
Taking a break from Adblock Plus development - robin_reala
https://palant.de/2017/12/20/taking-a-break-from-adblock-plus-development
======
mgbmtl
Many comments are bitterly unfair against ABP. Wladimir/Eyeo changed how we
use the web, gave us means to fight back against abusive advertising. They
built a business model to make the extension sustainable and find a strategy
to legitimate themselves, fight in the courts, etc. Not to mention that ABP
never tried to close the market. Alternatives were easy to build thanks to
EasyList.

Today there are many alternatives to ABP. I am extremely grateful for his
work. He's going on a well deserved vacation. I wish him success in his future
projects.

(In case anyone wonders, I am not affiliated. Just a happy user of ABP.)

~~~
Fnoord
Come on, as if ABP innovated so much? ABP wasn't the first. I remember using
an adblocker native in Firefox back around 2004 (and IIRC I even used on on
Mozilla milestones). Back then, there were already /etc/hosts based
alternatives (which also have always worked in Windows btw) as well, and a so-
called personal firewall could also block ads. These existed for Windows 9x.
We're talking end of '90s here.

As for the current direct comparison: uBlock yields _better performance_ and
doesn't have _a shady track record_ [1]. Other than "I've always used this" or
"I benefit if other people use this" (ie. am affiliated which you're not) I
just do not see your point. So could you explain us why you pick ABP over
uBlock?

[1] [https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-
vs.-ABP:-effic...](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-
vs.-ABP:-efficiency-compared)

~~~
m12k
> ABP wasn't the first

Sure, and the iPhone wasn't the first smartphone either, but it did bring the
concept to mainstream attention. Same goes for ABP

~~~
epicide
> So could you explain us why you pick ABP over uBlock?

He's not asking you to explain why you appreciate ABP.

He's asking you why you still use it.

~~~
bringtheaction
You replied to wrong comment.

------
paxy
Adblock Plus sold out a long time ago by taking money from big players to let
their ads through. I've been using uBlock Origin for a while and haven't
looked back. Plus it's way faster and less buggy.

~~~
def_true_false
The ads still have to satisfy the Acceptable Ads criteria and they only have
to pay when they exceed a certain volume (as in everyone besides the big
players doesn't have to pay a cent). There is an opt-out checkbox in the
settings.

~~~
radley
Opt-out didn't actually opt-out of certain features of the ad deal. For
example, YouTube's Up Next list contained risqué Sponsored videos at the top
of the list. Prior to the deal they could be blocked. After the deal they
couldn't, not even with AdBlock Extensions.

~~~
def_true_false
Good to know. I can't remember the last time I've seen an ad on youtube that
didn't go away after updating the block list. I've since switched to UBO for
performance reasons, but as far as I can tell ABP always did exactly what it
said on the tin.

Edit: I haven't actually spent enough time with the opt-out unchecked to come
across one of these. I suppose it's the nature of the implementation - unless
you have humans reviewing the ads or something of the sort, you'll never be
able to filter them with 100% certainty.

------
TekMol
Most tech people now seem to use uBlock Origin. But I use uMatrix (from the
same developer) and I am super happy with it. It took me a minute or so to
understand the interface. But then it is super intuitive and exactly the way I
would have designed it myself.

Since I only allow the hosts that I need, I almost never see advertising. And
the web is blazingly fast.

~~~
zerr
What about Ghostery?

~~~
d3sandoval
Depends on your opinion of this decision: [https://adexchanger.com/data-
exchanges/ghostery-sheds-ad-tra...](https://adexchanger.com/data-
exchanges/ghostery-sheds-ad-tracker-sells-off-plug-focus-compliance/)

~~~
j_s
Thanks, I hadn't heard about this. Per
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1406647](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1406647)
where Firefox is tying in with Cliqz:

> Cliqz is a well-known Adware from Germany[1] and it was a plague

Not sure what data Ghostery is collecting now, or how opt-in vs. opt-out has
changed (if at all), but it looks like based on the reputation of the new
owners I will no longer be using it.

Edit: the small HN discussion seems to cover this a bit more evenhandedly:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13652126](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13652126)

------
romanovcode
Who is even using this anymore? ABP lost all its cred when it took money from
ad business.

Just use uBlock Origin.

~~~
votepaunchy
> Just use uBlock Origin.

Has there always been a uBlock extension for Safari? That was my last holdout
for using ABP. I've now manually installed the downloadable extension but ABP
is prominently displayed in Apple's Safari extension app store.

~~~
tambre
The port seems to be in a separate repo until it's considered stable. The
development of the port is quite a bit behind and doesn't seem to be actively
maintained. I guess no one wants it badly enough to maintain it themself until
it's stable.

------
kleptako
What is even the point of Adblock Plus now? uBlock Origin seems so much better

~~~
Jonnax
You're asking what the point in developing alternatives are?

Microsoft said the web was done at Internet Explorer 6.

It looks like it was also rewritten for webextensions from that blog post.

~~~
Spivak
But AB isn't an alternative with pros and cons so much as it's a worse version
of uBO.

------
Larrikin
I find it odd that I never see AdNauseum recommended. I switched from ABP a
few months ago. Screws over trackers by making me appear interested in
everything.

[https://adnauseam.io/](https://adnauseam.io/)

------
INTPenis
I've always been a control freak. Long before ABP I used ipfw to block ads at
home. I remember having to use Opera on my poor laptop because Firefox was
becoming too bloated to run.

And Opera at that time had ads in the INTERFACE of the browser. So blocking
those at the router level left big blank spaces in the interfaces that were
more satisfying to me than ads.

So I'll give this guy credit because I used his plugin, but not too much
credit when you sell out to the people you've basically made a business model
out of blocking.

Like many others I've switched to ublock and I'm a control freak so I also use
noscript extensively.

For many years now the browser has been the number one threat to the average
internet user so I firmly believe in noscript.

You should in fact take it even further and use qubes os.

------
ivanfon
A bit unrelated, but does anyone else think the new NoScript has an absolutely
awful interface?

~~~
calcifer
Here [1] is a post by the NoScript developer explaining how the new UI works
and which buttons map to which legacy functions. After reading it and letting
myself adjust for a few days, I'm perfectly comfortable with the new version.

[1] [https://hackademix.net/2017/12/04/noscript-quantum-vs-
legacy...](https://hackademix.net/2017/12/04/noscript-quantum-vs-legacy-in-a-
nutshell-2/)

------
hartator
> I also want to spend more time doing security research again, which should
> help pay the bills as a side effect.

I would have thought he would have savings from Adblock Plus deals.

------
merlish
And so, XUL is returned to the TLA pool.

Anyone got any claims for what XUL should mean now?

~~~
calcifer
TLA?

~~~
grzm
Three-letter acronym.

------
aphextron
I'm confused as to what ABP does that is more useful than just adding a
blocked list to your /etc/hosts file. Moreso, as to how someone could work on
it for 12 years. Exactly what am I missing here?

~~~
djur
1) There's a lot of cases where blocking an entire domain is either excessive
or insufficient -- important assets can be located on the same domain as ads.
Adblockers can target specific files and specific elements on the page. They
also provide much better ease of use for the average user than updating a
hosts file.

2) The list of ad domains, URLs, and elements has to be constantly updated.
The plugin has to be kept up to date with changes in browsers. Advertisers
occasionally come up with new techniques to bypass or detect adblockers, so
those need to be worked around.

