Wired to Block Ad-Blocking Users, Offer Ad-Free Subscription

[Syntaxvgm]

 

Wired is joining sites that have Anti-Adblock implementations. 

http://www.wired.com/how-wired-is-going-to-handle-ad-blocking/

Quote

On an average day, more than 20 percent of the traffic to WIRED.com comes from a reader who is blocking our ads. We know that you come to our site primarily to read our content, but it’s important to be clear that advertising is how we keep WIRED going: paying the writers, editors, designers, engineers, and all the other staff that works so hard to create the stories you read and watch here.

They give this ultimatum

Quote

There will be two easy options to access that content.

You can simply add WIRED.com to your ad blocker’s whitelist, so you view ads. When you do, we will keep the ads as “polite” as we can, and you will only see standard display advertising.

You can subscribe to a brand-new Ad-Free version of WIRED.com. For $1 a week, you will get complete access to our content, with no display advertising or ad tracking.

 While it is well within their rights to do this, it's a risky move that may lose readers. And recently, news sites have been sneaking the advertisements in the content itself, of making shit more click-baity in order to squeeze more revenue from a decreasing ad audience. Or, some, like wired, think browsing their site alone without shitty intrusive ads is worth 48$ a year. 

 

There are many varying opinions of ad blocking, whether it's good or bad. 

 

But make no mistake, controlling what you render in your browser is your right. 

For those who are interested, 

I remind you that there is a third solution, Anti-Anti-Adblock scripts. 

My favorite is anti-adblock killer by Reek 

https://github.com/reek/anti-adblock-killer

These types of scripts are not universal solutions, but rather have per-site code. 

The particular one I linked does a very good job of getting popular sites, and I may start contributing myself. 

 

Also, certain ad-blockers integrate a solution like this. Simply switching your ad blocker may work as well, but these are typically slower to respond to site changes, and are more often targeted. 

[iamdarkyoshi]

Dont show these freaking advertisements:

...etc

 

And maybe I will turn my adblocking software off. But for now, it aint happening.

[Syntaxvgm]

1 minute ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Dont show these freaking advertisements:

...etc

 

And maybe I will turn my adblocking software off. But for now, it aint happening.

then pay wired 48$

/s

I don't even think I pay that much for my fucking weekend newspaper, they must be dreaming

[Syntaxvgm]

I changed the title  a little to be clear it was a subscription to skip ads, and not moving the whole site to a subscription model. 

[Castdeath97]

Who seriously reads from wired? Their content is utter garbage no wonder they pull things like this.

[Syntaxvgm]

2 minutes ago, Castdeath97 said:

Who seriously reads from wired? Their content is utter garbage no wonder they pull things like this.

When they say 20% of their reader base uses adblocking solutions, I about spit my drink.

 

20%? 

You are lucky assholes, especially for a tech website. Some sites barely get that many who aren't. 

Try writing better shit, it's not time to throw in the towel yet. 

[jaggysnake57]

i went onto a site the other day with an anti adblock......disabled javascript and read it any way.....ads piss me off they are obnoxious and slow down the page

[dalekphalm]

Personally I have no problem with this. I use adblock to protect against malicious ads and if I'm googling something, I don't know if I can trust the results until I click on them (Eg: Those download sites that have 50 fake "download" buttons that are all ads).

 

However, what I don't do, is block ads on sites I frequently use and trust, eg: LTT forums, YouTube, etc.

 

Wired has every right to block a user who uses Adblock. Yes, that user also has the right to modify their local browsing experience to whatever degree they want, but if Wired decides to block you for doing so, that's also within their right.

 

Really, if you like the site, you should support them with Ad Revenue. If you like their site, and simply can't stand ads, sign up for their Ad-Free subscription service. $1 week does seem a bit high, yearly - if they had a flat fee discounted to $30/year or something, that would be more reasonable.

 

If you don't give a shit about Wired content anyway (Which seems to be a majority of the users in this thread), then who cares whether they do this? If you don't read their stuff because it's "garbage", then this will have exactly zero effect on you. Get over it.

 

I personally don't read Wired very often (Only if I happen to Google a subject that wired has an article on it, or if someone links me an article), so I'm not terribly affected by it - but the next time I visit their site, I'll make sure to whitelist them.

 

If they serve annoying and intrusive ads, then I'll simply stop visiting their site.

[Misanthrope]

Everyone should call their bluff: Fuck em

[Sharkyx1]

20 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Snip

Yeah I agree, if something thinks they have the right to take away from someones revenue while using their content they have the same right to not show you content 

 

I haven't used ad block  in about 3 years, outside a single site or something 

20 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

Everyone should call their bluff: Fuck em

Call their bluff? Fuck em ? They make content don't they have a right to control how is delivered?

 

Linus stops people from blocking by injecting right into the video, it's that any better? 

[Misanthrope]

This has nothing to do with rights. They can do whatever and I have the right to tell them threatening your fucking customers isn't acceptable. Sorry the market has determined that ad supported content is not viable, but if you want to annoy me with adds and expose me to malicious ones that constantly happen despite efforts to avoid then then you should go out of business.

 

This is why even Linus sees the writing on the wall moving channel super fun to patreon.

[Flashport]

19 minutes ago, Sharkyx1 said:

Linus stops people from blocking by injecting right into the video, it's that any better? 

those ads are welcomed tbh. there is a big difference between Linus' ads and 'DOWNLOAD NOW'

 

edit:

I block all YouTube ads. no exception. I support other ways tho, mostly patreon.

 

 

Spoiler

Jim-fkin-strlin-son & h3h3 productions were the latest. I rarely do this tho, if the channel is doing well (like incredibly well; minimum view per video 250k) thats when I stop giving a shit no matter how good of a human this person I watch is. truth is, I have an expensive hobby (duh) so I'm mostly broke. so after that I stop supporting with cash, and continue spreading the good word about the channel/person.

 

[dalekphalm]

12 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

This has nothing to do with rights. They can do whatever and I have the right to tell them threatening your fucking customers isn't acceptable. Sorry the market has determined that ad supported content is not viable, but if you want to annoy me with adds and expose me to malicious ones that constantly happen despite efforts to avoid then then you should go out of business.

 

This is why even Linus sees the writing on the wall moving channel super fun to patreon.

I really don't think Patreon is a viable business model for 90% of stuff on the web.

 

While I doubt such stats exist, I would love to see the percentage of Adblock users who use Patreon/Donations, etc, when available. I doubt it's a very high number. Most people use Adblock because it's annoying, and they want free stuff.

[Flashport]

3 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Most people use Adblock because it's annoying, and they want free stuff.

I would love to see those numbers too. I'm sure its in the high for users that do not support through other means. although I install adblock & the likes on a lot of PCs. Pcs that are operated by people that don't even know what kickstarter is (as example, cuz its widely known). like, a lot.

[dalekphalm]

Just now, Flashport said:

I would love to see those numbers too. I'm sure its in the high for users that do not support through other means. although I install adblock & the likes on a lot of PCs. Pcs that are operated by people that don't even know what kickstarter is. like, a lot.

There is some merit in installing Adblock on a persons computer who is, frankly, completely computer illiterate (The kind that you come over and they have 30 browser toolbars, and 600+ malware infections - and you had just cleaned out their system last week).

 

Obviously it's not black and white, but every user in this forum is at least moderately computer savvy. I personally believe that none of us should be using Adblock to deny content creators revenue. If you donate or otherwise fund them through alternative means (A subscription service, Patreon, monthly donations, etc), then you could argue that it's ethically justified.

 

But if you enjoy their content for free, without donating/subscribing to a paid service, etc, and block their ads? Well I personally believe if they block you from accessing said content (Anti-Adblock technology), then too bad - I don't really feel any sympathy for those users.

 

As said above, sure, you have the right to control your browsing experience and to modify web code on YOUR computer - but the content provider also has the right to block you because of said actions.

 

Personally this is a non-issue for me, because any site that I deem worthy enough to actively browse, I feel deserves my ad revenue, and I'll tough it out and watch the ads.

 

If a site I frequent has stupidly annoying ads, I will simply stop visiting that site.

[iamdarkyoshi]

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

There is some merit in installing Adblock on a persons computer who is, frankly, completely computer illiterate (The kind that you come over and they have 30 browser toolbars, and 600+ malware infections - and you had just cleaned out their system last week).

This. 

[That Norwegian Guy]

Just keep an eye on Github for the inevitable anti-anti-adblock userscript, like there is for all websites that implement anti-adblock.

[Bensemus]

I have no problem whitelisting sites I visit regularity. While I don't use WIRED for news if I did I would white list it. They have the right to get paid for the content they produce. To me they came up with a fare compromise. View ads or pay for ad free. If you like the site you should be fine with one of those options. WIRED does not need to serve you with  free content. 

[corsairian]

I dont think Wired realizes how many peoole WON't pay for something like this. I don't even read Wired that often so I don't care, but this is the wrong approach to this. People use AD Block for a reason, making someone pay is the wrong answer to this situation.

[mattebad]

Nah, I'll just use my anti-adblock script to prevent you from blocking me in the first place. Go f*** yourself WIRED

[Bensemus]

24 minutes ago, corsairian said:

I dont think Wired realizes how many peoole WON't pay for something like this. I don't even read Wired that often so I don't care, but this is the wrong approach to this. People use AD Block for a reason, making someone pay is the wrong answer to this situation.

So how are they supposed to make money? it's either ads or sub. Seeing as people don't like ads they will need to sub to get the content. You can't expect a website to produce content and give it to you for free.

[Guest Kloaked]

1 hour ago, Misanthrope said:

Everyone should call their bluff: Fuck em

Literally.

 

EDIT: Before someone gets offended, I'm just kidding.

[LinusTech]

58 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

This has nothing to do with rights. They can do whatever and I have the right to tell them threatening your fucking customers isn't acceptable. Sorry the market has determined that ad supported content is not viable, but if you want to annoy me with adds and expose me to malicious ones that constantly happen despite efforts to avoid then then you should go out of business.

 

This is why even Linus sees the writing on the wall moving channel super fun to patreon.

 

Nothing to do with seeing the writing on the wall. Patreon revenue won't TOUCH what can be done with corporate sponsorship - especially if we were willing to sneakily inject it like a lot of creators do.

 

It's just a better fit for the tone and style of that channel to have it community driven. It'll help us shape the content to appeal to its fans and hopefully bring in new ones in a way that drinking a sponsored sports beverage in between medieval jousting matches wouldn't.

 

Online ads aren't going away. They just need to be smarter. That's why we put ours out of the way (at the end of the video) and try to entice the viewer to watch by making them entertaining rather than just obnoxious.

 

I wish WIRED the best of luck in this endeavor, but honestly, I don't know if it'll work.

[iamdarkyoshi]

2 minutes ago, LinusTech said:

 

Nothing to do with seeing the writing on the wall. Patreon revenue won't TOUCH what can be done with corporate sponsorship - especially if we were willing to sneakily inject it like a lot of creators do.

 

It's just a better fit for the tone and style of that channel to have it community driven. It'll help us shape the content to appeal to its fans and hopefully bring in new ones in a way that drinking a sponsored sports beverage in between medieval jousting matches wouldn't.

 

Online ads aren't going away. They just need to be smarter. That's why we put ours out of the way (at the end of the video) and try to entice the viewer to watch by making them entertaining rather than just obnoxious.

 

I wish WIRED the best of luck in this endeavor, but honestly, I don't know if it'll work.

Your ads are pretty much the ones I agree with. The forum ads (at least the old forum, where did the ads go here?) were never annoying, they never asked to download anything or try to lead to sketchy sites or anything. 

 

They are often funny, tie into the video, and are actually done by you rather than just slapping one of their promo videos on the end of it. I always try to watch the advertisements and make sure adblock is off for anything LTT

 

If other companies could do what LTT does with ads, I honestly would not need adblock.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

 

 

My OS' security comes before someone else's ad revenue.  NO exceptions.

So, Wired, with all due respect : go quack yourself