Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

Ars Technica on the problem with adblocking

<< < (10/13) > >>

wraith808:
I don't buy it.  Their argument is that Ars is lying (basically) and that advertisers won't pay for impressions.  TV has done this for ages, and I can see where a firm would pay for impressions rather than clicks, as some sites generate loads of traffic and could bargain based upon that.

rssapphire:
A good reason to block ads:

Malware delivered by Yahoo, Fox, Google ads

"It's not just the small players but the ad servers connected with Google and Yahoo have been infected and served up bad ads," said Lyle Frink, public relations manager for Avast.

The most compromised ad delivery platforms were Yield Manager and Fimserve, but a number of smaller ad systems, including Myspace, were also found to be delivering malware on a lesser scale, Avast Virus Labs said.

Found in ads delivered from those networks was JavaScript code that Avast dubbed "JS:Prontexi," which Avast researcher Jiri Sejtko said is a Trojan in script form that targets the Windows operating system. It looks for vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Acrobat, Java, QuickTime, and Flash and launches fake antivirus warnings, Sejtko said.

Users don't need to click on anything to get infected; a computer becomes infected after the ad is loaded by the browser, Avast said.

Since the malware started spreading in late December, Avast has registered more than 2.6 million instances of it on customer computers. Nearly 530,000 of those were from Yield Manager and more than 16,300 from DoubleClick, Sejtko said.

{Read entire article}
--- End quote ---

I have no sympathy for any site that complains because their viewers use ad blockers unless they can guarantee no ads they place or allow on their site will ever contain or deliver malware.

app103:
I have no sympathy for any site that complains because their viewers use ad blockers unless they can guarantee no ads they place or allow on their site will ever contain or deliver malware.
-rssapphire (March 23, 2010, 04:43 PM)
--- End quote ---

This precisely the reason why the only ad network I don't have blocked in Ad Muncher is Project Wonderful. They don't use flash ads and it is possible to place their ad codes on your site (or RSS feed) without the use of javascript, either in the code or in the ads themselves.

Besides, most of the ads they show are for small blogs, web comics, and sellers of handmade goods on Etsy. As a publisher, I have the option to check each site that wants to advertise on mine before the ads run, and reject and/or block the ads or the advertiser. They give you a lot of control.

Project Wonderful has to be about the most transparent, ethical ad network I have come across. I wish all the ad networks were a lot more like them.

40hz:

Project Wonderful has to be about the most transparent, ethical ad network I have come across. I wish all the ad networks were a lot more like them.
-app103 (March 24, 2010, 04:53 AM)
--- End quote ---

Very interesting approach. Makes perfect sense too. Thanks for bringing Project Wonderful to our attention.

 :Thmbsup:

Note: I just whitelisted Project Wonderful on my blocker. Looking at some of the ads and advertisers, I've decided I actually wouldn't mind seeing some of those.

JavaJones:
Yeah, Project Wonderful is super cool. Similar to an idea I had for a "better ad network" a few years back. Glad to see someone did something about it. :)

- Oshyan

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page