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Comment by hypeatei | Hacker News Reader

Weren't those ads always there, though? The most obvious change is that a little AI popup appears on Google search providing a brief (even if hallucinated) overview of what the user queried.

Unrelated, but I wouldn't expect this take on HN where I assumed everyone knew what an ad-blocker was.

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Yes the ads were always there but that was the most efficient way to get the content/information. That has changed and even with ad blockers, websites are no longer the most efficient way to get to that content/infomation. That is what has changed

Okay, I see what point you were trying to make. I misinterpreted your comment as saying LLMs weren't the catalyst but instead the ads were.

I also read it that way. I guess the synthesis/charitable interpretation is that the negative ad experience meant it was ripe for disruption should an alternative come along.

But it raises a potential counterpoint: are there sites with non-terrible user experiences that are staying stable?

Wikipedia.

Mobile users (or other locked down devices where adblockers are forbidden) are still a decent chunk of traffic. It's much easier to just read the overview and not click through to the ad infestation, or even use a chatbot of choice as the search engine instead of going to Google, because "websites is how you get spammed with ads".

> Mobile users (or other locked down devices where adblockers are forbidden)

Just say Apple. They're still allowed on Android, although I don't think you can get them from the Play Store.

Not allowed on my work computer. Which I do use the internet on.

Also you can put ad block on Apple devices.

They didn’t “just say Apple” because it wouldn’t be true. What gives you the impression ad blockers don’t work on Apple mobile devices?

The part where you are forbidden from using a web browser that isn't Safari (Chrome + FF use Safari under the hood) without jailbreaking the phone?

On my Android phone, I installed Firefox. It synced my extensions and installed uBlock automatically. That was it.

The last time I tried on iOS, I gave up. The adblockers I found didn't really work, they were painful to install, and the platform is so locked down that I couldn't figure out other options.

Ublock origin is a Firefox extension that works on mobile. You don't need a dedicated app for blocking adverts.

Not on iOS, there Firefox is actually Safari under the hood and you can’t use extensions… Haven’t found a good solution yet (other than avoiding websites with ads)

Wipr2; paid for Safari but it works on all Apple devices with that one payment.

I don’t use ad block.

I find that when it messes with the layout or formatting of a website it’s really annoying, and I consider the volume and type of ads an important signal for a website’s trustworthiness.

Oh and plenty of devices don’t have easy access to ad block, like my work computer.

I use reader mode 90% of the time, I’m really not interested in fancy layout or formatting for a website. I just want the text readable and looking exactly the same way for every website. Designers probably hate users like me.

> and I consider the volume and type of ads an important signal for a website’s trustworthiness

You can get the former from the number showing up in the uBlock Origin icon.

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