They. Are. Everywhere.
Advertisements can be found all over the internet. Banners, simple text links, deceiving “Download” buttons, videos, annoying pop-ups… Often, these ads sway between simply being there and highly annoying. Some hardly stand out, others actively interfere with your internet usage.
So… let’s talk about ads, why they might be vital, and ad blockers.
Why Websites Use Ads
There is only one reason: making money. Ad space is a source of income for many websites. Or at least an additional one. Of course, this can become annoying when the hundredth casino ad pops up when all you want to do is look at memes. However, many free services rely on ad revenue to keep up their service.
Creating and maintaining a website or web service comes with costs. Domain space, servers, licenses, coding, development, manpower… These are only some of the costs that website operators have.
These costs have to be covered in some way. Many offer you the option to donate, which allows you to give money directly to the service. Most, however, rely on ads to keep their services up.
The “Problem” With Ad Blockers
How do ad blockers play into all of this? Generally speaking, they prevent websites and web services from generating revenue. Ads that generate some kind of income by simply renting out space or per click, are hidden from view.
Of course, ad blockers aren’t illegal. Otherwise, browsers would not allow you to install them. However, many pages have resorted to more or less drastic measures. They show notes that ask you to disable ad-block or even prevent you from seeing their content altogether when you have an ad blocker enabled.
We believe that the latter is not the way to educate people about the use of ad blockers. Instead, we want to point out that the number of free services may decrease drastically due to this.
And What Can You Do?
It’s important to keep certain things on the internet free. In order to do so, you can help these services and pages in a number of ways:
- Consider making a donation.
- Purchase a premium access pass or whatever these sites may offer.
- Simply disable ad-block for their domain.
