I ran a year-long experiment where I kept adblock off. I ended the experiment today because the advertisers have taken it one step too far

[Remocracy]

This isn't about privacy or tracking or any of that, as I don't really care about that (I even had a Chrome extension that would show my MangaDex activity -- including titles -- before I realized how dumb it was to run this extension and be in official discords for my college). Rather. it's about usability. When I got my M1 Macbook Air, everything was so snappy that even the most ad-infested of sites were just a minor nuisance. However, as time went on, I started noticing that ads got more and more bloated, to the point where opening sites like Know your Meme or GeeksForGeeks would literally freeze for a few seconds, and I know it's not my internet because I'm using my college's gigabit Ethernet with single digit pings. Finally, today, I got a batch of ads so bad that the website froze and did not unfreeze until I closed the tab.

I don't care if you have video autoplay but if you block the actual content from me, that's taking it too far. Imagine if YouTube was so bloated that opening an hour-long video froze your thousand dollar computer for over half a minute. That's taking it too far. I'm not blocking ads for "privacy", I'm blocking ads because apparently in 2024 even after spending a thousand dollars you cannot view a website consisting of text with a few images. Advertisers, you did this to yourself.

 

[Angry_Panda]

We've come a long way from the Million Dollar Homepage.

 

[GipoScribantino]

You're like 14 years late to this conclusion.
Not to discredit you or anything, but it's nothing new under the sun.

 

[Remocracy]

You're like 14 years late to this conclusion.
Not to discredit you or anything, but it's nothing new under the sun.

I mean yea but like you'd think spending $1000 would make it not a problem, but it's not. How does the average Joe even use the internet?

 

[GipoScribantino]

I mean yea but like you'd think spending $1000 would make it not a problem, but it's not.

Ironically, it's exactly because of $1000 dollars computers that these things happen.
Developers use powerful machines with fast internet, even in countries where those are not the norm, and if things go fast for them then it goes fast for everyone, right? (I'm being sarcastic.)

 

[Remocracy]

Ironically, it's exactly because of $1000 dollars computers that these things happen.
Developers use powerful machines with fast internet, even in countries where those are not the norm, and if things go fast for them then it goes fast for everyone, right? (I'm being sarcastic.)

I am a developer myself and I do understand that it’s easy to forget about bundle size but it’s near impossible to test what your site will be like on every possible combo of devices, especially if you’re an almost static site where you might not have coding knowledge.

 

[77BLc9JwJGpLVARkamJx]

I'm still using a cpu from 2010/11, ublock/adblock helps my firefox from freezing up whenever I'm opening most of websites now. News sites are the main culprit. Still, having a good pc that can handle all that bullshit trackers, autoplays and whatnot gotta be nice.

 

[GipoScribantino]

I am a developer myself and I do understand that it’s easy to forget about bundle size but it’s near impossible to test what your site will be like on every possible combo of devices, especially if you’re an almost static site where you might not have coding knowledge.

I would agree if we didn't live in a timeline where tools to facilitate this testing did not exist. But this is not a discussion for this thread so let's forget about it.

 

[Al_Kohlick]

I'm still using a cpu from 2010/11, ublock/adblock helps my firefox from freezing up whenever I'm opening most of websites now. News sites are the main culprit. Still, having a good pc that can handle all that bullshit trackers, autoplays and whatnot gotta be nice.

And if you wanna go an extra mile, I also recommend the NoScript extension. In combo with ublock, this keeps my (sidekick) potato PC browsing the web quite smoothly.

 

[ieatass69]

And if you wanna go an extra mile, I also recommend the NoScript extension. In combo with ublock, this keeps my (sidekick) potato PC browsing the web quite smoothly.

NoScript will break the majority of sites, but it's something I surprisingly don't mind at all. Been using it for quite a while and I just don't use any site if it requires JS to run, except for the few (under 10) sites I frequent. I do not recommend any kind of internet banking/payment with NoScript enabled, however. It's better to be a normie and let it run normally for those things, you don't want to be double charged because some required JS went fucky wucky and didn't work because of NoS.

 

[Al_Kohlick]

Well, NoScript can allow scripts selectively, depending on their source. So I never met the aforementioned double-charge issue. The process is of course a bit tedious at first, but once it's done, it's done. Similar to having a newly installed firewall running on Learning Mode.

Or course, not everyone will bother. And meanwhile, the average Joe will keep spending on a Core i7 just to be able to surf the interwebz normally...

 

[Teasday]

And if you wanna go an extra mile, I also recommend the NoScript extension. In combo with ublock, this keeps my (sidekick) potato PC browsing the web quite smoothly.

Really not necessary because uBlock comes with this functionality to begin with.

 

[AcidVlad]

Why being bothered with ads and all when Brave exists?

 

[Remocracy]

Why being bothered with ads and all when Brave exists?

FYI brave doesn’t work on iPhone

 

[ieatass69]

Why being bothered with ads and all when Brave exists?

Chromium core sucks ass. Also I have shitload of custom filters.

 

[Thepandas12]

You guys block ads? I've never had an adblocker in my entire life. I don't know where you guys get one.

 

[TestAddress]

I use Opera Mini and it broke Mangadex lol. No ads on Opera Mini too.

 

[DJ Eme]

All your web browsers suck. Use emacs

 

[HelperHand]

I use Opera Mini and it broke Mangadex lol

Just curious, do you mean the website interface or the chapters? If you are talking about the chapters, do you use the Opera Mini data saver? because that affects an integrity check in MD (mentioned by a Mod in a Bug thread), if is the site in general ¯\(ツ)/¯...

 

[TestAddress]

Opera Mini - broken chapters.

that affects an integrity check in MD (mentioned by a Mod in a Bug thread)

I see.