- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
Let’s be honest: The internet without adblock is unusable. I really do not know how all those people without adblock are doing that.
No seriously though. Was using managers laptop very briefly, and needed to look up some instructions. No adblock, Google Chrome default browser, etc. The websites were almost unreadable. Giant video ads in top and bottom corners, big thick flashing distracting ads on all sides making the readable area a little bigger than a postage stamp. Genuinely how do people browse the Internet like this?
something something when all you know is the farm
I see people who put zero effort into ad-blocking in a similar light as people who don’t leave shitty partners. At some point they manage to convince themselves that it’s not a problem.
Don’t forget that most people don’t know that blocking ads is possible. To most people, their browser is on an appliance, like a washing machine or fridge. They know how to do the basics, but that’s about it.
So I’m not trying to be contrary… but who is using their browser on an appliance?! Certainly not ‘most people’?
I would agree that there is a general ignorance of adblockers but there’s no way most people are using browsers on appliances…
I believe he meant “people use their browser like they use an appliance” as in they don’t know any details about it, just open it and use it as is.
What? Nobody’s using their browser on an appliance (except for a handful of masochists with Samsung fridges). I said to most people their browser is on an appliance, as in they treat computers, phones, and laptops like appliances, in that they’re mysterious boxes that do a particular job.
Hardly anyone is trying to hack their appliances, and the majority of people just lump their computing devices into the same category - it does what it was designed for and nothing else
Haha, clearly a misunderstanding then… I think the ‘on an appliance’ part did it! In any case we seem to agree!
A computer is an appliance. In the strictest sense of the word.
Just like I treat my car and for other that’s offensive because a car is a passion project. I can imagine the parallels.
Some even LIKE the ads.
I’m pretty sure I’ve clicked in like 3 ads in my life accidentally. But I saw people actively clicking in ads on purpose regularly and that shit shocked me completely. People don’t look at it as malware and phishing links like I do and think it’s a good thing. Internet was a mistake.
I use Ad Nausaem (probably butchered the spelling) Firefox plugin on my home PC for that. Instead of blocking ads, it hides them into a sandbox and “clicks” on all of them in the background. Won’t use it on anything battery-powered though.
Hot single mom’s in my area. Well…
It’s genuinely insufferable. I have plenty of ad block on my pc but little on my phone. When I’m doing stuff on my phone it’s sometimes impossible to navigate certain news sites or watch videos because of all the fucking ads.
If you have Android, you can install Firefox and use uBlock Origin there. It’s awesome :)
There is a web outside of chrome…
Most of the time I dont see any ads on YT and I watch a lot of content there. It’s getting harder to not get ads there on all my devices but it’s doable.
But when I go see my parents, I use their smartTV to watch YT. And I realize how horrible the experience is with all the interruptions and the impossibility to just focus on what you are watching.
And yesterday I got multiple time ads for a crypto scam called Ryxero or something. The scam was using AI clones of Bernard Arnault, a french billionaire, pretending you could win 1000€ a day…
The scam also had deepfakes of news outlets pretending that people in France were “queuing to ATM” to get their money…
I think it’s absolutely unacceptable that YT let them serve crypto scams to millions in complete impunity.
I will try to report the scam to authorities. I also reported it to YT but I dont expect them to act. The 3mn long ad was paid by an american business called “EX” which I think serves their scam abroad through YT in complete impunity.
For me the scam and AI clones is obvious but how many got scammed with the complicity of YouTube ? Hundreds ?
BTW you can/should install an alternative YT frontend on smart TVs, if you want to watch YT and are forced to use a smart TV. Even something semi-suitable like Pipepipe will do, but there are also frontends more suited for TV use, e.g. SmartTube
Watching TV of any kind at other people’s homes, and especially my parents’ place, can feel like some real black mirror shit.
Is there a way to block youtube ads on the tv? I have an android tv and using the youtube app is painfull… :-(
You need firefox with ublock.
Ads need to be banned. They are inherently harmful, inherently deceptive, and only valuable in competition with other advertising. There is a direct line between the advertising model and the malignant politics that are destroying our world. Ban them all.

I was born in the early 90s, got non-dial up home internet access in 2003, and never ever, in the history of my time being on the internet. I have never ever, never not even once clicked on an ad on purpose. Like the Yahtzee ad thats showing right above your comment, I will never click this shit and follow it all the way up to giving my credit card info over. Why do we even have these nowadays, aside from tracking you?
There are ads on Lemmy? I’ve never seen one.
But, like so many things in this world, if you ask ‘why is this a thing?’ the answer is almost always ‘idiots exist.’ A handful of idiots DO click on ads and buy the products, download the malware, etc. It’s not much but the 30 real people lend legitimacy to the 970 ‘totally real people’ who ‘totally clicked on the ad but just didn’t buy anything’ according to the metrics, and it’s seemingly impossible to sell anything without paying rent to the marketers because it’s essentially analogous to nuclear arms; if no one had it, everyone would be happier, healthier, and safer, but if they have it and you don’t, you lose.
There are ads on Lemmy? I’ve never seen one.
That’s on their specific client.
Bad client…
Which I’m pretty sure I paid for too, its Sync for Lemmy.
They would be banned in a world where human happiness was the priority, but we live in a world where profits is the priority. I think in 50 years, there are two scenarios. Either humanity has learned to value happiness over profits, or we live in actual dystopia, with robots patrolling against “rebels”, implants, surveillance, Ai… Entire package from sci-fi.
I mean, given the problems the world currently faces, both are fairly optimistic. 50 years is a long time now. Nuclear treaties are expiring and the people in charge of the nuclear powers don’t seem the kind to decrease their nuclear armament, or make rational decisions regarding their use. A shifting climate could (not necessarily definitely will but certainly could) destroy our ability to feed ourselves at scale, creating a world where people are too concerned about food to worry about building robots or self-actualization. Clean water sources are becoming rarer and harder to access, so people might be too focused on fighting over water to worry too much about anything else. And the fun part is none of these are mutually exclusive. We could have a future where part of the world is a glowing crater, the equator is a sun blasted hell, and the Canadians and Siberians are the only survivors, fighting each other over what’s left of the bioaccumulating-poison-laden arctic fish as they shout their battlecries, words with a meaning no one remembers anymore; ‘SORRY!’ ‘BLYAT!’










