Ad blocking

[DevilAlumna]

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2010/03/why-ad-blocking-is-devastating-to-the-sites-you-love.ars

An interesting point of view:


There is an oft-stated misconception that if a user never clicks on ads, then blocking them won't hurt a site financially. This is wrong. Most sites, at least sites the size of [Ars Technica], are paid on a per view basis. If you have an ad blocker running, and you load 10 pages on the site, you consume resources from us (bandwidth being only one of them), but provide us with no revenue. Because we are a technology site, we have a very large base of ad blockers. Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay. In a way, that's what ad blocking is doing to us.

Presumably, there is the similar impact to our beloved DBR as well.

[hc5duke]

Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay. In a way, that's what ad blocking is doing to us.

i think that's a bad analogy. it's more like, people sit at a table, drink the free water, then leave without paying. i don't block ads on certain pages (like dbr), but i absolutely refuse to unblock flash ads (like over 50% of dbr ads)

[DukeUsul]

I don't block ads. I do block Flash (Flashblock FTW!). It's so bloated and slows Firefox down so much. I just can't deal with it, except when I want it.

[alteran]

Flash is widely considered the prime vector for most computer infections.

I don't block ads but I do block Flash.