Blocking the Firefox Browser
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It is fairly safe to say that very few people like advertising (except Google and advertisers). Based on that belief, the Firefox browser has an extension (Adblock Plus) that blocks advertising from appearing on the page being viewed. While this may be welcomed by the site visitor, it is preventing the site owner from generating any revenue. And some site owners are fighting back:
“A Web site owner is protesting a Firefox plug-in, Adblock Plus, that blocks advertisements. He’s doing it by blocking all Firefox users from his site, whether they’re running Firefox or not…”
link: Blocking The Ad Blockers: Formula For Success?
Being a site owner, I can appreciate both sides of the argument. It is disheartening to put up content and not to have any advertising viewed. For some sites, that is the only means of generating revenue to cover the costs. Blocking advertising does nothing to help with the bills - and really discourages the people, like myself, who put in time to these sites.
I don’t think that banning Firefox is the answer. It is simply a more secure browser than Internet Explorer. However, I think that the people who created the Adblock Plus extension should be aware of the predicament that it places upon site owners. There might be a built in reminder, after so many visits to a site, that it is possible to allow advertising from that site. Of course, that raises concerns about tracking viewing habits, so that would touch upon yet another contentious issue.
It seems that people who visit a site regularly, sometimes daily, know that the content is not free. Someone is paying for things like hosting and domain registration. It seems that regular site visitors will support a regularly visited site and will look at the advertising. It would help site owners immensely if, somehow, the clever Adblock Plus people were able to facilitate that and make it easier for the regular ‘Firefox’ visitor to support selected sites.
Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/
[tags]firefox, adblock plus, extensions, advertising, site revenue[/tags]
2 Comments
Anthony Kinyon
August 31st, 2007
at 3:18pm
Regarding the article
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/08/blocking_the_ad.html
It is very easy to work around this Firefox “block.”
The Firefox user needs to only install the small, free IE Tab extension available on the Firefox add-on site and then simply add the offending site: http://jacklewis.net/weblog/ to the IE Tab extension list of sites. It uses the IE *engine* but is still within the Firefox browser. The page loads fine because the site has no way of knowing it’s really Firefox viewing it, using the IE engine, instead of the IE browser, using the IE engine. :) Free, easy, painless to the user, and works great.
This “Firefox blocking” tactic has effectively failed and this proves it.
shadowmyth
August 31st, 2007
at 6:13pm
I think if a person was going to click on on these ads, they wouldn’t have Adblock installed. Making money from ads is pretty difficult anyway, if it is on a pay per click basis. I have been at Lockergnome three months now, and I haven’t had anything deposited in my bank account from Google Adsense. Obviously I still have not hit the $100 mark. Getting sponsors is a much better method than Adsense. The majority of people on the internet are still using IE, and most Firefox users, do not even use the extensions available to them. I do not use Adblock, but I do have pop ups blocked, which I think is quite understandable. I think I have maybe clicked on Internet ads about three times in all of the years I have been surfing. If I want to buy something on the internet, I look through services like shopping.com, or just do a Google search. It is sad that the internet is so greatly supported through consumerism, and the mass selling of earth’s resources. I figure the only way I will ever make money through blogging, is by offering services on a personal website.