

Blocking ads is not stealing. Get a better business model. - quoderat
http://www.michaelalanmiller.com/?p=128

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quoderat
As the author, I didn’t suggest that anyone, including myself, DDOS a site. I
said it “made me want to,” which is quite a different thing.

I’ve never done that, nor would I ever. First of all, it’s not worth my time.
Second, have you never had any dark thoughts that you haven’t acted on, and
had no intention of acting on?

If you say you haven’t, I know you’re not telling the truth. That is a rant
blog, not a PhD thesis. As such, it has many rants, that one included.

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dhimes
Seems to me that if it's stealing to block ads, it must also be stealing to
click on an ad when you have absolutely no intention of making a purchase. I'm
with you--it's not stealing.

However, when my competitors click on my ad, it pisses me off. But is it
stealing?

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notauser
Serving adverts from your own servers, especially as plain text, is a good way
to make sure they don't get blocked. At the least it will probably require
positive user intervention.

It is more work though as you won't be able to deal with a network. The ads
might be of a higher quality and more interesting to your readers though.

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daniel-cussen
I feel so guilty. I realize I was stealing when I pulled the curtain on
highway ads as I rode the bus to the beach.

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sharksandwich
That reasoning doesn't hold water - highways don't count on billboards for
funding

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daniel-cussen
Good point. I'm not sure if the highway used billboards for funding.

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DanHulton
Blocking ads isn't stealing, nor is it immoral. Those who go to the trouble of
blocking advertisements tend not to be the ones who would click on an ad or,
once said ad is clicked on, purchase the product advertised.

But DDOSing a site is immoral, and can be illegal. Shame on the author for
suggesting it. It absolutely ruins what could otherwise been a decent
argument.

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dejb
True. Is embedding ads deeply into the content stealing from the viewer? Like
a product placement in a movie? The more people block ads the more content
producers will move in this direction.

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mattjung
Blocking ads is a more and more widely required feature by users that
advertisers as well as product companies will have to deal with. Demonizing
doesn't seem to be the best strategy...

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axod
Blocking people who block ads is fine as well IMHO

