago
> only a select few are capable of installing and maintaining an adblocker. You mean the select few 31% ? https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users https://backlinko.com/ad-blockers-users There's no maintenance either.
hansmayer 1y ago
Elitist? I beg your pardon? It is literally a couple of clicks and some fuddling with the settings.
dismalaf 1y ago
You can always just use a browser that has one built in...
- pixxel 1y ago
  [dead]
_Algernon_ 1y ago
It's not elitist to expect people to be able to perform a google search and a couple of clicks to install an ad blocker. This level of paternalism towards adults is insulting.

throwaway290 1y ago

[flagged]

dbspin 1y ago
Modern advertising was invented by Edward Bernays in his book 'Propaganda'. It is literally and specifically designed to manipulate beliefs and behaviour. Broadcast TV was created as content to package advertising, not the other way around. The social impact of advertising is enormous - primarily in reenforcing the helplessness and delusion of inevitably around disengaged consumer capitalism that Mark Fisher referred to as Capitalist Realism. It's pure, constant, unending manipulation - in public spaces, in private spaces embedded in in every drop of media in both explicit and disguised forms. It negates our ability to trust one another and what we see and read. It makes the worst and least democratic aspects of modernity seem eternal and unchangeable. It creates awful incentives and enforces disingenuousness. Advertising is a psychic poison.
- throwaway290 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - saubeidl 1y ago
    > Manipulating beliefs and behavior is propaganda. What do you think "changing brand perception and driving purchases" is, other than a euphemism for the above?
    - throwaway290 1y ago
      If you can't differentiate between things like "you should hate another country" (propaganda) vs things like "you should know about this product" (ad), I don't know what to tell you.
      - saubeidl 1y ago
        One is nationalist propaganda, the other is capitalist propaganda. Both are propaganda.

dang 1y ago

"Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html