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siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

1 recommendation

siljaline

Premium Member

[Extension] Adblock Plus denies ad fixing allegations

quote:
Adblock Plus is one of the most popular ad blockers on the market and up until a few months ago it was going from strength to strength, finding its way onto millions of PCs and mobile devices.

However, Adblock’s venture into mobile seems to have been a wrong move, as it started unravelling ever since the service hit Google’s Play Store. Google wasn’t willing to tolerate ad blockers on the Play Store and it quickly banished the app, but at about the same time even more sinister rumours started to emerge.
»news.techeye.net/busines ··· egations

Also at Salon.com
»www.salon.com/2013/07/05 ··· ngleton/

IndianaGuy
@comcast.net

IndianaGuy

Anon

Thanks for keeping us updated on these things siljaline.

If things do go bad with Adblock Plus I wonder what would be a good replacement? No one likes the idea of being 'sold out' assuming the reports are true. Taking money from Google (who I don't trust at all) really bothers me...

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

You're most welcome. As soon as any allegations of wrong-doing by the ABP Folks - others will be asking the same thing.

Try Disconnect in lieu of or with ABP.
»disconnect.me/
90115534 (banned)
Someone is sabotaging me.Finding out who
join:2001-06-03
Kenner, LA

90115534 (banned) to IndianaGuy

Member

to IndianaGuy
Ad Muncher the best there is.

No Hulu ads ever!

Once Ad Muncher 5 is out it will be available for Linux and Macs! Then soon a version for Android and iOS!

I have 3 Unlimited updates licenses!

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

Last time I checked, this thread concerns Google paying AdBlockPlus to whitelist Ads

»translate.google.com/tra ··· &act=url
90115534 (banned)
Someone is sabotaging me.Finding out who
join:2001-06-03
Kenner, LA

90115534 (banned)

Member

said by IndianaGuy :

Thanks for keeping us updated on these things siljaline.

If things do go bad with Adblock Plus I wonder what would be a good replacement? No one likes the idea of being 'sold out' assuming the reports are true. Taking money from Google (who I don't trust at all) really bothers me...


siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

Alternatives have been offered in this thread - if you'd like to plug what you were mentioning, let's have a synopsis for all of us to look at.


sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

1 recommendation

sivran to siljaline

Premium Member

to siljaline
Sounds to me like a good reason to (ab)use a hosts file. I (ab)use my hosts file by using HostsMan to grab the MVPS file every once in a while. This approach, combined with adblocking in browsers, results in me almost never seeing an ad.

I noticed this "Acceptable Ads" thing a while back but didn't think much of it. It's clear that they do accept money to whitelist big companies, but if they do that without enforcing their standards, that's a problem.

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

Well said, sivran See Profile while the whitelisting debacle is ongoing, it would behove ABP users to use alternate methods of ad-blocking such as what has been cited in this thread.
I already use the MVPS Hosts file as I have been for a good number of years.
The Verge has summarised the Salon.com article well here:
»www.theverge.com/2013/7/ ··· hitelist

90115534 (banned)
Someone is sabotaging me.Finding out who
join:2001-06-03
Kenner, LA

90115534 (banned)

Member

said by 90115534:

Ad Muncher the best there is.

No Hulu ads ever!

Once Ad Muncher 5 is out it will be available for Linux and Macs! Then soon a version for Android and iOS!

I have 3 Unlimited updates licenses!


siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

The ABP Folks sent me the below canned reply via Twitter.
»adblockplus.org/en/accep ··· able-ads
Nothing we don't already know.
siljaline

siljaline to sivran

Premium Member

to sivran
Further evidence that Adblock Plus does whitelist ads.
»howto.cnet.com/8301-1131 ··· e-sites/
See Forum link that clearly cites whitelisting:
»adblockplus.org/forum/vi ··· &t=15633

Ian1
Premium Member
join:2002-06-18
ON

1 edit

1 recommendation

Ian1 to siljaline

Premium Member

to siljaline
Interesting. But I un-check "allow some non-intrusive advertising". Still works great. If it stops working, I'll worry about it.

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

Agreed, despite all the news, I am still using the Add-on

Your comments are appreciated & more as I learn more if there will be any further breaking revelations.
siljaline

siljaline to 90115534

Premium Member

to 90115534
Ad Muncher Discussion Thread:
»www.wilderssecurity.com/ ··· t=339054

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

Grail Knight to Ian1

Premium Member

to Ian1
Along with un-checking the "allow some non-intrusive advertising" users can also
uncheck the enable box beside each whitelisted filter. Takes a few minutes depending
on the amount of filters and a min. or two after updating filters to disable any new
whitelisted filters.

If a site is screwed up it is easy to find out which adp filter is the culprit though
the "Open Blockable Items" feature and allow/whitelist from there.

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

That's an interesting concept and something that I will keep in mind. Although blacklisting something that was whitelisted is no mean feat for an average user.

»adblockplus.org/en/screenshots

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

Grail Knight

Premium Member

The average user is generally not hanging out in the Mozilla Forum here.

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

You're so cruel

Kit
@verizon.net

Kit to Grail Knight

Anon

to Grail Knight

I'm trying to figure out the added value that comes from un-checking the enable box beside each whitelisted filter. Would this prevent those ads from being loaded entirely as part of the filter subscription, for example? If not, what is the added value over and above what comes from un-checking the "allow some non-intrusive advertising" box? And if there is some added value, why couldn't the author of the extension offer users an easy way to un-check the enable box beside each whitelisted filter? Right now if you un-check filters you get a message that "some filters are disabled" and an easy way to enable them again without having to enable each individually. Would it really be that hard to provide an option to disable each white listed filter in one click?



The reason I ask is this. As more and more filters (whether blacklisted or whitelisted) get added to subscriptions, it would seem like load times would also increase. Why not somehow give users who don't want any whitelisted filters at all either subscriptions that exclude them or some easy way to make sure they are not loaded as part of ABP? I mean, the number of whitelisted filters in different subscriptions is becoming quite long.



(I hope I've explained this clearly).

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

Grail Knight to siljaline

Premium Member

to siljaline
Actually that was a compliment as in above avg. Fx users and those that want to learn more about the browser they run hand out here.
Grail Knight

Grail Knight to Kit

Premium Member

to Kit
You should ask the developer about filter accessability and ideas you have on changing features at his forum

This is the ABP Future Development Forum link.
Bobby_Peru
Premium Member
join:2003-06-16

1 recommendation

Bobby_Peru to Grail Knight

Premium Member

to Grail Knight
said by Grail Knight:

Actually that was a compliment as in above avg. Fx users and those that want to learn more about the browser they run hang out here.

Yea, yea, but then I show up, and trash the whole curve......

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

Not really, Bobby_Peru See Profile - we don't want to come off as being elitist.

Grail Knight

Premium Member
join:2003-05-31
Valhalla

1 recommendation

Grail Knight to Bobby_Peru

Premium Member

to Bobby_Peru
There is only one member who can trash the curve and I will say no more.

siljaline
I'm lovin' that double wide
Premium Member
join:2002-10-12
Montreal, QC

siljaline

Premium Member

said by Grail Knight:

There is only one member who can trash the curve and I will say no more.

Noted and thanks for the note.

Kit
@verizon.net

Kit to Grail Knight

Anon

to Grail Knight
Thanks, I guess, but I've personally given up on Adblock Plus because there just seem to be too many unanswered questions.

We know that the main filter lists for ABP now whitelist ads. Most people yawn at this, arguing you have the option to un-check the "allow some non-intrusive advertising" box. That's true and that's why I used to yawn as well. But the real question to me is what un-checking that box actually does. Does it mean the whitelisted filters never get loaded at all? Or, alternatively, does it mean they still get loaded but are somehow disabled from working thereafter?

This is important because the size of the main filter lists keep growing exponentially and the whitelisted filters are a big part of the reason for that. As the filter lists grow larger and larger, it seems they do have some effect in slowing down the loading of your browser (and perhaps page loading as well).

Most people find the slowdown a fair enough tradeoff, at least for now. But as more and more ads, both blacklisted and whitelisted, get added to the main lists, what happens then? And now there is this new emergency notification mechanism, the purpose of which seems a bit obscure.

Everyone has to decide for himself or herself, of course, but it seems to me that what people want from an adblocker is the blocking of ads, not whitelisted ads and work arounds and other things that seem a bit confusing or unrelated to the business of blocking ads. I've switched to Adblock Edge. It works fine and the filter lists being loaded are definitely smaller because they don't have all those whitelisted ads.

But perhaps someone can clearly explain why all of this other stuff makes sense.

therube
join:2004-11-11
Randallstown, MD

1 recommendation

therube

Member

> ABP now whitelist ads

So?
And you can opt out, so?
And even if you could not, so?

> Does it mean the whitelisted filters never get loaded at all...?

Again, so?
So what some $$ may go into ABP pockets if its the latter, or something like that?

> the size of the main filter lists keep growing

Where does it say that you need to make ANY change, update, to the filters?

When you block, you loose content. That may be good or may be bad. Generally, you would hope that there is more good done then bad.

Overall, does using ABP, does loosing content benefit you? Does using it provide a better browsing experience?

If it does, then why not use it, even with your concerns?

If it does not then stop using it or find something better.

Kit
@verizon.net

1 recommendation

Kit

Anon

I don't understand your point.

Mine is pretty simple. An ad blocker should be about blocking ads. If it starts to slow my browser down because it's whitelisting so many ads, that's a problem.

Does using [Adblock Plus]] provide a better browsing experience? If it does, then why not use it, even with your concerns?

Because other extensions seem to provide an even better browsing experience by loading faster and blocking as many ads. To me that enhances the browsing experience.

If it does not then stop using it or find something better.

If you had actually read the comment before responding, you would see that I have stopped using Adblock Plus and think I've found something better.