Why you MUST not use an ad blocker - unless you want to pay for content

[hawkeye52]

Everyone should just join the PubClub

It's cheaper to put up with the ads; personally I miss the ones advertising big boobs bras.

you mean the evony ads?

well anyway i use adblockers because i know that i will not click on any ads since i have been forced to watch ads for the most of my time on the internet and my connection gets raped back in cyprus because of the ads. plus some of the ads are buggy and screw up the client for streaming the vids so thats why i use noscripts.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Fair enough.

I don't ad-block, because I don't know what it is. But I will stick anything into my mouth that is given to me...clear?

 

[Nunny]

I dont mind the Ads that line the side of pages or the occasional one at the start of a video, but those god damn ads that take over the screen or pop up on seperate windows Piss me off.

 

[MatParker116]

I don't mind ads like the stella one currently in the corner of my webpage but if everytime I pause a video on this site I get the same fucking fable 3 trailer and the video restarts that's the kind of ad I hate.

 

[Wicky_42]

...Ad blockers are the reason they're so invasive, because they need to make money regardless of what the people are doing to stop them.

Wait, what?! Nooooo, no no no no. That logic is fundamentally flawed - it doesn't matter how obnoxious or shiny you make ads, those with a blocker still don't see them, and those without get steadily more pissed off until they maybe decide to do something about it.

Obnoxious ads aren't ones that people are likely to click on, clever, engaging ones are. It wasn't ad blockers that created bad ads, bad ads caused the creation of blockers. The 'you've won! Click here!' ads have been around forever, not as some cynical move to grab a larger share of a dwindling population as ad-blockers squeeze the revenue out of the interwebs.

Basically, the ads would be just as bad even if no-one used blockers; blockers are irrelevant in a marketer's mind because if you're blocking them then you are no longer in their potential audience, you're out of the equation. They're just focused on those who can still view them, and as you can see from the responses in this thread, that a healthy majority even amongst a tech-aware crowd would could probably all easily do something about it if they wanted.

 

[Adventurer2626]

Pop-Ups? I don't think so.

Escapist/YouTube ads before videos? Absolutely.

One helps kils the internet, the other can help pay for it.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

If ads play sound or music they deserve to be blocked, and I don't feel wrong about using an adblocker for that.

(LAY OFF MODS! I'm pubclub, my adblocking isn't hurting the Escapist)

It doesn't matter if you're in the pubclub or not. rule will give you the same punishment if you

Confess, Teach, Admit to or Promote adblocking software on the Escapit.

In short, you're admitting to it and being a member of the pub-club isn't gonna save you from it. If you know the mods may punish you for it, why post it to begin with.

 

[SturmDolch]

You speak the truth. However, I installed Ad-Block right after I got a very hard to remove virus from mis-clicking on a website and accidentally clicking on a banner ad. I'm quite sure that is also how my Hotmail, and then WoW accounts were "hacked".

I did have Ad-Block disabled on the Escapist before I got pub club.

 

[KeyMaster45]

It doesn't matter if you're in the pubclub or not. rule will give you the same punishment if you

Confess, Teach, Admit to or Promote adblocking software on the Escapit.

In short, you're admitting to it and being a member of the pub-club isn't gonna save you from it. If you know the mods may punish you for it, why post it to begin with.

Makes this kind of a one sided argument then doesn't it? If the other side isn't permitted to give their opinion on the matter without risk of reprisal then it could be construed that the only purpose of this thread was to ban people on the other side of the argument. After all even if you don't directly admit it by defending the other side you've given an indirect confession that would warrant moderator action. Thus making the entire discussion value of this thread pointless. In effect making it yet another rant thread in equivalence of intellectual value that of the countless piracy threads we see crop up on a monthly basis.

At best it makes the thread pointless, at worst it turns the thread into an inflation of people's ego for "taking the moral high ground".
(yes I have deleted what I originally posted because I DO fear mod reprisal)

 

[ENKC]

I block popups, but not ads. I don't mind them really. Not on the kinds of sites I frequent at least.

And I'm the sort of person that owns my whole music collection on CD.

 

[Gilhelmi]

I do pay for content (or ignore watch ads). I do for every website I go to. Most I just look at the ads. But for the better sites I buy stuff (like CAD or Real-Life Comics) even the Eacapist, I pay $20 a year.

Grow up and pay for what you use. You will see more and more ads/subscriptions, and sites that put up TV shows for free (without ads that are questionable whether or not they are paying the publishers) being sued/shut down, or going to become legitimate.

 

[Squilookle]

Back in the day my internet was so slow I'd have time to hit the 'click here to continue to the webpage button' before an ad even had a chance to load, and since just about all ads I see are aimed at North Americans anyway, I don't see any problem with using an adblocker.

Hell I even use a flashblocker as well so I can read a video's description before it automatically starts loading and chewing up my bandwidth. Honestly Flashblocker is just about the best plugin I've ever downloaded.

 

[dariuskyne]

Overall I don't mind that there are adverts on videos or on the page itself, it's not a big deal to me, but like many others have already said, it's the REPTIVENESS of them that drives me crazy, and avoid said product like the plauge. the same advert in every single vid I watch isn't going to make me buy it, and isn't winning any favour from me on the part of the website using the ads, rotate the ads, get a bunch and have it random as to which one plays... there's gotta be a code to make that happen.
at least have entertaining ones like the old bud light men of genius commercials, personally i never will buy bud light and think it tastes of cow piss (not a beer drinker), but at least the ads were entertaining, and thankfully fairly short.

 

[ManaAdvent]

I wouldn't mind ads if they weren't annoying. By that, I mean, some ads are littered or bugged with viruses that affect your computer, and deviantArt has that kind of problem where the ads are linked to viral activity and that is a major problem. Heck, it happened once with a new computer and its now trashed! Also, the ads can be an eyesore when they're littered everywhere, and when an ad is very intrusive like it plays audio and videos esp. when I listen to music and other things it is a major distraction and disruptive. So I'm happy with ad blockers at the moment.

I'll be nice to ads when advertisements and companies are nice to me and not try to crash my computer.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I paid for pub club because I like the CEO and a few of the employees (funk and ardnt) here, but if I didn't for sure i'd run an adblock or stylish if I wasnt a member. Or just use opera and remove the offending portions from the page manually. Advertising is a waste of my time, hence why anytime I click on a video with ads I tab over and it mutes then I pop back 15-30 sec later and banner ads get the boot. Only ones I sometimes leave are the ones on the left or right if I don't notice it.

I don't really buy the argument that it hurts me because it might limit content etc etc. I can go to youtube and find any sort of sketch, review, comedy I wan't. If LRR stops creating vids it just leaves a hole for other ppl to create content willing to do it for free. If there was a system wide drop in content(sure lol) then it will increase demand and willingness to "buy" content. It simply seems an economic issue, content is unlimited atm(practically) so my willingness to pay for it is nil.

 

[Ickorus]

If adverts stop it with the massive pop-ups appearing when I accidentally move my mouse cursor over them then i'll consider not using ad-blockers.

 

[Dys]

My adblocker is in browser, it does not block the adverts from being downloaded, and as such neither the website operators or advertisers have any way of knowing that I'm choosing to reduce clutter by ignoring their ads. I honestly don't see any harm....