If there’s any indication that we live in a cat and mouse world when it comes to AdBlock detection here it is. The following is a discussion among AdBlock enthusiasts on beating my detection:
- https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1eoxgxw/rangerboard_blocks_pretty_much_all_functionality/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1fd6tv0/more_elegant_solution_to_antiadblocker_checks_for/
Users are determined to disable advertisements for both aesthetics and to eliminate tracking. I’m one of them too I admit. However, on some small communities advertisements are what keep the lights on.
Running a community is both time consuming and costly when it comes to hosting costs, as well as software licensing. For small forums with a small number of advertisements I completely understand the importance of those ads rendering to provide enough value in order to keep the community running.
Advertisements can be intrusive, but sometimes, just supplemental and harmless. What some users I think misunderstand is that services like FaceBook are literally harvesting and selling their data in addition to showing them advertisements. Most small community owners don’t do any of that, they ‘re simply needing to show a small number of advertisements to cover costs and perhaps turn a small profit.
I will try to continue to support these small community owners. Can I beat uBlock over time? Probably not. But I can continue to do my best to support small communities where possible, for as long as possible.
In a perfect world, users of small communities should be able to purchase, for around the price of a coffee, a membership for a month where they can use the community ad-free and tracking-free. But, we’re not in a perfect world. Users will be left to use AdBlockers, and some site owners will use intrusive ads which provide the incentive to users to circumvent detection out of spite.
Hopefully we can find a middle ground.
Meanwhile, I’m back to finding another solution.