Ethical to Use Advertisement Blocking Software?

Yes, No, maybe so?

Ads help the tek, the tek helps us.

I understand that I should disable ad blocking software on this site. But what sites should I enable/disable ad blocking?

Entirely up to you, I use it on certain sites that go overboard with advertisements when I just want to focus on the content I went there for, but really it's a personal preference thing I think, in my opinion.

I don't want this to be limited to me. Would it be good if the whole world only blocked ads from Microsoft or Google or even Electronic Arts?

Hello, Some Dude!

I would suggest that you only disable ad blocking for sites you enjoy and want to support.

EDIT: As for it being ethical to use ad-blocking software, I would say it is. They [website & ad company] are using your personal interest info and your time to display ads, you should be able to choose who you support with your time and data.

How else are you going to be marketed cream that increases your breast size?

 

 

Seriously TS has no control over what ads are shown?

 

The Pirate bay goes way OVERBOARD on ads. I was on there without an adblocker and I was like wut... Whats with all the porn ads? Sometimes sites just go overboard. This site knows how to do ads, I counted the ads today 3 ads per page. Thats good, plus the placement is great!

For sites that go overboard I such have adds EVERYWHERE, or more than 5 ads per page. I would block the shit out of them.

Not to mention TPB's use of pop-out/pop-under ads....

If everyone in the world learned about ad blockers and used them, then corporations may try to get a law on internet ads. Website owners allow ads to be on their website, I think we should not use ad blockers to an extent  because some ads are inappropriate or malicious. I believe people should have the choice to give their data that they own to the internet.

Eh, it depends. If the livelihood of the devs/owners/creators of whatever service you are using depends on ads (say a website, like TekSyndicate, that is provided for you without a purchase or subscription cost; free) then I would say it is unethical to use ad-blocking software. Think about it.

  I don't mind advertisements at all.  I DO however mind that they now make it where you cannot skip the ad if you want to.  Now they force you to watch it.  So yes, I would say it is ethical to have ad block.  Is it ethical for them to force you to watch their ads?

  I also found out about ad block from "The Tek" videos that I have watched.  And ooops, I had forgotten about turning it off for this page.  I have since corrected that 8D

  I have learned a lot from the guys and Pistol and appreciate what they do.  I say "Keep up the good work!"

Why are you even on there...

Is it ethical to throw all sorts of nonsense advertisements at me? I never asked for this. I hate advertisements, I've never ever seen one that I would want to click, I've never seen one that was even remotely interesting.

Even the advertisements you get through old fashioned (physical) mail is a bother and useless to me. Why would I buy yoghurt now that it has a -20cent coupon if I've never bought yoghurt in my life? Why would I buy something that I have absolutely no use for just because it's printed on some piece of paper and rammed into my mailbox?

I'm not sure if adblockers block the ads from actually being downloaded (I know some in the past didn't) but in case they don't: why are they wasting the bandwidth I pay for and wasting my traffic cap with crap (however little it may be) when I haven't asked for it?

Advertisements online are a big nuisance, but a necessary evil (and yes, I do understand why). I've been without adblockers for quite a while on my laptop but I got sick and tired of specifically the YouTube ads ruining my "experience". They can't even bother to put some variations in the ads, if I were to watch short YT vids for an hour I would see the same advertisement 5 times along with one or two others that come by every now and then.

I got sick and tired of it so I reinstalled adblockers. And I'm too damn lazy to whitelist and having been on a (mostly) adfree web, I don't really want to whitelist either. I've seen an option to allow "some non-intrusive ads" and I was sceptical about it, but apparently it's turned on. And I've had no complaints so far. So if your ads aren't seen as non-intrusive by my adblocker, you're SOL.

Besides, I'm fairly certain there are enough people that don't have adblockers or that do whitelist, so I'm not feeling bad about it at all.

Trust me, I don't like to look at ads either. I have been using Adblock Plus for about 3 years. I am just trying to be as unbiased as possible.

With that said I will enable Adblock Plus because I don't know of any law against the use of ad blockers.

that's a difficult question with many answers:

  • ads that track people are unethical (~99% of ads track)
  • using a website and blocking their source of income is unethical too
  • (tracking) ads are probably benefiting the ad agency the most: people getting paid for annoying other people :-/
  • if you don't block surveillance (tracking-ads are a part of that) you might become a victim of evermore sophisticated models that predict your behavior, opening up an avenue to manipulate you to pay way to much money for mediocre products & worse: who you vote for.

Conclusion:

The Internet isn't a promotional leaflet, it's worth paying for it: (some of it)

Ads DON'T make websites free, they just hide the cost.

Tek Syndicate is doing the right thing with offering a payed ad free version, that way we can cut out the middle-men & reduce tracking/spying a little bit.

All that is missing now is an anonymous way to pay for websites, without giving criminals a new loophole for money laundering.

Personally I always run an adblocker on while browsing and only disable it for websites that I visit often.

There are sites in which the entire site is an ad. A site for a product you're interested in is an ad, so if there are ads on the site which is an ad, don't feel bad about blocking because you may potentially be purchasing something. For websites like tek where they provide content at no cost to us, feel bad, unless you're donating an amount reasonably close or above what they may have made from ads.

I never click on an advertisements, therefore I wouldn't be supporting any website if I had Ad-blocker turned off. I buy things I want from reliable sources and websites. If I wanted to see or use ads, I would not use Ad-blocker. I have no guilt or shame in using it. I have been bombarded with too much garbage for too long. I want to see content, not advertisements for things I will never buy. My philosophy: If your smart enough to install and use an Ad-blocker, then you probably don't go around clicking on Ads. I didn't block the epic pants store.