Of course, you now pick out any of my forum posting tics to make me "look like an asshole". I have already posted something that you disagree with so you are predisposed to regard everything from me negatively. If I started out posting something to positively reinforce your world view but with the same style, it would not have been an issue.
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Pachter talks about AdBlock
- Thread starter DarkoMaledictus
- Start date
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
Anyone saying ", period" is stating their opinion as a fact, we're having a discussion here, just coming here and saying everyone that uses adblock is scum isn't really bringing much to the table aside of insulting members that don't agree with you.
EatinOlives
Member
Adblock wouldn't exist if most sites were more responsible with ads.
I know the GAF staff takes painstaking efforts in cutting out ads in the least bit intrusive, from expanding bullshit, to sound-on-by-default bullshit, to mobile ads that redirect you to the store page of random apps bullshit, to offensive/pornographic/scam ad bullshit.
But there are many websites that don't do this. They let their own sites be rampant with scam ads, loud ads, rollover ads, redirect ads, CONTRATULATIONS YOU WONN!!!! ads, unskippable minute-long video commercials, and stuff them in every conceivable corner of the site with zero regard to user experience. Those are the sites that deserve to be adblocked. If you're not going to bother curating the ads to preserve a respectable amount of usability, I have no qualms about doing what I need to do to keep your site useful. The alternative is me not going to your site at all and you don't even get the pageviews, period.
I know the GAF staff takes painstaking efforts in cutting out ads in the least bit intrusive, from expanding bullshit, to sound-on-by-default bullshit, to mobile ads that redirect you to the store page of random apps bullshit, to offensive/pornographic/scam ad bullshit.
But there are many websites that don't do this. They let their own sites be rampant with scam ads, loud ads, rollover ads, redirect ads, CONTRATULATIONS YOU WONN!!!! ads, unskippable minute-long video commercials, and stuff them in every conceivable corner of the site with zero regard to user experience. Those are the sites that deserve to be adblocked. If you're not going to bother curating the ads to preserve a respectable amount of usability, I have no qualms about doing what I need to do to keep your site useful. The alternative is me not going to your site at all and you don't even get the pageviews, period.
That's what I mean, more or less. Sterling paints in broader strokes. "Developers who do this are dickwads"....."Gamers who believe this are fuckmonkeys".
Pachter should have taken a lesson from Sterling and done the same thing. "Viewers who use adblock are scumbags" instead of "You sir who took the time to write me a letter are a scumbag."
But as I said, Pachter is generally pretty nice and this is the worst I've ever seen him. At worst he'll usually just say that someone had a "stupid question" or something like that. I wouldn't take this video to be indicative of his usual output.
IAmRandom31
Banned
Most pop ups were ads so we got popup blockers. So then they crammed ads into every open space on screen so we got ad blockers. Now they get pissed at that.
Looking at the internet these days feels like it did when you had malware back in the day.
You know how many times I have bought an item base off an ad? Zero. Never. I don't need or want your ads all over my screen
Looking at the internet these days feels like it did when you had malware back in the day.
You know how many times I have bought an item base off an ad? Zero. Never. I don't need or want your ads all over my screen
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
I still remember when I wasn't annoyed by ads, but then I started to get those sound ads ALL the time, that was the day I had to download adblocker, and I'm never EVER going back.
I really appreciate Evilore's work as I've never had any of those ads on GAF.
Aquamarine
Member
The main reason I have Adblock, honestly, is for video ads. I have a pop-up blocker pre-installed so I don't have to worry about external pop-ups, and hey, it isn't the end of the world for me to get advertisements on web pages.
But when I'm trying to watch a bunch of videos on YouTube and I get unskippable 15 second commercials, for me that's when ads can get insufferable. I'm just at a point where I have complete apathy towards site revenue aside from those I respect. Once upon a time I tolerated it, but now it's just a point where I've had enough with them.
Ninja Scooter
Member
Posters in gaming forums/communities generally state their opinions in a similar format, you can take issue with thousands of posts with the same tic, and you chose mine. You disagre with my opinion, okay that's fine. There is never any finality to internet arguments, well at least until I get banned and find another venue to vent my world view :[
Yes I have stated my opinion that using adblock is scummy and with ill-intent.
Is it really that awful to have to watch a 15-30 second ad in front of a 5-15 minute video review/editorial on GameTrailers? I can understand that YouTube gets frustrating when you have to watch a long YouTube ad in front of a 20 second clip of someone falling off their skateboard, but a brief ad in front of a long video seems more than fair.
SargerusBR
I love Pokken!
What the hell did i just read?
mercenar1e
Member
Mauricio_Magus
Banned
Now you're making me feel bad, I have nothing against you. It's just that it's REALLY annoying how it's usually a "YOU PEOPLE ARE AWFUL, PERIOD" which annoys me.
I mean, just look at that post, you're saying that most of the members here are scum and should be hit by a fucking bus.
I have changed my mind on different stuff while debating on the internet, it doesn't happen often but it does!
Since I started to use adblock, the internet has become a better place, I really can't believe the crap some sites pull. And I'm not going to stop visiting and using the internet, I'll just whitelist whatever site I see that respects me and won't BOMB me with crap.
I pay for things that have value to me. Pseudo journalists talking about video games does not meet that criteria. No loss.
Polioliolio
Member
I despise advertisements.
Ads actually push me away from content more than anything. I refuse to have cable television because I don't want to sit on my ass wasting my time with ads.
So.. yeah, .. I'm an adblock user.. Because of that, I can enjoy, like, and share content with others that I normally wouldn't even know exists.
Ads actually push me away from content more than anything. I refuse to have cable television because I don't want to sit on my ass wasting my time with ads.
So.. yeah, .. I'm an adblock user.. Because of that, I can enjoy, like, and share content with others that I normally wouldn't even know exists.
Can't a brother get an 'earn out'? 
I don't know what Pachter's talking about when he says people are working on defeating Adblock. Hulu and some network tv sites already detect Adblock and force people to either disable it or wait the same amount of time as the ads for the content to load.
I don't know what Pachter's talking about when he says people are working on defeating Adblock. Hulu and some network tv sites already detect Adblock and force people to either disable it or wait the same amount of time as the ads for the content to load.
SargerusBR
I love Pokken!
Actually, you are right now that I think about it. Sorry It was an angry post because it annoys me people who make content aren't getting paid for it.
(editing previous post)
retrogamer84
Member
Can't a brother get an 'earn out'?
I don't know what Pachter's talking about when he says people are working on defeating Adblock. Hulu and some network tv sites already detect Adblock and force people to either disable it or wait the same amount of time as the ads for the content to load.
Or you just install a script or two and bypass that also. It is a never ending cat and mouse game.
Petrae
Member
When sites begin cutting staff-- or closing up shop altogether-- as advertising revenue continues to plummet, I wonder who will be responsible. Is it the advertising companies, who have implemented invasive ads? Is it the viewers, who skip ads and don't really care how/if site staff get paid?
Gaming websites will have difficult choices to make as ad revenue falls and AdBlock use rises. Perhaps they'll retreat behind a paywall... but that could lead to less traffic and volunteer sites ripping/sourcing their work. Perhaps we'll see a culling of gaming media where only a few big sites survive.
I understand why people are using AdBlock, but the consequences will be interesting to see unfold.
Gaming websites will have difficult choices to make as ad revenue falls and AdBlock use rises. Perhaps they'll retreat behind a paywall... but that could lead to less traffic and volunteer sites ripping/sourcing their work. Perhaps we'll see a culling of gaming media where only a few big sites survive.
I understand why people are using AdBlock, but the consequences will be interesting to see unfold.
Well said my man. It really is a problem.
In a chicken-egg scenario, intrusive ads came first. Adblock is/was a response to them.
So I blame the advertising companies 100%. I whitelist sites I regularly use until they start displaying intrusive ads. Once that happens, blacklist time.
disastermouse
Banned
I'm always always on GAF on my phone, so no Adblock here. Besides, they're BANNER ads, the least annoying and occasionally helpful ads on the net.
Intrusive pop-overs and forced ads in videos? Those ads are nothing more than pollution and they keep me from visiting those sites very often.
Could we stop the insults for people with different opnions?
disastermouse
Banned
Why don't we have a solution to the monetization problem that doesn't include the pollution of ads or the complete invasion of privacy by social media sites?
Anything video game related that I buy now usually comes from discussions in this very forum, not from annoying ads.
I'm sorry, I meant it as a joke. I shall edit my text haha.
Knightmarre
Member
Yup. I have a website that's 80% covered in ads and for some reason people don't want to visit it. I mean I am a barely scarping by here.
/s
I thought the Pac Attack video was pretty funny. Dude got trolled big time. How this dude is even taken seriously is surprising especially with quotes like "The Internet would stop if we didn't have ads. You idiot. Everything would stop. You idiot." and [in regards to Jim Sterling and Jeff Gerstmann] "And if they do something else, I don't know which games to buy, you bastard."
People have been buying games before the internet was invented. We don't need reviews to tell us what to buy.
Excellent post and I am 100% behind you. Self-entitlement is beyond reasonable levels. It is unreal.
Now let us look at the following,
The poster asks two legitimate and serious questions about the future of game journalism (gaming sites, news, opinions, ect) with such fierce competition from Youtube and Twitch. His third point is that there is no point in allowing ad revenue to work as intended on various gaming sites because their content can be easily found on myriads gaming sites, blogs, and youtube videos as well as from the official sites and forums. That is perfectly fine reasoning. He is a hard-line-capitalist; I would say a traditional one, in which for him there is no demand content from any gaming website that cannot be found or satiated or replaced from other online environments. Ergo, there is nothing unique for him reading any gaming-related piece of the net because it is easily producible, replaceable and replicable from the public or from a self-independent source.
You cannot force anyone to do something out of blind faith - that he should do it for the greater good, for the greater mankind, let alone a client who has every right to have this view and act as he will.
You shouldn't demand from your viewers to jump when you say jump and to sit when you say sit and grab them from their neck using this-is-some-world-poverty/urgency type of bull. It is not the client's business how me or anyone else gets paid and what type of contract me or anyone else has signed and what type of business model me or anyone else is part of. Ethics matters to this extend are self-righteous and hypocritical at least. No one is entitled to anything as long as he or she is not trespassing any law premise and since he is not doing that again he has all the rights in the world to use adblock. Principles are good for discussions and ethically-material-consumption but they are that; good discussion points and nothing else; no obligations and no must-dos.
I can't believe that this person is a good professional role model because "he is telling him like it is". I honestly can't believe that we have reached a point, in the gaming community where a professional acting unprofessionally is an act of praise and recommendation and calls for celebration.
This is beyond disgusting. It is appalling. And at the end of the day, if Gametrailers content is superb, premium, out-of-this-world they should either put it behind a monthly pay-wall or a yearly subscription-model.
God.
This is all well and good if you assume adblock users actively discriminate between content they are willing to watch ads for and content they are not willing to watch ads for. Most people never turn their adblock off unless they have to.
This was the video that convinced me to add escapistmagazine.com to the short list of sites on which I have adblock disabled. It's honest, understanding, and doesn't try to scare me or treat me like criminal scum.
Basically, Jim succeeded in every way Pachter failed. I will gladly disable adblock to support anyone who asks in an honest and respectful manner, something I didn't get from that Pachter segment. To be fair though, I'm not exactly a regular Pach-Attack viewer, so I guess it doesn't make much of a difference.
For the record, my adblock is always disabled on neogaf.com.
Petrae
Member
There really aren't many monetization options once advertising is thrown out. You're basically left with paid subscriptions, which will struggle because free/volunteer sites will lift and/or share much of the paywalled content and make subscribing pointless.
There is a good argument that ads are trending towards the invasive side, but websites don't have many options. If they don't play by the advertiser's rules, they don't get paid. If they don't get paid, they can't pay their bills or their staff. If they can't pay their bills, staff are let go and, in many cases, the sites inevitably fold.
It's a Kobayashi Maru situation here.
NullPointer
Member
Classic chicken and the egg syndrome.
Sites with huge ad spaces and intrusive ads existed long before adblock. They are the very reason for adblock.
And in advertising there is always a rationale for pushing it just that next step farther.
cpp_is_king
Member
I installed AdBlock with a whitelist after a long time of sucking it up and dealing with the ads so that content creators could get paid. Sad part is I work for a company who makes a significant share of revenue from ads. But you know what? When this shit takes up my whole screen, moves around so you can't click it, intentionally masks the content of the page, hides the close button, puts a fake close button, install malware, and all kinds of other crazy bullshit, then all I can say is they brought this on themselves.
So now the many will suffer because of the actions of a few. I do still use a whitelist for certain sites which I know to contain good ads, and I feel bad for all the other sites whose revenue I'm hurting by blocking ads, but maybe someday when technology reaches a point where all ads are SAFE and unobtrusive I will turn them back on globally.
So now the many will suffer because of the actions of a few. I do still use a whitelist for certain sites which I know to contain good ads, and I feel bad for all the other sites whose revenue I'm hurting by blocking ads, but maybe someday when technology reaches a point where all ads are SAFE and unobtrusive I will turn them back on globally.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
Holy shit, who designed this kind of shitty ad?
Upsidedown Fuji
Member
It sounds like AD block is becoming a real problem if it's getting this kind of attention and reaction from content creators.
The only reason I could see a use for software like that is if you enjoy exposing your computer to less reputable websites where ADs come from non mainstream channels.
I don't run and haven't run any AD blocking software since the early 00s because I only browse a handful of sites regularly and ADs on the internet have generally improved compared to the flashing banners, popup window, browser hijackers of the past...
I'm not concerned about malicious ads coming up on sites like NeoGAF, gametrailers, IGN. Etc. because they attract proper AD revenue streams and don't need those dodgy epilepsy inducing, "click here you're a winner" ads.
I would rather continue to consume my internet content as I have been since the days of my 14.4 baud modem via banners and AD revenue, than eventually be forced to use paywalls and premium memberships just to see stuff I've been seeing forever.
If you visit the site often, turn the AD blocker off. Maybe we can keep things free a bit longer if we all are a little more mindful.
The only reason I could see a use for software like that is if you enjoy exposing your computer to less reputable websites where ADs come from non mainstream channels.
I don't run and haven't run any AD blocking software since the early 00s because I only browse a handful of sites regularly and ADs on the internet have generally improved compared to the flashing banners, popup window, browser hijackers of the past...
I'm not concerned about malicious ads coming up on sites like NeoGAF, gametrailers, IGN. Etc. because they attract proper AD revenue streams and don't need those dodgy epilepsy inducing, "click here you're a winner" ads.
I would rather continue to consume my internet content as I have been since the days of my 14.4 baud modem via banners and AD revenue, than eventually be forced to use paywalls and premium memberships just to see stuff I've been seeing forever.
If you visit the site often, turn the AD blocker off. Maybe we can keep things free a bit longer if we all are a little more mindful.
I just can't see any reasoning that makes sense to not have Ad Block installed. Ad creators have been upping their game constantly to trying to get attention and clicks, full page ads that you have to close to get the site and auto playing music/sounds/videos are completely inexcusable and basically forces Ad Block to be used.
If content creators want to be paid for ads being viewed, cut down on the bullshit ads. GAF does it correctly and it is why it is consistently white listed by people who use Ad Block.
If content creators want to be paid for ads being viewed, cut down on the bullshit ads. GAF does it correctly and it is why it is consistently white listed by people who use Ad Block.
Wiktor
Member
I don't have a high opinion about most people who use adblock, at least on regular sites, but it's kind of like with piracy - you won't be able to stop it. Attempting to is just a waste of energy and resources that could be better spent on other things. The freeriders will still find a way to block the adds, so all you're doing is making life harder for people who actually support your content.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
adblocking is nothing like piracy.
if anything its like not putting in a voluntary donation when you go to a free museum.
Before adblock, people would be less inclined to visit a site with intrusive ads - and that site would be either have to tone down the advertising or be less competitive.
Now, adblockers use bandwidth and content on the site for free. And the percentage of people that don't use adblock, and won't visit a site with intrusive ads, goes up because the site needs more or bigger ads to achieve the same required revenue.
In the end, the site suffers and can't afford good content or high tech requiring lots of bandwidth. Both ad blocking and non-adblocking end users lose out.
Wiktor
Member
In effect it's the same. I'm not talking about morality issuses here. Just practical use and effect it has on content creators's actions and experience for users. The whole thing mirrors the piracy war pretty much to a letter and it's just as pointless.
RiccochetJ
Gold Member
If you visit any of those sites then you're full of shit.
DarkoMaledictus
Tier Whore
Interesting to see how many different views and opinions there are, guess it all depends on the angle one views a problem and the shoes one wears; in the end everything is grey and truth is just a matter of perspective.
meanspartan
Member
I turn off adblock for all websites I frequent that I enjoy.
HOWEVER, those websites with the ads that play and block out the site, those stay blocked.
HOWEVER, those websites with the ads that play and block out the site, those stay blocked.
The worst ones are those flash ads that pop out of the advertisement then take up the entire screen. There are also some that move around which makes hitting the x to close it even more annoying.
meanspartan
Member
YEP. That is what I was talking about. IGN is probably the only gaming site I frequent that is not whitelisted because they use those flash ads.
If all websites just stuck with banner ads on the side, MUCH less people would go download Adblock. They brought this on themselves.
How does an ad block user find out if a website uses intrusive or non-intrusive ads? Most people keep their adblock on at all times. Also, some bigger or video-based ads are needed to support high-end or expensive content. Neogaf receives a lot of traffic, but small banner ads can generate enough revenue. A site like Twitch or Hulu, or even IGN
, not so much.