Ads on Unstuck

beetlejuice · August 30, 2019, 6:26pm

eeAWW:

Imagine if there were a free, resource-efficient browser extension that magically identified those bot posters before they ever even made a post, and put them on your ignore list. You would never even know of the poster’s existence unless others quoted or talked about it.

Now what if I told you that such extensions exist?

Ok you already knew that but I should also point out that these days, everyone should be using a blocker anyway. Not doing so is actually a security risk, given the existence of malvertising even on major, benign sites. What sucks about malvertising is that your machine can get infected even if you don’t click the ad. So not using a blocker these days is like having your firewall turned off. Turn it on and if you want ads on a site, you can whitelist it.

You might be thinking, why should you have to install something because of a conscious decision by Unstuck? Well, chances are Unstuck isn’t the only site you visit, so you need to install it anyway.

Is it available for mobile browsers?

eeAWW · August 30, 2019, 6:54pm

I don’t do mobile browsing, but from some googling it seems that as of somewhat recently, uBO and uMatrix both work on Firefox for Android.

There is also a blog post describing a way to block app ads in Android.

Edit: also Brave Browser blocks Unstuck ads right out of the box with its native “shield”. Not sure if Firefox’s similar feature (which is pretty new) can too.

kerowo · August 30, 2019, 8:05pm

Well, encouraging people to block ads while the owners also run ads doesn’t raise any ethical flags at all, so we got that going for us…

How about we find an ad network that aligns with our values?

prana · August 30, 2019, 9:37pm

Make a sex doll thread. That should switch things up.

kerowo · August 30, 2019, 9:40pm

I would but your mom didn’t tell me her Facebook page…

eeAWW · August 30, 2019, 11:56pm

I’m saying across the web you should have a default-block policy much the same way your inbound firewall is default-block. I’m not saying you shouldn’t support any trusted sites. A simple click will whitelist a site.

This isn’t 1999 ffs, I mean who below the age of 50 doesn’t use a blocker? Might as well use Internet Explorer while you’re at it.

Edit: especially if you visit MSM news sites, there are like 80 different bullshit scripts running in the background and you probably need a gaming pc just to load the page in under 5 seconds.

zikzak · August 31, 2019, 2:57am

Taking money from conservative PAC’s while giving them absolutely nothing in return aligns very well with my values.

kerowo · August 31, 2019, 4:00am

I’m glad the owners are happy, nothing screams high-touch management and customer service like pissing off your customers in order to make oneself happy…

cassette · August 31, 2019, 4:16am

Look, I hate ads more than anyone I’ve ever met. I would snap give up half my net worth for the rest of my life to never see another ad for as long as I live. But the tone of the complaints in this thread are unreal. Let’s have a thread and poll and discuss this properly if it seems so important.

zikzak · August 31, 2019, 4:17am

Well I’m not an owner no matter how many times you want to assert it, and I like to think of the community as something I’m part of rather than customers I serve. If I were an owner I don’t think I would have to subject myself to this enormous assache of constantly trying to justify something that exists on every other god damn website on the internet.

However, I am trying to do the best I can to deliver a good forum for everybody, which is why I do listen closely to community feedback. So far there are ~280 people who don’t feel the need to give me and the other admins constant grief over serving up one ad per page 60% of the time, and zero ads the other 40%. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s less than half as many ads as there were on Exiled, and maybe 20% of what shows up on a typical 2+2 page.

nobody · August 31, 2019, 4:18am

I like the idea this place is being partly funded by trump in his attempt to grift his worshipers. Grift the grifter.

Though i do think there should be exceptions for ads like patrons or people who provide a lot of content like beetlejuice.

microbet · August 31, 2019, 4:32am

Someone who is not me, zz, or Greg should do this.

One of the reasons I’m looking for a replacement (I’ll probably make a thread about that this weekend) is because I can get more done for the site as a plebian.

cassette · August 31, 2019, 5:36am

Us plebs can’t start threads in this sub forum.

microbet · August 31, 2019, 5:38am

That sucks. You should start a thread and poll about that too.

DodgerIrish · August 31, 2019, 8:19am

You need a stamp.

zikzak · August 31, 2019, 11:59am

The About category was intended to be a non-posting organizational grouping only and all sub-categories have always been open for anybody to start a thread. I’ve now changed it so that it too is open and we’ll probably be getting rid of sub-categories entirely soon.

kerowo · August 31, 2019, 3:20pm

Well I’m not an owner no matter how many times you want to assert it, and I like to think of the community as something I’m part of rather than customers I serve. If I were an owner I don’t think I would have to subject myself to this enormous assache of constantly trying to justify something that exists on every other god damn website on the internet.

However, I am trying to do the best I can to deliver a good forum for everybody, which is why I do listen closely to community feedback. So far there are ~280 people who don’t feel the need to give me and the other admins constant grief over serving up one ad per page 60% of the time, and zero ads the other 40%. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s less than half as many ads as there were on Exiled, and maybe 20% of what shows up on a typical 2+2 page.

If you don’t want feedback don’t ask for feedback. You’re fine “sticking it to the man” by tricking them into spending pennies by pissing off your customers and you got called out on it.

And yes, you guys running the site own the site. If you don’t want to be called owners set up the structures where decisions like what ads are shown is decided by someone else.

zikzak · August 31, 2019, 3:59pm

This isn’t even a coherent request. There is already a Community Governance forum. I’ve been begging people to take a more active role in all of this for months. But instead of going and doing the thing I keep asking you to do in the place provided for doing exactly that, you’re in this thread complaining instead.

Like, what the heck is it you actually expect from me? You want me to completely build every single aspect of a democratic community government from the ground up, to your standards, all by myself without any help at all, and presumably for free? I’m not doing that. But there is literally nothing stopping you from getting the ball rolling, and it’s what I’ve been wanting and advocating for since day one.

kerowo · September 1, 2019, 1:03am

Z, I’m not doing anything for this site but use it. I know exactly how much my input is wanted and I’m providing exactly the amount that makes me happy. Again, if you don’t want people’s opinions don’t ask for it.

I expect you to take critiques of your work without getting so fucking defensive. It’s what you signed up for and you’re getting paid for. If you’re fine with promoting Trump’s supporters and think the distress you’re putting your users through is worth it, fine, you guys are in charge. But don’t think no one is going to give you shit for earning your 30 pieces of silver for it.

LouisCyphre · September 1, 2019, 1:06am

Seriously? Hyperbole much?