undefined | Better HN

0 pointspbasista2mo ago0 comments

The below remark is unrelated to the main topic of this thread.

Why would you even watch a YouTube video with ads?

There are ad blockers, sponsor segment blockers, etc. If you use them, it will block almost every kind of YouTube ad.

0 comments

all the ad blockers I used to use stop working, and it became an annoying game of cat and mouse that I didn't have time for. Luckily, most of the time I can "skip" the ad in like five seconds, and it gives me a moment to catch up on incoming Slack messages.

pbasistaOP2mo ago

The only ad blocker I have used for the past couple of years has been uBlock Origin, more recently combined with SponsorBlock.

There has been two or three instances that I can remember when it did not block YouTube ads correctly for a couple of days. But those were quickly patched and it started to work again.

nake892mo ago

When has ublock origin browser extension ever stopped working? On a locked down mobile OS like iOS you can use the Brave browser. No cat and mouse game.

shimman2mo ago

There are ad extensions that just turn those 5 second ads into like 200 ms ads. They just speed them up, it's great. Looks like a random flicker.

massysett2mo ago

I used to use ad blockers.

One day I visited DistroWatch.com. The site deliberately tweaked its images so ad blockers would block some "good" images. It took me awhile to figure out what was going on. The site freely admitted what it was doing. The site's point was: you're looking at my site, which I provide for free, yet you block the thing that lets me pay for the site?

I stopped using ad blockers after that. If a site has content worth paying for, I pay. If it is a horrible ad-infested hole, I don't visit it at all. Otherwise, I load ads.

Which overall means I pay for more things and visit less crap things and just visit less things period. Which is good.

akdev1l2mo ago

Not safe, before even knowing if a site has the content you want you can be redirected to malware through ad networks

not even joking

massysett2mo ago

On an up to date Safari on Mac, not a realistic concern, and if it were, I’d use security software, not an ad blocker.

akdev1l2mo ago

0 days exist and they are exploited in the wild sometimes

An ad-blocker /is/ security software. You don’t have to take it from me, you can read from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

> AT-A-GLANCE RECOMMENDATIONS

> Standardize and Secure Web Browsers

> Deploy Advertisement Blocking Software

> Isolate Web Browsers from Operating Systems

> Implement Protective Domain Name System Technologies

Literally their second recommendation on this pamphlet about securing web browsers: https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Capaci...

Moreover you don’t even need a 0-day to fall for phishing. All you need is to be a little tired or somehow not paying attention (inb4 “it will never happen to ME, I am too smart for that”)

sensanaty2mo ago

At $JOB IT actually bundles uBlock in all the browsers available to us, as per CIA (or one of those 3-letter agencies, might've even been the NSA) guidelines it's a very important security tool. I work in banking.

Modern advertisement is malware.

nake892mo ago

Do you not might ad companies tracking everything you do?

pbasistaOP2mo ago

> If a site has content worth paying for, I pay.

I do that as well. For me it is almost exclusively the case with the news sites.

> If it is a horrible ad-infested hole, I don't visit it at all.

Same.

> Otherwise, I load ads.

There is no "otherwise" for me. I simply do not want to load any kind of ads or "sponsored" content. I see no reason, either moral, ethical or other, to ever do that.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

taude2mo ago

pbasistaOP2mo ago

The only ad blocker I have used for the past couple of years has been uBlock Origin, more recently combined with SponsorBlock.

There has been two or three instances that I can remember when it did not block YouTube ads correctly for a couple of days. But those were quickly patched and it started to work again.

nake892mo ago

When has ublock origin browser extension ever stopped working? On a locked down mobile OS like iOS you can use the Brave browser. No cat and mouse game.

shimman2mo ago

There are ad extensions that just turn those 5 second ads into like 200 ms ads. They just speed them up, it's great. Looks like a random flicker.

massysett2mo ago

I used to use ad blockers.

I stopped using ad blockers after that. If a site has content worth paying for, I pay. If it is a horrible ad-infested hole, I don't visit it at all. Otherwise, I load ads.

Which overall means I pay for more things and visit less crap things and just visit less things period. Which is good.

akdev1l2mo ago

Not safe, before even knowing if a site has the content you want you can be redirected to malware through ad networks

not even joking

massysett2mo ago

On an up to date Safari on Mac, not a realistic concern, and if it were, I’d use security software, not an ad blocker.

akdev1l2mo ago

0 days exist and they are exploited in the wild sometimes

An ad-blocker /is/ security software. You don’t have to take it from me, you can read from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

> AT-A-GLANCE RECOMMENDATIONS

> Standardize and Secure Web Browsers

> Deploy Advertisement Blocking Software

> Isolate Web Browsers from Operating Systems

> Implement Protective Domain Name System Technologies

Literally their second recommendation on this pamphlet about securing web browsers: https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Capaci...

Moreover you don’t even need a 0-day to fall for phishing. All you need is to be a little tired or somehow not paying attention (inb4 “it will never happen to ME, I am too smart for that”)

sensanaty2mo ago

Modern advertisement is malware.

nake892mo ago

Do you not might ad companies tracking everything you do?

pbasistaOP2mo ago

> If a site has content worth paying for, I pay.

I do that as well. For me it is almost exclusively the case with the news sites.

> If it is a horrible ad-infested hole, I don't visit it at all.

Same.

> Otherwise, I load ads.

There is no "otherwise" for me. I simply do not want to load any kind of ads or "sponsored" content. I see no reason, either moral, ethical or other, to ever do that.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse