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I think it became disastrous for Google when they made the decision to serve image ads, and even worse: animated ads. This means as a user you can no longer whi

by Udo 11y ago

I think it became disastrous for Google when they made the decision to serve image ads, and even worse: animated ads. This means as a user you can no longer whitelist Google ads with the expectation they'll stick to unobtrusive text-only ads. But there's also a deeper problem. In my opinion, when you install an ad blocker, you're already exceptionally unlikely to click an ad on purpose.

corin_ 11y ago
> In my opinion, when you install an ad blocker, you're already exceptionally unlikely to click an ad on purpose. I don't think that's the case, I think it's just a lie told by people working in ad sales Nobody installs ad block because they realised they weren't interested in any of the adverts. They're doing it because some adverts are annoying or distracting or browser intensive or privacy violating or... None of those things make a person less likely to click on an advert if they see one that is both reasonably presented and relevant to their interests. Of course there are people who detest adverts, and in those people there's obviously a (close to 100% I presume) crossover between "has adblock" and "wouldn't click anyway", but I think those people are a small minority of people blocking ads.
- Udo 11y ago
  > I don't think that's the case, I think it's just a lie told by people working in ad sales I don't work in ad sales, and I'm not lying. Yes, ads are beyond annoying and they're making some websites borderline unusable - but the reason why ads don't work lies in the fact that the number of ads I ever clicked on purpose could probably be counted on one hand, over my entire lifetime. It may well be the case that I'm exceptional, but on the off chance I'm not: advertisers were wasting their dollars on showing me stuff since way before I even knew what an ad blocker was.
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    I'm close to your one-handed-click-count 'niche'. I'm really not a commercial target. I kinda despise the actual idea of advertising. It's in your face, takes a lot of resources, distract and also rarely on point. I don't think I would ever install an adblocker if it was 80% small text ads (like Google off side ads), or a non invasive static image (granted it's not taking more space than the content I was about to read). Could website function with this kind only ? Also, I really wonder what it looks like for a user to click on an ad... ps: I didn't count the few times I did click on them voluntarily just to give some prints to a website in need.
  - teddyuk 11y ago
    i'm like you, the only time I had clicked an ad has been by accident and I have hit back straight away.
    - geomark 11y ago
      Same here. Never clicked an ad intentionally. Not on a website or on Google's search results pages. I guess that's why it seems to me that all the huffing and puffing about the evils of ad blockers is nonsense, because ad blocker or not I'm not going to click an ad. I'm also going to avert my eyes if I see a display ad, so brand building with display ads is also lost on me. And I have never purchased music that includes DRM, except a DVD by accident one time and I returned it for a refund when I discovered it was infected with DRM. I guess I'm just a really terrible consumer and not part of anybody's target market.
  - dazc 11y ago
    It may well be the case that I'm exceptional You're not alone. I use adblocker on sites where the number and kind of ads is annoying. On the sites I don't block I have never clicked an ad intentionally.
  - edwintorok 11y ago
    Ads in emails from webshops that I purchased from in the past sometimes work, as long as: they don't send me such emails too frequently (i.e. not more than once a week), and it is a shop from where I've actually purchased something in the past and not just spam. Ads on the web (and especially in mobile apps) usually have the reverse effect: it drives me away from using that site or application or to install an adblocker, and the ads I do see I use as a guidance on what NOT to buy.
  - qu4z-2 11y ago
    The only time I click ads is those google ads at the top of the results, when it's an ad for literally the thing I googled. Otherwise I follow a policy of "If it didn't occur to me that I want it, I don't want it."
  - corin_ 11y ago
    If you read the rest of my comment you'd see that I already mentioned people like you exist. For as long as advertising has existed, the people doing it have understood that not 100% of people seeing it will "convert". Regardless of whether you want someone to click online or if it's a TV ad or whatever, the fact that most views of it are going to be wasted views is known and built into the expectations. The point is there are lots of people who block adverts because of how obtrusive they often are online, but who if they didn't block them, would be of value to the advertisers. (Keep in mind value doesn't have to be a click, there's also brand awareness, (sub/)conscious retention of information about an advertised product, etc.) Maybe you're not one of those people.
    - Udo 11y ago
      > If you read the rest of my comment you'd see that I already mentioned people like you exist. I do apologize if I misunderstood you, but re-reading your comment and mine I still don't believe that's really the case. Either people like me are a lie told by the ad industry or we do exist. It's unlikely both of these are true at the same time. I also object to the rest of your original comment, which literally boils down to "Nobody installs ad block because they realised they weren't interested in any of the adverts", I just didn't address it explicitly because it would have been redundant. But if you are looking for a lie told by people selling ads, that sentence would make a better candidate.
      - corin_ 11y ago
        First, you're right that saying nobody was wrong - but I think very few people. Even you, do you really object to advertising, or just the way it's done online? If you get on a train do you hate the fact that there are adverts on there subsidizing the cost of the service? My guess is you don't care as you just ignore them. But that wasn't actually the point I was trying to make. My response to "when you install an ad blocker, you're already exceptionally unlikely to click an ad on purpose" isn't that nobody exists like that, but that (in my opinion a massive majority) are doing it because of bad adverts, not because they're anti-adverts. And my maning about the lie told by the industry is that when a company spending ad money says "what about all the people on your website we see using adblock?" Mr Ad Sales' answer is often (that I've witnessed) to say that those are people who never would have given your advert the time of day in the first place, so it's irrelevant whether they see it or not. (Of course now days with better tracking and better competition, it's more common to see adblock detected and not charged as an impression.)
- vultour 11y ago
  I honestly never clicked on any ads, and very probably never will. If I need something I find it in eshops I know, not by clicking on sketchy ads.
cronjobber 11y ago
> you're already exceptionally unlikely to click an ad on purpose. I hate distracting blinkety-blink and I hate the tracking and spying aspect of the whole sordid business model, so I adblock. But I can't say I'm immune to the ads I do see.

by Udo 11y ago

corin_ 11y ago

> In my opinion, when you install an ad blocker, you're already exceptionally unlikely to click an ad on purpose. I don't think that's the case, I think it's just a lie told by people working in ad sales Nobody installs ad block because they realised they weren't interested in any of the adverts. They're doing it because some adverts are annoying or distracting or browser intensive or privacy violating or... None of those things make a person less likely to click on an advert if they see one that is both reasonably presented and relevant to their interests. Of course there are people who detest adverts, and in those people there's obviously a (close to 100% I presume) crossover between "has adblock" and "wouldn't click anyway", but I think those people are a small minority of people blocking ads.

Udo 11y ago
> I don't think that's the case, I think it's just a lie told by people working in ad sales I don't work in ad sales, and I'm not lying. Yes, ads are beyond annoying and they're making some websites borderline unusable - but the reason why ads don't work lies in the fact that the number of ads I ever clicked on purpose could probably be counted on one hand, over my entire lifetime. It may well be the case that I'm exceptional, but on the off chance I'm not: advertisers were wasting their dollars on showing me stuff since way before I even knew what an ad blocker was.
- agumonkey 11y ago
  I'm close to your one-handed-click-count 'niche'. I'm really not a commercial target. I kinda despise the actual idea of advertising. It's in your face, takes a lot of resources, distract and also rarely on point. I don't think I would ever install an adblocker if it was 80% small text ads (like Google off side ads), or a non invasive static image (granted it's not taking more space than the content I was about to read). Could website function with this kind only ? Also, I really wonder what it looks like for a user to click on an ad... ps: I didn't count the few times I did click on them voluntarily just to give some prints to a website in need.
- teddyuk 11y ago
  i'm like you, the only time I had clicked an ad has been by accident and I have hit back straight away.
  - geomark 11y ago
    Same here. Never clicked an ad intentionally. Not on a website or on Google's search results pages. I guess that's why it seems to me that all the huffing and puffing about the evils of ad blockers is nonsense, because ad blocker or not I'm not going to click an ad. I'm also going to avert my eyes if I see a display ad, so brand building with display ads is also lost on me. And I have never purchased music that includes DRM, except a DVD by accident one time and I returned it for a refund when I discovered it was infected with DRM. I guess I'm just a really terrible consumer and not part of anybody's target market.
- dazc 11y ago
  It may well be the case that I'm exceptional You're not alone. I use adblocker on sites where the number and kind of ads is annoying. On the sites I don't block I have never clicked an ad intentionally.
- edwintorok 11y ago
  Ads in emails from webshops that I purchased from in the past sometimes work, as long as: they don't send me such emails too frequently (i.e. not more than once a week), and it is a shop from where I've actually purchased something in the past and not just spam. Ads on the web (and especially in mobile apps) usually have the reverse effect: it drives me away from using that site or application or to install an adblocker, and the ads I do see I use as a guidance on what NOT to buy.
- qu4z-2 11y ago
  The only time I click ads is those google ads at the top of the results, when it's an ad for literally the thing I googled. Otherwise I follow a policy of "If it didn't occur to me that I want it, I don't want it."
- corin_ 11y ago
  If you read the rest of my comment you'd see that I already mentioned people like you exist. For as long as advertising has existed, the people doing it have understood that not 100% of people seeing it will "convert". Regardless of whether you want someone to click online or if it's a TV ad or whatever, the fact that most views of it are going to be wasted views is known and built into the expectations. The point is there are lots of people who block adverts because of how obtrusive they often are online, but who if they didn't block them, would be of value to the advertisers. (Keep in mind value doesn't have to be a click, there's also brand awareness, (sub/)conscious retention of information about an advertised product, etc.) Maybe you're not one of those people.
  - Udo 11y ago
    > If you read the rest of my comment you'd see that I already mentioned people like you exist. I do apologize if I misunderstood you, but re-reading your comment and mine I still don't believe that's really the case. Either people like me are a lie told by the ad industry or we do exist. It's unlikely both of these are true at the same time. I also object to the rest of your original comment, which literally boils down to "Nobody installs ad block because they realised they weren't interested in any of the adverts", I just didn't address it explicitly because it would have been redundant. But if you are looking for a lie told by people selling ads, that sentence would make a better candidate.
    - corin_ 11y ago
      First, you're right that saying nobody was wrong - but I think very few people. Even you, do you really object to advertising, or just the way it's done online? If you get on a train do you hate the fact that there are adverts on there subsidizing the cost of the service? My guess is you don't care as you just ignore them. But that wasn't actually the point I was trying to make. My response to "when you install an ad blocker, you're already exceptionally unlikely to click an ad on purpose" isn't that nobody exists like that, but that (in my opinion a massive majority) are doing it because of bad adverts, not because they're anti-adverts. And my maning about the lie told by the industry is that when a company spending ad money says "what about all the people on your website we see using adblock?" Mr Ad Sales' answer is often (that I've witnessed) to say that those are people who never would have given your advert the time of day in the first place, so it's irrelevant whether they see it or not. (Of course now days with better tracking and better competition, it's more common to see adblock detected and not charged as an impression.)
vultour 11y ago
I honestly never clicked on any ads, and very probably never will. If I need something I find it in eshops I know, not by clicking on sketchy ads.

cronjobber 11y ago

> you're already exceptionally unlikely to click an ad on purpose. I hate distracting blinkety-blink and I hate the tracking and spying aspect of the whole sordid business model, so I adblock. But I can't say I'm immune to the ads I do see.