Adblock is digital self defense against malware for your pc, as well as your mind.
https://xcancel.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/1569083806224715776
this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2026
326 points (96.0% liked)
196
5737 readers
1460 users here now
Community Rules
You must post before you leave
Be nice. Assume others have good intent (within reason).
Block or ignore posts, comments, and users that irritate you in some way rather than engaging. Report if they are actually breaking community rules.
Use content warnings and/or mark as NSFW when appropriate. Most posts with content warnings likely need to be marked NSFW.
Most 196 posts are memes, shitposts, cute images, or even just recent things that happened, etc. There is no real theme, but try to avoid posts that are very inflammatory, offensive, very low quality, or very "off topic".
Bigotry is not allowed, this includes (but is not limited to): Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Sexism, Abelism, Classism, or discrimination based on things like Ethnicity, Nationality, Language, or Religion.
Avoid shilling for corporations, posting advertisements, or promoting exploitation of workers.
Proselytization, support, or defense of authoritarianism is not welcome. This includes but is not limited to: imperialism, nationalism, genocide denial, ethnic or racial supremacy, fascism, Nazism, Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, etc.
Avoid AI generated content.
Avoid misinformation.
Avoid incomprehensible posts.
No threats or personal attacks.
No spam.
Moderator Guidelines
Moderator Guidelines
- Don’t be mean to users. Be gentle or neutral.
- Most moderator actions which have a modlog message should include your username.
- When in doubt about whether or not a user is problematic, send them a DM.
- Don’t waste time debating/arguing with problematic users.
- Assume the best, but don’t tolerate sealioning/just asking questions/concern trolling.
- Ask another mod to take over cases you struggle with, if you get tired, or when things get personal.
- Ask the other mods for advice when things get complicated.
- Share everything you do in the mod matrix, both so several mods aren't unknowingly handling the same issues, but also so you can receive feedback on what you intend to do.
- Don't rush mod actions. If a case doesn't need to be handled right away, consider taking a short break before getting to it. This is to say, cool down and make room for feedback.
- Don’t perform too much moderation in the comments, except if you want a verdict to be public or to ask people to dial a convo down/stop. Single comment warnings are okay.
- Send users concise DMs about verdicts about them, such as bans etc, except in cases where it is clear we don’t want them at all, such as obvious transphobes. No need to notify someone they haven’t been banned of course.
- Explain to a user why their behavior is problematic and how it is distressing others rather than engage with whatever they are saying. Ask them to avoid this in the future and send them packing if they do not comply.
- First warn users, then temp ban them, then finally perma ban them when they break the rules or act inappropriately. Skip steps if necessary.
- Use neutral statements like “this statement can be considered transphobic” rather than “you are being transphobic”.
- No large decisions or actions without community input (polls or meta posts f.ex.).
- Large internal decisions (such as ousting a mod) might require a vote, needing more than 50% of the votes to pass. Also consider asking the community for feedback.
- Remember you are a voluntary moderator. You don’t get paid. Take a break when you need one. Perhaps ask another moderator to step in if necessary.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Old bit of computer lying around? Adguard DNS baby
Hell yeah. I like it better than PiHole, but that’s basically just personal preference.
Some local news sites in my city show local ads that are simply static images loaded in their pages, mimicking traditional newspaper ads, without any kind of tracking. Although it's questionable at a philosophical level if ads can be ethical, I can live with it, and that method will pass automated adblockers, so it's a win-win.
You know, I think I’d be okay with that. As long as it’s not something that’s begging for your attention or trying to get you to click on it.
Or loading at random intervals so you have to scroll around to find where you were before the page jumped around. Very little infuriates me more.
Advertising unethical
Let's say I go to an Invasion Day rally where thousands of people are protesting against the current date of Australia Day because it celebrates colonialism. I bring with Me a stack of flyers about the pro-Palestine rally in two weeks. I hand them out to protesters and say "There's more colonialism happening right now in Palestine. Come to this protest too."
- Am I advertising?
- Is it ethical?
I'd say it's not inherently unethical. How else would you find out about options for a thing you need?
How current the ad industry works however, can die in a fire.
Consent is a key factor.
If you mail me an ad? Fuck you.
If I search out your service and find you? Okay. Though people game this system obviously. Google used to fight back against this but now they don’t care and even have just given in, allowing pay to play. So fuck that too
I walk to the store, I check what's there, I ask an employee for help, then make my own decision. If it's shit, I don't get it again and tell who I know to avoid it. I don't get products that people I trust have had bas experiences with.
Advertisements are lying. Every dollar spent on marketing is a dollar that could have been spent either improving your product or paying your staff. If you advertise to me, I will actively avoid your product.
load more comments
(7 replies)
You can just search for it, you don't need ads for that. Ads is a really bad way to find out about options, because it's never about quality, it's all about appearance.
How would you know what to search for? Some advertising is fine - a sign for a restaurant or industry mailers or magazines, "related products", etc etc are all very tame forms of advertising. The problem is hyperintrusive advertising which has now spiraled so far into hell that it drives a model of data harvesting and content slop that's slowly tainting all access to information we have.
How would you know what to search for?
Because of the needs I have, when I am hungry ill search for recipes or restaurants. When my apartment needs cleaning ill search for cleaning supplies, when I am bored ill look up what movies are playing.
I actually can not come up with a single situation where advertisement would be needed or helpful in anyway. I also do not have a problem with smaller advertisement, but in my dreams they are all banned regardless. Won't be missing those.
load more comments
(13 replies)
In the ancient days we had a thing called the yellow pages.
Just FYI, any entry in the Yellow Pages other than the plain text, non-bold, name+phone number format entries were also paid for advertisements.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
Advertising is attention rape
Ads are violence on the mind.
Adblocking is good security.
I've been with the monk since the days of recording shows to VHS to fast forward past the commercials.
Adblockers came up in conversation with a (non-techie) friend the other day and they said they don't have one because they are afraid they'd "get the wrong one" or end up with a virus trying to download "something like that" because they've had trouble with those shady download websites that have a ton of fake download buttons... Like, they look at adblocker as if it is the most scandalous form of piracy or something.
Ad networks are known to be a large distributor of malware and scams.
it’s prudent to block ads.
This seems flipped, there's no way a majority of people like ads.
Maybe it should be Low IQ are people who don't know what an ad blocker is, and High IQ are people who say ad blocking is unethical.
I know several people who only watched the Superbowl for the advertisments / halftime show.
Regardless of how shitty it is, one of the big cultural touchstones is also the advertisements they played on tv when someone was growing up. A lot of people use ads as another way to connect with a new person; meeting a other local to your area means you can mention a particularly overplayed ad from childhood and likely be able to find another person who saw it growing up too.
A lot of people use ads as another way to connect with a new person; meeting a other local to your area means you can mention a particularly overplayed ad from childhood and likely be able to find another person who saw it growing up too.
Do you think this is true for younger generations than millennials? Obviously ads with high production value like matt damon's fortune favors the brave gets talked about, but I don't know anyone who makes cultural references to a generic ad on TV or YouTube with average production value. I think for the average advertisement nowadays, there's too much saturation of content and not everyone watching ads, that you couldn't have a normal ad like this mundane Sears Air Conditioner commercial be ingrained in kids memories.
You know, I expect that the generational divide will change which ads people connect over, but I don't think that the majority of people will stop using them as a way of connection.
The new hotness is making fun of raid shadow legends, and I expect there's several others I just don't know about as well.
This seems flipped, there's no way a majority of people like ads.
Honestly from some of the interactions I've had with my peers I didn't even think of the meme as strange.
Like one time I saw my roommate running Opera GX of all browsers without any adblockers and I asked him "don't these ads bother you?" and he responded, I shit you not, "no, quite the opposite! they're really helpful!". I didn't say anything because at that moment I was genuinely stunlocked.
I had a similar experience with a work colleague. His response? "They are helpful. They tell me what to buy". I guess some people are just like that.
load more comments
(14 replies)
I think you’re just used to the lemmy(/reddit) crowd. Pretty much everyone I casually know has ads when they show me something on youtube. Every time I ask “Why not use an adblocker?” they reply either “The ads don’t bother me” or “I want to support the content creators”.
Doesn’t make sense to me. I’ll buy some swag or donate to creators I like, but I am not voluntarily watching ads.
The majority of people just aren't bothered by them.
load more comments
(1 replies)
AdNauseum has a built in whitelist for ethical ads which I'm happy to leave enabled. I see them on some blogs I read and on the option search page for Home Manager.
Adblock smart is high iq.
view more: next ›