@chr blocked

@alyx I'm just very lazy about keeping a blocker config updated to work everywhere so i run firefox with blocking on and chrome with blocking off.

@Triplefox can't you just install ublock origin and mostly forget about it? it and other ad blockers auto-update the blocklists you're subscribed to. IME it's pretty set and forget

@alyx well maybe I'm just using the wrong blocker

@Triplefox ublock origin (a fork from the original, depreciated ublock) is considered the gold standard these days

i believe microsoft edge only has adblock plus though. works well enough for my limited edge use

@alyx i kind of took it as a sign that the ad market was headed for a pretty serious crash soon (and it was)

i have run an adblocker + noscript for at least a decade now and don't see any reason to stop anytime soon, it's a security tool as far as i'm concerned

@mauve noscript is just a bit too far for me because it's breaks sites so easily. i already have enough problems with that with my current FF config :)

glad to see you post. i was just wondering about you yesterday. now where's @starsky?

@alyx oh i've been poking in once in awhile, trying to come out of my shell once summer loosens things up a bit. (i've always been terrible at summers.)

as far as noscript goes, i actually kind of like semi-broken things but i'm a linux user so that's a given. from my perspective it's my browser on my system and i can make it do what i want with zero moral qualms.

@mauve i agree, but then, i blatantly steal 95% of IP i'm interested in, so i feel i'm not a moral paragon in this particular arena

anyway, i get mad when i'm forced to be exposed to ads. i turn off the car radio or switch stations when ads start.

since i haven't watched mainstream OTA/cable TV for like 15+ years it's always shocking when i see how permeated it is with 1) ads that 2) are offensively inane / LCD-targeted

@mauve these ads are for people who are fans of big bang theory

@alyx i really can't deal with tv anymore, like, at all. find it really vapid and more than a bit transparently manipulative. so i just avoid it as much as possible.

@mauve same. thank goodness for torrents.

that said, i'd be even better off if i didn't feel the need to watch long multi-season shows, "prestige" or no, that suck up hours of my life. but that's one addiction i find hard to shake.

@alyx my japanese study kicked any interest i had in watching tv shows anymore. i decided that i was going to immerse myself in as much jp-related content as possible so that it would rub off on me, and it did work.

it also really made it hard for me to go _back_ to english stuff afterwards because i saw everything in a different light.

@mauve that's really cool. more power to ya.

i haven't studied japanese since i took a class to get back into it last... spring. geez.

it is interesting if that experience has really made you dislike a majority of western media...

@alyx Not so much dislike western media but just not be able to experience in the same way I used to.

I still watch a fair amount, but my tastes run more towards unscripted and live activities more than scripted shows and movies nowadays. (I have watched so many JP-language LPs over the years. They were good practice!)

@alyx don't forget that the advertising system can also put website under pression and blackmail: if advertisers don't like the website content, they will ask to not display ads in it, so the webmaster will have to change the content or win less money.

I hate that people don't understand advertising can influence web content -_-

@DarckCrystale that's been a huge issue on youtube in recent times

it's really having a chilling effect

not to mention the poor bastards who specialize in nintendo or atlus streaming

@alyx In YouTube, it was mediatized, but I know that for all video advertising that's the same. We provide to publishers (people with websites where ads can be displayed) and advertisers tools to easily configure where to put ads and where not. I really hate my job.

@DarckCrystale ah, capitalism

i hate my (main) job too! but it pays my darn bills.

@alyx adult life sucks T-T