4 ms·

It wouldn't take much to put a big stop to that. Imagine if adblock came installed by default in 3.2!

by trapper 18y ago

jskopek 18y ago
That an unlikely scenario. Pop-up ad blockers became popular because they eliminated a genuinely obtrusive method of advertising. Current online advertising is a pretty good compromise of unobtrusive vs. self supportive. If a company like firefox implemented ad blocking by default, they'd be doing the web a huge favor. Unlike pop-up blocking, firefox would be killing the only revenue sources for the majority of today's popular websites. Sure, it's easy to say that more companies should focus on getting 'real' business models, but a web in which _every_ professional web site required a subscription fee would be totally impractical. It will be very cool, however, to see how the micropayments industry challenges advertising. While it's unlikely CNN will every jump on it, what if some of the more adventurous sites ditched advertising in favor of a donation box model?
- trapper 18y ago
  I agree it's unlikely, especially as that would likely kill firefox's revenue stream. I have often thought that a plugin like trackmenot that clicks random ads would be another thing that could destroy advertising. The thing is, people thought ad-skipping technology was unlikely until tivo came out and made it usable. I don't imagine it will be too long before someone comes out and does this, and if they execute well, it would be devastating to the industry.
  - axod 18y ago
    sigh no it wouldn't. AdBlock blocks some adverts. It's useless blocking a large amount of adverts. If it comes installed, adverts will all just change and it'll be rendered useless. You can't draw parallels with TiVo. Video adverts prevent you getting to see the content you want. You have to wait. Internet advertising does not do this. It's just additional information.
    - trapper 18y ago
      So you are saying it's impossible? I don't see it. There are always methods to block ads, e.g. user-classification, preloading of content, alteration of flash, domain tracing... Edit: This could be thought of like an analogy to spyware detectors, i.e. ad-aware. They have a ton of custom detectors, which are continually updated to classify spyware. I would certainly pay for a commercial free web.
      - axod 18y ago
        And there are always brain dead simple methods to detect ad blocking, and get past it. I'd rather not have an arms race, but if there is one, it's pretty obvious who would win.
        trapper 18y ago
        Sorry. I disagree entirely [assuming you think advertisers would win]. It would be like spyware vs spyware blocking, viruses vs virus scanners. Except that legit businesses couldn't do anything illegal, and thus far easier to manage. And, combined with a better managed, ugc version of http://adblockplus.org/en/subscriptions http://adblockplus.org/en/subscriptions would certainly be unstoppable.
        axod 18y ago
        Ok let's take a simple example. Website, where all outgoing links go thru jump script. Some are affiliate links. Typical example. How do you block those ads? How do you know it's an ad and not just a link. The difference between a link and ad can be nothing to observers. (obviously intrusive ads are another matter)
        trapper 18y ago
        User generated content. Users classify links as ads after getting fooled, preventing other users from seeing it. You could also scan all outbound links and check to see if content (actual content) is the same without the parameters (e.g. my.affiliate.com/?affid=134 == my.affiliate.com or aff123.affiliate.com == www.affiliate.com) simply based on a few heuristics. I am thinking something like a combination of opendns + adblock + digg would work in a nice slick package so that grandmas can use it.

It wouldn't take much to put a big stop to that. Imagine if adblock came installed by default in 3.2!

by trapper 18y ago

It wouldn't take much to put a big stop to that. Imagine if adblock came installed by default in 3.2!

That an unlikely scenario. Pop-up ad blockers became popular because they eliminated a genuinely obtrusive method of advertising. Current online advertising is a pretty good compromise of unobtrusive vs. self supportive. If a company like firefox implemented ad blocking by default, they'd be doing the web a huge favor. Unlike pop-up blocking, firefox would be killing the only revenue sources for the majority of today's popular websites. Sure, it's easy to say that more companies should focus on getting 'real' business models, but a web in which _every_ professional web site required a subscription fee would be totally impractical. It will be very cool, however, to see how the micropayments industry challenges advertising. While it's unlikely CNN will every jump on it, what if some of the more adventurous sites ditched advertising in favor of a donation box model?

trapper 18y ago
I agree it's unlikely, especially as that would likely kill firefox's revenue stream. I have often thought that a plugin like trackmenot that clicks random ads would be another thing that could destroy advertising. The thing is, people thought ad-skipping technology was unlikely until tivo came out and made it usable. I don't imagine it will be too long before someone comes out and does this, and if they execute well, it would be devastating to the industry.
- axod 18y ago
  sigh no it wouldn't. AdBlock blocks some adverts. It's useless blocking a large amount of adverts. If it comes installed, adverts will all just change and it'll be rendered useless. You can't draw parallels with TiVo. Video adverts prevent you getting to see the content you want. You have to wait. Internet advertising does not do this. It's just additional information.
  - trapper 18y ago
    So you are saying it's impossible? I don't see it. There are always methods to block ads, e.g. user-classification, preloading of content, alteration of flash, domain tracing... Edit: This could be thought of like an analogy to spyware detectors, i.e. ad-aware. They have a ton of custom detectors, which are continually updated to classify spyware. I would certainly pay for a commercial free web.
    - axod 18y ago
      And there are always brain dead simple methods to detect ad blocking, and get past it. I'd rather not have an arms race, but if there is one, it's pretty obvious who would win.
      - trapper 18y ago
        Sorry. I disagree entirely [assuming you think advertisers would win]. It would be like spyware vs spyware blocking, viruses vs virus scanners. Except that legit businesses couldn't do anything illegal, and thus far easier to manage. And, combined with a better managed, ugc version of http://adblockplus.org/en/subscriptions http://adblockplus.org/en/subscriptions would certainly be unstoppable.
        axod 18y ago
        Ok let's take a simple example. Website, where all outgoing links go thru jump script. Some are affiliate links. Typical example. How do you block those ads? How do you know it's an ad and not just a link. The difference between a link and ad can be nothing to observers. (obviously intrusive ads are another matter)
        trapper 18y ago
        User generated content. Users classify links as ads after getting fooled, preventing other users from seeing it. You could also scan all outbound links and check to see if content (actual content) is the same without the parameters (e.g. my.affiliate.com/?affid=134 == my.affiliate.com or aff123.affiliate.com == www.affiliate.com) simply based on a few heuristics. I am thinking something like a combination of opendns + adblock + digg would work in a nice slick package so that grandmas can use it.