6 ms·

It doesn't surprise me the extent some people go to to generate revenue in what I must think is a small market. I am an adblock plus user and I must say it enh

by buugs 17y ago

It doesn't surprise me the extent some people go to to generate revenue in what I must think is a small market. I am an adblock plus user and I must say it enhances my browsing a noticeable amount that when I am using a different browser or no adblock I notice and although this is not ideal for websites that make money off of ads I really dislike them. Same can't be said for noscript I've stopped installing it on firefoxs I use and don't think I have it installed on any of my computers it just stopped being functional for me with firebug and adblock.

thorax 17y ago
> It doesn't surprise me the extent some people go to to generate revenue in what I must think is a small market. I agree there, but (and I'm in the minority here) it actually surprises me the extent the developers went to block ads in such a small corner situation. NoScript's behavior started out shady, but it feels like Adblock developers escalated it into some sort of weird war. A war against ads that appear only rarely and that only a small number of people probably noticed? Was that really necessary? It seems like you'd just uninstall NoScript if it was a major problem seeing their update pages. I mean, someone specifically installed NoScript and it could be serving ads from their local machine if it wanted, right? Do I really expect AdBlock to try to protect me from other extensions to such a level? I don't use either extension, but it bothers me that extension developers are turning this into a one-up-man-ship for something so minor in the scheme of things.
- Nwallins 17y ago
  > Adblock developers escalated it into some sort of weird war Some hyperbole for sure. Nothing gets around the fact that NoScript overstepped very clear and natural boundaries. If I had been the target, I would probably overreact as well. NoScript's behavior is nonetheless well worth pointing out and publicly shaming.
  - thorax 17y ago
    Not hyperbole-- it's very much in our interest for these guys to sort this out publicly before escalation. It's irresponsible to cause a technical fight on your users machines. Essentially what I said here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=590263 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=590263
- spkthed 17y ago
  I don't think they did overreact. Noscripts function is to block scripts, Adblocks function is to block ads. They found a popular plugin that attacks their functionality and they took steps to combat it. I'm glad they did so. The major point behind all of this is that extensions should be an island. You shouldn't be messing with the work of anyone else, especially for the reasons they had here.
  - thorax 17y ago
    Yeah, they overreacted. NoScript shouldn't have started out that way. AdBlock Plus shouldn't have forced the issue by making it even more of an "island" war. They should have started with this kind of blog in the first place before escalating on the technical side. Note that NoScript could easily change their scheme to move further into their island where AdBlock Plus would be forced to invade fully-- it's in no one's interest to escalate before diplomacy has been worked through. The last thing we need is the light-smattering of gray Firefox addons (who are at worst showing some adsense ads) to be forced to push things deeper into darker areas. Imagine if this was Symantec and Trend? Microsoft or Apple? Do you really want them to be fighting technically on your machine? In principle, it's just fundamentally bad for us to encourage that kind of behavior. They should use diplomacy, and shine lights in the dark areas before escalating technically. Yes, NoScript reacted to the escalation fiendishly. I just don't think it was responsible on AdBlock Plus's side to escalate technically on such a minor issue when diplomacy/communication is so much better for everyone.
    - spkthed 17y ago
      AdBlock Plus shouldn't have forced the issue by making it even more of an "island" war. They should have started with this kind of blog in the first place before escalating on the technical side. Okay, so, you do realize that Adblock faces spammers that are constantly trying to tweak the system to get through blockers like Adblock, right? It's a constant fight. How is what Noscript is doing any other than other spammers? Adblock is simply treating them as any other ad company that's trying to sneak ads in. Given that that is the reason people install Adblock, that's a perfectly appropriate response. The NoScript developers not only overreacted, they also acted incredibly against the wishes of the users installing both programs.

by buugs 17y ago

thorax 17y ago

> It doesn't surprise me the extent some people go to to generate revenue in what I must think is a small market. I agree there, but (and I'm in the minority here) it actually surprises me the extent the developers went to block ads in such a small corner situation. NoScript's behavior started out shady, but it feels like Adblock developers escalated it into some sort of weird war. A war against ads that appear only rarely and that only a small number of people probably noticed? Was that really necessary? It seems like you'd just uninstall NoScript if it was a major problem seeing their update pages. I mean, someone specifically installed NoScript and it could be serving ads from their local machine if it wanted, right? Do I really expect AdBlock to try to protect me from other extensions to such a level? I don't use either extension, but it bothers me that extension developers are turning this into a one-up-man-ship for something so minor in the scheme of things.

Nwallins 17y ago
> Adblock developers escalated it into some sort of weird war Some hyperbole for sure. Nothing gets around the fact that NoScript overstepped very clear and natural boundaries. If I had been the target, I would probably overreact as well. NoScript's behavior is nonetheless well worth pointing out and publicly shaming.
- thorax 17y ago
  Not hyperbole-- it's very much in our interest for these guys to sort this out publicly before escalation. It's irresponsible to cause a technical fight on your users machines. Essentially what I said here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=590263 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=590263
spkthed 17y ago
I don't think they did overreact. Noscripts function is to block scripts, Adblocks function is to block ads. They found a popular plugin that attacks their functionality and they took steps to combat it. I'm glad they did so. The major point behind all of this is that extensions should be an island. You shouldn't be messing with the work of anyone else, especially for the reasons they had here.
- thorax 17y ago
  Yeah, they overreacted. NoScript shouldn't have started out that way. AdBlock Plus shouldn't have forced the issue by making it even more of an "island" war. They should have started with this kind of blog in the first place before escalating on the technical side. Note that NoScript could easily change their scheme to move further into their island where AdBlock Plus would be forced to invade fully-- it's in no one's interest to escalate before diplomacy has been worked through. The last thing we need is the light-smattering of gray Firefox addons (who are at worst showing some adsense ads) to be forced to push things deeper into darker areas. Imagine if this was Symantec and Trend? Microsoft or Apple? Do you really want them to be fighting technically on your machine? In principle, it's just fundamentally bad for us to encourage that kind of behavior. They should use diplomacy, and shine lights in the dark areas before escalating technically. Yes, NoScript reacted to the escalation fiendishly. I just don't think it was responsible on AdBlock Plus's side to escalate technically on such a minor issue when diplomacy/communication is so much better for everyone.
  - spkthed 17y ago
    AdBlock Plus shouldn't have forced the issue by making it even more of an "island" war. They should have started with this kind of blog in the first place before escalating on the technical side. Okay, so, you do realize that Adblock faces spammers that are constantly trying to tweak the system to get through blockers like Adblock, right? It's a constant fight. How is what Noscript is doing any other than other spammers? Adblock is simply treating them as any other ad company that's trying to sneak ads in. Given that that is the reason people install Adblock, that's a perfectly appropriate response. The NoScript developers not only overreacted, they also acted incredibly against the wishes of the users installing both programs.