Ask Slashdot: To AdBlock Or Not To AdBlock? 716
Is there an acceptable compromise to behavioral targeting? On the one hand, I don't want to be profiled by unscrupulous advertisers. On the other hand, I feel that the advertiser is the middleman between the things I care about (content) and the dollars that support those things. My compromise is to take a page out of BF Skinner's book, Walden Two, and view the situation as a sort of absurd behaviorist experiment. Basically, I Adblock everything, but whitelist the sites I support. Is this too much? Not enough? What should individuals do protect themselves, if anything at all?
Re:Just block all ads and don't worry about it (Score:5, Informative)
You may be buying the products, but that doesn't mean the web sites are receiving any revenue. Google ads and many others often only pay when clicked.
Re:the issue is not the ads... (Score:5, Informative)
You may be interested in Flattr [flattr.com].
Re:Everything (Score:0, Informative)
...and you aren't a subscriber.
So you don't support sites you visit with ads, and you don't support them with your money. So basically, you're just an entitled asshole. IMHO, slashdot should do a reverse ad-block and block freeloaders like yourself. The nerd tears would be delicious.
Re:Just block all ads and don't worry about it (Score:5, Informative)
So you're subscribing to /. then?
I'm not, but Slashdot gave me a little checkbox to hide the ads anyway :)
I don't know what all the fuss is about. Advertising is a perfectly legitimate way to fund a site if there is no other way. People will grumble about having to view ads, but most will flatly refuse to pay even a few dollars to fund the site.
It does go too far sometimes though. I've had friends complain that they mentioned the word "diet" on a (seemingly) unrelated forum and then suddenly facebook is bombarding them with weight loss products. Targeted advertising should at least have the decency to be sneaky, not obvious. I use adblock though and have never, ever, seen an ad on Facebook. I started using adblock when all the ads made my dialup connection too slow, and have never bothered turning it off even though i'm on a much faster connection now.
Re:BBC Model (Score:4, Informative)
A couple of years ago the Tory government in the UK were trying to reduce the BBC's budget dramatically, arguing that it's lost focus on its core objective of news. In particular, they wanted to scale back the websites to just basic news, arguing that the real content should be provided by newspapers' websites. The reality is that the public love and defend the BBC's diverse range of services, and in the end I think the bill was scrapped. Now, with the recent Olympics, the BBC successfully (without a hitch, from what I saw) broadcast web-based feeds of 30 sporting events simultaneously, to tens of millions of viewers at once. Not only that, but you could rewind and seek within the live stream videos to rewatch notable events. They've recently extended the same functionalty to their iPlayer (catch-up TV) service, allowing me to rewind a programme that's currently broadcasting if I've missed the beginning.
The licence fee is an absolute bargain. I'd happily pay twice that amount. The only comparable website (and there are no real comparisons) would perhaps be the Guardian newspaper's website, which at least competes for news content. It doesn't make a stab at history [bbc.co.uk] sections, archives [bbc.co.uk] of old film footage (such as the Titanic launch), learning/revision services for school kids [bbc.co.uk], a news service entirely aimed at kids [bbc.co.uk] (and toddlers [bbc.co.uk]), science [bbc.co.uk]...
Re:Just block all ads and don't worry about it (Score:5, Informative)
Either way, you're getting some benefit (i.e. viewing a website) without paying for it. How is that not stealing?
It's not stealing because the provider of that website provides that benefit to me without requesting payment. There is no contract, either explicit or implied, that requires me to watch ads in exchange for the benefit provided.
Re:Just block all ads and don't worry about it (Score:4, Informative)
No.
The BBC get their revenue from a government monopoly. They schmooze the government of the day when their charter [culture.gov.uk] comes up for renewal. They pay zero attention to customer complaints.