Jul 16 2008
River in Egypt for sale, must act quickly
It’s strange to think there are people who still see the majority of adverts online. AdBlock will revolutionise your life, make you five pounds thinner, get rid of unwanted facial hair, get rid of embarrassing age spots, and make browsing the web considerably nicer.
Something which is still difficult to do is block text adverts — though it’s not impossible. The “rule” for AdBlock Plus, if the text advert is in a labelled <div> element, is:
#div(classname)
This does mean delving into the HTML for a page to find a good candidate element to remove, but it’s not a terrible hardship and only need be done once. And I’ve done the hard work for Facebook as an example. To block the text adverts on Facebook, use
#div(ad_story)
But then Facebook adverts are so hilariously bad it’s almost a shame to block them. You’d think data mining would be at its most sophisticated for automated marketing… but no. All I get are adverts for gay bars and chiropracters. Clearly I fit the demographic for being doubly in denial!
5 Responses to “River in Egypt for sale, must act quickly”
I don’t use them on principle. For one thing they screw with the layout of the page. More importantly, adds pay for the internet (unless you specifically pay for an add free experience), so if I used an add blocker it would seem to me that I would be declaring myself a first class passenger and expecting everyone else to pay for my ticket.
Facebook adds, though, know that I’m 26, male, straight and single. And they feel the need to constantly remind me of these things. Targeted adds don’t bother me, I just wish there was a bit more variation.
The level of fail of FB adverts is legendary. When I was an atheist it only gave me adverts for ChristianConnections.com (or .co.uk, I forget), and ads for organising Christian Union house parties. Since I’ve become a Christian I just get ads for gay dating sites :-/
@ Nick: How does it make you a first class citizen? Ads get paid for when you click on them. If you don’t click-through, then it’s actually better for the people serving ads if you don’t display / download them.
Nick, I take it you make sure to read all the adverts in newspapers and magazines too.
The ads on websites are generally paid space, like in a newspaper. If everyone used an ad blocker then the value of the space would go down. Then they sometimes pay an extra premium when you click on them. I’m talking banner ads and ad breaks here, not the ones on the right hand side of goggle (which often turn out to be useful).
@Robert: Sounds like the ads worked.
@Dougal: No, but I don’t colour over them with a thick black pen (and then hypnotise myself into forgetting I ever saw them), either
I have bought things I saw advertised and been pleased with the result, but all the same why is Facebook so sure I have a tattoo that needs removing. Is it my taste in music?