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A comment on The next version of Safari will let users block ads on iPhones and iPads. Parent comment

Re:The next version of Safari will let users block ads on iP... by seiji on Wednesday June 10, 2015 @07:34PM (#9696383)
Network-level blocking gets you a long way: https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/60774597464404377...

Publishers have been brainwashed that everything must have: an ad, a tracking widget, and a user survey. Oh, and each page gets ten of those elements and each element comes from 3 to 5 unique externally hosted providers.

Have you tried browsing popular sites on an iPad? Every 3rd site has an ad unit that ejects you to the App Store to download a freemium game. It's insane. Block those advertisers and never look back. (Yes, Apple shouldn't easily allow eject-to-app-store from a Safari tab, but they also want users to be able to click-to-go-to-appstore on demand. It's a hacky abuse of javascript by ad networks to simulate false user intent.)

Since all of those elements are "as a service" you just block the invading services and all is well again.

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Re:The next version of Safari will let users block ads on iP... by wwweston on Wednesday June 10, 2015 @10:42PM (#9697144)
> Oh, and each page gets ten of those elements and each element comes from 3 to 5 unique externally hosted providers.

This is the primary problem in my opinion. Having ads present doesn't seem terrible to me (and like other people have said, having promotional content clearly demarcated is a bonus). Having ads become an obstacle to the main content sucks, and third-party script injection that makes at least a handful of additional third-party http calls is an obstacle.

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Re:The next version of Safari will let users block ads on iP... by eli on Wednesday June 10, 2015 @08:48PM (#9696702)
"Brainwashed"?

Imagine you're a small publisher. You want to spend most of your time creating awesome content and you don't want to put up a paywall. So do you try to hire an ad sales person to sell direct placements on your site? Or do you use some sort of network, which necessarily requires some level of aggregate tracking and profiling to deliver ads that are at all relevant.

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Re:The next version of Safari will let users block ads on iP... by seiji on Wednesday June 10, 2015 @09:05PM (#9696773)
Just because it's easy doesn't make it right.
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Re:The next version of Safari will let users block ads on iP... by eli on Wednesday June 10, 2015 @09:11PM (#9696795)
I don't follow what part of that is wrong. What do you think publishers should do instead?
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Re:The next version of Safari will let users block ads on iP... by egypturnash on Thursday June 11, 2015 @05:15AM (#9698559)
I'm a small publisher who wants to spend all her time creating awesome content. I hate paywalls. I hate ads. Thankfully, I'm making enough money off of Patreon that I've long since reached my first goal of "no more ads on my current comic". Everyone who wants to see it can see it for free, thanks to the generosity of a small part of my audience.
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