I'm actually tempted to turn off personalized ads just so I can stop getting ads from The Real Cost

[Nicodo123]

This is getting ridiculous. I know vaping is bad. I know dipping is bad. I know smoking is bad. But no. They think "He DoEsN't KnOw ThEy'Re BaD, lEt'S gIvE hIm MoRe AdS"

I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID MOVEMENT, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SHOVE IT DOWN MY THROAT! I CAN'T EVEN REPORT THE ADS FOR REPETITIVENESS! THIS IS RIDICULOUS! WHY WON'T THEY JUST STOP!?

Who else here has to deal with these stupid ads?

[Elthy]

What ads are you talking about? In your browser? You know there is a way to block all ads, right?

[VoidSquid]

Another possibility are ad spamming extensions, seen that on various customer PCs.

[kerbiloid]

AdBlock

[MKI]

The most annoying ads I ever get are the ones for a product I already own hahahaha.

 

 

 

[Nuke]

pi hole

[Kernel Kraken]

3 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

AdBlock

Absolutely. I installed an adblocker for the first time the other week and my experience surfing the Series of Tubes has never been better.

[YNM]

14 hours ago, Kernel Kraken said:

I installed an adblocker for the first time the other week and my experience surfing the Series of Tubes has never been better.

They've really been upping the amount of ads on that site. Regardless of your settings with them (I've turned off everything they could possibly record from me, don't ask me about their compliance of it though) you'd still end up with mostly annoying ads (reflective of what ads they're receiving - esp. where I live - rather than their policy of showing which ad I suppose), and I think that it can figure out what you've been using the site for anyway and tend to put ads in relation with what video you're trying to watch (or just watched).

On my phone there's one browser that apparently removes all of them (as in I've not yet seen a single ad watching stuff using that browser) but it's not available on PC. Rather than AdBlock I've installed NoScript which block stuff elsewhere but they don't deal with in-video ads... Does anyone have any in-depth experience with them, like maybe knowing the backend ?

Edited February 27, 2021 by YNM

[Elthy]

No idea which website you are talking about, is it youtube? I use uBlock Origin and Noscript (although i have to enable most scrips on youtube) and have never seen an ad on youtube. On mobile i use NewPipe for Youtube, it crashes sometimes but plays youtube without any ads (other than native ones of video sponsors).

[Nicodo123]

21 hours ago, Elthy said:

What ads are you talking about? In your browser? You know there is a way to block all ads, right?

There are these ads on youtube for a campaign made by the government called "The Real Cost" and it's supposed to discourage teens from smoking, vaping, dipping, et cetera. The thing is, they spam them. Spam is an understatement. And they're creepy as hell (overstatement). And you can't skip them, nor can you report them. It's extremely annoying.

[kerbiloid]

An idea for a movie plot

Summer Camp: The Real Cost

A joyful company of students goes to a summer camp.
(Sounds terryfying itself, doesn't it? What can go not wrong?)

They are surfing, streaming, twitting, etc.
But the Real Cost banners start annoying them.
They click the banners to hide, but the banners appear again, moar and moar.

They switch off all smartphones and since then have no communication in the camp forest.

But the banners start appearing first on the disabled devices, then on walls, on trees, on the lake surface, on the sky, even when they close the eyes.

A night later some dark figures start scratching the camp door.
That's the people who didn't read the Real Cost banners come to hunt for fresh brains...

Edited February 27, 2021 by kerbiloid

[Elthy]

1 hour ago, Nicodo123 said:

There are these ads on youtube for a campaign made by the government called "The Real Cost" and it's supposed to discourage teens from smoking, vaping, dipping, et cetera. The thing is, they spam them. Spam is an understatement. And they're creepy as hell (overstatement). And you can't skip them, nor can you report them. It's extremely annoying.

Well, just use an Adblocker or an app that blocks them. There is no downside apart from the occasional website where overblocking kills something important and you have to disable the block for a moment.

[steve_v]

On 2/26/2021 at 5:23 PM, Nicodo123 said:

Who else here has to deal with these stupid ads?

Wait, what? There are ads on the internet? How come I never see them?

Oh yeah. Rooted phone with OS-level adblocking. µblock origin + NoScript on the PC. DNS blackhole on the router for good measure.
I see Zero ads, even on SpewTube, and so can you. Just install a decent adblocker, it makes the internet a much, much more pleasant place. :)
As an added bonus, many adblockers have an element-nuking facility to remove those ridiculous "we use cookies" banners and any other non-ad irritants a site may contain. Win win.

 

1 hour ago, Nicodo123 said:

a campaign made by the government called "The Real Cost" and it's supposed to discourage teens from smoking, vaping, dipping, et cetera

Ahh, so the usual tripe then. Telling people what they already know in the most obnoxious way possible, completely oblivious to the futility of the approach. Sounds like a government campaign all right. *takes a drag on vape*

 

[YNM]

4 hours ago, Nicodo123 said:

ads on youtube for a campaign made by the government

Better than what would've been TV ads entering them, seriously. Those that works with the 6 seconds gap tend to be the most annoying.

6 hours ago, Elthy said:

uBlock Origin

Is it completely local ? I've been wondering about them for a while but one thing that I've heard is that either they have whitelists that shouldn't be in there and other things. Sole reason I've been sticking with NoScript only is because I know it's completely local.

[Elthy]

14 minutes ago, YNM said:

Is it completely local ? I've been wondering about them for a while but one thing that I've heard is that either they have whitelists that shouldn't be in there and other things. Sole reason I've been sticking with NoScript only is because I know it's completely local

From what i know its working localy, only updating its blocklists sometimes. The one with the whitelists is Adblock(Plus), which takes money from ad companys to whitelist their ads, uBlock Origin isnt doing that. Also uBlock Origin is often recommended by the experts, including Mozilla, who made it the first adblocker on the remade mobile Firefox, afaik after vetting them.

[cubinator]

I never see Youtube ads using uBlock, sometimes it tries and fails to load one and I am amused.

[steve_v]

9 hours ago, YNM said:

Is it completely local

It's as local or otherwise as  you configure it to be. By default it comes with a few (IMO not bad for defaults) filter subscriptions, but you don't have to use or update them.

 

9 hours ago, Elthy said:

The one with the whitelists is Adblock(Plus)

ABP used to be awesome, then they tried to find a middleground with advertisers... Then they got greedy.

[Gargamel]

I've been using Ghostery for FF with pretty good success so far. 

[YNM]

9 hours ago, Gargamel said:

Ghostery for FF

Didn't know they block ads on the Tube. Seems like there are paid tiers ?

 

Finally installing uBO. Seems working, went through an archived livestream and nothing comes up in the first 30 minutes (they normally don't care to put ads in after that point).

Edited February 28, 2021 by YNM

[Gargamel]

1 minute ago, YNM said:

Didn't know they block ads on the Tube. Seems like there are paid tiers ?

They do seem to have a premium version, but the basic version I use blocks ads everywhere, and supposedly blocks trackers too. 

[Starhelperdude]

I'm even getting some ads on youtube that are pg 18

and the ads aren't personalised

also stupid AOE fakes that deserve to be deleted because it is stealing

[Spaceman.Spiff]

God the anti vaping ads are so bad 

they should realize that those ads are going to have the opposite effect. They have not accounted for teen angst and “rebellion”

 

[YNM]

1 hour ago, Starhelperdude said:

I'm even getting some ads on youtube that are pg 18

and the ads aren't personalised

I really suppose they just look at the amount of spending they're willing to put out for the ad and if the bots can't choose anything personalized they just give it to them. Most harmless ad that I have are usually if watching like machining videos etc. where it'd just be some machining tool ad which're usually not very annoying.

54 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

they should realize that those ads are going to have the opposite effect. They have not accounted for teen angst and “rebellion”

or maybe that's exactly what they want, that's what the lobbying was for

[DDE]

On 2/28/2021 at 7:55 PM, Starhelperdude said:

also stupid AOE fakes that deserve to be deleted because it is stealing

But have you played Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming: the Officially Licensed Browser Game?

Spoiler

 

Anyway, I guess having your government be at loggerheads with Youtube provides some modicum of protection from OP's predicament.

Instead, Google keeps asking me whether I want to become a Pentacostal or sell me LRon's books.

On 2/28/2021 at 8:21 PM, Spaceman.Spiff said:

God the anti vaping ads are so bad 

they should realize that those ads are going to have the opposite effect. They have not accounted for teen angst and “rebellion”

I recall reading about at least one anti-smoking campaign that actually tapped into that, and depicted truckloads of dead bodies being dumped by The Man. It was successful, but not terribly popular in certain quarters.

Edited March 3, 2021 by DDE
A few refinements