Phenquestions
A few days ago I encountered an issue with a website. It was displaying a "disable your ad blocker" page; this particular site did not provide a choice in this regard as many other sites do. Many sites display an adblocking detected message but let users browse the site by giving them an option to continue with an adblocker.
The message itself may not be unusual as plenty of sites use it on today's Internet but it was in this case a bit strange. I have been using uBlock Origin to block ads and Nano Defender to counter the ad blocker-blockers. I have used the website before and it used to work perfectly with the blockers but for some reason now it didn't; something must have changed.
There was no other way to get the file I wanted as it wasn't available anywhere else so I did what I had to: block Blockadblock. Hey, you can't make me do what I don't like.
How to block Blockadblock manually
1. Add the following script to your ad blocker. I used Ublock Origin (Dashboard > My Filters). It may work with other add-ons.
@@||example.com^$generichide
example.com##script:inject(bab-defuser.js)
2.Replace the address "example.com" with the URL of the website which has Blockadblock on it.
3. Click on Apply changes.
Reload the page which you were trying to access. And it should work perfectly even when your ad blocker is fully functional. You have to do this for every website which has blockadblock enabled if it does not work correctly.
Note: This issue was temporary and has since been fixed, but I wanted to guide users how to do it because this works with most anti-ad blockers. Who knows when it could come in handy?
Why you may want to do this?
There are lots of reasons why. Technical stuff can be a reason. Filters used by add-ons can get broken and it may take a while before it is fixed. You don't have to wait for that. When this happens, you may want to (should) report it to the add-on/filter maintainer. Malicious scripts which force you to disable your ad blocker (yes I consider them malware) get smarter all the time and bypass ad blockers, and it takes some time before the maintainers of the filter list update them to make the filters work again.
When a website asks you to disable your ad blocker, assume the worst. Extensions like uBlock Origin are part of your computer's security set-up along with your anti-virus and firewall.
You should never disable any of these just to get something working but you may do so if you use the site often and want to make sure that its receives revenue from ad interactions so that it can stay online.
Besides, ads are vulnerable to malware injections which in turn can affect your browser/computer. I don't even have to mention the privacy issues with ads as they exist as well. Either use the script to block the anti-ad block, or if you feel bad about it close the page and move on. Do not disable your ad blocker and compromise your security just because a site attempts to force you to do so.
What about internet ethics?
In my opinion, any website which forces the visitor to disable your ad blocker to access the site does not really care about the visitor. While it is understandable that sites need to make money to survive, forcing users to disable adblockers is the wrong way to do that because the ad system is broken in its current form.
However, when a website asks you to consider disabling your ad-blocker to support them you can choose to do it provided that the site is trustworthy and does not bombard you with annoying ads. I do that sometimes as advertisement is essential for many sites on the Internet.
