We should stop calling them “ad blockers”. If a site serves up a few banner ads as images like the old days, that’s fine. I don’t object to a site paying the bills, or seeing a banner ad.
They’re malware blockers and privacy protections. I don’t want a site popping up bullshit and trying to track me across the net. If that’s what a site is serving, it’s more than an ad, and I absolutely want to block it.
@jzb How about "commercial skippers"? The word "ad" can refer to something unobtrusive (like smaller sites that tend to respect their users), but they often aren't harmless banners anymore. They're 30-second prerolls, huge pop-up banners that take up 75% of your screen, videos injected in the middle of your content, etc.
I was told once that there's an obligation to look at ads to pay for my traffic. I could've agreed 2 decades ago; but at this point, adblockers are no less ethical than getting up to pee during a commercial.
Joe Brockmeier (@jzb)
lipfang 🏳️⚧️