(no subject)

[the_rck]

I just funded my first Kickstarter project, Ursula Vernon's Digger omnibus. It was nicely easy. Now that I've done it once, I'll likely do it with other projects. I'm just going to be very picky about which ones. This is the first one I've seen that was something I really wanted. I expect the next one won't have quite so large an activation threshold.

I'm very hesitant to try new things with technology. That's why I haven't touched Facebook (that and the privacy concerns), Twitter or Tumblr. It takes a lot to get me past the initial reluctance to venture out of my comfort zone.

I'm probably going to have to learn a little more about irc as writethisfanfic needs to shift to a new host for its irc chatroom. Nobody's stepping up with any enthusiasm or expertise to take care of this, and I do use that chatroom regularly. There's one person who's said they're willing to try to figure the whole thing out some time this weekend if nobody else does it first, so I have some backup in case I can't figure it out.

Speaking of technology-- How does one block ads in Firefox? Scott doesn't know because he doesn't bother. None of the sites he visits have ads that annoy him. I don't object to static ads. It's the ones that start playing audio/video spontaneously that drive me crazy. One ad today tried to initiate downloading Flash, trying to bully me into doing it by offering no other options but doing so or closing the tab (and popping up to ask me if I was really, really sure when I went to close the tab).

Comments

[inkstone]

Firefox has some adblocker browser extensions that should take care of that.

I use this one for Chrome: http://adblockplus.org/ and it looks like they have a FF version too.

[alexseanchai]

Adblock Plus is marvelous. I'd also like to recommend NoScript--it's sometimes a pain, because sometimes the site relies on Javascript running on a different site and there's thirty sites that it's trying to run Javascript from and no way of knowing which one you need to enable scripts from, but it's very effective at blocking Javascript pains in the ass.

Dunno if there's a Chrome NoScript (though I am delighted to hear that there's a Chrome Adblock Plus), but it's definitely a Firefox add-on.

[antisoppist]

I use Adblock Plus on Firefox too. I am amazed when browsing on my phone to see how much stuff it is getting rid of on the desktop.

[zhelana]

I was never able to figure out how to block ads in firefox but installing google chrome took care of the problem without me having to work at it at all.

[jss]

Most browsers, including Firefox, have the ability to have what they call extensions or plug-ins, and a common one is called "AdBlock." I run it in Safari but it's available in Firefox too. (In my version of Firefox, choose the Tools menu, then Add Ons..., and in the search box look for "AdBlock.")

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

FOAFlist browser here.

For Firefox:

1. Adblock Plus, and do get the "Element Hiding Helper" extension, as it makes using AdBlock much more rewarding.

2. Noscript; allows you to block Javascript loading on all pages and enable it as needed, rather than having advertisers' crap running in the background and eating cycles etc.

3. Better Privacy does what it implies


That suite should make your browsing experience far pleasanter.

[sorcycat.livejournal.com]

I second everything that movingfinger said, with the caveat that if you go with NoScript you have to remember to enable website when you want to do things like watch video.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

You can permanently enable websites on NoScript; probably most users permanently enable youtube.com and ytimg.com, which are the two script sites that must be enabled for YouTube videos to work.

Personally, I turn things on and off as I want them, for faster loading, and flush the cache and purge Google cookies frequently. I don't find it burdensome. But a user can customize NoScript very well.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

I have a "sticky notes" program on my computer. When an ad is bugging me, I pop up a sticky note and paste it on top. Very easy and quick.

Ads only rarely annoy me enough to do that -- like if they have an image with a lot of flashing graphics, or those awful ads on medical websites, with the gory photos. If ads annoyed me more often, then this solution wouldn't work very well.