Genuine question as I’m having a dilemma.

I’ve seen many of my friends using Chrome without any ad blockers. Most of them don’t even know that there are things called extensions that can be installed. Whenever I use their laptops, I want to throw them away. I want to tell them about extensions and ad blockers.

But as much as we hate ads, they fuel the internet. Without them, the internet wouldn’t be what it is today. If ad blocker users increase, there would be a massive change in the web, and everything may be paywalled.

So should we gatekeep ad blockers and enjoy an ad-free internet as a minority? It’s not like they know what they’re missing.

I advocate for FOSS, though. I will tell my friends to try Linux and dual-boot it, and suggest alternatives.

  • Timely_Jellyfish_2077OP
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    2 months ago

    The content creators(YouTubers, news writers) whose content you are watching should also be able to make money right? If they earn enough money to not think about it, they would be happily creating content for us.

    • monobot@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      If someone is being finaned by ads, they are doing something wrong. That is not sustainable nor secure, especially if one wants to reamin truthful.

      Ads are used to control media, and are a bad thing. Also ads are not problem, bit random JavaScript executed on my computer is.

      Put paywall (just don’t push it into my search without marking it as paywall), Patreon, sell hats and t-shirts… there are better ways.

    • astrsk@kbin.run
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      2 months ago

      Donating $20 directly to a creator or buying one item from their merch will more than offset a lifetime of ad revenue from just yourself if you use ad blockers for their content. The fractional pennies you are worth to them is completely eclipsed by directly supporting most of them a single time.

    • Autonomous User@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Where did I say they shouldn’t take money? First, your ad won’t block? I’ll block your content too. Try take money then.