Current Events > Ad blocking is theft

(+) Yeah! (+)

That may sound a little extreme at first, but think about it. All the feeless online services you love such as YouTube, Google and even GameFAQs depend on ad revenue to make ends meet. If a large enough portion of the userbase started blocking ads, these sites would have no way to survive outside of implementing a paid premium membership or other means of monetization.

When you block ads, youre not only robbing a service you enjoy of critical revenue, youre also degrading the experience of fellow users who dont block ads, as sites are forced towards more extreme and intrusive ads that generate more money per view as more of their base blocks ads. Weve seen that here on our very own GameFAQs, where ads have become more overbearing as ad blocking has become more ubiquitous. And if even more of us continue to do so, it will eventually kill this place altogether, outside of GameFAQs Gold catching on - yeah right.

The only time ad blocking can truly be done in good conscience is when a site is known to have malicious ads. Period.

you're right. i value my time. and ads steal my time from me. yay adblock!
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I don't consent to be advertised to
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USER INFO: ZEROKELVIN

Regular User
User Since: Apr 2019
Karma: 51
Active Posts: 84
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Puting ads in my face without my consent is like Aids
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Stfu

*detonates a goat*
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Browsing the internet without adblock is like having sex with a cheap hooker without a condom.
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Paragon21XX posted...

Browsing the internet without adblock is like having sex with a cheap hooker without a condom.

you think browsing the internet without Adblock is exciting?
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Yeah but.... no ads is great.
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Paragon21XX posted...

Browsing the internet without adblock is like having sex with a cheap hooker without a condom.

Hookers have to stay clean because its their profession. Youre probably more likely to get an STD from someone who isnt a hooker

*injects a goat with HIV*
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I don't know what shady sites you visit but I don't have problems with advertisements at all I think people over exaggerate on how bad it is.
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El Mexicano Texano posted...

I don't know what shady sites you visit but I don't have problems with advertisements at all I think people over exaggerate on how bad it is.

Go ahead: browse GameFAQs from your phone without any kind of adblocker. I estimate that within a week you'll start singing a different tune.
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I don't mind ads granted they aren't completely obtrusive. And I don't actually mind turning off adblock if a site asks to do so.

However, block me from using the entire site unless I turn it off? Act like a passive-aggressive fuck? Fuck you.
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They need money ask for donations or add a patreon link dont bombard me with ads
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El Mexicano Texano posted...

I don't know what shady sites you visit but I don't have problems with advertisements at all I think people over exaggerate on how bad it is.

literally this site has malicious ads, the mobile version is sometimes unusable because the ads are so bad.
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When ads stop being intrusive, garbage, malware that actively harms my experience using those sites, I'll turn off ad blocker.
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Visiting this site on chrome on mobile is terrible cbs doesnt need money
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I let ads play on sites I like + display NON INTRUSIVE ADS

the second I get an ad that fucks shit up or covers content, blocked

https://blogs.harvard.edu/doc/2017/01/26/how-true-advertising-can-save-journalism-from-drowning-in-a-sea-of-content/
https://medium.com/@dsearls/separating-advertisings-wheat-and-chaff-47858adfcb20

Remember the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers? (Or the remake by the same name?) Same thing here. Madison Avenue fell asleep, direct response marketing ate its brain, and it woke up as an alien replica of itself.

As much as pirating decade old games is tbh.
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the second ads started talking it was a fucking war.
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Medussa posted...

the second ads started talking it was a fucking war.

Congratulation. You have one a free iPod nano!
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Fuck Google and YouTube.
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When websites claim I have to turn my adblocker off (i have ad block and ad block + so I have to manually turn off two different apps) I literally just never enter the site. I might click on a website to read an article but I guess I'll never read it because the site is trying to force ads in my face.

Why do advertisers hate this though? If they know you're using adblock then they'd know their ads won't work on you so it's not like they'd be losing anything. I understand the site owners lose ad money but why do the advertisers themselves get upset about blocking ads? If an advertiser inconvenienced me so greatly just to make me see their ad I'd be spiteful enough to purchase from their competitor from that day forward. It's just not a winning strategy.

Also I remember youtube in like 2006/7. There were no ads back then. These free sites used to grant service. Then they intentionally made that service much worse and now you either use adblocker and get shamed for it or you buy premium use of the website to not see ads. You now have to pay money to get the same quality of content that in the past was completely free.

Yeah, I have zero sympathy for people who complain about not getting enough ad revenue. They're nothing more than internet panhandlers.
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Adblock is theft like locking your front door is theft

we gave ad companies a chance before and they ran wild with all the loud, laggy, obtrusive, and sometimes-malicious advertisements they could think of
there's no reason to give them the benefit of the doubt and turn off ad blockers

and yet, i feel no guilt whatsoever
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Wikipedia doesn't have ads and it survives.
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Nope. Ad block is not theft. It's my choice to display ads on my screen using my bandwidth, screen real estate, etc. And ads are a security risk regardless. If a website wants to display an ad, they can fuck off. If they want to stop me viewing their content, great. Two more sites will replace them.
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Rika_Furude posted...

If a website wants to display an ad

But... websites rarely do. They'll throw some javascript in the header and some tracking doodads, and expect it to be a magic money button, instead of actually selling advertising.

Isn't it so that ads generate revenue whenever someone clicks on them? If so, that seems to be an inefficient way to make money, since could be that out of 1000 visitors (who don't block ads), only ten click the ad.
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ZeroKelvin posted...

The only time ad blocking can truly be done in good conscience is when a site is known to have malicious ads. Period.

So... Perfect for GameFAQs then.
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Theft is wrongfully depriving someone of their property.

Stop sensationalizing shit by using the word for other things, it makes you impossible to take seriously.

you wouldn't download an ad
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OwlRammer posted...

you wouldn't download an ad

Oh shi...
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Iwantedzero posted...

Wikipedia doesn't have ads and it survives.

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I used to go over my 5gb data plan all the time and simply installing an adblock on my iPhone cut the data usage drastically

So really, I feel like I was the one getting robbed by ads
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You wouldn't download a car.
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You guys need to stop responding to such low quality bait, lmao
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Ad blocking is equivalent to looking away from the TV when a commercial comes on.

I'll gladly stop blocking ads when ads stop:

- Tracking the user's internet behavior.
- Hoarding the user's private information.
- Getting in the way of content.
- Autoplaying audio or video.
- Coin mining or other malicious scripts.
- Outright lying: click to claim your prize! Your pc might have malware so download our toolbar!
- Misdirecting: fake 'Download Here' buttons or 'Press X to close'. Worst offender I've seen was a mobile ad that had a fake smudge on your screen, tricking you into tapping it.
- Showing NSFW ads on an otherwise SFW page.
- Hogging way more bandwidth (and loading time) than the actual content.

Advertisers have ruined it for themselves with their crappy behavior. If ad blocking means the end for a lot of websites, so be it. I much rather pay a subscription fee than have to deal with all of the above.
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invasive ads are theft

robbing users of life time they will never get back
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One time I decided to take the adblock off TVTropes mobile because I like that website and maybe I should support them, you know? Holy shit, what a mistake that was. Pop-ups everywhere. Redirects on every other page that you can't even back out from.

I threw that shit back on almost immediately.
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I have to ad block on my phone. If I don't there are sites I actually can't visit as I get these ads that take me to another web page and refuse to let me leave.

Without ad block I can't even browse TV tropes without "congratulations you are a winner." Pops up and I'm on some random site.
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Hornezz posted...

- Tracking the user's internet behavior.
- Hoarding the user's private information.
- Getting in the way of content.
- Autoplaying audio or video.
- Coin mining or other malicious scripts.
- Outright lying: click to claim your prize! Your pc might have malware so download our toolbar!
- Misdirecting: fake 'Download Here' buttons or 'Press X to close'. Worst offender I've seen was a mobile ad that had a fake smudge on your screen, tricking you into tapping it.
- Showing NSFW ads on an otherwise SFW page.
- Hogging way more bandwidth (and loading time) than the actual content.

This should be pinned under the search bar on google's starting page.