Victor Osório
Aurynn ShawThe more people we can get using adblockers, the better the internet will be for everyone.
Do your part: help get adblockers installed today.
If people say that they rely on advertising money, feel free to remind them that you don’t owe them a working business model
Braw ☕🏳️🌈@aurynn then please, unless you donate money directly, do not access the services that rely on ads to fund their operation, thanks! Really sorry that nothing comes for free in this capitalist world.
Jax UK
Travis F W@JaxVent I learned to see that when I was a kid. They rarely make sense otherwise. Spotting manipulation should be grade school curriculum.
Yes it should! Dont know if it's connected but we havn't had live TV or radio since my daughter was 2, she's 13 now, and is fiercly independant in her media and fashion choices. She 'doesnt get' why kids her age are so obsessed with all liking 'the same shit' 😅
Christian Lynbech@JaxVent @BeamsAndBows @brawaru @aurynn As much as I personally agree, people have for a very long time consistently demonstrated that they prefer ads to paying up front; television, newspapers, the web and social media all being running examples. I think it is extremely unlikely the we get rid of this pest, ever.
@mapcar @BeamsAndBows @brawaru @aurynn
I don't think people 'prefer' ads. It's more likely that it is accepted as the norm and not everyone is able to say no to them, or aware that they can. Not everyone can afford a sub so would put up with the ads, but in an ideal world where the choice was simple and easy, I can gaurantee most people would choose not to have ads.
@brawaru I do not owe anyone a working business model.
@aurynn and nobody owes your entitled self anything for free. Human work must be paid, hosting has to be paid, investments have to be paid back, etc. Everything in life costs money, and ads is one of the ways to earn them without locking down the service behind paywall. I'd agree that more ethical or integrated approaches are better, e.g. sponsored articles, but that's rarely an option. Most people wouldn't subscribe unless forced, many don't understand the importance of donations.
@brawaru selling my attention to advertisers is the business model, yes, and I reject being the product that is sold.
If their business model cannot handle this, that’s not, and will never be, my problem. It’s their business, they need to make it work, not me.
A Library Socialist
@ NovaNaturalist🇨🇦🇩🇰🇬🇱🇵🇦🇲🇽🇱🇸🇳🇫🇺🇦🏳️🌈 #FBPE@brawaru
I'm starting to feel bad about depriving Google of their meagre income.
How else are they going to earn money by *freely* giving away the content created by journalists?
- oh I forgot, they earn billions by monetising the value of a deep and comprehensive analysis of your online behaviours that you have *freely* shared with them.
qu0th the void
Warrior Of Latte 
@brawaru @aurynn I'm gonna be honest, I don't think that these companies are stressing about their own ethical side of the interaction.
I don't think they worry about the trackers watching your browsing history and profiling you or the headlines you realize are deceptive after you've already clicked a link. But you are worried that you're not watching enough ads for them?
BasiqueEvangelist@warrioroflatte @brawaru @aurynn I mean, he has one specific website and company in mind.
In any case, it's also kind of shitty when adblock lists literally break the website on a dev server
In any case, it's also kind of shitty when adblock lists literally break the website on a dev server
@warrioroflatte I don't think these companies have any choice. Modrinth tried several ethical and privacy friendly networks and 1) they're blocked by ad blockers 2) they don't pay s--t. So they were forced to make their own ad network (Adrinth), that doesn't track anything but views, solely to sustain themselves until subscriptions come in. Also guess what? Someone specifically targeted them and PRed to ad block lists to the point of breaking the site 👏
I tend to avoid sites that blast you with ads or keep AB enabled if I literally have to us them and there's no alternatives, but I'm fine with whitelisting sites like Duolingo where ads are pretty non-intrusive (and at times funny). For some sites I'd also buy subscriptions, but then, well, things happened, so it's not an option for now. I also don't skip sponsors on YT for creators I like, instead just setting speed to ×2-4. You don't die from seeing a few ads :P
FreediverX
Pare@aurynn Also, it’s my computer, I like to be able to control what runs on it.
CubeOfCheese@aurynn I feel kinda guilty about using an ad blocker because I feel like I'm stealing from the already struggling journalism industry. But you've presented a totally different perspective for me to think about. Thank you
Darwin Woodka@cubeofcheese @aurynn ask yourself if any journalism source has ever bothered asking you what YOU want to see. And yet they think they're entitled to your information?
CtBk@cubeofcheese @aurynn Advertisement is also a cause of the current decline in modern journalism. Think about all the low effort articles, all the click baiting titles we are submerged in. It’s hard to think that kind of thing surviving in a world where people are paying for content: they will stop paying very quickly if the quality of the product is that bad.
Most of the times, today’s journalism final product is not “information”, is “traffic”.
Most of the times, today’s journalism final product is not “information”, is “traffic”.
gormster@aurynn they don’t owe you their labour either
@gormster never said they did
@aurynn so if they use software that prevents you from reading their stuff if you use an adblocker, that’s ok with you? genuine question, no sass.
pingter@aurynn Weirdly, there are even small commerce sites that also have adblocker detection, including on the product and basket pages.
Richard GrantBut these unnamed people, whom you clearly disdain, owe you free content?
In the real world, the alternative to advertisements may be a subscription economy with paywalls everywhere. Or maybe not, if you've got some genius plan to make people work without pay and the internet run for free.
@richardgrant it’s not my job to make their business plans for them, unless they want me to consult.
But I also didn’t say I want free content. I just am not their product to sell to their customers.
Ember is so tired of people. 
Arch 
@aurynn And if you can, add DNS level ad blocking to your network so non technical people can more easily use ad blocking!
noodlejetski 
William Gunn@noodlejetski @arch @aurynn Yes, this is important, because ad networks have made whitelisting deals with some AdBlock providers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adblock_Plus#Controversy_over_ad_filtering_and_ad_whitelisting
Fisch
Cat in Chucks@noodlejetski @fisch @williamgunn @arch @aurynn
AdGuard+uBlock +Ghostery + Element Blocker give you a nice clean webpages!
@CatChucks so does uBlock Origin on its own. using multiple blockers at the same time doesn't have any benefits, only potential downsides.
@fisch @williamgunn @arch @aurynn
@fisch @williamgunn @arch @aurynn
@noodlejetski @fisch @williamgunn @arch @aurynn
Generally correct, but I use it simultaneously due to different filter lists trying to benefit in details.
@CatChucks I'm not sure about availability of Ghostery's lists, since I've lost interest in it when it was purchased by an advertising company, but you can simply enable Adguard's filters in uBO settings. and uBO already comes with its own element blocking feature by default.
@noodlejetski @fisch @williamgunn @arch @aurynn
Oh! I'll try. Thanks for info!
sortius@aurynn I've already started my 8 year old daughter on her AdBlocker path 😆
I love this, so I
Geoff Campbell@aurynn There needs to be a happy middle ground. Without advertising, nothing gets funded. I wish it wasn't so, no doubt you also wish it wasn't so, but unfortunately it is so. The decision was made back in the '90s that we wanted a free Internet funded by ads. 1/3
Dave@Geoff_Campbell @aurynn There is an alternative - a free internet funded by volunteer labour. I ran a web site for a few years. It wasn't beautiful but it was (hopefully) useful to its very niche target audience. Total advertising on the site: zero. I paid for the web space as part of my internet bill, programmed the HTML in a text editor (with help from friends). It's possible.
Dan Thornton@Daveosaurus @Geoff_Campbell @aurynn
Big media companies can afford to switch to other revenue models, because they have the staff and resources...
Smaller creators might just give up if they can't at least cover their financial costs (Free web space isn't part of most broadband, most people don't program their own HTML sites, etc).
Not everyone starts internet projects to just dabble in their spare time.
@Daveosaurus @Geoff_Campbell @aurynn
I'd advocate for selective ad blocking - punish the intrusive ones, but support those creators you want to continue.
Unfortunately micropayments, Patreon, etc etc only work for a relatively small number of people, if at all...
CaptainBorracho@badgergravling @Daveosaurus @Geoff_Campbell @aurynn Totally agree .. there definitely needs to be a middle ground.
I'd also like to see something that completely blocks those sites that exist solely to sit at the top of search results and hoover up traffic, that are just adverts with no actual information (usually just some machine generated text that repeats the question being asked, etc).
Guess that's more of an issue with the search engines though and their algorithms.
@captainborracho @Daveosaurus @Geoff_Campbell @aurynn
Yep - to be fair, search engines have an interest in serving quality content so people continue to use them (until they replace it with scraped AI answers), so they do try to combat low quality spam sites with varying degrees of success.
But as a small content creator in my space time, I can't justify it costing me money to share my personal work, and advertising offsets the costs involved
@captainborracho @Daveosaurus @Geoff_Campbell @aurynn
And while I'm all in favour of other revenue streams, it requires either deep pockets or a strong personal brand.
I'm not equipped to become a celebrity Youtuber, and I don't have the funds to set up live events etc.
So as someone who would love to earn a living by writing about things he's passionate about on his own websites, advertising is a necessary evil...
@captainborracho @Daveosaurus @Geoff_Campbell @aurynn
(For ref - my day job is a self-employed SEO/writer for clients, which is significantly more lucrative, but doesn't stop me wanting to build my own online homesteads)
@badgergravling @captainborracho @Daveosaurus @Geoff_Campbell no one owes you a viable business model
@aurynn @captainborracho @Daveosaurus @Geoff_Campbell
No-one owes you free content, either.
@badgergravling @captainborracho @Daveosaurus @Geoff_Campbell you're right! And they are free to do whatever they like with their content.
But I do not owe them a viable business model selling my attention to their customers.
@aurynn @captainborracho @Daveosaurus @Geoff_Campbell
You're perfectly fine to use an ad blocker...
The issue is when you tell everyone to do it because 'the internet will be better for everyone'.
Because that's never the case for anything - there are always winners and losers. In this case, any small creator trying to cover their costs and earn to reinvest