For me: Cancelling paid subscriptions should be as easy as subscribing. I hate the fact that they actively hide the unsubscribe option or that you sometimes should have to write an e-mail if you want to unsubscribe.

  • @[email protected]
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    4917 days ago

    Adblocking feels to me like it should be illegal, but isn’t. I have adblockers on all my devices and haven’t seen an ad for years; it feels like a secret super power and stopped the web from looking like a trashy back alley.

    • @[email protected]
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      4517 days ago

      I am always shocked when I have to use a browser without an ad blocker. How do people tolerate it?

      I mean, I get it. I know many people have no idea about adblocking, etc. But goddam. It’s so awful without it.

        • @[email protected]
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          1217 days ago

          Right! It’s kinda wild when you do see them. I always equate it to the feeling of being in a casino.

          What really throws me is tv commercials. When I do see one, like in a waiting room or something, all I can think is, “people fall for this?”

          • @[email protected]
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            17 days ago

            They usually depend on just making you remember them (the most extreme example I can think of is the “I’m on a horse” old spice ad from like 15 years ago, which admittedly is very clever/funny/well executed), regardless of the message or context. They just want brand recognition a lot of the time. You’re at the supermarket, you see 10 of basically the same cereal, but this one brand of cereal feels more legit or just “draws you in” because of a subconscious association. In that way unfortunately it works most of the time, especially if you don’t have a strong opinion on a product.

            • Libra00
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              315 days ago

              This right here is why I think advertising is manipulation. Cause even the subtle shit where you’re like ‘That was weird’ and shrug it off is still affecting you days, weeks, even years later. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and there are so many fucking stupid ad jingles and slogans stuck in my head, half of them I don’t even remember who they were for.

        • Cousin Mose
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          216 days ago

          I’m in the same boat, but you also have to remember that blocking ads typically involves blocking tracking too. You’re right they the ads are much more bland or misdirected but that’s because there’s little to no targeting data (probably just your IP address).

        • @[email protected]
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          115 days ago

          Use DNS-based blocking. I put Tomato firmware on my router and block for all devices on my network. Rethink can selfhost DNS on Android too.

          • Libra00
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            115 days ago

            Interesting, I just use a private DNS on my phone set to dns.adguard.com and it catches most things, but I’d like to hear more about this. I’ve considered setting up a pihole but there are people in the house who work from home and need to do VPN shit so I’m reluctant to mess with that, but if I can just change the firmware on the router…

            • @[email protected]
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              115 days ago

              Look into OpenWRT, FreshTomato, etc. Depends on your model of router (advanced: build your own!) It accomplishes the same thing as a PiHole.

          • @[email protected]
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            115 days ago

            yah I’m putting in a pihole,but I gotta get off my arse and finish configuring my bigtree for the 3d printer to free up the pi first. It’s a process.

    • Libra00
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      315 days ago

      Nah, I pay for my bandwidth, I get to decide what it does and does not get used for. Even if that’s not nearly as big a concern as it used to be in like the late 90s, it’s the principle of I’m not going to pay for you to shove your garbage down my throat.

      And yeah I haven’t seen an ad in years and years on PC. People complain about youtube ads and I’m like ‘What’s that? I watch a lot of youtube and I’ve not seen an ad in like 10 years.’ Sadly on mobile that’s a little more complicated, but adding a private dns of ‘dns.adguard.com’ blocks most things.

    • @[email protected]
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      17 days ago

      It’s weird they don’t put more effort into stopping them, TBH. I’ve heard it’s because they’d rather collect extra analytics than do any foolproofing that might interfere with it.