Blocking Advertisers: a discussion

[ses5909]

I read a post (http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=502783) today on SitePoint which discusses the morality of blocking advertisers; I thought it would be interesting to get the perspectives of bloggers.

The original article is from Cnet - Who blocks the (ad) blockers? | Surveillance State - CNET Blogs (http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9770502-46.html)

So my questions are..

1. DO you block ads?
2. What do you think of people who do?



I don't block ads personally but have no issue with people who do. Obviously, I would prefer that people visiting my sites didn't but I can understand why people do.

[tetsujin]

I used to block ads. I don't anymore mostly because I have not taken the time to install the plugin again.

I do not see anything wrong with blocking ads and I do not understand why people get in such a huff about it. Isn't it just like changing the channel when a commercial comes on?

Also if your only goal is to make money on what you write what is the point of writing it? I rather get out what I have to say to people than make sure they click my ads...

Cameron

[Jelena]

No, I don't block ads and don't have intention to. I really don't have anything against people who do that.

If I see site/blog that is full of ads all over the place, I would rather leave then block those ads to see the content.

[SarahG]

I block flashing, annoying, irritating ads that distract you from reading a page. Otherwise I tend to leave them there.

If a site was completely full of ads then the content would have to be exceptionally good for me to stick around.

[smittenbite]

Also if your only goal is to make money on what you write what is the point of writing it?

Cameron


obviously, its to make money =) not a lot of people work for nothing, most of the time if people work, bottom line is you wanna make money. and running a website or a blog, definitely has work involved.

[tetsujin]

obviously, its to make money =) not a lot of people work for nothing, most of the time if people work, bottom line is you wanna make money. and running a website or a blog, definitely has work involved.

I guess my hope just is that it is not the primary objective. If there are ads flying all over hell and pop ups and stuff, they are obviously going out to just make money. But if there is a few well placed "quiet" ads then if you ask me it seems like they are out to write or get their word out there before any money is made.

Camerron

[samwoodfin]

I block ads if they annoy me, or if they slow load times considerably. I also block domains that leave a crapload of cookies in my browser, and those are usually from ad servers. As a blogger, I'd MUCH rather have someone block my ads and keep visiting than to stop visiting altogether,

[Jeremy]

The only ads that really annoy me are popups and unders, so a built in popup blocker is all I use. Aside from that, I don't block ads.

Also, the way I see it is that the people who are savvy enough to block ads are probably people savvy enough to identify what would be an ad and not click on it anyway, so it isn't much of a loss. Since CPM ads play a limited role on my site, those who block aren't really affecting the bottom line.

On the other hand, if you had a busy site that relied almost entirely on CPM ads and had a technically inclined audience, that could have a big impact on revenue I'm sure.

[goldfries]

i close the site which i find have too many irritating ads.

[Dan Schulz]

I block them via my HOSTS file (redirects a list of Web sites to 0.0.0.0) and via an AdBlocker.css file.

Now, SOME sites (such as this one and Chris Beasley's Website Publisher) I have no problem viewing the ads on since they provide quality unique content that I keep coming back for, so on those sites, I'll disable the adblocker.css file.

[samwoodfin]

Question: Does TLA pay by clicks or impressions? It's not off-topic. I've got TinyURL blocked, and was wondering if I should start whitelisting certain sites...

[fatnewt]

I'm not a fan of adblocking. I mean, I work on my sites for profit. I enjoy writing them, and I'm not about to block anyone from my site for blocking my ads. But I also worked hard to bring that site to you.

My ads aren't intrusive. I never allow pop-ups on my sites and I block a lot of high-paying ads if they're inappropriate or annoying. I have that commitment to my visitors. But if I'm not making any more revenue from my Web sites I'll stop working on them. Not because i don't want to, but because I can't afford to spend that much time on it.

I don't see a big deal with it anyways, but I can relate to the issue.

[malique]

i block pop-unders.

really hate them.

[smittenbite]

I block them via my HOSTS file (redirects a list of Web sites to 0.0.0.0) and via an AdBlocker.css file.

Now, SOME sites (such as this one and Chris Beasley's Website Publisher) I have no problem viewing the ads on since they provide quality unique content that I keep coming back for, so on those sites, I'll disable the adblocker.css file.

does it make a difference though - do you click on the ads you see? whats the difference between not seeing any ads and not clicking any, and seeing ads but still not clicking them? seems the same like you might as well just block all of it if you wont click ads anyways

[ses5909]

TLA for affiliates (what you see here at TBE) pays for someone who signs up. TLA for link sales pays a set amount and doesn't measure the clicks or impressions. The person buying buys it for the potential traffic and PR I think.

[samwoodfin]

TLA for affiliates (what you see here at TBE) pays for someone who signs up. TLA for link sales pays a set amount and doesn't measure the clicks or impressions. The person buying buys it for the potential traffic and PR I think.

Thanks, Sara!

does it make a difference though - do you click on the ads you see? whats the difference between not seeing any ads and not clicking any, and seeing ads but still not clicking them? seems the same like you might as well just block all of it if you wont click ads anyways

I'm not about to speak for Dan...

I DO click ads that look interesting. But javascript-based ads on unfamiliar sites won't be seen in Firefox on my computer without some sort of compelling reason, because I have javascript and XSS blocked by default. That's not about anti-commercialization; it's about security. TinyURL is blocked for the same reason. One domain is blocked because of that whole Yahoo ad trojan thing, and others are blocked because Spybot S&D regards their tracking cookies as spyware.

In some cases, there's a HUGE difference between blocking and just not clicking. And there's a difference for the blogger, too, since some programs (e.g., AdSense) pay for impressions.

[Dan Schulz]

does it make a difference though - do you click on the ads you see? whats the difference between not seeing any ads and not clicking any, and seeing ads but still not clicking them? seems the same like you might as well just block all of it if you wont click ads anyways

Yes, I do actually - if the ads are relevant and something I find useful.

Furrthermore, what Sam said. :)