Ad blocking

[LDB]

Apparently Ad Blocker Plus does nothing about the annoying videos Yahoo email now plays when your spam folder is emptied or the annoying 60 seconds commercial in the thread here. I don't know what it does, if anything, but not those. Anyone know of something that will block unwanted videos on a Mac?

 

[Lawrence]

Apparently Ad Blocker Plus does nothing about the annoying videos Yahoo email now plays when your spam folder is emptied or the annoying 60 seconds commercial in the thread here. I don't know what it does, if anything, but not those. Anyone know of something that will block unwanted videos on a Mac?

Leo, we call that bandwidth theft around here. LOL!

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Apparently Ad Blocker Plus does nothing about the annoying videos Yahoo email now plays when your spam folder is emptied or the annoying 60 seconds commercial in the thread here. I don't know what it does, if anything, but not those. Anyone know of something that will block unwanted videos on a Mac?

what thread? Leo

 

[Turtle]

Yahoo email now plays when your spam folder is emptied

Adding this to your AdBlock custom filters should work...

mail.yahoo.com/neo/video?channels=emptyfolder

Or this one...

||mail.yahoo.com/neo/video?channels=emptyfolder$xmlhttprequest

Yes, ad blocking is bandwidth theft. The flipside of that same coin is the bandwidth hogging obtrusive ads that steal bandwidth from users, especially those with monthly bandwidth caps.

 

[LDB]

what thread? Leo

Good question. I've eaten and slept since then. It's a link in a thread from 2-3 days ago that starts with a 60 second commercial and then plays the mentioned video.

 

[LDB]

Thanks. I'll try putting those in and see if it fixes yahoo mail.

 

[LDB]

I'm not sure I get how it's bandwidth theft to stop a commercial in a linked video but I'll take your word for it. I'm not into the tech stuff.

 

[Turtle]

I'm not sure I get how it's bandwidth theft to stop a commercial in a linked video but I'll take your word for it. I'm not into the tech stuff.

It's not so much tech as it is philosophical. Ad blockers block the ads that pay for the bandwidth you are consuming from a given website. So, by blocking the ads you are getting the content for free. You are stealing the bandwidth for that content. That's selfish and arrogant.

By the same token (the flip side of it, actually), the astonishing selfish arrogance of some advertisers who think nothing of appropriating the limited, capped bandwidth of users is equally repellent and unpalatable.

The reason for the first ad blocking measures was to deal with the precious bandwidth they consumed, and they kept track of the bandwidth saved. That same reason is still the bedrock of ad blocking software, though it has necessarily had to evolve to deal with issues beyond merely bandwidth, such as popup ads and other intrusive and obtrusive ads. If a certain level of acceptability is exceeded, there will be a backlash, whether it's advertising or anything else.

https://acceptableads.org

I think EO has been pretty good overall in that respect.

 

[LDB]

I get the part about paying for the site but this was a link included in a thread, not one of the advertisers on EO. It just had junk at the beginning with a count down timer that I believe said 60 seconds.

 

[Turtle]

I get the part about paying for the site but this was a link included in a thread, not one of the advertisers on EO. It just had junk at the beginning with a count down timer that I believe said 60 seconds.

Yeah, I know, and it's not only annoying, but it steals the bandwidth of capped phone users who are limited in what they can use. So it's rude and mean, as well.

Youtube ads get blocked on the laptop.