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Comment by Achshar | Hacker News Reader

Am i the only one who never uses an adblock? I have two reasons for that, first is that it seems unfair to use a site and not pay back in a meaningful way. Almost like stealing. Second is that i don't visit a huge number of unique sites every day and the ones i visit are respectful enough to not make nuisance. I rarely come across any super annoying ad. I am kind of surprised how others simply take it for granted that everyone else uses an adblock. I have been living very well without an adblock for last 5 years.

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If I mute the TV during the ads, am I stealing? If I record a show and skip the ads on playback am I stealing? If I use Lynx am I stealing? If I disable JavaScript/Flash for security reasons, am I stealing?

I'm not obligated to look at adverts. Adverts are displayed with the hope that some of the users will see them, and that some of those users will spend money.

If there are enough people willing to view your content with the ads, then you make money. If there aren't, you don't. Theft and morality have nothing to do with this issue.

Well muting TV or skipping ads on recorded shows is different from using adblock. Ad block reduces the ad impressions, recorded or muted TV still counts as an "impression".

Why does fast-forwarding through an ad count as an 'impression' to you?

What about if somebody else fast forwards through the ad, or as is more often the case, cuts the ad out completely and republishes the content?

Actually, it may be that in properly formed TV ads, muting and/or fast-forwarding still creates an impression. http://www.cs.bc.edu/~gips/BreakingFF.pdf

i am talking in a "technical" way since website owners are sometimes payed per impression, and adblock blocks that impression, hence my point.

I've never used and adblocker for slightly different reasons. First, I'm kind of fascinated by ads, from Google's ads to the obnoxious fake news reports about the latest miracle cure.

The other reason I don't block ads is that most of them just don't get in the way of what I'm doing. If I'm on a web site where they have ads I disapprove of or make the site difficult to use, I leave that site.

It's my way of voting with my feet about those ads and that site's practices. Of course, there also seems to be a strong correlation between the quality of the content and the quality of the ads, so I usually end up not reading something that's of low value anyway.

Guilt is not a business model.

If you're a content creator, you have the right to be lazy. Slap ads everywhere, just don't get upset when I call you out and tell you it sucks.

I don't use an ad blocker because the ads don't bother me very much, and because I'd like the sites I enjoy to stay open.

If one doesn't want to see it as a moral choice, on a practical level, if the sites which bring you content you enjoy do not receive revenue, they will either close, offer degraded service, or start charging.

I've never installed an ad blocker, nor have I even thought of doing so.

While I don't agree that using an ad blocker is stealing, I have similar feelings towards their use and find it mostly pretentious of people that use a free web and then complain of ads as if they deserve a web free of them.

I don't mind advertising, and often find it useful, especially as someone making software and looking for new ways to increase sales.

I don't use an Adblocker per se, but I do use NoScript, mainly for security and performance. That does block quite a few ads, but frankly, good riddance; you shouldn't need JS or, even worse, Flash to display an ad. The web is slow enough already.

I don't use adblock either. One reason is that I like seeing how people advertise their products: a good learning experience.

You're not. I never used and never would use an ad blocker.

If I open a web site with annoying ads, I simply hit the back button or close the browser tab.

But don't you actually have to click the ad to help the site?

Not really, ad impressions count!

There's three main ways people buy online advertising:

- cost per thousand impressions (CPM) - cost per click (CPC) - cost per action (CPA), where the action is something that takes place after the click, like signing up for Netflix.

If the ad buy was CPM, using an ad blocker takes revenue from the site they'd otherwise receive. If not, not.

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