Over the last few months I’ve started to hear rumblings about people blocking Firefox. The main source of issue comes from a site whyfirefoxisblocked.com. The site explains how to block Firefox and tries to give some valid reason for doing so.
The main reason the site offers to block Firefox is due to one extension, adblock. This extension allows you to block any content on the site that you wish, mainly ads. You can block just about any embedded object that you wish. It can be a image, an externally loaded javascript file, or flash file.
I’ve been using the extension adblock for several years now, my reasoning is that I paid for my internet connection and can use it for anything that I wish. I will not click on your ads, much less buy anything off of them; why should I have to put up with your ads then?
As of the last year I’ve taken my adblocking to another level, I block javascript by default. Around 95 percent of the ads on the ineternet are generated by javascript. By simply disabling javascript you can get rid of these ads. The problem arises with services that use javascript on the page for functionality. This is where comes into play; it blocks all javascript by default and then you actively allow certain sites to use javascript. It takes it to another level by still blocking external javascript when you allow the main site.
To explain this better I will use an example:
A web site is setup with the content you would like, lets call it good_content.com. This site loads two external javascirpt files to display ads on their site, ad1.com and ad2.com. What noscirpt allows you to do is allow good_content.com to use javascript while ad1.com and ad2.com are still blocked. It is all done with a simple menu.
Well, it looks like I just provided another reason for someone to block Firefox due to blocking ads. But wait, what about blocking ads using internet explorer or any other browser? There is quite a bit of software out there to disable ads using any browser. Before switching to Firefox, years ago, I ran some piece of software that would kill the ads. More recently I’ve installed a on my computers that will block most ads. That means any browser that I use on that computer will not show the blocked content.
Blocking ads is a personality trait. If someone blocks your ads, they are not going to click on it anyway. Why block them from your site when there is no true value to blocking them. Hell, I can even to be anything that I want. At this moment I am surfing as the googlebot. You can find some interesting content with people trying to do SEO when you look like google.
