AdBlock

[atommo]

For those of you not aware, (even though I'm guessing that many people on this forum do, but maybe I'm wrong) AdBlock, AdBlock Plus and AdBlock Edge are all different programs out there designed as an extension to web browsers like Firefox and Chrome to block adverts. Essentially, when you use a program like this, you no longer have to watch 30 second adverts on YouTube before you can actually watch content you want to watch. It also block other types of adverts, like some popups, and also banner adverts.

However; these programs have led to a fair bit of controversy on the internet, with some people getting angry and claiming that adverts are what make website income in some places. In particular, large YouTube channels tend to be large because the person/people behind it have dedicated themselves to that job. They also make an income off of their videos, which is the advert revenue.

Now, the other day I saw a few of these channels saying what they felt about AdBlock programs. I will link 2 of these:

Help Content Providers - Turn Off Adblock

Dear AdBlock, Kiss My A$$!

These give a basic picture of what the people on the other end feel about these sorts of things. I can understand that they may be angry, but I feel that it has come down to this because adverts have gotten so out of control (maybe exaggerating a little) that you can't seem to go two YouTube videos without some advert being crammed down your throat. The thing is; the anti-adblock people say that watching adverts brings free money. However, that is wrong. You are using up your time watching those adverts, and time is not something that you can get back. Once you've lost time, it's gone.

That is why I feel that websites/advertisers should come up with a more acceptable way of doing advertising. For example, advert banners are fine IMO, so long as they don't distract from what you want to do. Adverts that play random videos and don't seem to understand the meaning of "quiet" are ones that cause people to get programs like AdBlock. I'm pretty sure that a lot of people dislike those sort of adverts.

I guess the point where I got completely fed up of adverts was when YouTube first started forcing people to watch commercials. I was fine with the little advert box at the bottom that you could close, but they crossed the line when they forced adverts down your throat.

Finally, I don't see what the difference is between having an advert play and not watching it, than not have an advert play at all. It simply consumes bandwidth and patience. That is how I feel.

Also, AdBlock, AdBlock Plus and AdBlcok Edge are all made by different people, although they all originated from the first.

I'd be interested in hearing your opinions on this.

[EgotisticalRaven]

I personaly don't feel like there's wrong with advertisements on Youtube for the purpose of income. I don't like the ones you can skip, because I know I will skip them instead of waiting till they are finished, also the skipable ones are sometimes lengthy. I think it's good that the person is getting money (If they make good content), so that they can continue to do so. If an ad comes on I always mute it, I don't think that would do anything to stop them reciving money or whatnot.

If I like content, I'd do whatever I feel comfortable to do, so that they can earn money and get what they deserve. That's one reason I like to buy merchandise and themed items from TV shows or musicaians, and such.

I don't think the ads matter that much though. If I want to buy something, I don't need an advertisment to tell me so, it's good to inform you, but its persuasive powers are for the those with no real opnions. But that is a bit irrelevent to the discussion.

[~]

If I like the content, I'll support the maker.

Adverts typically get in the way of the first bit.


Let's ask another question, do you like films more when they're aired on TV for free but with commercial breaks, or do you prefer the film when it's shown from start to finish without any breaks, say from a DVD?
For me, the commercials typically get in the way of fully enjoying the film.

So when it comes to adblock on youtube, I'd rather watch the content and, if the content is good, I'd support the maker.

Another question for the purposes of exploring different mediums, what if Kan released To the Moon for free but only under the condition that you have to watch some advert first? So let's say for a 4 minute youtube clip there is a 30 second advert - if To the Moon takes you 4 hours to read, you'd need to sit through a 30 minute kitchen infomercial at the start.

Personally, I think it'd detract from the content, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to like To The Moon as much as I did. I'd be unsatisfied and I wouldn't have parted with any of my pennies to support the developer directly either. I doubt Kan would be too happy with it either, though he would definitely have made a killing on the kitchen partnership!

For adverts on the general innerwebs, it depends on the format; I'll whitelist a website if it isn't too bad with its adverts. Text is fine, still images are fine, animated gifs are pushing it but have a funny 90s internet nostalgia to it. Flash ranges from okay to really freakin bad. But damn dude, anything that has plays videos/sounds or pops up must die.

[Just Lance]

The only thing I use is flashblock, because  don't really mind ads, but flashes kind of irk me.

[Ferdk]

Well, I won't say I love the idea of people getting around ads that make me money on youtube, but then again I don't like being told what to do either. Depends on the content I suppose but since I do music, I give the option to my followers to support me directly by buying my albums, and that usually gives more revenue than what I'd get through youtube ads.
Then again there may be type of contents when you don't have that kind of "direct" support alternative. Though with things like Patreon that's kind being solved as well.

From a moral point of view (something I rarely discuss if it has no practical application but for the sake of conversation I'll make an exception) I'd say it IS kinda ungrateful of the viewer. It has nothing to do with whether you like the content or not, you're deciding you're gonna watch it for FREE and you can't even wait 5 seconds for an advert? A little entitlement going on here. If you decide the content was not worth your while, you can choose to avoid that channel forever, at absolutely no cost other than the 2 minutes of life "wasted" (you were on youtube to begin with, let's not pretend it pushed your life goals behind). Do people ask for refunds at movie theaters if they don't like the movie? I bet not.

But as I said I rarely discuss morals so ultimately I don't really give much of a f***, things are going to happen in the world whatever your morals are, the practical thing to do is adapt to them instead of whining about them.

[Thunderbird]

I don't mind the clips on youtube that much, so I don't have them blocked.
If it's not too long and not too much interruption in the video it's alright.

On other websites like one German streaming site, the advertisements are so excessive that it ruins the content for me, so I have those blocked.
Using Noscript, mainly for security reasons, but also to filter at least some of the advertisments.

[Merlandese]

Another question for the purposes of exploring different mediums, what if Kan released To the Moon for free but only under the condition that you have to watch some advert first? So let's say for a 4 minute youtube clip there is a 30 second advert - if To the Moon takes you 4 hours to read, you'd need to sit through a 30 minute kitchen infomercial at the start.

This is interesting because it's not such a far off hypothetical. A lot of people who came to love To the Moon and currently support it were brought in from Let's Plays (especially PewDiePie), and they all felt emotional resonance with it despite the fact that the format for To the Moon in a Let's Play is one interjected with commercials.

[atommo]

This is interesting because it's not such a far off hypothetical. A lot of people who came to love To the Moon and currently support it were brought in from Let's Plays (especially PewDiePie), and they all felt emotional resonance with it despite the fact that the format for To the Moon in a Let's Play is one interjected with commercials.

I guess it's one thing playing a game and having your progress interrupted by adverts, than have someone else play a game so you personally don't have to worry about that sort of thing.

If you think of it like a football game; spectators get shown adverts throughout, but that doesn't mean the game stops as well. Therefore, it would not give the same level of frustration having an advert pop up in the middle of something important, since you wouldn't be the one playing the game.

I mean, could you imagine if football games had to be stopped while there were advert breaks? I'm pretty sure the players would get pretty angry.

I hope I'm making sense

P.S. I also learnt about Freebird games through an LPer, called Cryaotic. He's an awesome guy.

[Ferdk]

There are many webgame sites that make you sit through adverts before playing.

If the industry made it to the point where this format would be used for lengthier games like To The Moon (webgames are usually a few minutes of quick fun, and that's it) then I asume the game themselves would adapt to this by having  "resting" points in the story. A small arc is resolved, everything settles down and as you process all the info, the "commercial" would be on. Then the game resumes onto the next "chapter". It would definitely not work for every type of game.

[atommo]

There are many webgame sites that make you sit through adverts before playing.

If the industry made it to the point where this format would be used for lengthier games like To The Moon (webgames are usually a few minutes of quick fun, and that's it) then I asume the game themselves would adapt to this by having  "resting" points in the story. A small arc is resolved, everything settles down and as you process all the info, the "commercial" would be on. Then the game resumes onto the next "chapter". It would definitely not work for every type of game.

That doesn't sound like a bad idea! I guess it still depends on how long you have to sit through adverts for though.

and you can't even wait 5 seconds for an advert?

Also just to point out some adverts are 30 seconds long and unskippable. This is quite ridiculous when you want to watch a video that may be shorter than the advert.

Also, there are cases of advertception where you may have to watch an advert to watch another advert, which is a little crazy imo

[Unimaginative Username]

I don't mind adverts on Youtube since I can just skip them after five seconds. I try my luck with the F5 button if I get a 30 second unskippable advert and that usually works most of the time.

I feel like it's a bit ungrateful if you use adblocker on videos where clearly a lot of effort has gone into making a video - especially when it is the only source of income for the creator. However, having said that there are certain channels which seem to only have 30 second ads on them and I'd use it on those because that is just irritating. There are also other channels where the videos are short or purposely cut into smaller sizes to generate more revenue and in that case I would use adblocker myself if only I could be bothered to go and acquire it.

[Ferdk]

Also just to point out some adverts are 30 seconds long and unskippable. This is quite ridiculous when you want to watch a video that may be shorter than the advert.

True, but those are very very rare. And videos less than 30 seconds are also very rare the point is, it's still a minor inconvenience for free entertainment. We watch lengthier commercials on TV all the time while paying for the monthly cable subscription and noone bats an eye. It's like on the internet everyone's entitled to have everything handed to them on a silver platter.

[atommo]

True, but those are very very rare. And videos less than 30 seconds are also very rare the point is, it's still a minor inconvenience for free entertainment. We watch lengthier commercials on TV all the time while paying for the monthly cable subscription and noone bats an eye. It's like on the internet everyone's entitled to have everything handed to them on a silver platter.
[/quote]
Maybe. Then again, you can get around TV commercials too, by recording a program and skipping the commercial breaks when you get round to watching it later. You can't really do that on a video streaming service like YouTube.

I also wonder how they monitor how many people have seen adverts online. If I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure advertisers only tend to pay the advert host sites if people click on them. Maybe that's not the case with YouTube, but in many smaller sites I've seen, people tend to urge you to click on the adverts since that is what generates the revenue.

However, I have never clicked on a YouTube advert intentionally (this is before I had AdBlock), which is why I'm so curious about how they can tell whether you have seen an advert and not been interested, or whether you haven't seen an advert at all.

[Thunderbird]

We watch lengthier commercials on TV all the time while paying for the monthly cable subscription and noone bats an eye.  It's like on the internet everyone's entitled to have everything handed to them on a silver platter.

Just because you do, doesn't mean everybody does this.
I haven't watched TV for years (and I don't really have the urge to do).


To add another point to the debate, contrary to TV advertisments, online-advertisments might lead to a malware infection, e.g. some drive-by javascript exploit.

[Merlandese]

There are many webgame sites that make you sit through adverts before playing.

If the industry made it to the point where this format would be used for lengthier games like To The Moon (webgames are usually a few minutes of quick fun, and that's it) then I asume the game themselves would adapt to this by having  "resting" points in the story. A small arc is resolved, everything settles down and as you process all the info, the "commercial" would be on. Then the game resumes onto the next "chapter". It would definitely not work for every type of game.

That doesn't sound like a bad idea! I guess it still depends on how long you have to sit through adverts for though.

Games like The Walking Dead, and others that are becoming episodic in nature, are already primed for this type of future. And, believe it or not, the episodic nature works really well for people, especially adults who are afraid to invest heavily in games because of work or family. Throwing in adverts between episodes wouldn't be that far of stretch. Imagine if you had the choice between BUYING episodes of a game, or SITTING THROUGH a couple minutes of adverts before each one. I bet the majority of people would opt for the second.

And if that future came true, people who used Adblock-like programs would be very obviously stealing. It would be as if I sold you a jungle cruise experience in exchange for either money or you attending a lecture, and you chose the lecture, then didn't go to the lecture. Or something.

You are using up your time watching those adverts, and time is not something that you can get back. Once you've lost time, it's gone.

This is super true, and everyone knows that time is money. So, if you don't want to pay for a service in money, and you don't want to pay for it in time, then what you want is everything to be free. I can grasp this concept, because everyone wants everything to be free, but I can't get behind Adblock because the Gimme Stuff For Free mindset is detrimental to creativity.