Ad Blockers

[Dave2002]

I wonder what ad blockers forumites have found to be useful.

I am looking for ad blockers for my iPad Pro (iOS10) in the first instance. I think some ad blockers only work on some browsers (i.e. not at the OS level), so it would be useful to know whether blockers are browser specific. I tend to use three browsers frequently - Firefox, Chrome and Safari - possibly in that order. Also some blockers may not block all ads, and again it would be helpful to know.

Ads I particularly dislike are ones which appear in the middle of useful/interesting material, and video ads which start up (again in the middle of useful content), or ads which redirect to other pages with little warning.

I understand some of the revenue issues, but nevertheless I would like to have a better handle on this. I don't particularly want to have a "choice of ads", which some tools offer - I'd just rather have no ads at all. If I want to buy stuff I think I can find ways to keep myself well enough informed without having ads thrust at me.

[Roslynmuse]

AdBlock Plus has a Chrome add on - I've been using it happily for the last year or so.

[Nick Armstrong]

https://getadblock.com/pay/?exp=7002&v=0 - runs on Safari the whole time on laptop (MacBook Pro).

Never thought of installing it on the iPad Pro as I've never had ad problems on that

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'd like something to block the intrusion of BBC/ITV continuity announcers, with their crass comments imposed almost before the last sentence of a moving drama/film has died away.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'd like something to block the intrusion of BBC/ITV continuity announcers, with their crass comments imposed almost before the last sentence of a moving drama/film has died away.

- and to get rid of that irritating logo in the top left corner of the screen on many TV channels.

[Frances_iom]

I wonder what ad blockers forumites have found to be useful.

my combination for firefox but on a Linux (Mint) is noscript, request policy + noflash (+ a couple more more specialised)- I also block images allowing only those I want - will take a small time to sort out what sites may be whitelisted
however on Mac (+ especially on Android) both Apple + Google block many attempts to regain control of your own + paid for device

[Globaltruth]

I use adBlock Plus on Firefox v50.1.0 and have found it v useful. It's free, however you can donate.
Been using it for about 4 years.
There is a FaceBook version too (adBlock for FaceBook) equally useful, but, as I try to avoid use of FB can't really comment.
Anyway,both worth investigating.
I've only really had problems when I tried an equivalent to block ads in YouTube videos which does reinforce previous comment re Google.

[AmpH]

I use AdBlock Ultimate and Ghostery in combination with Better Privacy add - ons to the Firefox browser in Windows and find this to be a pretty effective combination to keep most ads / trackers / cookies etc etc at bay. Ghostery is a particularly useful tool as it clearly identifies the trackers , analytics etc which are loaded by websites and gives control over them by allowing wholesale or selective blocking.

[Dave2002]

Just installed AdBlock Plus in Firefox, and it seems to have removed some of the grot, but when I did a search and got taken to an Evening Standard site another message popped up telling me I was using an Ad Blocker - and I shouldn't!

I guess I can live with this for a while. It's really good not to have the **** things slap bang in the middle of articles.

[Dave2002]

Ad blockers - wars and arms races

There is of course an issue with ads and ad blockers - "who pays for the content?". This is a tricky one. My view is that most pieces of information one picks up from the internet are snippets, and if they were charged for would perhaps be worth a few pence. Some might be more useful, and one could imagine (perhaps) paying more, but mostly each item is not worth a lot.

Some mechanisms for funding have been based on micro-charges - where there are charges for downloading/reading each item - but the emphasis is on the word (fragment) "micro" - charges should not be too large as to set up a deterrent.

Mechanisms for payment based on adverts are also (Sadly, IMO) quite common, but it's understandable that site and content developers will want to at least recover some of their costs, perhaps in terms of effort, and in some cases hardware and software to support their endeavours.

Another model for reward is a donation model - and this is (arguably) a good thing for tools which many of us use most days - tools such as browsers (e.g. Firefox) and Wikipedia. It's great to have these free, but some of us are willing to pay (occasionally) to keep things that way.

However, where there are ads on a site, an ad blocker can help a lot to make things more readable. Unfortunately there seems to be a sort of war going on. Install an ad blocker, and travel to sites such as The Guardian, and all-music, and chances are a pop up will still appear, often "pleading" with you to unblock the ads, or suggesting some form of financial support. Whilst this form of "nag marketing" may help to keep some businesses afloat, my own view is that it is still sometimes disproportionate to the value which I personally get out of the available content. I understand that if few people pay for articles, such as those in the Guardian, that the organisation behind that will have financial problems, but on the other hand I don't want to be locked into one source for information at rates which in my opinion (others will have other views) are too high for me personally. I wouldn't mind spending a few pounds each week to get "all the casual information I can eat", but I don't want to commit that to a single site or organisation.

Some of the sites are moaning that "revenue from ads is dropping" - by which I think they mean that advertisers are realising that for all sorts of reasons the financial rewards for each ad are getting lower, so site owners do not get a lot back for each advert or even for each click through.

I find it sad that we seem to be getting ad blocker wars on some sites, but there it is.

[Dave2002]

I found this site today - while trying to check on John Adams "Son of chamber symphony" - http://www.allmusic.com/album/john-a...t-mw0002138709

There's a fair chance that if you try to access that site and have an ad blocker installed you'll still get a pop up - and mention of sfc - something called Support Free Content - http://cl.supportfreecontent.com/

Not sure whether to bother though - in case I get more problems.

[Bryn]

I found this site today - while trying to check on John Adams "Son of chamber symphony" - http://www.allmusic.com/album/john-a...t-mw0002138709

There's a fair chance that if you try to access that site and have an ad blocker installed you'll still get a pop up - and mention of sfc - something called Support Free Content - http://cl.supportfreecontent.com/

Not sure whether to bother though - in case I get more problems.

Though that is not the recording, or indeed work, featured on Record Review this morning:

[Dave2002]

Though that is not the recording, or indeed work, featured on Record Review this morning:

Indeed, but that wasn't the point of my post. Interesting piece - a bit frenetic though.

[Anastasius]

Just be aware that when using AdBlocker on some sites, such as financial ones, you may have difficulty opening up some pages/forms as AdBlock thinks they are ads. You can tweak it to allow those sites.

Now I'd really like something to block those wretched 'Recommended for you' on eBay's home page. Or 'Recently viewed'. Or 'Recently Purchased'.

[Beresford]

When watching ITV on demand, you have to disable the ad blocker. Seems fair enough, as the adverts pay for the programmes.
I read that the "business model" for Ghostery means they derive income from telling advertisers which adverts you have blocked!