Site demands you disable your ad blocker. What do you do?

If you use Ad blockers, and a web site tells you that you must disable your ad blocker in order to view their content, do you acquiesce, or do you leave?

I've always chosen to leave and look elsewhere for the info. I'd rather not access their site than be bombarded with their ads. But now more and more sites are adopting this anti ad block strategy, including ones I regularly frequented. It's getting harder and harder to find sites that still allow ad blockers.

Is this simply the future of the internet? Have they finally won?

Or do you have an adblocker-blocker-blocker?

Comments

  • Disable it

  • Ctrl F4.

    • +2

      Ctrl W to close tab.

    • I think you mean Alt-F4, that stops all ads in the browser.

    • that is a corker of a picture.

  • You can just disable your ad blocker for that particular site.

    Then when you've got the info you are looking for, simply re-enable the ad blocker and leave the site.

    • Why encourage them?

  • +10

    Just boycott any sites that use draconian measures such as that.

  • +2

    The site needs to make it's money some way and you aren't paying them to visit. In my case it depends on the site and how much I want the information there. If the site is of value then I can live with their ads.

  • Use Safari's Reader Mode. Usually, the text is still there, just hidden by the giant pop-up. Reader Mode grabs the text & still displays it.

  • +6

    Close tab and never return.

    Im not disabling my adblocker for anyone especially those trying to force people to.

  • disable ad blocker for that site ONLY
    support those who provide info that i get for free.

  • +1

    On desktop/laptop, install Nano Adblocker or uBlock Origin. Then install Nano Defender and follow the prompts on the landing page for how to make sure it works with Nano Adblocker or uBlock Origin. You'll need to change more settings from stock for uBlock Origin.

    If you want to test it out, go to blockadblock.com and wait a minute. If nothing pops up, then you're good (it should redirect if you're using a standalone adblocker).

    This is not a foolproof solution. If there's a site that still gets through, you can press F12 and try and figure out what the bait asset is and create your own user scripts for bypassing it. You can also report it to uAssets or Nano on GitHub as well.

    On Android you can try out AdAway if you have root and don't mind trading the crude hosts file method of blocking for less resource usage. AdGuard using HTTP proxy mode (also requires root) behaves more like a traditional adblocker. It allows you to selective subscribe to lists and doesn't require you to reboot if a link you want is blocked (like sponsored search results). AdGuard can also hide the "holes" left behind by blocked ad elements. That's not something AdAway can do.

    Non root solutions (including AdGuard's non root mode) use the VPN method which is much more taxing on system resources. Examples include AdGuard and Blockade.

    It will NEVER be illegal in most Western countries to modify webpages once they're downloaded on your device. There will always be people working to get rid of ads and there will always be techniques to bypass anti AdBlock measures.

    The only truly foolproof measure is to go to a paywall only model like The Australian. In that case, most people will just leave and business will falter.

    You need to keep up with the game. There used to be some "anti AdBlock killer" lists you could subscribe to, but they got abandoned and Nano Defender became the de facto AdBlock defuser against generic solutions like Block AdBlock or (profanity) AdBlock. There's also the nitty gritty method where the uAsset volunteers go to every site and change every list line by line to make sure they keep working.

    • +4

      Just need an ozbargain wall of text blocker now
      😀

    • -1

      I've just noticed that the Washington Post has gone behind a paywall. I occasionally read that. Possible to get around apparently.

      https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/how-to-deprive-mainstream…

      Would you call what the SMH is doing a paywall? Is that their intention? Because it is the worst paywall in the world.

  • +4

    I leave, they dont want me and I dont want the ads…

  • 'Or do you have an adblocker-blocker-blocker?"

    never use this method! Always use an adblocker-blocker-blocker-blocker, It works 60% of the time, everytime.

  • -1

    I leave the site, I'm not disabling ad blocker for anyone but Cashrewards.

  • Depends on the content of what i'm trying to view

  • Depends what site. If it's one that I actually get content from and haven't noticed obnoxious ads/code from in the past, I'll give them a chance and disable adblock.

    If it's a random site I'm just clicking through or browsing, I'll exist.

    And if I'm there to get something, like a link or a quote or something I actually want/need, but don't like the ads/don't trust the site, then there's stuff you can do like "view source code/disable element" etc to actually get to the content without disabling ads. Those things are pretty trivial to bypass anyway, most times it's just an overlay.

  • Most of the time I'll try blocking the pop-up over the top and continue to look at the site sans-ads.

  • It's rare that I get the message but when I do and I really need to use the site - I open a separate browser with no ad-block. Do what I need to do. Then clear cookies, trackers etc.

  • Cashrewards is not playing nicely with Firefox lately.

    We've noticed you have an ad-blocker installed.
    You may experience issues using Cashrewards and earning cashback.
    To whitelist Cashrewards with your ad-blocking software.
    Click Here

    Click

    The address wasn’t understood

    Firefox doesn’t know how to open this address, because one of the following protocols (abp) isn’t associated with any program or is not allowed in this context.

    Doing the same thing with Chrome. I have uBlock turned off.

    You might need to install other software to open this address.
    
    • +1

      I find Firefox’s blocker to be way aggressive and often the cause of websites not working at all. Terrible browser now.

  • +1

    I don't visit any sites with ads bad enough to make me install and ad blocker. Sites need to make money to pay for servers, staff etc. hell, scotty makes 40 billion a year from the ads on this site.

  • It really depends on what the site is, and what I was trying to see. There have been a couple sites I have disabled adblock for permanently, but mostly I'll disable it only temporarily to read something. It doesn't bother me, what bothers me is sites which are behind a paywall, or sites which redirect to the Australian version which doesn't have the content I was attempting to see!

  • Turning javascript off works for some sites. There are javascript toggle button extensions to make it easier to turn on/off.

  • +1

    It's such a pity that some websites made advertisements to so intrusive to make me want to install an adblocker.

    Small simple advertisements would be acceptable but I'm so annoyed by the adverts that take up so much screen space that I just can't disable adblockers to read an article on a site. I'll find what I need elsewhere.

    I did once subscribe to news.com.au but I didn't see the value of it and did not renew.

  • +1

    Enable the ad blocker and use "private mode"

  • Install a Pi-Hole on your network then you never need to worry about plugins.

  • -1

    you can use anti ad block killer https://reek.github.io/anti-adblock-killer/

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