Request from sites asking me to turn off my adblocker | Hacker News Reader

Request from sites asking me to turn off my adblocker

5 pointsTravelTechGuy5 comments

I've been encountering more and more sites asking me to turn off my adblocker, in order to support the site, or just basically block access to content until I do. Some ask nicely, some explain their livelihood depends on ads. Some are just jerks.

I get it - some sites haven't yet found a better business model than serving ads. But I think this contract should be reciprocal.

I think the popup asking me to whitelist a site, or turn off my adblocker should contain the following lingo:

"We at <insert site name> appreciate you whitelisting us in support of our hard work. We hereby take full responsibility for the content of the ads you'll be served. We will compensate you if you are offended by any of them. Further, we will pay for any damage caused by malware served from our site, including time and effort to restore your machine to workable state. We respect our users, and will take full responsibility by not transferring the blame to the ad publishers, ad network, or specific advertisers. The buck stops with us."

Obviously, some legalese is in order here, but the bottom line is reciprocity: you ask me to expose myself, I ask you to be responsible for the damage.

I agree with everything, except:

> We will compensate you if you are offended by any of them.

Why? People are offended and shitstormed by SJWs for ANYTHING these days (hello downvotes, I see you coming).

Yes, the internet is full of offending stuff. But we're discussing stuff you can avoid here (by using adblock), and you actually opt into. And some of those ads are just plain disturbing.

You want compensation if an ad offends you?? Your pathetic

I want a compensation when a tasteless add, showing a gif animation of a scantily clad woman, trying to sell something irrelevant, pops up while I'm in my office. Or when a religious, inciting ad tries to piss me off. Yes, we all learned to grow tougher skins on the internet - but if I'm opting in to trash, I should be compensated for being exposed to it. The alternative is saying "just don't look" === "turn on your adblock".

It seems to me society just likes to lean on the "i'm offended so you owe me now" crap. This is exactly what causes real people to not be able to get anything done because we can't speak the truth on anything that may "offend" someone. With that being said you requesting they compensate you for something you find offensive is ridiculous, especially when you have an adblock program. If you are afraid an ad may offend you, don't use the sites that require you to disable them. But another alternative is to just go into your console and see if the content blocking access to the site is client-side. Then simply delete it and move on. Similar to what people use to do to get past the NYTimes website requiring a username and password or to proceed to the create a new user page which required a subscription to the paper online. Why do we have to keep catering to the thinned skinned because their feelings get hurt? It's out of control, and I will not be silent about it, no matter how much it offends anyone.

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