[fixanoid]

Hi sboering, how are you?

Ghostery does what the user tells it to do. If you are seeing unblocked trackers, most likely, its because we've added new trackers and you didn't select "block" by default for the new trackers when the list gets updated. You can change this preference by going into Ghostery options, Advanced, and review the "auto-update" section.

And heres a full explanation as to what Evidon gets and what it does with it: http://purplebox.ghostery.com/?p=1016023438

[sdoering]

Nice: First I would really prefere it, if my name was spelled right. That much of respect should have been the least to do.

But back on topic: Why should I (as fairly technically adapt person) have to search deeply inside the configuration, to maybe find a feature, that I expect to be active by default?

So sorry - Ghostery is so far off my radar nowadays, as I felt tricked and victim of a dark pattern [1]. And as I nowadays have a strict "zero tolerance" policy regarding sites/services/tools that act this way. Ghostery was, is and will be on my list of tools, that I would never ever recommend to anybody.

Btw.: I do not mind downvoting - as it shows me, I must have done something right:

"Methinks thou dost protest too much." (English proverb)

[1]: http://darkpatterns.org/

[andrewcooke]

folks please don't downvote people when they're giving useful info. there is a button in the advanced section that makes blocking work by default on new data. that's useful to know - i've just enabled it, and you should too.

just because you don't like someone (likely based on one comment on a web site...) doesn't mean that they should be downvoted...

[quesera]

I didn't downvote him, but I can understand why others might.

His comment seems willfully ignorant of the problem, which is that Ghostery calls itself a tracker-blocker, but squirrels that obviously-desirable config option away under "advanced" settings.

If Ghostery was on our side, really and truly, that would be the default. Indeed, it probably wouldn't even be an option.

Of course when the tracker list is updated, I want to block the new ones!

No post on HN, no matter how helpful, correct, and civil, changes that this operating model is essentially a trick.

I just spent 45 seconds explaining it, but it would have been faster, and pretty defensible, to just downvote.

On the other hand, nuking his comment into gray-land would obscure useful instructions for making Ghostery do what it is assumed to do in the first place. So I agree, downvoting here is destructive.

[aroch]

> His comment seems willfully ignorant of the problem, which is that Ghostery calls itself a tracker-blocker, but squirrels that obviously-desirable config option away under "advanced" settings.

Err, the option under Advanced just lets you set it to auto-block new elements as they're added. When you first install Ghostery, the walk through lets you pick that option as well without having to be "advanced" (oo, scare quotes!) in your preference setting.

[quesera]

"advanced" here is a string literal, not an adjective, so it belongs in quotes.

[fixanoid]

Quesera, this is a good point I didn't cover.

Ghostery does not call itself a tracker-blocker, our users do. This is an obvious oversight for most users, and its somethign that we will address, but at this time, Ghostery is designed to reveal the invisible web and give user the control over it, not make decisions for the users...

As far as the feature, at the implementation time, we've queried a set of users that agreed that when new trackers are added, there is no need to let the user know until s/he encounters it for the first time and reviews it. Obviously, this is another setting we will be moving away from advanced and into wizard so the users may review and select this option at install time.

[quesera]

> Ghostery does not call itself a tracker-blocker, our users do.

Sorry, I cannot accept that answer.

From your home page, in big letters, right now:

https://www.ghostery.com/

  > Knowledge + Control = Privacy
  >
  >    See which companies are tracking you
  >    Block over    1 6 0 0    trackers
  >    Learn how they track
  >    Ghostery is FREE

What do you call yourself then?

Please be honest with us. How do you view your operation internally? What services do you provide, and to whom?

Thank you.

[fixanoid]

As I said, we are adjusting to fit what our users think rather than what we preached. The site is 2 month old, and it reflects the new updated stance, and as I said earlier, the extensions will also be updated with pre-configured settings.

I'm not sure what you mean by that question? Ghostery is a separate team inside Evidon with full control over what we do. I'm one of the people managing the product and my customers are users of Ghostery. As such, my primary goal isn't improved blocking, its education - to let users know that they are being tracked, to provide relevant info on who are the trackers and where to find out more about them, and finally, provide control in the form of blocking.

[quesera]

I appreciate you taking the time to reply in these threads.

I won't needle you with follow-up questions, but for the record, I think there's more than a little cognitive dissonance here regarding customers and conflicting goals.

This is why people who spend time thinking seriously about the issue are concerned about Ghostery, but I accept that "trust" doesn't pay the bills.