Random thing you loathe right now.

r013nt0 wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Multiple commercials before a video. f*ck, YouTube, you're turning into broadcast TV. Screw that.

Every time I bring up YouTube on my phone or console or whatever and actually see an ad I get very confused for a moment. You really get used to them being blocked by AdBlock.

RIP everyone when Google makes those API changes soon.

I haven't seen any in the browser or AppleTV on YouTube since setting up a Pi-Hole. I just have a little Raspberry Pi kit sitting next to the router/modem wirelessly blocking ads at the network level, so they just get an empty response if they're on the blacklist.

r013nt0 wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Multiple commercials before a video. f*ck, YouTube, you're turning into broadcast TV. Screw that.

Every time I bring up YouTube on my phone or console or whatever and actually see an ad I get very confused for a moment. You really get used to them being blocked by AdBlock.

RIP everyone when Google makes those API changes soon.

I stopped using ad blockers because I came to accept that the internet is currently run by ads and I was actively hurting sites I enjoy visiting by killing a revenue stream for them.

Each to their own and such.

garion333 wrote:

I stopped using ad blockers because I came to accept that the internet is currently run by ads and I was actively hurting sites I enjoy visiting by killing a revenue stream for them.

Each to their own and such.

I disable it on certain sites if I don't have another way of supporting them. In the case of things like Giant Bomb I'm a premium member. Also I use Patreon for things like Shift+F1.
I don't usually feel bad. Traditional advertising is irritating and doesn't work well on the internet. And that's assuming the ad service isn't serving you malware in the first place.

That's not my fault. Come up with a new way to get your ad revenue that doesn't compromise my privacy and security.

Not everywhere needs ads.

#GWJ

Stele wrote:

Not everywhere needs ads.

#GWJ

No ads here? That's funny, because I get at least one unsolicited message a year to fund someone's private D&D games. Do you not get those?

garion333 wrote:
r013nt0 wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Multiple commercials before a video. f*ck, YouTube, you're turning into broadcast TV. Screw that.

Every time I bring up YouTube on my phone or console or whatever and actually see an ad I get very confused for a moment. You really get used to them being blocked by AdBlock.

RIP everyone when Google makes those API changes soon.

I stopped using ad blockers because I came to accept that the internet is currently run by ads and I was actively hurting sites I enjoy visiting by killing a revenue stream for them.

Each to their own and such.

I block ALL ads since a lot of them are vectors for malware and other sh*t.. I also disabled the YT app on my phone. F that app.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Stele wrote:

Not everywhere needs ads.

#GWJ

No ads here? That's funny, because I get at least one unsolicited message a year to fund someone's private D&D games. Do you not get those?

Which I happily fund, although I don't listen/participate, because I appreciate the forum and how it allows me to associate with you savages.

I pretty much only watch YouTube on my iPad nowadays. I have an app called CornerTube which primarily allows PIP for YouTube but is has the added benefit of not showing ads.

I started using meditation videos from YouTube on plane flights a couple years ago so I subscribe to YouTube Premium. Every time people talk about ads I forget I exist in this alternate reality and have no clue how bad ads are on YouTube or what the ads are even for.

I hear Prager U is a prominent ad buyer on YouTube these days, but I've never seen a single ad.

r013nt0 wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Multiple commercials before a video. f*ck, YouTube, you're turning into broadcast TV. Screw that.

Every time I bring up YouTube on my phone or console or whatever and actually see an ad I get very confused for a moment. You really get used to them being blocked by AdBlock.

RIP everyone when Google makes those API changes soon.

I don't recall what I did but added something to my router that blocks ads. Adguard maybe, IDK but it was free whatever it was. I'm probably sending all my secret porn to China or Russia.

DSGamer wrote:

I started using meditation videos from YouTube on plane flights a couple years ago so I subscribe to YouTube Premium. Every time people talk about ads I forget I exist in this alternate reality and have no clue how bad ads are on YouTube or what the ads are even for.

I hear Prager U is a prominent ad buyer on YouTube these days, but I've never seen a single ad.

Honestly, this is the answer to those not liking ads. I’m sure you don’t mind paying more so someone else can block ads to get the same experience as you for free.

I’m actually kind of surprised this entitled notion that everything on the internet should be free has held up this long. We love our content, but have this weird idea that everyone involved in producing it can afford to live just off our appreciation of their work.

I lose no sleep over blocking ads. If the advertisement firms hadn’t gotten so annoying with their ads things might have been different. Not to mention that ads are a common vector for malware.

There's ads and there's ads though.

Sidebar ads? Sure, whatever,

Autoplaying ads with audio on every page of an article that's split into a 45 page slideshow? Get the f*ck out.

The alternative take is that I'm someone who NEVER clicks through on ads. Theres a (shaky) moral argument that using an adblocker is preventing someone from wasting their money on my eyeballs.

Jayhawker wrote:

I’m actually kind of surprised this entitled notion that everything on the internet should be free has held up this long. We love our content, but have this weird idea that everyone involved in producing it can afford to live just off our appreciation of their work.

I'm actually kind of surprised that this entitled notion that you can serve people ads that contain malware, spyware, and tracking cookies and expect them to just accept that because you and your extraordinarily unimaginative advertising team can't come up with a more modern and acceptable solution to monetization has held up this long. People love our content but don't want their privacy invaded and their identity stolen and have this weird idea that somebody involved should be able to think of a better solution.

----

Not trying to be rude, but honestly...

I wonder how it got to that point...

Unimaginative people who thought that just whole-cloth bringing over their advertising strategies from print to digital was more than enough effort?

e: Sorry, I realize that I might be coming off as prickish. It's not my intent.

I agree that these sites and their contributors should be paid
I am willing to do so, and in fact do do so, for quite a bit of the content I consume.
I am not willing to risk being served malicious software, so I'd love it if they came up with a better alternative.

I blame the horse armor.

There's the nice middle ground of simply script blocking. Is your ad just an image or text block? It gets through. Will it hijack my browser and stop me from navigating? Blocked. It can be a pain to whitelist sites that you want running them, though.

Here's my bottom line.

The advertising-supported business model is more or less broken. Not least of all because it's wasted money in my case. I don't click those ads. Not ever.

There are plenty of sites that will block access their content if I have an adblocker installed. Fair enough, I click elsewhere, because that's a trade-off I'm not willing to make.

There are many more sites that will beg that I turn off my adblocker, but will allow me access to their content even if I don't. Don't try and tell me I'm a bad person for using their site in a way they explicitly sanction - that's entirely on them.

bekkilyn wrote:

I blame the horse armor.

Horse armor gets to be funnier and funnier every year to me. People threw a complete fit over an inexpensive, purely cosmetic DLC item being added to a game. Now, the entire industry is built on adding expensive, purely cosmetic DLC items to games. Horse armor was just way ahead of its time.

Like you suckers have never heard of a 402 status code.

boogle wrote:

Like you suckers have never heard of a 402 status code.

Nearly no one uses 402. Isn't it even still only officially reserved but not implemented?

The phrase "the industry will regulate itself"

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/05/healt...

r013nt0 wrote:

Unimaginative people who thought that just whole-cloth bringing over their advertising strategies from print to digital was more than enough effort?

e: Sorry, I realize that I might be coming off as prickish. It's not my intent.

I agree that these sites and their contributors should be paid
I am willing to do so, and in fact do do so, for quite a bit of the content I consume.
I am not willing to risk being served malicious software, so I'd love it if they came up with a better alternative.

I wish advertisers actually stuck more closely to print strategies. Imagine never being at risk for accidentally clicking on a malicious link because the ads were just images. And publishers that charge rates based on how many people actually subscribe, i.e. their engaged audience, rather than page views. I'll keep dreaming, though.

r013nt0 wrote:

Unimaginative people who thought that just whole-cloth bringing over their advertising strategies from print to digital was more than enough effort?

e: Sorry, I realize that I might be coming off as prickish. It's not my intent.

I agree that these sites and their contributors should be paid
I am willing to do so, and in fact do do so, for quite a bit of the content I consume.
I am not willing to risk being served malicious software, so I'd love it if they came up with a better alternative.

To someone who thinks all advertising should be illegal in all mediums, you're pretty far from prickish. I'm with you, give me more models where there is free and premium content. The ads-based model drives everything into clickbait.

Nintendo's handling of network IDs if f*cking crap.

Last night I decided to buy a Wii U (again) because I wanted to play Metroid Prime and it was cheap at the used game store. I can get digital versions of the whole trilogy for $20 and also noticed Skyward Sword was $20 as well....so I impulse bought.

Then when I get home and try to set it up I find that my "nintendo network ID" is tied to another system. A Wii U I had 5-10 years ago!

Fine I have dealt with that before when I bought a new 3DS. I just called them and expected it would be pretty easy to untie my nni from the old system and then I could use it on the new system...but no the guy (who was very nice to be fair to him) said he would pass it on and it would be done in 5-10 days! WTF. Why is this not an automated process that takes 2-3 minutes? It is just a link between two pieces of data in a database. It may be a huge database but it is just a link between two fields "nnid" and "Wii U serial number" it shouldn't take days. Does some poor schmuck have to do it manually for each person?

How can they create such interesting game and be so clueless about modern networking?

Jesus, what a crap fest.

farley3k wrote:

Nintendo's handling of network IDs if f*cking crap.

Last night I decided to buy a Wii U (again) because I wanted to play Metroid Prime and it was cheap at the used game store. I can get digital versions of the whole trilogy for $20 and also noticed Skyward Sword was $20 as well....so I impulse bought.

Then when I get home and try to set it up I find that my "nintendo network ID" is tied to another system. A Wii U I had 5-10 years ago!

Fine I have dealt with that before when I bought a new 3DS. I just called them and expected it would be pretty easy to untie my nni from the old system and then I could use it on the new system...but no the guy (who was very nice to be fair to him) said he would pass it on and it would be done in 5-10 days! WTF. Why is this not an automated process that takes 2-3 minutes? It is just a link between two pieces of data in a database. It may be a huge database but it is just a link between two fields "nnid" and "Wii U serial number" it shouldn't take days. Does some poor schmuck have to do it manually for each person?

How can they create such interesting game and be so clueless about modern networking?

Jesus, what a crap fest.

This is one of the reasons keeping me from getting a Switch. Xbox and Steam and even Apple have really nailed down how this stuff should work and Nintendo is just sitting there eating paste.

I hate one-way puzzles - where the clues make sense if you already know the solution, but the puzzle can't actually be solved from scratch (due to missing information, or stuff in the hints that contradicts the intended solution).

Context: I searched the forum for logic puzzle threads, and wound up wasting my afternoon on a puzzle from 2008 that turns out to be impossible unless you know it's an homage to "Hunt the Wumpus", and make various assumptions based on that.

Stuck in airport. Delayed for a few hours. At the very least it looks my plane will actually show up

Edit: arrived safety. Now worried I got lied to during my setup for Comcast. Won't know until the bill arrive but might be paying 10 dollar more then I was told. Annoyingly if I didn't call them and did it myself I would have saved more....