adblock plus, good or bad for the internet?

[treos]

i'm just curious what the general opinion around here might be. for me, as much as i browse the internet and as many sites as i visit, theres at least 3 reasons i use it.

1. i don't want to let ad companies use cookies or who knows how many other underhanded methods to gather and sell information on me so they can send even more ads my way. (that'd be an obvious reason to use it)
2. really, i visit over 10 different sites a day usually, do you really think i want to risk the ad/spy/malware that could be lurking anywhere in the ads? after switching to AVG antivirus this latest mess, a bad download i did, it cleared up the whole mess (15 risks i believe it was with all but 2 being medium/high risk). who knows how many risks could potentially come up daily due to ads?
and 3. i just plain don't like ads, i find commercials on tv to be increasingly idiotic as time goes on and new ones appear and ads online are just all the more common and annoying.

that said, then theres the rather dumb argument that adblockers like adblock plus are killing the internet, a theory a linux using friend of mine believes to be true which i find highly doubt to be true in this case, most of what i've seen about that argument when googling around about it revolves mainly around peoples personal blogs none of which are very reliable sources of info in this case (most aren't actual info but rather opinions).

so what do you guys think? good or bad, or is it really going to "kill the internet" which i doubt the internet losing ads is gonna do.

[Ktiger41]

IMO I don't think it's bad for the internet at all, it's realistically bad for those who happen to advertise on the internet and those who rely on the advertisements. Also, there are ways around adblock. Some sites have plugins to detect things like adblock and make you disable it before you can do anything on their site.

[Josh]

IMO I don't think it's bad for the internet at all, it's realistically bad for those who happen to advertise on the internet and those who rely on the advertisements. Also, there are ways around adblock. Some sites have plugins to detect things like adblock and make you disable it before you can do anything on their site.

If it is bad for those who advertise then it is bad for those who rely on that advertising money to operate websites.

[markbarkins]

Tough call, but I am setting down in support of adblock plus. The developers took the time to include the ability to configure allowance of unobtrusive ads. It can change web advertising for the better by blocking the obnoxious stuff and promote a dialogue between sites that don't advertise irresponsibly and their consumers.

Then again, maybe that's a little too optimistic. There are a lot of people out there that believe everything should be completely and totally free and are offended with the tiniest bit of advertising.

[treos]

agreed on both points and i've seen sites that block access to adblock plus users a few times but its fairly uncommon, also found this http://whyfirefoxisblocked.com/ i guess some people are so against ad blockers that they chose to block the entire firefox browser. they're loss, perhaps they wouldn't have to do that if they chose a better way of earning $ instead of flooding the internet with countless ads of numerous types.

pop-up, pop-over, pop-under, autoplay video ads, countless different irritating flash ads, ad links where words in the text on pages are links, ads which are IE commercials on sites like youtube (anyone whos visited the funimation anime site to watch shows there have surely seen the commercials, its like watching tv where 1/4 to 1/3 of each episode is pure ads),ads in program installers (we've all seen the toolbar crapware before), etc., and any 1 of them could contain all manner of mal/spy/adware or worse and you'd never know until your antivirus or whatever you use detected it.

as i told my friend, why should i risk my computer daily and suffer the countless annoyances just so others can profit? screw that if they want to profit off of me let them find a actually decent method without ruining my browsing experience.

[Combusto Dragon]

^i no longer use Firefox.

i only use Chrome and it has Ad Block but i don't have a problem with it

[Ktiger41]

If it is bad for those who advertise then it is bad for those who rely on that advertising money to operate websites.

I was making a broad statement for the internet as a whole here not specific sites. I am well aware that some sites would not be possible without the ad money hence why some resort to having adblock detection software to make you disable it to browse/use their site.

[Cosmic]

Regardless of what effect ad blockers have the sad fact is they’re necessary.

Banners and other unobtrusive ads are fine. Popups, toolbar installers and videos that shriek at 120db aren’t. If blocking those is causing websites to lose revenue then their argument is with their chosen ad supplier, not the user.

[Iamerror]

The internet provider I use bombards you with ads, anything that you click on creates a popup ad. It has gotten to a ridiculous level that I have to use adblock. I agree with Cosmic, annoying people with obnoxious ads isn't going to draw people to your website.

[treos]

Iamerror, that said, i wonder how much of your bandwidth (assuming it has one of those stupid monthly caps, even if your ISP doesn't do that its still a fair question depending on how much the ads waste) gets wasted loading all those ads.

[Gypsy]

Regardless of what effect ad blockers have the sad fact is they’re necessary.

Banners and other unobtrusive ads are fine. Popups, toolbar installers and videos that shriek at 120db aren’t. If blocking those is causing websites to lose revenue then their argument is with their chosen ad supplier, not the user.

Nailed it.

I try to give sites the benefit of the doubt but if they want to have malicious ads I will turn adblock on.

[47iscool]

Good, I hate advertisements.

[Iamerror]

I don't know. All I know is when a lot of ads popup,my computer either slows or stops working.(it's a bit old too.)

[Aeolus Aeneas]

It's my right as a consumer to choose who gets my money and who does not. It's also my right to ensure that my computer isn't put at risk just so somebody can make half a cent. If the site is good and I know they're not out to screw me over, then I have no problems with letting their ads through... but for most of the Internet, ads are staying blocked. No, I don't feel bad that somebody who makes horrible content that I hate can't make money off of their stuff, and no, I don't feel bad if a site has to go under because of blocking ads.

It's adapt or die on the Internet, and that especially goes for ads. Either find a way to not be so annoying and potentially dangerous or get blocked and ensure that nobody will use you.

[treos]

It's my right as a consumer to choose who gets my money and who does not. It's also my right to ensure that my computer isn't put at risk just so somebody can make half a cent. If the site is good and I know they're not out to screw me over, then I have no problems with letting their ads through... but for most of the Internet, ads are staying blocked. No, I don't feel bad that somebody who makes horrible content that I hate can't make money off of their stuff, and no, I don't feel bad if a site has to go under because of blocking ads.

It's adapt or die on the Internet, and that especially goes for ads. Either find a way to not be so annoying and potentially dangerous or get blocked and ensure that nobody will use you.

exactly

i think we can all agree, with whats been said so far, that adblockers aren't about to bring about the end of ads. if anything they may simply cause some good changes. well, unless some people are too stuck in they're ways and choose to simply block adblocker users or users of a certain browser (thats a bit overkill don't you think?).