General The Sky Is Falling!

[ardchoille50]

iOS 9 was recently released and brings new features, one of which allows users to install browser extensions in mobile Safari.

The type is browser extension making headlines right now is known as a content blocker - an extension that blocks advertisements and user tracking capabilities. Some users see these extensions as a necessity, while others see them as robbing publishers of the funds needed to maintain their online presence.

I use content blockers because advertising and user tracking has become a burden - the fact that content blockers are as popular as they are proves this. Some people have asked me what I'm going to do when my favorite websites disappear because they can no longer afford to maintain their online presence. My reply is that people have been blocking ads for at least a decade, it's nothing new, and the Internet hasn't 'dried up'.

Can we lighten up on the Chicken Little impersonations now?

 

[lagwagon]

While it might hurt some publishers short term. In the long term adding the ability to use content blockers in Safari is a good thing. This will force ad agencies to stop using obnoxious, take over your screen, webpage load time destroying ads and hopefully come up with a solution that works for both sides.

Tracking when done right is ok. Because it's mostly to give you ads that actually matter to you. But some people will always be paranoid on the idea of something tracking them, when it's meant to benefit them.

 

[Reno Raines]

My biggest problem with some ads are that they shift your screen up and down as they open and close which causes me to avoid that website. Seems counterintuitive to aggravate the people you are trying to entice.

 

[DMVillain]

I love this. Mobile ads have become annoying, especially when you end up on the App Store page for some crappy game just from an errant tap.

 

[businezguy]

Sorry to make this into a broader discussion, but I'm disappointed with content on the web in general. For the sponsored content, many are just piled with ads that use so much bandwidth they must be taking up an incredible percentage of the bandwidth used on the web as a whole; and that bandwidth is a limited resource. Not only do they eat up bandwidth, they manage to make many webpages incredibly unattractive and disorganized in the process. Sometimes it's hard to find the content, and sometimes the content is impossible to access due to glitches on the page. Also, sometimes the content was clearly designed to get the person to click on it without providing literally any valuable information at all (click bait).

So it'd be my hope that there would be some paid options that would delivery me quality content, but I'm disappointed with that as well. I would love to have complete digital access of the NYT and WSJ but they charge practically the same amount for digital subscriptions as delivery. I actually have delivery and digital because they really cost around the same, but I'd like to limit it to digital access for a lower price. Also, the apps for both companies for the iPhone and iPad are very poorly designed, and I like the way the printed newspaper allows me to read in a somewhat linear fashion whereas the website just lists the articles by most popular/recent.

Than you add books to the mix and they cost just about the same for digital copies as for printed versions. I know part of the concern for publishers is that digital content doesn't wear out and can be reused over and over (at least in theory), but you also can't loan digital content to a friend, etc. So basically publishers save on the cost of printed, the retail middleman, etc. and yet they still ask the same price for digital books as printed books.

I would have hoped that content providers would have figured out ways to deliver quality content to digital users at reasonable prices while still making a good profit. We are roughly 20 years into the internet and we still don't have consistent and satisfactory solutions. I welcome content/ad blockers because online content needs a wakeup call. Content providers need to find a satisfactory business model that works for both the provider and the customer.