When to not use an ad blocker

I use an ad-blocker on my browsers. Its called ad-block plus.

The good part of using an ad-blocker is that it blocks the ads on the sites I visit. It also helps with blocking malware, spam, and cookies that track over websites (you know how when you search for shoes on zappos and then that shoe ad shows up on every website you visit).

The bad part of using an ad-blocker is that there are websites that are solely run, or are majorly dependent on ad revenue. Such websites lose on that revenue when my ad-blocker instance blocks their ads.

While I really don’t care about all websites that want to show ads, I do care about some. There are some websites that I visit on a regular basis, that are dependent on ad revenue, and I want them to stay. Some are of non profits and news outlets, others are sites where content creators get a cut of the ad revenue from the hosting site showing ads (eg. Youtube). I can support them by donating or subscribing to their content, but there is only so much I want to spend. So, I realized that I can whitelist these sites on my ad-blocker instance and be inconvenienced with ads when I visit these sites, and in return these websites, companies, creators, news outlets, and nonprofits can keep the lights on from the ad revenue.

I like this symbiotic relationship and so far its working out for me. I am not as annoyed by the ads. Maybe, it is because the ads are of quality and are not intrusive.

Happy 2018!