Telling someone non-technical "go install extension ABC" is pretty risky. They might find and install "uBlock Original BETTER AND FASTER" that comes with a bitcoin miner or something worse. Even as someone "tech literate", I sometimes find it quite hard to verify the authenticity of downloads like this.
Also relevant in this case, when there is a reasonable option to pay to remove ads from something I use frequently, I do it. YT is $10/mo, it's worth it to me.
So does the web browser and almost every other application you install on your desktop.
> It's scary giving extensions this much access
No, it's scary giving random websites so much power like it's currently done with JavaScript. The ad blocker makes it a little bit less scary.
That's why I prefer to support creators via Patreon. Then 80%+ of the money goes directly to the creator, and none to YT.
1) it doesn't come installed by default (too difficult)
2) technology should be secure by default (naivete)
3) nothing to hide and do want to support the sites (don't steal)
Not at all. I'm willing to be open to and read any scientific study that says otherwise. Bear in mind, I definitely have a critic's heart for it.
Please remember the context to which I replied:
> The amount of people I know who don't use adblocker/ublock etc is ridiculous. Many are non-technical, but it's not any more difficult than installing an app on your phone. Does anyone know if there is some philosophy to this I don't understand?
@Avicebron clearly stated that they don't understand why people don't use adblockers even though it's "not any more difficult than installing an app". I provided three examples from non-technical family, meaning: I do talk to my family and they did explain why they don't or didn't use adblockers.
I'm trying to say that asking for source perhaps means that you didn't talk to your own friends and family (or other non-technical acquaintances) and ask why they don't use adblockers. Or if you did talk then you didn't listen, you didn't think about it in their perspective.
Perhaps your own people will have different reasons than the ones I presented. Just off the top of my head, a reason that didn't come up would be "work doesn't permit it"; my family aren't encumbered by employers who strictly determine what software is installed.
I donate to a few creators. As for YouTube, Google can close it down for all I care, we'll figure it out. We'd probably better off, in fact.
EDIT: interesting thought experiment. Adblock is so universally adopted through aggressive marketing that ad supported internet as we know it is forced to adapt...where does it go?
That all said - geocities existed back in the day without getting much out of the proposition except some minor side-loaded ad revenue and network value. So I don't think a content host would ever be in a position where they find no benefit in hosting and, again, hosting is so incredibly cheap to do at scale that only a very marginal value is required to get into the black.
1. So a word-press site is going to have a lot of wp-* styles all over the place - but wordpress doesn't force a giant WP logo in the top-left of everyone's site.
I've worked for two companies that made most of their money from (online) advertising. While working for those companies it was important for me to experience the web as our users would --- mostly without an adblocker, and trying to avoid overpowered hardware; my users were running mostly low end android phones, so it I've got a GalaxyS or a Pixel, what I experience is nothing like what they experience.
I'm not working there anymore, so maybe I'll do an adblocker eventually, but I'm IT support for my family, and it helps if I can se what they see, and I don't want to manage adblockers for them, so....
I don't watch much YouTube. Before the pandemic, maybe 60 minutes a week. (Now zero.) I saw maybe one 15 second commercial each week, which didn't seem so horrible that I'd need to block it.
15 seconds ads are the non-skippable ones. The skippable may be 5 minutes long or more - that's fine when you can actually skip them, but it's a pain when you have your hands busy.
In both cases (both now without an ad-blocker, and in a hypothetical future where ad-blockers are impossible due to DRM) the experience is terrible.
I still think there's a lot farther it could still go. The fact that ads can mostly be blocked by using domain filters suggests that the "bad guys" aren't really trying yet.
I prefer the internet of today to one where all content is DRM locked.
I don’t use an adblocker at all these days, but even when I did I made sure to specifically whitelist YouTube ads. People deserve to get paid for their work and running 30 seconds of ads before a 20 minute video is a fair trade.
As far as I know, most people who make money from Youtube videos do not have a contract with Youtube. There are plenty of stories of Youtube changes that strongly impact the monetization - most recently: [1].
I believe it's better to support content creators themselves (e.g., directly, or via a Patreon or something similar) than indirectly-no-strings-attached-I-hope-having-my-privacy-violated-gets-you-some-something.
Furthermore: the way advertisements work has become so nefarious, that basically your browser is sleeping around with 30-50 random unknown third parties on just about every site you visit. And browser STDs are rampant across the web. Browse safely, use a browser condom, i.e., an ad blocker.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/5/20849752/youtube-creators-...
The point is that not watching ads actively screws YouTubers over, although the way you phrased it does establish some safe moral distancing from the implications of your actions. The fact that YouTube takes advantage of content creators is no excuse for denying content creators money, which is precisely what an adblocker does.
> I believe it's better to support content creators themselves (e.g., directly, or via a Patreon or something similar)
This is true and I do it for people I watch regularly. But I am not going to donate directly if I only watch one video, even if I really enjoy it. Patreon is not an adequate substitute for most YouTubers. Pretending it is just dodges the actual implications of using an adblocker.
And adblockers are not adequate malware protection, even against malicious ads. Adblockers should not be giving you a false sense of security about this (let alone be used for such a condescending argument).