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Thursday, October 10, 2024

Internet browser users - negative Presidential attack ads are heavily used, especiall in swing states. THERE ARE AD BLOCKERS THAT WORK IN ALL MAJOR BROSWERS.

The one I use is uBlock Origin.  

For FireFox. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/

For Chrome/MS edge: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin/cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm

https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/ublock-origin/odfafepnkmbhccpbejgmiehpchacaeak

Users not familiar with using ad blockers, you can search the web, e.g.  

websearch = how to use ad blockers

Novices having friends using ad blockers, pick their brain. They can help you set up the extensions. It is easy.

For TV sports, do you need real time? If you record a televised sporting event, and wait a half-hour or so, you can fast-forward through the ads. Then wait again when you reach "LIVE" or half-time, and do the same thing for after half-time. If you take bathroom breaks during ads, you get the same break if you pause the recording.

You can protect yourself from all ads that way, not just the politics.

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As to the nuisance of Presidential ads:

websearch = presidential campaign negative ads 

EXAMPLE RETURNS: Here, here and here

The campaign folks, consultants, and outside PACs run that ad stuff because their polling suggests it is effective. Not with me. I block them online. You can too. On the Internet. 

TV, another story, but use there is declining. People are relying more on the web, where you need to be careful because with profiling of users, searching can be personalized, so you only get links tailored to meet your interests and biases, so you get, in effect, feedback cementing your biases unless you are careful to try for a spectrum of searching.

As to the future. Google makes its wealth selling targeted ads, and may ultimately block the blockers. The blockers are entrenched to where there will be a user rebellion against blocking the blockers, and Google competitors will exist not going that way, even if new browsers need to be written or old ones recoded, but its likely to remain feasible to block such stuff for at least the short-term, and in the long run we're dead. (Thank Keynes for that observation. If you are reading this you probably already are using a blocker, but for those not doing so, the post might help.)

Good luck, if there is any suggestion in this post you find helpful. 

(Any error can be undone, it only takes time and know-how.)

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I also use the script blocker, NoScript. It works for me,  I've learned how best to use it. How to adjust it for different sites. There is a bit of a learning curve.)