When I said “If you disagree with the site’s use of ads, go elsewhere.” I didn’t mean the content of specific ads. Obviously, that is not usually directly controlled by the site owner (although some degree of control is almost always available, it’s just usually too time consuming to deal with). I was referring to the site being “commercial” or “for profit”. Not all sites are that, and users have an option of choosing which sites they prefer.

I agree with you on offering an ad-free option for a fee. I do that with my largest site. It’s a forum/community site and users can pay a small fee for various benefits, including the ability to switch ads off.

I believe in paying for the premium service (usually ad-free) of sites if available to support them and rid the site of ads but the problem lies before logging in. IGN.com is a great example of this. I became a monthly subscriber which claims freedom from ads but I get overwhelmed with them (and there are a lot) before I am able to go through the multiple pages to login. I believe it appropriate to use a blocker on this site since I’m already paying for the content.

Lastly, ad-blockers aren’t just for ads, at least not the one I use. There are a few sites I go to where their logo takes up half the page. Using the add-on I have I can have that logo not load at all while keeping the ads untouched. It makes the site easier to read and navigate and doesn’t hurt the revenues whatsoever.

Basically what I’m saying is there are quite a few legitimate uses of ad-blockers, in my opinion anyway.

I figured that I would add the newbie point of view to this conversation. I say newbie because I don’t have ads on my main blog (which is wordpress.com) but on the blogs that I do have ads I haven’t cashed in on any payouts nor have I made a huge effort to do so.

I’ve learned a lot about the different types of ads and how to make money from them by reading this post. I admit my initial reluctance to read it because I’m not really and “ad” person, but I’m glad I changed my mind. This is a great conversation to have and I’m certainly going to share it where I can.

Now with all of that being said, I don’t have the adblocker simply because I just haven’t gotten around to installing yet. In fact I just heard about it the other day but I really didn’t think it is necessary for me.

However, I don’t think I would use the word “unethical” to describe it’s use. To me in order for it to be unethical it would need to be in violation of some sort of “code of ethics” for web browsing that I am not aware of.

Based on your arguments I think the word “unfair” or something similar comes to mind. But keep in mind that I’m a person that doesn’t like advertising and I’m actually offended to learn that just by viewing an ad I might inadvertently be boosting a company’s reputation.

Personally – and by that I mean – if I wasn’t a blogger (it’s easy for me to think back to June of 2009) I find that whole concept unethical. It reminds me of how years ago (and they probably still do it) when you went to the movies and they would send subliminal messages by showing you a quick frame of popcorn popping or a beverage being poured into a cup, just to make you go to the concession stand.

Thanks for the conversation and the enlightenment.
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