I use uBlock, also with an option to allow non-intrusive advertising. I used to use Ad Block Plus, but in the past year or so was noticing more and more intrusive ads slipping through. But again, I'm seeing more intrusive ads even with uBlock, and unfortunately have to blacklist some sites.

My opinion on ad blockers is this: I understand that your website depends on ad revenue to survive. But please understand that intrusive ads, often with malware, are not acceptable. This is why I use the non-intrusive option on my ad blocker.

> I'm seeing more intrusive ads even with uBlock, and unfortunately have to blacklist some sites.

you should try "uBlock origin"

correct

Interesting.

And switched. Thanks!

I use adblock plus. I unblock non-corporate sites that I visit often, 'cause I can't afford subscriptions to all the sites that deserve it. It is ridiculous what a muddle they make of what might have started as good Web design.

The only "block" things I have are Nod32 Antivirus and Chrome's built-in popup blocker.

I just went to Bestbuy.com and I get the little drop-down overlay that I closed, and a bottom-window thing saying I should log in to save my searches. Other than that, I see their departments listed and I can type into their search box.

What are you seeing that makes it unusable? If you're getting more ads than that, it sounds like you might have something evil installed on your browser that's serving you bonus ads.

Best Buy isn't unusable, I just can't believe they serve up ads on their website when the entire thing is designed to sell me shit. I get a banner ad across the top and the bar at the bottom you mentioned.

Those guiltiest of FUBARing their pages are almost always news sites.

I think the "funniest" though is an electronics site I browsed to yesterday to see if a particular motherboard is available. They had an ad for the exact. same. motherboard. on Amazon. Amazon didn't have it in stock either :-/

I use noscript on firefox and Ublock Origin on chrome. I didn't normally use ad blocks (just noscript) but I ran into quite a few sites (imgur, forbes, other news sites) that were serving up malware in their ads and just had enough of it.

I have a client whose website business model is partially based on ad revenue, and he guilted me into shutting off my adblocker for a time.

a) I have had some form of adblocker running for years, to the point where I had actually forgotten it was even installed
b) flipping it 'off', I then went back to not thinking about it while I went about my days

As a web developer, I eat, breath, and choke on the internet all day.
After about 4 days, I realized I was getting mad at 'the internet' to a degree where I was bitching about it to my wife (who is sick of hearing about it after 18 years, by the way), when it dawned on me...

Ads...
Turning off adBlocking is tantamount to turning off your Anti-virus/malware software.
Ads are to the internet as plastics are to the ocean. They are killing the internet, and in my blase ignorance (a la adblocking) I was oblivious.

its fucking gross

If you get a malware infection, you deserve it because you shouldn't have been trying to download music and porn.

"Did you SEE how she was dressed?"

Except "she" was trying to copy something illicitly or watch content that was likely lifted from a pay-site, but sure, if that metaphor works for you, I guess...

I was exaggerating to achieve a sense of the feeling of being overwhelmed by unwanted bullshit when you'r not expecting

you pedantic weiner

I'm curious how you think internet content is supposed to survive without some kind of revenue generation based on traffic.

Name-calling must be a great asset in your work. At least you replied, unlike some people I could name, though given their replies in the past I should be grateful for the brevity.

god you're such an black and white thinker.

Where did anyone say ads are bad, buddy?

We're saying the overuse and abuse of embedding ads is making general internet use without an ad blocker cumbersome and VERY impacted.

Are you seriously going to continue arguing that "oh well, someone has to make money?"

And the name calling was meant as light hearted poking but now you have irked me, douche nozzle

It's got worse over the last 2-3 years I think.

I suppose it's Google's wizardry at work, but the ads now often display items I've searched for or clicked on recently in, say, Amazon or other retail sites. The ads are persistent across multiple sites. It's like having someone follow you around constantly nagging you, like Sam-I-am from Green Eggs and Ham.

Yes! I've definitely seen shit from my Amazon wishlist show up in ads.

I use DuckDuckGo as my default search engine. It doesn't track you or filter search results based on your previous searches.

They're on the same ad network. It's not that hard.

You searched for something on Amazon, that went into a cookie file. That cookie file is read by AdSense, which is used on most sites. So of course you'll get the same ads over and over.

Not to mention that I find this to be a sign I'm not leaving much of a footprint, given that most of the ads appear to be of the "we don't know what this guy wants, so try this and see what he thinks" variety.

That's a good point about the footprint actually. When I do see ads they're almost always for either things I've been shopping for lately or super generic "men's products" like razors or overpriced military styled flashlights.

The targeted ads would be less annoying if they were for *related* products, or better prices on things I've been looking at, but when it's the same exact product I've already decided not to buy, it makes for a creepy "I'm just going to keep asking you to prom until you accidentally say yes" kind of vibe.

I think it's called "remarketing," and it's intentional to a degree, but it's also a case of the algorithm being all it has to go with when targeting you.

Most sites just really want the ad revenue, so now they have a mechanism that opens the ad window on the first click you do on the site each day.

Some sites are mindful and open a new page that takes you back to the site. The original browser window is now the ad page.

I've gotten so used to running without ads the last few years. I recently turned off my blocker just to see what's up and it's amazing how different and loud the unblocked world experiences the internet.

I use uBlock Origin. In addition to blocking ads, I also use Fanboy's Social List to block "like and share" buttons and shit like that.

I'll selectively whitelist ads on sites I like if:

1. In my estimation they're using ads to pay for hosting content, rather than putting up content to try to make me look at ads, and,

2. They ask nicely.

I'm a bit late to this thread, but in addition to ABP I also use Privacy Badger. It shows you all the various trackers on a page and lets you selectively give each varying amounts of access: allow domain, block cookies for domain, block domain.

For instance, right now on SE, it's showing google-analytics.com and googleapis.com. I block google analytics and block cookies for google apis.

But MAH Analytics!!! ;)

Can you tell me what it's actually doing? For you, I'll turn it on if I know. Do you just need it unblocked, or do you need the cookies, too? I'm more concerned about what data google is collecting about me than what you are collecting.

Oh, no, don't worry about it. I mostly use it to get a feel for where our non-user views are coming from. And basic info on when and how many are showing up each day.

Ah, my data is probably pretty useless, anyway, then. I'll often just leave an SE tab open for days or weeks, on various machines and devices. I'm so glad the days of endlessly crashing browsers and OSs seem to have passed.

It's okay, no worries :)

Sorry to pop your bubble, but AdBlock is selling ads now.

Not popping anything, I am as aware as anyone else who has been on the internet the past few weeks. It was part of the reason I did my little test. If I am inevitably going to get ads shoved in my face, I wanted to see how bad the landscape had really gotten.

From now on I think that the volume of bullshit I encounter is going to directly effect what sites I visit again.