Guidelines for AdBlock Software Developers
Thank you for visiting AdBlock.org, a website promoting responsible use and development of AdBlocking software.
We acknowledge that you are developing adblocking software based on user demand and we do believe in user choice. We feel this demand is fueled by a large amount of annoying and distracting advertisements on the Internet and while these advertisers have surely been overzealous and careless in their actions, the same problem is possible on the other side, in development of AdBlocking software that goes too far in its actions.
Therefore, we respectfully suggest the following guidelines in developing AdBlock software.
- Avoid including a large pre-populated AdBlock list, but instead make it easy for users to ad their own filters based on preferences.
- Make your software activity visible. When ads are blocked, include some indication that ads have been blocked. When false positives occur, the website being viewed can be distorted or broken and with no indication that the adblock software is the cause.
- Allow users to exempt entire sites from adblocking. We believe that by encouraging webmasters to post inobtrusive advertisements, we can work toward an equilibrium in advertising and user tolerance for ads. By rewarding webmasters with an exemption, they are further encouraged to display only passive advertisements.
- Consider adding features that respect a webmasters choice to only offer their content with the condition of viewing advertisements. In the future, we will be publishing proposed standards for AdBlock software, such as customized behavior based on the presence of a META tag or by declaring user preferences in the HTTP header or browser user agent.
We hope that the industry can settle on a happy medium in ad serving and while the need to tone-down websites with ad serving behavior based on a lack of understanding or mal-intent, that by encouraging more moderate and respectful advertising methods, users will be willing to be presented with the advertisements that help fund important and useful websites.
August 5th, 2005 at 9:33 am
My motto: If you can see an ad, block it !
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= Say NO to web ads ! Reclaim your web! =
= You have the right to block ads ! =
=============blockads@gmail.com===========
Post comments to :
blockads@gmail.com
Use firefox http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/adblock
October 12th, 2005 at 12:35 am
The Internet was built with the American taxpayer’s money to be a resource for academic, personal, and military communication - not as a way to covertly gather data on individuals so they can be objectified with calculated commercial propaganda.
Had we realized how it would have been abused, we would have said it could not be done, and killed it at birth.
Why not disclose who is funding you, if you are for “disclosure”. Internet advertisers are parasites, and I will continue to perfect free software that keeps the Internet what we designed it to be - A REFUGE FROM THE CRASS MATERIALISM THAT TURNS CITIZENS INTO “CONSUMERS” - MERE OBJECTS TO BE EXPLOITED AND MINED IN A WAGE SLAVE EXISTENCE OF “WANTING”, ACCUMULATING, AND WANTING MORE.
Your obvious goal, to seek legislation to protect “commercial speech” will fail, so long as the designers of the Internet still draw breath…
October 13th, 2005 at 6:07 am
Partick Henry, is that you?
November 27th, 2005 at 7:33 am
Are you high? You want to control the burn rate at both ends of the candle? If you want to deploy ad-blocking-blocking software that’s your call.. but its sheer hubris to inflict your “requirements” on ad-blocking software developers. “Do the right thing”? Yes, it’s called PLEASE the CUSTOMER. And guess what customers of AdBlocking software want? Yup, you guessed it: 100% of all ads blocked!
Whitelisting? Yeah, it has a place, but disabled by default so as not to confuse new users.
February 3rd, 2006 at 8:07 am
>> And guess what customers of AdBlocking software want? Yup, you guessed it: 100% of all ads blocked! <<
Maybe. But some consumers are getting adblocking software without their knowledge by installing other software and they don’t know it’s operating on their sysetm.
Plus, consumers who understand the issues and impact that ad blocking has on free content may not want to block 100% of ads (and whatever else gets picked up as collateral damage).
No requirements are being inflicted here. Just open discussion and request for consideration of the impact of your actions.
February 12th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
It is very unethical to block every single ads