Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 18th Aug 2010 14:02 UTC
We're still in the slow news period, so let's talk about something we discussed before: blocking advertisements on websites. Up until, well, today, I didn't block ads - not because of some ethical objection or whatever, but simply because I couldn't be bothered to setup AdBlock. Today, after taking a closer look at some of the websites I frequent, I decided to take the plunge and install AdBlock on all my machines. The following set of screenshots should pretty much explain why.
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Member since:2006-01-12
Agree, I really laughed when Thom compared OSnews, site that rips other sites news and rewrites it with opinions like BLOG, to Engadget which EMPLOYES atleast 3-5 people and makes original reportages. So yes they have more ads because everything costs more to them, but atleast they benefit economy.
No, I don't use adblocker because last thing I want to see is amount of news sources to get smaller and smaller. So maybe next time you see original article in OSnews, Engadget or any damn site turn off your adblock and give something back to them, support the hungry journalist.
Member since:2005-06-29
No, I don't use adblocker because last thing I want to see is amount of news sources to get smaller and smaller. So maybe next time you see original article in OSnews, Engadget or any damn site turn off your adblock and give something back to them, support the hungry journalist.
I'm extremely tolerant when it comes to these things, but at some point, a limit is reached. When my web browser shows NO content above the fold, then something's wrong. Plain and simple. It'd be like going to the movies, and have 3/4 of the screen permanently covered in advertisements. You'd be pretty pissed, right?
I simply draw the line here. Good sites will be unblocked, obviously.
Agree, I really laughed when Thom compared OSnews, site that rips other sites news and rewrites it with opinions like BLOG, to Engadget which EMPLOYES atleast 3-5 people and makes original reportages. So yes they have more ads because everything costs more to them, but atleast they benefit economy.
Nonsensical comparison. Engadget isn't a small endeavour contrary to OSNews, Engadget is part of a rather large company, owned by AOL, with boatloads of funds on their side. The same goes for Ars Technica.
You're basically comparing the local bakery (us) to WalMart (Engadget/Ars).
Member since:
2007-12-10
I don't block anything, I consider it a fair trade, like broadcast ads: content for a pair of eyes in front of an advertisement.
I subconsciously block them out anyway. If things get really annoying with sound or ads that burn up CPU on my laptop, I may consider some other solution, but it hasn't been a problem for me yet.
An aside, I find the content on ArsTechnica is generally of quite high quality (not always, but nothing is perfect), and the actual ads on the page are pretty minimal, considering. Also, those big images that sometimes lead stories are pretty well composed, and often hilarious, I wouldn't want to trade them out.
In the end: I'd rather have a site with less optimal layout and excellent content than a site with a high content/space ratio where the content itself is of low quality.