Comments for How to block Adblock

Oli, great article!
Can we have an equivalent of your code for those who don't want to have mootools just for that?

As to the moral issue, I think there is more than something wrong with software like AdBlock, and personally don't use those. Maybe it's ok to block annoying flash ads - they deserve it. But instantly and automatically blocking any adverts on any website, and still using and enjoying their content, is evil.

As a website owner, I think I will implement your code, but instead of cursing my visitors or blocking them, I'd rather stretch the container div back to it's original dimensions, and display a nice, polite message asking users to turn AdBlock off or either leave the site. Let them understand and think about it, but don't slap them too hard.

actually, I was looking for javascript code that dynamically created iframes. and I sort of remembered that there was an adblock detector that did that. Except that google is rather random in finding what you actually want. but still, I am no lemon.

The author of this article is right, it really is ridiculously easy to make it a pain for adblock users. It uses naive filters to remove ad elements. Anyone who's been poking around with html and stuff for a while can play pranks on adblock users. you don't even need javascript. And if every webmaster writes his/her own custom adblocking couter measures, it'll be all the merrier.

Yeah plenty of people use NoScript too and they would be immune to this. However the ultimate obnoxious method would be to load your page's content via AJAX. It would be really lame for people whose browsers genuinely didn't support JS.

obnoxious? you're doing it wrong. AJAX is Web 2.0, baby! Besides you can't care about all of em buggers. If they want to be difficult, that's their funeral.

One point that the adblock detractors are missing the majority of people who browse the internet don't use adblock(yet. and hopefully never). So the "they be stealin mah moneez!" bit is daft.

Except that it isn't ethical to block ads. I mean it may be their connection. but it's the webmasters website (except for those bloody content thieves). It's their eyes. they can choose what they look at. But it's still not theirs. the wb has the right decide what you look at since it's their site. You want to go look elsewhere, fine. but you won't get the same content (except for those bloody content thieves, of course the thieves will usually add much much more advertisement than the original). it's a fair exchange. you want the content, you have to accept the ads. you are not asked for direct financial contribution nor are you begged for donations. For the webmaster it's not always about making profits. There are several shades of grey to ads. Some actually need the ad money to pay for their hosting. They don't need much, then again they don't get huge traffic, so they balance with slightly more ads. There are disreputable ad companies that really should be blocked. But there are "honest" ad networks with solid privacy policies and are CAN-SPAM compliant. But adblock doesn't differentiate between them. it blocks everything (that's its weakness too). you can't even automatically turn it off per website you visit. Since that particular firefox extension doesn't want to play nice, I don't see any reason to do the same.

what annoys me is that some adblock users like to brag how they don't get any ads at all. If we, webmasters, are writing adblock countermeasures right now it's their fault.

And I don't think adblock is the first, or the only one, of its kind. there were proxy ad filters before. some of them even charge money... make you wonder...