An update on Ad blockers

[JustineMumsnet]

We wanted to give you a heads up that we will shortly introduce additional software designed to prevent the use of ad blockers. So, if you're using an ad blocker, you'll shortly see a series of prompts asking you to disable it before continuing to browse the site.

We know this is going to cause some annoyance to those of you with ad blockers in place but we do have costs associated with running our platform and the way we meet those is via advertising revenue.

We try to keep the display ads to a minimum (particularly for logged in users) and turn down a lot of the more intrusive ad formats. Nonetheless we do understand that some people find ads really annoying. If you would prefer an ad-free experience, Mumsnet Premium is available as a subscription option for £2.99 a month or £29.99 per year.

The last thing we want is to cause loyal users financial distress, so if you have particular reasons why both seeing ads and paying for Premium is problematic for you, then please do get in touch with us at [email protected] and we’d be happy to look at what we can do to help.

@LeoLeo2 @PuppyMonkey can you please double check that you've turned off ad blocker, and if so, please let us know the following:

• The Ad blocker you are using
• Device / Browser
• Whether you are browsing incognito
• If you have any ad blocking enabled on your router
• If you are using any antivirus software that may have ad blocking enabled

Thank you.

Somebody will invent a way to do this at some point – if they haven't already – and then advertisers will have to come up with a new way of tracking ad performance. To be fair, most decent advertisers will be tracking actual ROI rather than just clicks.

Well there’s as much chance of a bot buying something those ads are selling as there is of me doing so I suppose

The thing that seems to be working more effectively than anything here is this nagging ad blocker message 🙄

Ha, true!

I suspect what is happening is your VPN (like my network protection software) is "aggressively" (that is successfully) preventing the code that runs in adverts from "phoning home" and that is what the software Admiral have supplied to MN is using to "detect" an adblocker.

I'm hypothesising this because I'm typing on a fresh install of Win10 running an off-the-internet copy of Chrome. No adblocker in sight. Yet the popup is still being triggered.

Presumably "Our advertisers can't track you" isn't quite as fluffy as "you're running an adblocker".

There is a project to evade all tracking and blocking by pointing an HD camera at a monitor and then using "AI" to re-render the screen on an airgapped machine. (Obviously has to be done quietly).

I'm not so dim as to not understand why ads are there etc etc. However not only they are a PITA if you have any visual problems (I realise that thinking of the less able isn't what anyone cares about). It's also the nature of the products.

@BeckyAMumsnet you didn't tag me, but I have also already posted with the same problem.

For the last couple of days I've had the 'disable your ad blocker' pop up stuck permanently in the middle of the screen. This means that I can no longer use Mumsnet on my PC at all.

I have whitelisted Mumsnet on my ad blocker (Adblock plus) and there is nothing else on my PC that I am aware of that blocks adds. I am using normal Firefox browser (not incognito). I can't see any adblocking on my antivirus. I have tested whitelisting other websites, which works (as in, when I whitelist other websites I start to see ads). But having whitelisted Mumsnet, it makes no difference - the pop up stays and just keeps insisting I turn off my adblocker.

It would be great to have a solution as until this is fixed, I cannot use Mumsnet at all on my PC. I don't like typing on my phone and looking down at it makes my neck ache, so it isn't really much of an alternative. I'm just having to browse other websites instead, which is a shame.

My VPN works. But the adverts today have been intrusive.

@BeckyAMumsnet I’m on an iPhone with AdBlock Plus using Safari on the mobile site.

i don’t know what you mean by browsing incognito but it sounds dodgy.

Don’t think we have any ad blocking on my router.

It’s been fine most of the day but just got the message again, I haven’t left the site and come back in again our anything. Haven’t got loads of different tabs open. I have to click in the top left and it gives me the option “disable content blockers”. Which I’ve done about ten times now.

And I’ve literally just come out of this thread, gone onto active conversations and clicked another thread And the message came up again, so I had to disable it again. Am I doing it wrong?

Let's face it this is your way of making MN a subscription only site as the site will be totally unusable and such a rubbish experience with constant ads flashing up and glitching the screen. Many people rely on MN for advice and support with difficulties in their lives and £29.99 is a lot of money to already struggling people. This is a really bad and greedy decision for MN to make.
The remover ad blocker message is also very annoying and I have absolutely no idea who my ad blocker is so how do I unblock it anyway!
I've loved MN for many years and it's helped me through some extremely difficult times in my life such as severe post natal anxiety the support from other MNetters was amazing. But it now sadly looks like I'm going to have to say goodbye 😢

@BeckyAMumsnet I’m in the same position.

i use Adblock pro, on an iPhone using safari.

im not browsing incognito, have no ad blocker on my router and no anti virus protection.

every three or four pages I’m asked to switch my ad blocker off. It is off. There’s also something going on that makes MN run tediously slowly and it impacts all of my tabs. Never experienced anything like it before.

@BeckyAMumsnet
I'm using Adblock for Samsung Internet, viewing via my phone and not sure what Incognito means with regard to a webpage.

I agree. I love Mumsnet, but this seems very unfair and poorly thought through...

I don’t know if this might help other people, but I went into the actual Adblock app on my phone and listed MN as an “exception”, and the message of doom hasn’t reappeared so far. Fingers crossed.

I have been on this site for many years.
If you had sorted the problem with ads covering the whole page then maybe you wouldn't be in this predicament.
I refuse to remove my Ad blocker, it will cause me too many problems.
And I refuse to pay for a site that doesn't recognise loyal customers, is sketchy about GDRP and is very slow to kick out trolls.
I just keep pressing continue and when that stops working then it's bye bye

Or even GDPR! 🤦‍♀️

Well, I subscribed instead of turning off the ad blocker as the ads affect my vision. I only got an ad blocker due to issues on this site. But now I am getting ads. So I have paid to look at ads.

Wait, you still getting ads after having subscribed? Wow. Mumsnet really need to sort out their IT. It's shocking just how bad their website seems to be. I'm currently on the android app as the only way I can use the site at all.

Yes, was ok yesterday now getting ads. I deleted my account then re-registered and subscribed, thought a clean start was a good idea. Apparently not.

And they wonder why I'm cautious about subscribing.

For me it isn't the money - I would pay. But I don't trust them to be able to keep my details safe, they say payment is encrypted by Stripe but it's giving my actual details I don't want to do . They can't sort the IT on the website, so I'm sure they can't on the database.

That generally is my view.

Companies can have their business model, and I have mine. Which is to not pay for adverts. Not when it's my computer, my electricity and my broadband that is being used to deliver them. It is the digital equivalent of having to pay the postage on junk mail.

There are a lot of quirks that you can out up with when they are free that you wouldn't if you were paying.

Just to say MN's "software designed to prevent the use of ad blockers", if enabled, isn't working.

My adblocker still blocks; I see no ads though I haven't subscribed.

I've been on Mumsnet now for about 15 years, and I honestly think this is what is going to push me off.

I have an adblocker installed and I still see ads - that's how many ads are on every MN page!

With annual profits of more than £2 million, it's insulting to tell us that even more ads are needed to cover costs, as if to imply you're struggling.

I've been getting two adverts at the same time now and when some of them load, it pushes the sides of my page in so I lose text as well as having it all covered by adverts. It's completely unreadable.

It has become like those articles you click on Facebook that make you scroll down through hundreds of adverts to try and find the text.