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Load but hide ads?

John Rix's Avatar

John Rix

30 Apr, 2015 10:21 AM

As you point out in your own KB, some people take issue with the fact that AdBlock detracts from the advertising revenue otherwise generated for sites visited by AdBlock users. I can see both sides of the argument for/against AdBlock. For me, simple distraction and prevention of malware are the two key drivers for using it, but I also have misgivings about the impact it has to the sites I visit.

Perhaps this suggestion has already come up, but how about providing an option to have AdBlock fetch the ad content but just prevent the browser from actually rendering it? This would solve the problem of revenue for sites, whilst still addressing some of the key issues of avoiding distractions and (hopefully) preventing malware from creeping onto machines. You could even delay the fetching of ad content until the page is otherwise rendered in order to keep perceived page load times down.

  1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Rhana on 01 Jun, 2015 07:43 PM

    Rhana's Avatar

    Hi John,

    Our apologies for the late reply. Thanks for the suggestion! We let users choose the sites they want to support by providing simple unblock tools that can be found easily from our menu. We've found this is the best compromise between browsing the Web ad-free and keeping the Web free through advertising. :)

    Rhana

  2. Rhana closed this discussion on 01 Jun, 2015 07:43 PM.

  3. John Rix re-opened this discussion on 01 Jun, 2015 11:09 PM

  4. 2 Posted by John Rix on 01 Jun, 2015 11:09 PM

    John Rix's Avatar

    Thanks for the response Rhana. It's an OK compromise, though it does not address the concern of preventing malware that is distributed through advertising. This is a common problem and any site is subject to it unfortunately - not just malicious sites. Anyway, I won't keep harping any further, and do appreciate AdBlock for what it does.
    Regards,John

         On Monday, 1 June 2015, 20:43, Rhana <[email blocked]> wrote:
       

      #yiv8145882708 pre {width:92%;margin:10px 2%;padding:5px 2%;background:#efefef;border:1px solid #d6d6d6;}#yiv8145882708 blockquote {margin-left:0;padding-left:1em;border-left:5px solid #ccc;}

  5. 3 Posted by Kieran on 02 Jun, 2015 07:54 AM

    Kieran's Avatar
    1. The way malware often makes its way onto machines through ads is just by the the browser loading the ad, something that AdBlock does for as many ads as possible.
    2. We don't mind having conversations with people, especially on topics like this, so there's no need to apologise for "harping".
  6. Kieran closed this discussion on 02 Jun, 2015 07:54 AM.

  7. John Rix re-opened this discussion on 02 Jun, 2015 10:06 AM

  8. 4 Posted by John Rix on 02 Jun, 2015 10:06 AM

    John Rix's Avatar

    Thanks Kieran, yes, the browser must load the ad, but commonly the ad is exploiting some security flaw in browser plugins such as Adobe Flash. If AdBlock were able to fetch the ad (so that the ad server registers the view) but block the browser from rendering it, and thereby block the applicable plugin from executing the malicious code within it, this would prevent the malware from establishing a foothold.
    Regards,John
     

         On Tuesday, 2 June 2015, 8:54, Kieran <[email blocked]> wrote:
       

      #yiv3978309122 pre {width:92%;margin:10px 2%;padding:5px 2%;background:#efefef;border:1px solid #d6d6d6;}#yiv3978309122 blockquote {margin-left:0;padding-left:1em;border-left:5px solid #ccc;}

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