[larrik]

Ad blocking is really a war between regular users and criminals, with ad networks as the battlefield (and sometimes the criminals themselves) and content producers/publishers as the civilians caught in the crossfire.

It's not the users' fault that not running ad-blocking is outright dangerous and stupid, and it's not always the website operators fault that their "trusted" ad networks let terrible things through constantly.

[lmm]

Oh but it is. The publishers went to the networks because they paid better, and never wondered where they were getting their advantages from.

[click170]

Couldn't agree more. The fault for the state of web advertising these days lies squarely on advertising networks that do not vet their content.

For a long time I used but did not recommend adblock to my trogladite friends and family. Sadly its gotten so bad that I've begun installing it on their machines on their behalf when they ask me for help with their computer because ad blockers are today what antivirus was 10 years ago. They're how you keep yourself safe online.

Adblock usage won't change until the networks do.

[shostack]

Criminals? Really?

[kalleboo]

I think he's referring to the people distributing malware though ad networks.