I would not be here if I saw any(!) of the advertisements that this site attempts to put onto my screen … and I will never return here, ever, if I cannot block them successfully.
“I, the Consumer, have spoken, exercising my Sovereign Will.” You need me, but I do not need you.
But also: “Think outside the box!”
I willingly pay for “commercial free” satellite radio.
I didn’t see him hint at anything other than that he would rather donate than watch ads.
If this site offered a way to donate, I wouldn’t argue that it could be a good method of support.
However, it really depends on how many people sign up (a site would need to have a certain degree of support if they can ever make it without showing ads, and that will usually work only if the site is frequented by large numbers of users with income to spend).
Then of course the supporter requirements rise as sites get larger and consume more data.
Each time you go to a new page in BA, all you see is a solitary banner ad that’s completely static and with no sound (and advertising something relevant to 3D).
To think there’s people who even see that as unacceptable, I can think of no reason to block it other than doing it to be selfish. Thinking about it, perhaps the tables could be turned a little if the site expected users to contribute to an operating fund if their ad blockers are to remain turned on (but will people oblige to do that and not respond by creating a hack to circumvent it).
Whether they accept donations or not is up to the providers of the site. Not the users.
I don’t block on here, because I frequent it often and the ads are not intrusive. I block on YouTube, because the ads are very intrusive.
But I definitely would not fault anybody for blocking ads anywhere, for the same reasons I’ve already pointed out earlier. Ads should not be a prerequisite, it should be an offer for people looking to buy.
A way to support BlenderArtists.org without watching ads, though, would be to buy some CGCookie product or other, if you find something you can use.
However, it isn’t necessary from my point of view. If they needed the income, they would open up for donations on this site.
Would be neat if someone made an app for the MS Hololens that could detect an ad, such as on a billboard or park bench, and replace it with something else 
To note, you technically can’t ‘watch’ an ad if the ad is just an static image (I only look at them if they show something I haven’t seen in the space before, otherwise I just ignore it).
That’s nitpicking. And ignoring ads is as bad as blocking them. The revenue is created when you click and go to the site that advertizes.
How is ignoring an advertisement be as bad as blocking them? If you’re ignoring an advertisement, the ad is still ‘impressioned’ on the website in much the same way an ad is shown on a TV show interim. The site author still gets paid either way. The author loses out on the opportunity to potentially get paid if the end-user blocks the adverts and that’s where people begin complaining. At least if the ad is impressioned, there is the opportunity.
I get that the ‘point’ of an advert is to create revenue by clicking on them, but if you’re not aware you should know that companies like Google Adsense take a very dim viewpoint towards the idea that people should just click adverts for the sake of it simply because it supports the author of the content. Users have been banished from them programs because people have abused it.
I suppose it’s true. When you don’t actually see the ad, you don’t get to have your brain washed by the content of it. And yeah, ads are brainwashing at it’s finest.
So yeah, I’ll still prefer donation to ads.
I am aware, though, that excessive clicking on ads will raise flags. That doesn’t really change that the revenue is created when the ad is clicked and that purposefully ignoring ads is like blocking them. One block is in the browser, and pretty good for weak-willed people like me, while the other block is in the mind, where I truly hope the message doesn’t pass the block and lodge itself in the subconsciousness.
Still not a fan of being urged to buy stuff I don’t need, or being talked into it by clever commercials and ads.
I just can’t get my head around this.
Yes, some revenue is generated when an advert is clicked, some is even generated if an ad is impressioned enough times (and the program supports it); but why is it, in your view, ignoring them is like blocking them?? Ignoring them is basically having the ads there but actually viewing the content you went there to see in the first place with the ad as a potential afterthought (the way they should be), whereas blocking them is completely removing them altogether.
And yeah, ads are brainwashing at it’s finest.
I’d say the news media is king of brainwashing, but okay…
If you let your mind be pursuaded as a result of an advert, you have to learn to stop and think to yourself that maybe you shouldn’t believe everything you hear, see or read.
What exactly are we trying to address here, anyway?
Adblocker versus no adblocker, I believe
I am for, you are against.
I think that about sums it up?
I’m glad you’re of a strong character, that knows to not act on ads and commercials, or even have the fortitude to ignore long exposure to them. Some of us are not so fortunate. I have a strong tendency toward impulse shopping. Something that’s been lessened a lot since I stopped watching TV and blocked ads.
To me, ads and commercials are as bad as people wanting you to gamble. It’s legalized brainwashing. All in the name of consumerism and capitalism. The powers that be help us, if we stopped buying junk. Which is the sum of ads: Buy our junk and throw your old stuff out. New is good, old is bad. I just don’t feel like buying into it.
That said, I wasn’t aware that they changed the way ads worked and that they would generate revenue simply by exposure.
With this new knowledge, I will go and continue doing what I have done so far. Block on all sites I don’t frequent, and on some of the sites I do frequent, if their ads are obnoxious and intrusive.
In that case, every single post in this forum is having an effect that is akin to brainwashing because you read it and remember it (however subtle that effect might be).
That also means, whenever you write something, you are participating in the act of brainwashing. To stretch it a little, it could be the same when you talk to someone or someone talks to you, the only way to really avoid it then is to purposely move to some extremely remote corner of the planet and live out your days as a hermit (away from all human society).
A good friend of mine told me that the purpose of all conversation is to get the other guy to see your point, or something to that effect
So yes, all conversation is brainwashing to some extend. Or an attempt at it. The difference is, that most conversation is not out to make you spend your life savings.
That would still prevent you from leaving your house. There’s billboards, LED signs in front of businesses, even your neighbor might have signs advertising his garage sale.
It’s not their fault if you feel you have no ability to exercise discretion (and on that it might be worth finding a psychologist).
You really enjoy getting personal, don’t you?
If you’re so naive as to not know the nature of ads, then it’s not really my job to teach you.
As I said in my first post, I’m not out to dictate to others what they should do. Unlike you.
If the site revenue comes from ads and you’re already blocking them then they don’t need you and it wouldn’t make any difference if you went away and never came back.
You have strength enough to know your own weaknesses if this is indeed true and that is admirable. However, knowing your own weaknesses doesn’t mean you can’t do anything to overcome them if you want that to happen.
Adblocker versus no adblocker, I believe
I am for, you are against.
I’m impartial. I believe ads should be blocked if they’re overly intrusive and in your face. I wouldn’t mind television adverts if there weren’t so many of them and so frequently. Makes midnight / early TV a lot more bearable as there’s usually less of them on.
Over here, the commercial breaks on TV are a bit less frequent and long on the cable stations than the free broadcast channels (where half of the running time is commercials).
Nowadays, we record all of the more interesting shows we want to watch and fast-forward through the commercials. That might sound like hypocrisy, but the viewer is at least giving a cursory glimpse of the various advertisements (which if interesting enough might lead you to want to view it in full).
Now though, there are certain players with certain services that will go even further and cut out the commercials entirely, and that is at a point that is netting complaints from media companies.
No qualms about blocking commercials on TV. Already pay for the privilege to watch. Not that I do watch, but my family does.
And yeah, Kurtis, I guess I’m pretty much the same when it comes to ads on the interweb, so I guess my sum-up was pretty bad 
As long as the ad is not intrusive I don’t see why you’d block it
