The advert blocking debateWe all know that some web sites contain adverts and we know that some people don’t like them. Some people don’t like them so much that they block them. If you use Firefox then there is a very popular extension called AdBlock Plus. But now the site owners are beginning to fight back. They claim that the existence of the web sites and, in many cases, their livelihood depends on the revenue from the adverts and that, if you are not prepared to view the ads then they are not willing to show you the pages. They have developed a piece of code so that if you visit one of their pages with AdBlock Plus enabled then you will be redirected to a page of explanation.
Originally they blocked Firefox altogether but fortunately they have backed off from that. One argument is that the original AdBlock had this capability built in but now it is a war of the coders. This is a war that could get quite heated. Personally I don’t use AdBlock, my brain filters out unwanted stuff naturally, though I do stop animated GIFs and Flash because I find them irritating.
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I see that they have gone back to blocking all Firefox users now. Really Silly. Never mind, I haven’t yet come across one of these sites so they must be an even smaller percentage of the internet than they claim Firefox users are!