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I really think a kind of lightweight collective bargaining is the answer here. The way it works is simple. You install an ad blocker, let's call it QBlock. T

I really think a kind of lightweight collective bargaining is the answer here. The way it works is simple. You install an ad blocker, let's call it QBlock. Then, QBlock goes to the websites and the ad networks to negotiate. If you want to reach our 1M users with your ads, you have to play ball with us. e.g. * Keep ads to 15% of screen space * Don't autoplay audio * Don't exceed 15% of network traffic * etc. If you comply with our guidelines, we'll let your ads through. If you don't, tough. Of course this assumes there are users who would prefer an ad blocker that lets responsible advertisers through as opposed to one that doesn't, but I believe that enough people do that it could work.

e1ven 11y ago
That is very similar to what Adblock plus did. Many of the users were very unhappy, leading to forks of the project. This policy, for good or ill, annoyed many of the users: https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads Ultimately, it lead to the popular fork: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/
- emsy 11y ago
  There was a huge controversy behind the acceptable ads feature. I think an application like "QBlock" would still stand a chance, but it would have to be transparent and enabled for all web users.
  - pjc50 11y ago
    "Collective bargaining" and "all web users" are never, ever going to go together. That kind of consensus is just impossible.
  - joshuapants 11y ago
    I think the biggest part of the controversy was that people speculated it would become "pay us money so our users see your ads" more than "if your ads are acceptable we will unblock them"
eli 11y ago
So heavy pages are rewarded with more bandwidth for ads and lightweight pages punished? I think these ruled would be hard to get right and easy to get around for the malevolent webmaster. I'm with you on the auto playing audio though.
nothis 11y ago
>Of course this assumes there are users who would prefer an ad blocker that lets responsible advertisers through as opposed to one that doesn't, but I believe that enough people do that it could work. I have doubts, unless you get payed for it as a user.
jccalhoun 11y ago
The problem with things like that is people will try to game it. People would just put a bunch of gibberish at the bottom of a page to raise the total percentage of screen space. It reminds me of back in the pre-google days when sites would put tons of keywords in white text on a white background at the bottom of a page to try to rank higher.
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walterbell 11y ago
Alternately, an existing social network or reader like Flipboard could implement micropayments. At one time, https://flattr.com https://flattr.com had linked Twitter favorites to donations, before Twitter blocked them and never implemented an equivalent service. A monthly recurring "subscription"/donation could be micro-disbursed by the social network.
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e1ven 11y ago

That is very similar to what Adblock plus did. Many of the users were very unhappy, leading to forks of the project. This policy, for good or ill, annoyed many of the users: https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads Ultimately, it lead to the popular fork: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/adblock-edge/

emsy 11y ago
There was a huge controversy behind the acceptable ads feature. I think an application like "QBlock" would still stand a chance, but it would have to be transparent and enabled for all web users.
- pjc50 11y ago
  "Collective bargaining" and "all web users" are never, ever going to go together. That kind of consensus is just impossible.
- joshuapants 11y ago
  I think the biggest part of the controversy was that people speculated it would become "pay us money so our users see your ads" more than "if your ads are acceptable we will unblock them"

eli 11y ago

So heavy pages are rewarded with more bandwidth for ads and lightweight pages punished? I think these ruled would be hard to get right and easy to get around for the malevolent webmaster. I'm with you on the auto playing audio though.

nothis 11y ago

>Of course this assumes there are users who would prefer an ad blocker that lets responsible advertisers through as opposed to one that doesn't, but I believe that enough people do that it could work. I have doubts, unless you get payed for it as a user.

jccalhoun 11y ago

The problem with things like that is people will try to game it. People would just put a bunch of gibberish at the bottom of a page to raise the total percentage of screen space. It reminds me of back in the pre-google days when sites would put tons of keywords in white text on a white background at the bottom of a page to try to rank higher.

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walterbell 11y ago

Alternately, an existing social network or reader like Flipboard could implement micropayments. At one time, https://flattr.com https://flattr.com had linked Twitter favorites to donations, before Twitter blocked them and never implemented an equivalent service. A monthly recurring "subscription"/donation could be micro-disbursed by the social network.

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