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Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by iaskwhy on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @11:07AM (#10697188)
"Whomever you think is to blame for the sorry state of Web browsing, content blockers have a kind of ratcheting effect: Once you turn one on, chances are you won't see the kind of high-quality ads that might convince you to turn it off again. It also involves the risk that you'll miss whatever advertisers or publishers come up with to make the Web better again.", said no one ever.
Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by ryandrake on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @11:36AM (#10697423)
That "ratcheting effect" is by design.

Similarly, anti-virus software has a "ratcheting effect" in that once you install them, you don't get to see the kind of high-quality viruses and trojans that might convince your computer to encrypt all your files or give up your bank passwords.

Installing an ad blocker has become another one of those "hygiene" steps that you do whenever you set up a new PC: Install Anti-virus, install OS-provided updates, install ad-blocker.

Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by Lawtonfogle on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @12:36PM (#10697926)
>install OS-provided updates

Windows is working pretty hard to reverse this. At the very least you now have to scan through the updates to uncheck the telemetric ones.

Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by 67726e on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @11:29AM (#10697362)
I think StackOverflow is the only site I've visited with relevant ads that are not terribly intrusive. In fact that is the only site I've have Ad Block Plus disabled for. There are sites with good ads, but they are rare to the point that they might as well be considered to not exist.
Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by dionidium on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @11:34AM (#10697402)
I actually think the ads on Facebook are done in a transparent and un-annoying way. Unfortunately, they only show me two things:

1. Geeky shirts with "clever" sayings on them (since they know I'm a programmer, I guess).

2. Things I've already recently bought on Amazon (or elsewhere).

In the first case, what they know about me leads to a severely mistaken impression regarding something else about me. In the second case, what they know about me is already outdated.

Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by pmontra on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @11:40AM (#10697462)
What a high quality ad is supposed to be? If the product is any good I'll get to know it anyway.
Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by sosuke on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @12:00PM (#10697634)
There are ads that can be enjoyable. It is just short entertainment. My wife and I both thought of a commercial from Target where Santa was running to the store in the middle of the night in a partially empty parking lot. https://vimeo.com/55792604

I looked up to watch that one when it would come on. It was fun. I mute the TV when I get too many drug and insurance commercials.

Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by Splines on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @12:07PM (#10697700)
I don't mind ads inside my content, as long as it's not too obvious.

My family has been watching The Amazing Race. It's an enjoyable reality show with not much drama. Ford and Travelocity are all over the show, but it fits with the theme and isn't overly intrusive.

Now, Nissan's Rogue ad in Heroes? Good god, I hated that.

Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by icebraining on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @12:35PM (#10697918)
My "favorites" were the Bing searches in Hawaii Five-o: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfHuZ5qrYX4

I guess it worked, since I remember the ads (even though I didn't follow the show). I still don't use Bing, though.

Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by Karunamon on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @11:19AM (#10697286)
Yeah. I'd attach many adjectives to the ads I've seen over the years, but "high-quality" is not one of them.
Re:Mozilla’s newest app perfectly captures the ethical dilem... by lmm on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @11:11AM (#10697219)
Eh. I noticed web ads got a lot worse exactly when Mozilla started shipping Firefox with a pop-up blocker enabled by default. Not saying it justifies anything, just that the immediate effect is real.