6 ms·

I really can't comprehend how aggressive ad blocking isn't the norm and at 90%+ at this point. Whenever someone just doesn't seem to care i'm concerned somethin

by jdprgm 1y ago

I really can't comprehend how aggressive ad blocking isn't the norm and at 90%+ at this point. Whenever someone just doesn't seem to care i'm concerned something is wrong with them. Youtube ad blocking was briefly not working for me recently and the volume of ads just while doing some chores which forced interrupting flow to go manually skip was astounding and enraging. It's like if I was at a quiet library and every 30 seconds someone randomly started screaming yet half the people have a reaction of "meh, doesn't bother me".

ryandrake 1y ago
I think people are just hopelessly used to their lives being saturated with ads. On TV, on the Internet, on radio, on billboards, at restaurants, at the airport, at the gas station, in stores, out of stores, almost every surface that could have an ad on it either does now or will one day. This saturation has been so complete and normalized that people are blind to it.
- BLKNSLVR 1y ago
  Indignant Fry: But not in dreams! No siree. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGgTy5YJ-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGgTy5YJ-g
- kelvinjps10 1y ago
  I wonder if they're effective at all at this point
- timw4mail 1y ago
  Ugghh, gas stations. I remember being able to use a pump without ads :(
  - joquarky 1y ago
    The second button down from the top right usually mutes them.
nananana9 1y ago
Most people don't use the internet at a whole - if you just stick to the 10 biggest apps/websites, the experience is acceptable without an adblocker. As for YouTube, blocking their ads is basically a part-time job at this point. On the desktop it breaks once a month, on Android NewPipe stopped working recently, and soon you won't be even able to install third party clients.
- ahofmann 1y ago
  I hear this often. My experience is totally different. I've installed ublock origin and I'm using Vivaldi as my blink engine wrapper. I've never seen a YouTube ad since years. I wonder why anyone has to fight for an ad free YouTube.
  - nananana9 1y ago
    They often release new "features" in a A/B fashion to a small percentage of users. It's most obvious with UI changes, where a portion of users will get a disfigured version of the site for a month, but it's probably true for their ad-blocking endeavors as well.
    - orthoxerox 1y ago
      I wonder if they're testing the new useless cinema mode on me because I'm running an adblocker.
      - OkayPhysicist 1y ago
        Is cinema mode new? Or did they change it somehow? Last I checked all it did was resize the video to take up most of the width of the browser. That was a pretty happy medium between "video for ants" and "take over my entire monitor in full screen mode"
  - discomrobertul8 1y ago
    > I wonder why anyone has to fight for an ad free YouTube. 90% of my YouTube use is on my smart TV. There's not really a straightforward way to block ads there. Used to be many years ago that a PiHole or similar would work, but they clued onto that years ago.
tonyedgecombe 1y ago
The solution for me was to not watch YouTube anymore, no ad-blocker required.
- EbNar 1y ago
  A wise man.
- sidrag22 1y ago
  i took the route of only allowing myself the youtube search bar, everything else is not displayed. if i want to watch a video its because im seeking it out, i dont get fed anything. hearing friends and family discuss youtube now, it sounds like they are being held prisoner. its snuck up on a lot of people, the slow push of shorts is what really made me realize youtube was becoming a major issue in my life, despite not seeing ads or anything.
port11 1y ago
It's a tragedy, when it comes to digital and specifically web literacy, but most people don't know they can. I sat on calls with teachers at my previous job and they had no extensions installed. My own sister (a milennial) wasn't aware. Before that, I was at a place where devs could join UX interviews; it was even worse given the generational divide: older folks couldn't even tell when a link was obviously malicious. We either install good browsers/extensions for our relatives, or let them be easy prey to the current state of affairs.
Kiro 1y ago
The fact that you don't just pay for YouTube Premium makes me think something is wrong with you. A Premium view gives much more money to the creator but I guess "just let me pay" is only relevant when you can't.
- soganess 1y ago
  > ...something is wrong with you. Are ad hominems back in vogue? (that is partially snide and partially serious. I feel like I've also/unconsciously been doing more of them recently.) Regardless, your argument surrounding the insult was well worn 20 years ago. And so was the first response; why would I pay into some nebulous system where I don't know how much is really going to whom? One of the nicer things about the hellscape that is the modern internet is the low-friction ability to pay creators directly. ...oh, I know why! Because if I pay Google, then Sundar pinky swears not to mercilessly track and monetize everything I do on youtube. \s
  - ninkendo 1y ago
    > > ...something is wrong with you. > Are ad hominems back in vogue? GP was simply mirroring the language of its parent post: > Whenever someone just doesn't seem to care i'm concerned something is wrong with them. Which IMO is indeed way out of line. Speaking for myself, no, nothings “wrong” with me. I watch YouTube enough that I consider it a valuable service. So do what you may think is insane: I pay for it. And it gives me no ads.
pjc50 1y ago
It can't survive as the norm. That would cause the economics of sites to collapse. We have to accept that the people clicking on the ads (and sometimes getting scammed) are funding the sites for the rest of us. Like gatcha games are F2P because of whales.
- ozgrakkurt 1y ago
  Change is good, maybe it will be better if there is no ads and sites monetize in a sensible way
- immibis 1y ago
  Then let them collapse. It isn't the end of the world. And then we can see what was formerly unable to grow because it was stuck under their canopy not receiving enough light.
const_cast 1y ago
> I really can't comprehend how aggressive ad blocking isn't the norm and at 90%+ at this point Mr Krabs voice: money! No but seriously, if the FBI is telling you to use an ad blocker, use a fucking ad blocker. My workplace doesn't allow ad blockers for security. Except ads are a MUCH bigger security concern and everyone knows it. I'm so sick and tired of everyone playing dumb and acting like it's fine. No, it's not fine. Its not okay that Google is serving you a phishing ad that drains your bank account. They should be held liable. Why is everyone acting like their balls have been chopped off? Do something about it. Minimum is run an aggressive ad blocker. MINIMUM!

by jdprgm 1y ago

ryandrake 1y ago

I think people are just hopelessly used to their lives being saturated with ads. On TV, on the Internet, on radio, on billboards, at restaurants, at the airport, at the gas station, in stores, out of stores, almost every surface that could have an ad on it either does now or will one day. This saturation has been so complete and normalized that people are blind to it.

BLKNSLVR 1y ago
Indignant Fry: But not in dreams! No siree. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGgTy5YJ-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGgTy5YJ-g
kelvinjps10 1y ago
I wonder if they're effective at all at this point
timw4mail 1y ago
Ugghh, gas stations. I remember being able to use a pump without ads :(
- joquarky 1y ago
  The second button down from the top right usually mutes them.

nananana9 1y ago

Most people don't use the internet at a whole - if you just stick to the 10 biggest apps/websites, the experience is acceptable without an adblocker. As for YouTube, blocking their ads is basically a part-time job at this point. On the desktop it breaks once a month, on Android NewPipe stopped working recently, and soon you won't be even able to install third party clients.

ahofmann 1y ago
I hear this often. My experience is totally different. I've installed ublock origin and I'm using Vivaldi as my blink engine wrapper. I've never seen a YouTube ad since years. I wonder why anyone has to fight for an ad free YouTube.
- nananana9 1y ago
  They often release new "features" in a A/B fashion to a small percentage of users. It's most obvious with UI changes, where a portion of users will get a disfigured version of the site for a month, but it's probably true for their ad-blocking endeavors as well.
  - orthoxerox 1y ago
    I wonder if they're testing the new useless cinema mode on me because I'm running an adblocker.
    - OkayPhysicist 1y ago
      Is cinema mode new? Or did they change it somehow? Last I checked all it did was resize the video to take up most of the width of the browser. That was a pretty happy medium between "video for ants" and "take over my entire monitor in full screen mode"
- discomrobertul8 1y ago
  > I wonder why anyone has to fight for an ad free YouTube. 90% of my YouTube use is on my smart TV. There's not really a straightforward way to block ads there. Used to be many years ago that a PiHole or similar would work, but they clued onto that years ago.

tonyedgecombe 1y ago

The solution for me was to not watch YouTube anymore, no ad-blocker required.

EbNar 1y ago
A wise man.
sidrag22 1y ago
i took the route of only allowing myself the youtube search bar, everything else is not displayed. if i want to watch a video its because im seeking it out, i dont get fed anything. hearing friends and family discuss youtube now, it sounds like they are being held prisoner. its snuck up on a lot of people, the slow push of shorts is what really made me realize youtube was becoming a major issue in my life, despite not seeing ads or anything.

port11 1y ago

It's a tragedy, when it comes to digital and specifically web literacy, but most people don't know they can. I sat on calls with teachers at my previous job and they had no extensions installed. My own sister (a milennial) wasn't aware. Before that, I was at a place where devs could join UX interviews; it was even worse given the generational divide: older folks couldn't even tell when a link was obviously malicious. We either install good browsers/extensions for our relatives, or let them be easy prey to the current state of affairs.

Kiro 1y ago

The fact that you don't just pay for YouTube Premium makes me think something is wrong with you. A Premium view gives much more money to the creator but I guess "just let me pay" is only relevant when you can't.

soganess 1y ago
> ...something is wrong with you. Are ad hominems back in vogue? (that is partially snide and partially serious. I feel like I've also/unconsciously been doing more of them recently.) Regardless, your argument surrounding the insult was well worn 20 years ago. And so was the first response; why would I pay into some nebulous system where I don't know how much is really going to whom? One of the nicer things about the hellscape that is the modern internet is the low-friction ability to pay creators directly. ...oh, I know why! Because if I pay Google, then Sundar pinky swears not to mercilessly track and monetize everything I do on youtube. \s
- ninkendo 1y ago
  > > ...something is wrong with you. > Are ad hominems back in vogue? GP was simply mirroring the language of its parent post: > Whenever someone just doesn't seem to care i'm concerned something is wrong with them. Which IMO is indeed way out of line. Speaking for myself, no, nothings “wrong” with me. I watch YouTube enough that I consider it a valuable service. So do what you may think is insane: I pay for it. And it gives me no ads.

pjc50 1y ago

It can't survive as the norm. That would cause the economics of sites to collapse. We have to accept that the people clicking on the ads (and sometimes getting scammed) are funding the sites for the rest of us. Like gatcha games are F2P because of whales.

ozgrakkurt 1y ago
Change is good, maybe it will be better if there is no ads and sites monetize in a sensible way
immibis 1y ago
Then let them collapse. It isn't the end of the world. And then we can see what was formerly unable to grow because it was stuck under their canopy not receiving enough light.

const_cast 1y ago

> I really can't comprehend how aggressive ad blocking isn't the norm and at 90%+ at this point Mr Krabs voice: money! No but seriously, if the FBI is telling you to use an ad blocker, use a fucking ad blocker. My workplace doesn't allow ad blockers for security. Except ads are a MUCH bigger security concern and everyone knows it. I'm so sick and tired of everyone playing dumb and acting like it's fine. No, it's not fine. Its not okay that Google is serving you a phishing ad that drains your bank account. They should be held liable. Why is everyone acting like their balls have been chopped off? Do something about it. Minimum is run an aggressive ad blocker. MINIMUM!