4 ms·

Actually, the main reason I block ads is not because I can't stand ads, but because I don't want to be tracked and traced around the web, and also it turns out

by _sabe_ 13y ago

Actually, the main reason I block ads is not because I can't stand ads, but because I don't want to be tracked and traced around the web, and also it turns out that as most of this ad-systems are based on extensive javascript and flash, blocking them makes most news sites load so much faster. There's a very easy way to solve this problem for websites, and that is to host the ads from the main site. That would make it harder to track you across the web, but also harder for you to block content without braking the functionality of the page. This in combination with how ad networks like The Deck works, with beautiful exclusive ads per page is the way to go.

hrkristian 13y ago
I would be completely fine with ads on my main sites if they had some form of quality control over AdSense and the likes, or even better yet hosted their own ads like you said, but... tasteful. I hate flashing ads, I loathe sound, I'm irritated to no end by ads made to look like news articles or any ad that breaks good page formatting for the sake of exposure. However, unless browsers add ad-blockers by default I doubt we'll be seeing a future where a majority of internet users use it.
- wutbrodo 13y ago
  I haven't seen a flashing ad or a sound ad on anything but shady sites in _ages_. Garbage like Taboola which is all scam pitches designed to look like "Related Articles" is a different matter, but I've just blocked them directly in /etc/hosts.
- pagefair 13y ago
  We completely agree that loud, flashing, and pop up ads are intrusive and have no place on the internet. As far as the majority of the internet, ad blocking extensions are getting easier and easier to use with a variety of browsers. AdBlock Plus reports 50k downloads per day on Chrome alone and 100k downloads per day on Firefox. Adblock Plus is also the most downloaded extension of all time. The issue seems to have already become mainstream. If you're interested, you can read more about adblocking in our new report here- http://downloads.pagefair.com/reports/the_rise_of_adblocking.pdf http://downloads.pagefair.com/reports/the_rise_of_adblocking...
calbear81 13y ago
"There's a very easy way to solve this problem for websites, and that is to host the ads from the main site." It's not that simple. Almost all display ads are served through 3rd party ad servers like Doubleclick, Zedo, etc. because advertisers want the ability to: - Control and change what ads they are serving without contacting hundreds or thousands of different site owners and coordinating mass creative changes. This is why ad networks exist. This includes controlling which creative gets served and optimizing for serving the best creative (ad + copy) when they figure things out. - Account for frequency and reach correctly. By having a 3rd party serve your ads, you have insight across the web by "user" so you can cap the frequency. I don't want to hit you with 100 impressions per day so having global knowledge of how many times you've seen the ad helps eliminate waste. - Account for impression based conversions / goals. You can correlate goal conversions on your own site with impressions and clicks so you can see if people who saw your ads but did not click behave differently than people who did click. This also gives you the ability to do multi-channel attribution so you can detect if impressions impact your SEM campaigns or do they increase direct-type-in traffic to your site, etc.
- _sabe_ 13y ago
  I do understand this, but then again you can't both have the cake and eat it too. At the end of the day, maybe it's better to have ads at all if the alternative is getting blocked by users.
- corin_ 13y ago
  What about if a subdomain of the real website was pointed at the ad network, e.g. adverts on this site would be served from doubleclick.ycombinator.com Every website would serve from a different domain, which prevents (? helps prevent?) tracking, but advertisers like myself can still run it through our own network and see valid stats.
  - bebna 13y ago
    Easy to block. Needs to serve all other non-html static files too, to be uneasy to block at mass.

by _sabe_ 13y ago

hrkristian 13y ago

I would be completely fine with ads on my main sites if they had some form of quality control over AdSense and the likes, or even better yet hosted their own ads like you said, but... tasteful. I hate flashing ads, I loathe sound, I'm irritated to no end by ads made to look like news articles or any ad that breaks good page formatting for the sake of exposure. However, unless browsers add ad-blockers by default I doubt we'll be seeing a future where a majority of internet users use it.

wutbrodo 13y ago
I haven't seen a flashing ad or a sound ad on anything but shady sites in _ages_. Garbage like Taboola which is all scam pitches designed to look like "Related Articles" is a different matter, but I've just blocked them directly in /etc/hosts.
pagefair 13y ago
We completely agree that loud, flashing, and pop up ads are intrusive and have no place on the internet. As far as the majority of the internet, ad blocking extensions are getting easier and easier to use with a variety of browsers. AdBlock Plus reports 50k downloads per day on Chrome alone and 100k downloads per day on Firefox. Adblock Plus is also the most downloaded extension of all time. The issue seems to have already become mainstream. If you're interested, you can read more about adblocking in our new report here- http://downloads.pagefair.com/reports/the_rise_of_adblocking.pdf http://downloads.pagefair.com/reports/the_rise_of_adblocking...

calbear81 13y ago

"There's a very easy way to solve this problem for websites, and that is to host the ads from the main site." It's not that simple. Almost all display ads are served through 3rd party ad servers like Doubleclick, Zedo, etc. because advertisers want the ability to: - Control and change what ads they are serving without contacting hundreds or thousands of different site owners and coordinating mass creative changes. This is why ad networks exist. This includes controlling which creative gets served and optimizing for serving the best creative (ad + copy) when they figure things out. - Account for frequency and reach correctly. By having a 3rd party serve your ads, you have insight across the web by "user" so you can cap the frequency. I don't want to hit you with 100 impressions per day so having global knowledge of how many times you've seen the ad helps eliminate waste. - Account for impression based conversions / goals. You can correlate goal conversions on your own site with impressions and clicks so you can see if people who saw your ads but did not click behave differently than people who did click. This also gives you the ability to do multi-channel attribution so you can detect if impressions impact your SEM campaigns or do they increase direct-type-in traffic to your site, etc.

_sabe_ 13y ago
I do understand this, but then again you can't both have the cake and eat it too. At the end of the day, maybe it's better to have ads at all if the alternative is getting blocked by users.
corin_ 13y ago
What about if a subdomain of the real website was pointed at the ad network, e.g. adverts on this site would be served from doubleclick.ycombinator.com Every website would serve from a different domain, which prevents (? helps prevent?) tracking, but advertisers like myself can still run it through our own network and see valid stats.
- bebna 13y ago
  Easy to block. Needs to serve all other non-html static files too, to be uneasy to block at mass.