Wondering how much of the Lemmy user base wouldn’t use an adblocker. If you do use one what other blocking do you productively use to circumvent data collection, YouTube and reddit front ends and things alike?
I didn’t until recently. I wanted to give companies I valued credit, in some way. But, ads are completely out of control and it broke me so I started using ublock a few months ago. It’s so much better and I’m not looking back.
I turn off my adblocker for YouTube if it’s a creator who should be getting revenue from the video. I’m not happy with Google’s cut of it though…
The biggest thing I miss from seeing ads is knowing what movies are in theaters… And I never think about looking haha.
2 alternatives could be to follow an RSS feeds for trailers or turn on notifications for a movie trailer or review YouTube channel.
My mom uses Edge, told me not to block Facebook ads and clicks on most of the clickbait articles on her MSN home page. It’s like she WANTS them to collect as much data to sell and spy on her as much as possible 🤦
If you do use one what other blocking do you productively use to circumvent data collection, YouTube and reddit front ends and things alike?
I use an ad blocker, and in addition also use Pi-hole for network-wide domain based tracker blocking. I use tailscale to use this on my phone, but also have Tracker Control (the real version installed from F-Droid) to do something similar if for some reason I need to disable Tailscale (only one can be used at once, as they both use the VPN method).
I have been using adguard dns on my phone for years. For the past one year or so also using adblockers on browser (Firefox). Used to watch youtube with ads. Got fed up moved to watching youtube in browser with adblocker, then finally moved to newpipe sponsor block when youtube started adblocker shenanigans. For pc I use cloud flare dns, regular adblockers (Firefox) and keep privacy and security settings on strict.
Because I am not sure if I want a 3rd party “controlling” my trafic. It sucks that my behavior is shared around in ad networks but I am not sure if the ad blocking components are more trustworthy. There are certainly good solutions out there but I am sceptic of the explosion of new ad blocking tools. Having said that, I never did a deep research to check if my scepticism is justified…
I know some of family don’t because they mostly rely on mobile devices and devices like Chromecasts where installing ad blockers can be a challenge. They don’t use traditional computers.
They know apps like NewPipe exist but the effort to port things over or not get recommendations is too much for them.
I do use ad blockers and open source front ends/software/alternatives. Ex. AntennaPod instead of Spotify for podcasts and Linux instead of Windows because I didn’t like ads in the start menu (amongst numerous other things).
I’m so proud of my kids who will demand adblockers if something in their YouTube app or their browser is broken. Even though they like to see toy ads now and then. But when they get the amount a regular mortal receives it’s too much, even for them.
I get you. I like receiving honest real reviews for things rather than be advertised to. Let their quality speak for it. I also hate even minor spoilers for movies/TV shows/video game trailers.
Laziness.
Plus, if it’s too many ads and too much tracking, maybe it’s my using the thing that’s the problem.
This is my exact feeling as well. Too lazy to worry about blocking the ads; too dissatisfied if I have to deal with too many ads.
Yea. And all the work and effort put into ad blocking maybe could have been better spent on working how to create spaces and platforms that didn’t require ads?
Can’t help but feel we have moved on from the expectation of things being free on the internet and that ad blocking fanatics are a little stuck in the past.
Y’know, I used to feel the same on that sentiment, but then I realized it’s like me saying “why invest in suntan lotion when you can stay inside on hot days?” But some people like to go out into the sun even in summer, so wearing suntan lotion is the smart, sane thing to do. Just because I like to reminisce about how nice it was to go for a jog in the winter doesn’t invalidate that people like to go to the beach in the summer.
I think we absolutely should expect and strive for a better, more free internet. But if you’re gonna tread the risky waters of the internet, then you should put on some adblock.
Some of us are ignorant though, so I’ll continue raw-dogging the internet and probably get my identity stolen again.
I don’t, without the advertising a lot of the content can’t exist and I like the context to exist.
If you pay them a single one time purchase of £1, that will be worth more to them than all the adverts you ever have or will watch.
This is a double edge sword.
Ad revenue has enabled poor content to exist.
Ads on useful content detracts from that content, and disrespects a user’s time/attention.
No, because I want the content that I consume to be financially viable. You either accept the ads, or seek out other sites with other payment models.
can i have sex with your spouse too
I have AdNauseum on with the “Hide Ads” button unchecked and “leave non-tracking ads alone” option enabled. Privacy Badger is on too to detect tracking scripts.
I can safely ignore ads generally but what I want is to discourage the practice of annoying placements to farm clicks. If they want clicks then they can have as many of my fake ones as they wish.
If you do use one what other blocking do you use to circumvent data collection, YouTube and reddit front ends and things alike?
Firefox on maximum security will get rid of all cookies when you close the window (ie exit from Firefox, not just close the tab). If there are sites that require cookies, you can use Firefox containers to stop it collecting data across other sites).
I do use adblockers but there are sites which deserve the revenue (and don’t bombard you with shite) so I try to remember to whitelist them. But I’m not as diligent about this as I should be. Someone does have to pay for it and we don’t have a decent system to do that without advertising (yet). I can’t subscribe to the eleventy million sites I visit so advertising is a necessary evil (atm). Obviously, denying bad sites the advertising revenue is a public service, so there’s that.
I use uBlock Origin and Consent-o-Matic. Works like a charm!
Consent o matic is a new one for me. Thanks!
You’re very welcome!
One question though.
Can’t you enable a filter list on uBlock Origin that removes all cookie consents?
I think I have it on. It’s under “Annoyances”. Maybe it’s not as good since you have them both?
I’m sure there is, but tbh I don’t know how, since I don’t need it.
The way Consent-o-Matic works is that it accepts all, securely deletes all of it immediately before it can do anything. That way the site thinks you have all of it so it won’t ask again, but you actually get none of it.
All this plus removing the consent- and other pop-ups for you. A few of the nastier pop-ups might be on your screen for a tenth of a second or less as Consent-o-Matic gets rid of it for you, but otherwise it’s like they were never there to begin with!
I don’t block anything. I work in accessibility, so it’s important to me to know what the experiences are like for my fellow users with disabilities. I also don’t want to recommend sites or apps that are riddled with inaccessible ads. I’d rather not give them traffic at all. Though even though I let them track me, I still get ads in a language I don’t speak for cars I can’t drive. What’re they doing with all that data?
So me seeing ads in random languages is not me being clever with identity obfuscation, but big data being big stupid?
And thank you for your work in accessibility 🫡
Apparently! I don’t hide my data in any way, and constantly get ads in languages I don’t speak. Usually French, but sometimes Hindi or Chinese. And as a blind person myself, I’m not sure that my well paid full time job working in large enterprise and big tech accessibility is altruism deserving of thanks haha.
