Gamers Find Way to Block Ads From New Xbox Dashboard

[Amnestic]

This website is 100% free content.

Sorry, but no. One need only look at the Subscription Page [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/subscription/] to see that you offer some content at a premium. Therefore the Escapist is less than 100% free.

Yes, and when you subscribe to the Pub Club, you don't get any ads anymore. I don't have ads on the main page, I don't have ads sitting next to my videos, and I don't have to sit through some 30 second video before the video starts playing. That would be the key difference in the new dashboard, where the ads are there regardless.

For the third time, irrelevant. See my previous two posts on that post for why whatever you're talking about doesn't matter.

The thread is on Microsoft board with ads and getting rid of them. I am using the thread, in question, to my argument. You also ignore that this website could not exist without ads. You just want to point out that I am talking about the dashboard instead of reading what I had to say. If you have nothing to benefit to this then I'll take it as a victory for me in a argument or dis-agreement.

Now then, can you find a flaw in what I wrote, or are you just going to make me have to point at the point I just made?

I'm not ignoring that, I just don't think it's particularly relevant. I pointed out (after it was mentioned) how this 'fix' from the Escapist also blocks ads on MSN.com. This is another website which offers free content, likely supported via ads, which you are now depriving them of.

Which the Escapist is now telling you how to block.

If the fix blocked ads on the Escapist too, do you think they'd be okay with endorsing it because it fixes the Xbox360 and that removing Escapist ads is just an 'interesting side effect'?

*snip*

Your argument is completely invalid. A private business is not a democracy.

If you don't like it, you're free to leave. There are lots of policies here I disagree with, but your argument is pathetic, at best.

[/quote]

So what you're saying is that if the Escapist had an article about how to pirate games, you'd be totally okay with it?

Nice job conflating it with 'democracy' though. Here I just thought it was amusing that they're happy to blatantly break their own rules; rules that they've permabanned people for breaking.

 

[Olrod]

So... does this mean it's okay to block ads sometimes?

 

[Aprilgold]

The thread is on Microsoft board with ads and getting rid of them. I am using the thread, in question, to my argument. You also ignore that this website could not exist without ads. You just want to point out that I am talking about the dashboard instead of reading what I had to say. If you have nothing to benefit to this then I'll take it as a victory for me in a argument or dis-agreement.

Now then, can you find a flaw in what I wrote, or are you just going to make me have to point at the point I just made?

I'm not ignoring that, I just don't think it's particularly relevant. I pointed out (after it was mentioned) how this 'fix' from the Escapist also blocks ads on MSN.com. This is another website which offers free content, likely supported via ads, which you are now depriving them of.

Which the Escapist is now telling you how to block.

If the fix blocked ads on the Escapist too, do you think they'd be okay with endorsing it because it fixes the Xbox360 and that removing Escapist ads is just an 'interesting side effect'?
/quote]

Theres already a program for that, there is no program for this. Theres a difference, I'm not endorsing its use, but you can USE it to get rid of ads. You can't do this on your Xbox unless you do it 3rd party style.

 

[Epona]

Yes, if you pay for a service, you shouldn't allow ads. Ads eat up your bandwidth and that can hurt if you have a bandwidth cap. Greed knows no bounds but you can do your part to keep it at bay. You are not a product that can be profited from without your consent.

 

[CronoT]

Yes, if you pay for a service, you shouldn't allow ads. Ads eat up your bandwidth and that can hurt if you have a bandwidth cap. Greed knows no bounds but you can do your part to keep it at bay. You are not a product that can be profited from without your consent.

Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg's entire business model would beg to differ.


Hence why I don't have a Facebook account. I already see enough 'Male Enhancement' ads on TV. I don't need them in my email inbox or my regular mail.

 

[RvLeshrac]

Yes, if you pay for a service, you shouldn't allow ads. Ads eat up your bandwidth and that can hurt if you have a bandwidth cap. Greed knows no bounds but you can do your part to keep it at bay. You are not a product that can be profited from without your consent.

Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg's entire business model would beg to differ.


Hence why I don't have a Facebook account. I already see enough 'Male Enhancement' ads on TV. I don't need them in my email inbox or my regular mail.

Facebook is a product which relies on your consent to use your information for marketing purposes.

 

[Fasckira]

Paying for a service does not automatically entitle you to never see an advert. A traditional example of this would be magazines/newspapers - you buy them and you get adverts. XBOX Live charges for your use of the social media platform as it were, if they choose to start advertising too then so what? As annoying as the adverts are, they don't stop me from playing my game or talking to my friends.

However, I did follow the guide posted above because they _are_ annoying and the guide was very straight forward. I also thought by adverts it meant those static advert panes too. Sadly I still have things like the big Sky box logo, the screen shots of new films and so on. On the other hand if I go to MSN.com now its lovely and white for the most part of the page.

Regardless of your views on the morality of XBOX pushing adverts, it doesn't negate the fact that Escapist still shouldn't have posted a detailed how-to on the subject. They could have easily covered this story from a distanced perspective without the guide. It breaks their own rules and its telling you effectively how to hack (and I use that term in its broadest sense) a commercial product to stop displaying adverts.

 

[DTWolfwood]

so I think it's a fair question for gamers to ask why they should be bothered by advertisements while poking around the service they're shelling out for.

can i apply that to Cable tv? XD

in all seriousness that is fantastic

Now Microsoft is going to put the ad machine on more servers!

Do you have a DVR? There you go.

If it was free yes. Too bad you have to pay extra for it or sign some contract. Which kinda makes it a moot point don't it XD

 

[Zom-B]

By the by, Xbox live is free so long as you don't want to do any multiplayer. I only had a gold account briefly so I could get access to the Arkham Asylum demo a few years back. Other than that I've had a free Xbox live account that I use to purchase the occasional DLC.

Unless, of course, you'd like to use the Netflix account that you already pay for separately on your Xbox. Then MS demands that you give them money for a Gold account. Because somehow, letting people use a service they already pay for on a MS device for free is a no no.

 

[Zom-B]

Yes, if you pay for a service, you shouldn't allow ads. Ads eat up your bandwidth and that can hurt if you have a bandwidth cap. Greed knows no bounds but you can do your part to keep it at bay. You are not a product that can be profited from without your consent.

Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg's entire business model would beg to differ.


Hence why I don't have a Facebook account. I already see enough 'Male Enhancement' ads on TV. I don't need them in my email inbox or my regular mail.

Facebook is a product which relies on your consent to use your information for marketing purposes.

Not entirely true. Facebook relies on an "opt out" basis of consent, rather than an "opt in". By default most facebook privacy controls are set to allow advertisers, other users and facebook itself access to all of your information. If you don't want to share you have to go through the sometimes labourious process of checking and un-checking various boxes in a labyrinthian series of menus and options.

Yes, facebook does need your consent, but by default all options on your account are set to "yes, I will share my information".

 

[CronoT]

Yes, if you pay for a service, you shouldn't allow ads. Ads eat up your bandwidth and that can hurt if you have a bandwidth cap. Greed knows no bounds but you can do your part to keep it at bay. You are not a product that can be profited from without your consent.

Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg's entire business model would beg to differ.


Hence why I don't have a Facebook account. I already see enough 'Male Enhancement' ads on TV. I don't need them in my email inbox or my regular mail.

Facebook is a product which relies on your consent to use your information for marketing purposes.

Not entirely true. Facebook relies on an "opt out" basis of consent, rather than an "opt in". By default most facebook privacy controls are set to allow advertisers, other users and facebook itself access to all of your information. If you don't want to share you have to go through the sometimes labourious process of checking and un-checking various boxes in a labyrinthian series of menus and options.

Yes, facebook does need your consent, but by default all options on your account are set to "yes, I will share my information".

On top of that, Facebook has been the target of several gov't and criminal investigations recently about how even AFTER you turn on all privacy settings, they are either ignored and still sold to advertisers, or default BACK to the setting allowing advertisers to see and contact you.

Now, I'm not going to get into any of those "Jews run the [whatever]!" scaremongering, aka, racist statements, but the only reason that Zuckerberg isn't in prison right now is because he's rich. I think this picture captures it perfectly: