Ad reporting functionality

[Arthmoor]

In response to post #35635062.

Madrias wrote: I will admit, I do run AdBlock (still do, I'm probably going to wait a little while on turning it off, and I'll mention my reasonings below) and I'll admit that I do so while feeling more than just a bit guilty.

First and foremost, my reason for not turning it off immediately: The Nexus is an always open tab for me, but not often checked. I'll wait for the most annoying ones (video ads, pop-ups, sound ads) to be killed off first before I think about turning AdBlock off for the Nexus. Why? Because at any time, I may be watching a YouTube video, a series on Hulu (where my adblock is honestly disabled. I will tolerate commercials when binge watching a series), playing a video game, or just browsing a forum somewhere. If, out of nowhere, it sounds like the apocalypse has occurred in a tab, I'm going to be rather upset.

As for ads that I think should also be reported, I'd like to suggest anything that uses Flash. I don't know how many times I've had a Flash-based ad crash Adobe Flash Player while I was doing something else.

Now, I understand, I may seem cold and heartless, planning on waiting a month or two to turn my ad block back off, but I have my reasons. I'd rather not put up with an ad providing annoyance while I'm not even paying attention to the tab, forcing me to stop what I'm doing to go kill it.

Now, as to answer the inevitable "Why don't you buy supporter or premium?" questions, the answer to that is, "I've tried." Visa Gift Cards apparently don't like it when you try to order something in the USA that requires spending something that isn't the Dollar. I don't have a standard credit card, nor do I plan to get one. As such, I use ad-block because I couldn't get rid of the ads by paying to remove them, not because I couldn't afford it, but because I wasn't allowed to pay for it. Do I feel guilty for it? Yeah, I do. I know ads are the only way for some sites to survive. I'd gladly have paid to get rid of them, but wasn't able to complete the transaction.

As for my reasons for using an adblocker, you've hit most of them. I avoid annoyances (loud autoplaying ads, flash ads that cause Adobe Crash Player to throw up, ads that cover content, and any ad that causes slowdowns of my system) while avoiding malware at the same time. I look at it a bit personally on the level of annoyance versus the level of guilt. I can either be guilt free, but annoyed (and possibly angry), or I can be annoyance free, but feeling guilty. One of the two makes me feel like crap, the other makes me want to punch my screens. I'll take the one that doesn't give me a headache.

So, in a month or two, I'll probably turn my adblocker off for the Nexus. Until then, I'll feel lightly guilty about not doing so, but at the same time not feel irritated by yet-another-loud-ad suddenly trying to get my attention.

Simple solution to Flash ads: Uninstall Flash. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised at how little of the web is still using that.

[BoredErica]

I'd just recommend to others to pay for supporter membership. It's pretty freakin' cheap.

[NeoH4x0r]

It does not seems that Forbes.com is enforcing their policy on AdBlock -- yes you get a welcome landing page asking you to turn off AdBlock -- however, if you go back to the page (by copying the original url / re-opening the link from Google, etc) it will bypass the welcome landing page and go straight to the article.

 

So, I'm not sure, exactly, what Forbes.com is using to trigger this landing page sometimes, but not everytime.

[jimkaiseriv]

I'm glad that you've added a feature to report ads.

 

I resisted using Adblock for a long time because I want to support the websites I visit, and feel like they deserve to get ad revenue for my page views.

 

But the ads on this site, specifically, pushed me over the edge. I could deal with the annoyance, the constant autoplay, and the occasional slowdown. But the ads on Nexus, alone out of all the sites I visit, routinely crashed my web browser. I run Chrome, and both it and Windows 7 were kept up to date, but about 1 out of every 5 pages I viewed on the Nexus would completely crash Chrome. I never had this problem on any other site I went to.

 

The way I saw it, I had only three options: use Adblock; pay for membership; or stop visiting the Nexus. I'm not against paying for membership in general, especially for a site as useful as this and at such a reasonable price. But at the time it felt extortionate, because it seemed like I was being told that I could either suffer through a completely broken and unusable experience, or pay up. Given the level of frustration I felt, I chose to install Adblock. Since I started using it, I haven't had any problems on the Nexus.

 

I should also mention that I often browse the nexus on my ipad, without any kind of ad blocking turned on. It seems like I get redirected to the app store an awful lot. When this happens, I don't even get to view the Nexus page I originally went to: when I go back to the web, the tab loads to a redirecting web address, and the back button doesn't work. It's a really broken experience.

Edited March 15, 2016 by jimkaiseriv

[moho25]

Third-party ads are a significant problem.

I'm a huge supporter of Nexus, Dark0ne, and the entire staff. I've purchased supporter-level membership b/c I will, in fact, block every bloody ad on the internet that I can. I understand the concept of the ad-based model. I get it, I do. I was going to refrain from commenting since I know this is a touchy subject, but the irony of this article today on Ars Technica about a recent rash of ransomware served via ads on major websites (along with this blog post) was just too much.

The problem is that the 3rd party ad model is broken. Just because it exists doesn't mean it's good or correct. It's a model that presents an impossible standard of oversight and is therefore a recipe for disaster... for the end-user.

There will be a time -- hopefully sooner rather than later -- where website owners and ad networks will become liable for the damage caused by serving up malicious ads. Similar to the relationship between merchants and credit card companies when it comes to card fraud and identity theft. But, right now, everyone wants to absolve themselves of responsibility -- say it's somebody else's problem. The site owner wants to blame the ad network. The ad network wants to blame whomever created the bad ad and fed it to their system.

While they play the blame game, it's the user is who has to deal with the fallout. They are the one who gets screwed in the end, when just the display of a banner ad injects some Javascript that allows for silent download of ransomware. Then they are either out their data (if they --stupidly-- didn't back up), or they are out hundreds of dollars to pay to get it back.

So, no. No ads. Not anywhere. I will happily pay to use the awesome service the Nexus provides, but allowing the display of ads on the internet right now is basically the equivalent of having unprotected sex. I don't think so.

 

Edit: clarification.

Edited March 15, 2016 by moho25

[thorinator13]

There are many better, constructive avenues of verbage than resorting to name calling. This is your only warning. Heed the words well.

 

Best regards,

 

Your NexusMods Staff

 

hey, morons. your report an ad system LOOPS THE DAMN THINGS. now I've got an ad that i cant report constantly looping, not to mention that the ad itself sounds like my smoke alarm. seriously. this is about the 9th time in a week something like this has happened, not to mention that the ad plays even if i have Firefox muted. you need to hammer down on this. frankly? I'm gonna use adblock till i see improvement. I've seen plenty of similar websites with absolutely no problems like this, yet you guys seem to have the worst around. hell, even the flash game websites like kongregate are not this bad.

[ryneboy]

In response to post #35638937.

thorinator13 wrote: hey, morons. your report an ad system LOOPS THE DAMN THINGS. now I've got an ad that i cant report constantly looping, not to mention that the ad itself sounds like my smoke alarm. seriously. this is about the 9th time in a week something like this has happened, not to mention that the ad plays even if i have Firefox muted. you need to hammer down on this. frankly? I'm gonna use adblock till i see improvement. I've seen plenty of similar websites with absolutely no problems like this, yet you guys seem to have the worst around. hell, even the flash game websites like kongregate are not this bad.

damn harsh

[thorinator13]

In response to post #35638937. #35639137 is also a reply to the same post.

thorinator13 wrote: hey, morons. your report an ad system LOOPS THE DAMN THINGS. now I've got an ad that i cant report constantly looping, not to mention that the ad itself sounds like my smoke alarm. seriously. this is about the 9th time in a week something like this has happened, not to mention that the ad plays even if i have Firefox muted. you need to hammer down on this. frankly? I'm gonna use adblock till i see improvement. I've seen plenty of similar websites with absolutely no problems like this, yet you guys seem to have the worst around. hell, even the flash game websites like kongregate are not this bad.

ryneboy wrote: damn harsh

yeah, looking at this i was, i dunno, emotionally charged i suppose. i still stand by what i said though.

[StupidDunmer]

In response to post #35637927.

dark_wizzie wrote: I'd just recommend to others to pay for supporter membership. It's pretty freakin' cheap.

Indeed, if you can spare it, and you use this site a lot, definitely worth it.

[EagleRaptor1522]

I've reported ads that simply get in the way of me clicking on links within the nexus. (They appear over top of the links.)