Asklemmy

I use PiHole on my home network to block ads across all devices. I mostly use it specifically for our smart TV as our Samsung loves to display Big Mac ads and track the hell out of everything. This way I can still stream to it. I have my phone and computer routed through it but my girlfriend doesn’t like how it slows down TikTok. Probably a reason for that 😁

I use adblock wherever I can as ads have only become more annoying and intrusive over time. It's incredibly frustrating going to a site and having three banner ads covering 60% of the screen, or seeing an unskippable ad interrupt a YouTube video every 90 seconds. It's wasted time I will never get back, and it feels like theft of my life. I wish I could have adblock everywhere outside of the internet.

I use AdBlock, PiHole, and several tracking protections because I'm fucking tired of being treated like a product by bigtech. I also have various websites blocked on the DNS level, using only privacy-respecting frontends (youtube, reddit, twitter)

Absolutely. Not using adblock is just asking to get malware, on top of ads being wildly obnoxious. And most sites are CRAMMED with ads to the point that they're basically ureadable.

I also subscribe to a lot of patreons and such because I want to support creators. But I'd stop consuming someone's content before I turned off my ad blocker, if they decided that was the hill they wanted to die on.

Yes. I have a whole house dns adlock AND iuse a browser adblock as well.

Too many websites are COMPLETE SHIT TO NAVIGATE without adblock. They will be slow to load because of all the ad servers loading in. They fill so much of their space with ads that the main Co tent you're there to see is obfuscated. They break content up with ads, so you're forced to scroll past them.

I have never understood why we legally allow advertising at all. Why should we let companies harass literally anyone with advertisements? I know literally nobody who likes seeing ads on any kind of content. It's an incredibly annoying thing we have normalized, and it needs to get cut back.

I use unlock origin because it blocks ads and other annoying web features like cookies and newsletters popins.

I do, because they are my devices and I get to choose what they do. Not some content creator.

Absolutely. Ublock origin which also blocks YouTube ads and running a pihole for my home network for the rest of the devices.

Lmao yeah uBlock Origin reks the internet fr. After chromium shifts to manifest v3, I'm switching to librewolf and uBlock to retain the same experience I've been having

I do, and I don't care if creators and companies that are already rich aren't getting 50 cents more.

Adblock and Sponsorblock. Also Enhancer for Youtube that hides those pesky YT Shorts.

Why? Fuck ads, that's why.

I even sometimes walk out of the room to do something else when the TV adverts come on, otherwise I ignore them. No one has ever accused me of denying a tv channel of revenue.

I just whitelist ads/domains which follow EFF DNT standard (Automatically via AdNauseaum but should be working with any Adblock Plus/uBlock Origin standard adblockers https://github.com/dhowe/AdNauseam/wiki/FAQ#how-and-why-does-adnauseam-make-exceptions-for-non-tracking-ads). https://www.eff.org/files/effdntlist.txt As you can see, this whitelist isn't that long, hence I do block most of the ads with my ad blocker. Outside individual exceptions, that's the only whitelist I have. Other than that, It's no pity. Doing so, I don't think I really ruin other individual's revenue, which are still done via ads online. Nowadays, it's more of sponsored content or affiliation links it seems, as advertisers adapt to the popularity of adblocker users instead of trying to fight them by being more and more aggressive with them (Which has been found to just reduce actual potential website users if it's too aggressive with pop-ups and all).

At this point, the internet is so goddamn unusable without an adblocker that I don't know why anyone would try.

At work, I'll occasionally start talking to someone about some fandom like Star Wars or Pathfinder or whatever. I'll go to the wikia or fandom page for them and suddenly I get a million popups and half the page is covered in ads. It's actually so bad that my work's filter will occasionally block a site because they'll say that the ads are too bad.

The only time I see ads now is when I watch YouTube or Hulu on my TV, but even then I try to cast from my desktop (though Hulu ads seem to break through). I understand the idea of supporting creators, but for most YouTubers, their money comes from the sponsorships, not from me watching an ad.

If I really like a creator, I’ll donate to them. Ads are an intrusion on privacy, and everybody has the right to block them without moral backlash.

Yes, AdGuard Home running network wide, then on my web browsers uBlock Origin on top of that.

Many websites are a cluttered ugly mess with ads and I dislike them. And don't don't me started on trackers.

I use Pi-hole, which is great since it is network wide. Doesn't do much for youtube, so for that I just download videos using yt-dlp. Downloading the video has the added bonus that you get the highest video quality for 100% of the video.

Probably close to 20 years ago at this point, when visiting the official forums for a game I loved, my computer was infected by malware delivered by a malicious ad. This was not some seedy part of the internet, but a website hosted by a major game publisher whose product I enjoyed.

Try as I might, I could not revert the damage caused by the virus, so the only recourse I had was to just blank slate wipe it clean and start over.

Today, I acknowledge that most websites more tightly control the ads they host, but the trust is forever broken. As soon as the option became available to me, I installed the best adblocker I could find and never looked back. No exceptions.

The truth is that every ad is malicious, to small degrees. They want to commodify your eyeballs and take up space in your mind. They're trying to create a need where one does not exist, and will use whatever tactic they can to try to part you from your hard-earned money. They're a barrier between you and the content you want to enjoy—in many cases content that you paid to enjoy.

Even if it's in the name of supporting a website/service I enjoy, I can't confidently turn off my ad blocker anymore. It only takes one malicious ad to sneak through the cracks to cause disaster.

There has got to be a better way of running an online business without having to completely fill the space with ads.

I use ublock origin on desktop. For YouTube I love Sponsorblock and started to use dearrow to remove gaping mouth thumbnails and modify click bait thumbnails.

On mobile I do not usually have an ad blocker set up so I just don't browse the Internet much at all from it. I do always use some kind of ad blocking YouTube player though. I really love sponsorblock.

I most certainly feel fine about it.

Especially since most of what I want to see is by people passionately showing off their hobby. When nobody tried to get paid for content I found I enjoyed it more. Nowadays I costume less and less content.

i block a lot of the excessive tracking, but not all ads specifically. i think its better to not go to the site at all and find a competitor that does not have as many ads. going to the site when you have that bad of an issue with it sends a bad signal to the people running the site.

I don't use ad blocker while at work, except to block YouTube ads.

Ads are mental poison, so yes.

Neurological warfare with a side of malware? Where do I sign up

The argument to turn off your adblocker is like a circus ringleader demanding the audience’s money for the sake of the lion, even while he beats the lion.

I've used it for the past decade. Literally the only time I see ads is when I look at other people's devices and wonder how TF they use them.

I like being able to surf the internet without having 90% of my screen plastered with ads as I scroll. Also fuck those ads that load 10 seconds after the article causing you to click them when you go to click on a link.

I block all ads, I rather tips some moneroj or sats to creators, buy some merch, etc. From my point of view giving 5$ to a creator will be more profitable for him/her than watching a hell lot of ads

Yes, uBlock Origin on Firefox and AdGuard on mobile devices. Can't live without adblock these days, especially for watching YouTube.

I use adblockers wherever possible. For instance, Iceraven with Ublock Origins in my phone, Firefox with Ublock Origins in PC, Infinity for Reddit (will stop using on 30th June), XManager for Spotify and Revanced Extended for YouTube.

I use a mix of uBlock Origin and NextDNS to block ads. I would support creators if they or the platform itself can clearly mark which part is an advertisement. I also donate to creators I think are adding value with their contents. Unfortunately, majority of creators aren't being very upfront on whether or not they're sponsored, platforms are mixing advertisements with legitimate contents/results.

I use adblock almost everywhere, except for a few sites with decent ads and creators I support.

Apart from that, I try to support the few creators I appreciate the most in other ways.

i do not use adblock on content creation sites like youtube

its a small effort for what i assume is a small bit of support for the content im watching

i just never had an issue with ads, theyre unobtrusive and i can just do something else while theyre playing