Thursday, December 15, 2011

Adblock Plus Now Allows "Non-Intrusive" Ads by Default

Firefox extension Adblock Plus has long been useful for removing annoying ads from web sites (including video pre-roll ads). Recently, the developer made an interesting change that allows "non-intrusive" advertisements by default. The following explains the change and is taken directly from the Adblock Plus site:
"Starting with Adblock Plus 2.0 you can allow some of the advertising that is considered not annoying. By doing this you support websites that rely on advertising but choose to do it in a non-intrusive way. And you give these websites an advantage over their competition which encourages other websites to use non-intrusive advertising as well. In the long term the web will become a better place for everybody, not only Adblock Plus users. Without this feature we run the danger that increasing Adblock Plus usage will make small websites unsustainable."
However noble their mission, most Adblock Plus users would probably prefer to continue to block all ads. To change the behavior to revert back to blocking all ads, click the Adblock Plus icon in Firefox and select Filter preferences...
Then, un-check the option "Allow non-intrusive advertising"

1 comment:

  1. I think the idea of allowing non-intrusive ads is okay, especially since you have the option to opt-out.

    In fact, I currently allow some websites to display all their ads even though I use ABP. Why? Because they were honest and I find value in the website (they essentially said, "If you find this site useful and you use ad-blocking software, please consider creating an exception to allow ads. Ads are a source of revenue for us, and thus we appreciate you allowing ads to show in your browser.")

    Anyhow, thanks for the heads up!

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