P.S. After watching a while I have concluded that I would not have cable or satellite TV in my house even if THEY PAID ME! What a load of crap.

If they do, then they are only hypocrites.

There site doesn’t even have a contact address.

there is an alternative to HOSTS file hacking in IE: http://www.ie7pro.com/

I rarely use IE, but there are a few services which still seem to get away with excluding everything else. Yahoo! Launchcast is one of these, and it has started running very processor-intensive ads alongside the song info. This addon (IE7 only I think) cleared that little annoyance right up.

So maybe these idiots should block IE as well? In fact, why not block every user agent? Can’t be too careful…

Chris

And your right spam boy. We Firefox users don’t want your viagra, so get the fuck off our internet, and go whine to your mummys. We don’t care.

http://www.everythingisnt.com/hosts.html

Works great!

Got it.

Speaking of the two plugins, it’s interesting to note that it’s not Firefox’s fault for blocking ads, heck, it’s not even AdBlocker (Plus)’s fault, but it’s Filterset.G which has the filter with it. And like many other people mentioned, blocking Firefox is not the solution because there are many alternatives with other browsers.

—–
In MacOS’s Safari, there’s PithHelmet (shareware)
In Windows, use the HOSTS file (but a bit complicated)
There’s AdMuncher an executable
There’s Opera, which does has a manual ad-blocker

And of course, just about every updated browser has a pop-up blocker.
—–

I find it useless to be upset about this, since in life there are more frustrating things than with computer politics. After all – just use the other alternatives in the other browsers, or like someone else mentioned use User Agent Switcher, an add-on which pretends to be a different browser.

Jon, if you have several websites which do this, let me know – I’d like to be informed.

I own a computer. My computer runs a web browser that renders a website based on the HTML and based on my individual preferences. Above all, I retain ultimate control of how my computer runs. Basic property rights give me that power.

That’s how the Internet works.

Any business model which tries to ignore the functionality of the Internet, by asking a computer owner to surrender control of his own machine, is therefore fatally flawed. If there’s one thing we, as p2pnet readers, should know by now, you don’t get to call people thieves for asserting their personal rights and rejecting a bad business model.

Oh, and if you want to go where you want and view whatever content you like, install a plugin called ‘User Agent Switcher’ and set the user agent to IE6.

Lets see this little monkey and all his friends try to stop that.

Sadly, that day came way before firefox, and possibly even before such programs evolved to be truly useful.

You say block firefox? I say block you. And your ads as well. Good riddance.
If I need to go to your website, I’ll use opera with adblock, and have it identify itself as IE or some other browser.
Bite me.

Kudos on this article.
It really stimulated on of my pet peaves.

This is my first visit to this site, and it seems the ads on this page aren’t obnoxious, nor are they flash images (but that could change from a refresh I suppose).
Its websites like this that deserve to have their ads viewed I suppose.

http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/

INTRUSIVE ads, however, are a different story. Most people who read books will be annoyed if someone else came over and stuck a leaflet over what they were trying to read. In fact, doing such a thing would be very rude. This is exactly what pop up and slide down ads do. When websites use such tactics, they get added to my block lists. If I am not able to block the ad successfully, I will try to hack together a solution or go elsewhere.

As far as over the air TV goes, I can understand some ads. However, most people pay an exorbitant amount of money for cable or satellite subscriptions. Since they are already paying to view the content, there is no real reason for these channels to be saturated with ads (besides greed), and yet they are. I have quit watching TBS and many other Turner stations simply because of their popup ads disrupting my viewing of the few good things they air. I also hate when commercials are blasted with high volume as much as I hate someone screaming in my face.

Other ads are simply inappropriate for children and family viewing (”Smiling Bob, Cialis, Viagra, etc.). I quit watching what little of G4 that was interesting because of the phone whore commercials. I imagine there are many, many others who feel the same way. The reason more and more people are blocking ads is because they are getting weary by the day of big companies shoving crap they don’t need or want in their faces. It seams that ads are becoming more intrusive by the day not to mention an invasion of privacy. Most people also resent being spied upon, and this is another reason why they use countermeasures against ads.

Jon displays ads appropriately, and therefore, I allow them to be shown on my browser. When people use the internet or watch TV, they are looking for a pleasant or informative experience. When an unpleasant advertisement is show, that detracts from the user experience. This is the main reason why people block , ignore or otherwise dispense of advertisement. If advertising companies want to reach people, they need to make their ads more pleasant and less intrusive. Failing that, people will use countermeasures so that they will not be subjected to unpleasant experiences. This is common sense and simple psychology.

Advertisers and the people who display content need to accept the fact that people now have a choice on how they view entertainment and information. I myself and many other people will refuse to buy products that are advertised intrusively. Many of us will also use other content if we cannot get away from intrusive advertisements. Thanks to the Internet, this other content is now much more readily available. Again, we are the customers, and we have choice and more power to exercise out choice thank to the Internet.