Comment by FreeKill | Hacker News Reader

Comment by FreeKill | Hacker News Reader

I know this is a bit off topic, but I find Ad-Blocking to be an interesting problem. On the one hand, it's a person's choice and anyone blocking ads was likely not to click on them anyway. At the same time though, it's clear that if Ad-Blocking were to go truly mainstream, especially if ISPs started to block ads themselves, a major portion of the internet as it stands today would be financially unsustainable, especially when it comes to content sites. Even my mom (non-tech savvy in any way) asked me if there was a way to block the ads on Google the other day. She didn't like how they had started to add pictures for products but all the products were just ads for all the more expensive ones when she could find better deals elsewhere. Her exact quote was "Why do I have to scroll past all these ads to find the better deals down below..."

I think outside of ISP issues like those discussed in the article, sites like Google are actually hastening the average users desire to ad block. I think it's possible that with the addition of things like the product ads for a product search and the fact that Google is the default jump off site for many people, they could be exacerbating the ad fatigue of their own users. I bet Google will have a tough time finding a sympathetic ear if Ad-Blocking goes more mainstream...

At the same time though, I despise the ISPs that take user money and then complain that Google should also pay before they deliver me what I paid for. That's just ridiculous, and I hope Net neutrality can get in place before it's more mainstream of a practice.

> if Ad-Blocking were to go truly mainstream, especially if ISPs started to block ads themselves, a major portion of the internet as it stands today would be financially unsustainable, especially when it comes to content sites.

It your business model doesn't work anymore, you have to move on. That's what the music and movie industry should learn. Maybe Google will have to learn it too. The NYT paywall is working pretty well.

Maybe you're worrying that paywalls will be raised everywhere. I don't think so. There will always be free content. Also, maybe we need some P2P protocol instead of HTTP, so content can be delivered for cheap.

But do you think people would actually choose Adblocking if virtually every website on the Internet would not be free anymore? I think even those who use Adblock today think that they can afford to do it, because it's not that many of them who do it, so they get the benefit of having free content, while not seeing any ads.

Agreed, I did say "as it stands today." Sites would adapt to the new reality and those who didn't would get buried.

I do think though that people who adblock now do so cause it's relatively fringe and they feel like they are a drop in the bucket and not harmful to the site. If it was suddenly mainstream, I think a lot of folks would realize the old ads weren't so bad as the new paradigm and would opt for ads over paywalls.

Contrary, I rather have paywalls.

When data is being sent to my device, I want to be allowed to decide if it is shown on the screen. If executable code is sent to the computer, I want to decide if it will run. If code design to track and monitor my is being sent to my computer, I want to decide if it will be running or blocked.

When people have ownership of their device with the option to block ads, people will block ads. The only way to enforce ad-viewing is to take away that ownership. In that world, I rather take paywalls.

It your business model doesn't work anymore, you have to move on. That's what the music and movie industry should learn. Maybe Google will have to learn it too.

Google can always ask the webmasters that lost everything after Google updates as Google's earnings skyrocket quarter after quarter.

I Ad-Block, but specifically white-list sites I frequently visit. If I'm just cruising around some no-name site and will never be back, and I'm not going to click your ad anyway - I feel justified in my decision to block those ads.

Same as if I'm channel surfing - if an ad comes on, I change the channel. If I'm engrossed in a particular programme and ads come on, I generally don't change the channel.

I think ad-blocking software should encourage the use of white-listing more. Perhaps by 'packaging' domains that people may want to white-list during the install.

> if Ad-Blocking were to go truly mainstream

Then paywalls and interstitial-ad-walls would pop up everywhere. It wouldn't be very technically hard to force users through an interstitial ad before they could get to content. Quickly people would realize the previous way sites did ads was actually better.

I can't see anyone pining for any good old' days of Web advertising. Please sir, may I have some more popups?

What will really happen in the scenario you outline is either users will stop using the site (as much or at all) because of the escalation in the ad arms race, and/or wait until ad-blocking software stops those kinds of ads, too.

I think users are more forgiving of advertising that obeys the social contract (they get something out of allowing a marketer to have some of their precious time and attention).

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