back to article Adblock Plus blocks Facebook block of Adblock Plus block of Facebook block of Adblock Plus block of Facebook ads

Those hoping for a quick resolution to the cat-and-mouse game between Facebook and Adblock Plus will be disappointed to know that the back-and-forth battle shows no signs of letting up. On Tuesday, Facebook changed its desktop website so that visitors would see ads on pages even if they are running an ad-blocking plugin. It …

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  1. Sinick

    BLOCK WARS

    THE EMPIRE BLOCKS BACK

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: BLOCK WARS

      "Help me, Addywan Begonni, you are my only hope!"

      1. GrapeBunch

        Re: BLOCK WARS

        "Help me, Addywan Begonni, you are my only hope!"

        I'll have to take that to the AddyWan Ker Chief.

    2. Howard Hanek
      Headmaster

      Re: BLOCK WARS

      We're perilously close to an extinction event where we inadvertently rip a hole in the space/time contiuum.... AdiBan Iwannabee

    3. Oh Homer
      Headmaster

      "ad blocking companies are punishing people"

      This is like claiming that shoe manufacturers are responsible for all those people who'd rather walk away than talk to you.

  2. John Munyard

    Since Facebook are so bloody smart, perhaps they could take the trouble to create "preferences" that actually stop unwanted posts when you do actually elect not to see them.

    1. Lee D Silver badge

      At various times, I've wanted to be able to write some decent filters for Facebook posts:

      -Timehop -"David Bowie" -Farage -photoofmylunch -Brexit

      I'll pay Facebook money if they let me do that.

      1. aBloke FromEarth

        There's a browser add-on for that at fbpurity.com

        It lets you filter out words and makes the interface cleaner too. I've used it for years.

      2. DropBear
        Trollface

        "-Timehop -"David Bowie" -Farage -photoofmylunch -Brexit"

        Seems to me this and most of your future filters could be proactively implemented as the meta-filter "-trending". Not that I don't agree with the sentiment, mind you...

  3. Novex

    I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

    ...is to not use Farcebook.

    * for the occasional time when I view a page when someone sends me a link to one, I block Javascript with NoScript so that I don't see the adverts most if not all of the time.

    1. cd

      Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

      Noscript, uBlock, and Disconnect, plus Facebook blocked by Little Snitch until I have to see something (vanishingly rare). I'd like a plugin that would block any photo or likeness of Zuck as well.

    2. Charles 9

      Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

      "...is to not use Farcebook."

      And what if the only point of contact you have with someone important (like a member of your family) is through Farcebook because they don't have e-mail or a reliable telephone?

      1. Gene Cash Silver badge

        Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

        If they've got FaecesBook, they've got email. And they've also got Google+ which is far tamer and can't afford to treat users like shit.

        And yes, if they insist on FB, then I just don't need to hear from them. Life's too short to be pissed on by a very condescending ad company.

      2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

        "And what if the only point of contact you have with someone important ... is through Farcebook because they don't have e-mail...?"

        Turn that round.

        And what if the only point of contact someone has with you is through e-mail because you don't have Facebook?

        1. P. Lee

          Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

          >And what if the only point of contact someone has with you is through e-mail because you don't have Facebook?

          If you have a mail client - software under your control, then you'll be an advert-free happy camper.

          If you run a web-browser to someone-else's mail server, you'll get adverts.

          These days, spam is pretty obvious. You could count it as an adverts, but it is relatively innocuous in that downloads aren't generally concurrent with display and they are fairly easy to filter. A decent mail client will filter out html and will also filter the remote content in html.

      3. Shane 4

        Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

        Makes no sense, If they have an internet connection then they will have an email and phone of some sort.

        Haven't checked as I don't use Facebook site but for most services such as Facebook, You probably need an email address to sign up in the first place!

        Only reason for me having a Facebook account is so I can sign in to forum posts on other sites instead of creating accounts on every damn one of them with more passwords to try remember.

        1. Novex

          Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

          Only reason for me having a Facebook account is so I can sign in to forum posts on other sites instead of creating accounts on every damn one of them with more passwords to try remember.

          I prefer to use a password manager, in my case KeyPass. It can generate the random-like passwords so that each is different, and it keeps all of those passwords away from the cloud (the database may be encrypted, but even I'm aware that one day that encryption might be hacked in some way, however unlikely that might appear, so off the cloud they stay).

        2. dajames

          Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

          Only reason for me having a Facebook account is so I can sign in to forum posts on other sites instead of creating accounts on every damn one of them with more passwords to try remember.

          I concede the convenience factor, but if you do that you're telling Farcebook that you use those sites, and letting them see what you post there.

          I prefer to keep as much information as possible away from the Zuckerborg.

      4. John Tserkezis

        Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

        "And what if the only point of contact you have with someone important (like a member of your family) is through Farcebook because they don't have e-mail or a reliable telephone?"

        Then I tell them, if they want to get in touch with me, they can either by 7 different email addresses, or, three regular phone numbers, or, two SIP voip addresses, or, two Skype addresses, or they can leave me alone - there is only so far I'll go, and Facebook is NOT anywhere I'm going.

        Deal with it.

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

        I would hope that someone who can actually run a computer or a smartphone would also have a dialable number to go with their app runny thing or a way to confirm/verify their FB account on creation. OK maybe someone with merely a tablet may have neither but then we go to Phase 2, where the real questions are about how important is it to get hold of this person, really-- and how much of their modern isolation YOU can be expected to work around.

        TL;DR: Sounds like an extremely rare and contrived sort of scenario.

        NB: I actually created an FB acct once so I could send a message to someone who had no obvious public email, immediately after which I deleted it. I still have had one too many FB accts for way too damn many minutes of my life for probably no good reason whatsoever

      6. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

        I'm trying to give you credit but am failing miserably because I can think of no way for someone to have facebook without an internet conenction that would support a multitude of other ways to be contactable.

        So, your argument is null and void.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

          "I'm trying to give you credit but am failing miserably because I can think of no way for someone to have facebook without an internet conenction that would support a multitude of other ways to be contactable."

          The Zuck is trying hard to get "free" facebook-only internet into India, so it's something which *may* come to pass one day. And I don't know if Google have ever specified exactly what 'net access they planning to allow via their Project Loon.

        2. notowenwilson

          Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

          "So, your argument is null and void."

          Right, I need to find John Smith, no search results for him that include his contact details so I'm just going to spam every variation of John Smith on every email provider I can think of and hope that one of them is correct.

          Not sure about the rest of the world but around here mobile phone numbers aren't listed unless you specifically ask them to. Which very few people do.

          Or just search John Smith on facebook, check his photo to make sure it's the right person, send him a message.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

            Facebook as a tool for finding people is pretty good but there's no reason to keep feeding the machine by not swapping phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, Skype details etc.

            There truly is very little reason to use Facebook as a sole means of communication, expecially if the communication is 'private' and not on the timeline other than laziness.

            And the other advantage of Facebook is that you can cure cancer, defeat terrorism, stop child abuse etc. just by giving it a thumbs up.

      7. Mark Simon

        Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

        “And what if the only point of contact you have with someone important …”

        Someone important only has FarceBook? Which institution do they come from?

        1. TRT Silver badge

          Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

          I find that if I want to leave a forum comment, but have to have a Facebook login to leave one, then what I wanted to say was probably 1) not worth saying 2) to the wrong audience.

          1. Kubla Cant

            Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

            I find that if I want to leave a forum comment, but have to have a Facebook login to leave one, then what I wanted to say was probably 1) not worth saying 2) to the wrong audience.

            A site that uses Oauth to have logins processed by other sites such as Farcebook isn't necessarily endorsing Farcebook or subscribing to Farcebook's standards. It's not uncommon to offer several proxy authentication routes.

            Having said that, I dislike Oauth because it's such a pain to code with, and I'm suspicious of the way it provides a single point of security failure.

        2. Charles 9

          Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

          "Someone important only has FarceBook? Which institution do they come from?"

          Countries where Facebook is free and loaded on to feature phones there while the Internet (including e-mail and all that) is at a premium. Yes, it really exists; try going to some of the less opulent places in southeast Asia.

          As for cutting them off, that's kinda harsh for a member of your immediate family (not to mention culturally improper over there).

          1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

            Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

            "some of the less opulent places in southeast Asia."

            So maybe not prime advertising targets.

          2. Updraft102

            Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

            "Countries where Facebook is free and loaded on to feature phones there while the Internet (including e-mail and all that) is at a premium."

            The answer is in the excerpt.... feature phone.

            1. Charles 9

              Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

              "The answer is in the excerpt.... feature phone."

              You didn't read the whole thing. I mentioned shoddy reception. At least Facebook is a lot like SMS: it works opportunistically (and BTW, SMS costs more than Facebook over there). And compared to back home, we get off light with advertising. Ads over there are everywhere: printed on tarps, plastered on any wall where there's space, legal or not.

        3. This post has been deleted by its author

      8. bombastic bob Silver badge
        Stop

        Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

        "And what if the only point of contact you have with someone important (like a member of your family) is through Farcebook because they don't have e-mail or a reliable telephone?"

        if your family member has no e-mail, sign him up for gmail maybe? you need intarwebs for faceb[itch|ook] and so ANYTHING would work.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

          Being an old fogy (at least, that's my excuse for not using FB), anyone who wants to contact me is "forced" to use txt or email or heaven forbid, the phone.

          It's cruel to the "FaceBook Generation", I know, but hey ho...

          1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

            Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

            Being an old fogy (at least, that's my excuse for not using FB), anyone who wants to contact me is "forced" to use txt or email or heaven forbid, the phone.

            Fair enough. And somebody else can say, "The only way you can communicate with me is via Facebook" leaving you with the choice of either using Facebook or not communicating. Given that situation, some of us may value a relationship enough to communicate.

      9. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Z's smirk

        His smirk is just like that of George Osborne.

      10. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

        If FB is the only way for me to contact you, then I have no contact with you.

        If you want to get in touch with me, get a phone, pay a visit, send an owl, send an email. I see no need to enrich someone else with my personal data just to allow another communications channel.

        1. Charles 9

          Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

          "If you want to get in touch with me, get a phone, pay a visit, send an owl, send an email. I see no need to enrich someone else with my personal data just to allow another communications channel."

          Bad reception, can't afford it, can't afford it. And he's practically my only immediate family, so while YOU may be willing to disown your family over demographics, I'm not. Family comes first.

      11. e^iπ+1=0

        Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

        "And what if the only point of contact you have with someone important (like a member of your family) is through Farcebook because they don't have e-mail or a reliable telephone?"

        Just. Say. No!

        Offer an alternative if you choose to.

        1. Charles 9

          Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

          ""And what if the only point of contact you have with someone important (like a member of your family) is through Farcebook because they don't have e-mail or a reliable telephone?"

          Just. Say. No!

          Offer an alternative if you choose to."

          WHAT alternative? SMS is expensive for him, he has no-email, and the Facebook comes with his feature phone (meaning it can't be expanded). He lives in an area with poor standards and shoddy reception, and he's about the only family I have left. Plus Far East traditions demand you keep tabs on your family (Death Before Dishonor). He has no option BUT Facebook, and turning my back on him over that is taboo.

    3. Aynon Yuser

      Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

      I think you are on to something. I deleted my Faecebarf and now I see no ads. Very curious.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Going for the 'DownVoted' World Record!

    Adblock should stop blocking adverts on Mark Zuckerbergs website! Its his website, he created it with no help from anyone else! Stop ruining his creation! He's the greatest human being that has ever lived, EVER! Facebook is the greatest website in the world! Adverts are great! Without adverts we are nothing! I want more adverts on Facebook! Adblock is evil in its purest form! Zuckerberg for President!

    1. a_yank_lurker

      Re: Going for the 'DownVoted' World Record!

      Can not down vote you but can up vote for sarcasm.

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

        Re: Going for the 'DownVoted' World Record!

        Earlier we were talking about Kornbluth novels like "The Space Merchants".....

        ZUCKER ZUCK ZUCK ZUCKER ZUCK!!

        1. Mage Silver badge

          Re: Going for the 'DownVoted' World Record!

          I'm also always reminded of the guy in Fifth Element.

          I have Space Merchants here too.

    2. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: Going for the 'DownVoted' World Record!

      Trying too hard. No votes.

    3. Richard Jones 1
      Joke

      Re: Going for the 'DownVoted' World Record!

      Trying to out do Trump are we?

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: Going for the 'DownVoted' World Record!

        Top Trump.

    4. Aynon Yuser

      Re: Going for the 'DownVoted' World Record!

      Zucks sucks.

  5. William 3 Bronze badge

    A lonely voice pissing in the wind.

    But hey, my Facebook account is scheduled for deletion in less than 14 days. I know I'm just one solitary guy saying Fuck You Zuckerberg, but even the mightiest of dams can be brought down from a thousand tiny cracks. If Facebook believes themselves immune to this by saying "fuck you little cracks, were bigger than you", good for them, it will be hubris if they do. And that's what will bring them down. The little cracks become bigger cracks, and then rocks start falling out, and then whole weight of inertia of people leaving just brings the whole fucking damn down around them and they get to feel what's it's like to be powerless for a change.

    Well, that, and because my news feed contained more spam than my e-mail spam folder, and it was just a really shit waste of my time from people that I really didn't care about in any way whatsoever.

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