Separate *ad* related css with others to avoid usability issues regarding firefox with Adblock plus

[bbbush]

Title
Separate *ad* related css with others to avoid usability issues regarding firefox with Adblock plus installed

Short, concise description of the idea
Currently css files comes within one style tag, and unfortunately it falls into Adblock+ filter rules.

Full description of the ideaFor several days all livejournal system pages becomes style-less,

Comments

[idonotlikepeas]

I'm not a huge fan of ads, but LJ is under no obligation to actually help you use software to defeat them.

The whole point of having Plus accounts is that you get benefits for generating a revenue stream for LJ (even though you don't pay for it); with an ad-blocker you're getting the benefits without generating the revenue. Why would they make it easier to do that?

[livredor]

I think you're a bit confused about the point of this suggestion. Currently, Basic and Paid users are having normal LJ pages not loading their CSS, because common ad blockers see the word "ad" in the file and block everything. This isn't about helping Plus users to block ads, it's about helping Basic and Paid users, who don't see the ads anyway, to use the site in a normal way. If someone isn't seeing ads at all, there's no reason for their browser to be loading the style definition for that ads. This would be a neutral thing apart from the fact that it's causing lots of people to lose all CSS site-wide.

Current situation: Plus users see ads, assuming they are not dishonestly using ad-blocking software to hide them. Basic and Paid users who are using ad-blockers for other sites are seeing unstyled pages all over the site

[ursamajor]

*nod* That was what I was under the impression the request was for, since the original poster has a paid account. Which is to say, yes, I support the suggestion.

[velvetchamber]

Ah, well, in that case it would make sense, but it would have to be implemented in a way that would still make pages look messed up for Plus users with adblocking.

[livredor]

I agree, but it seems better to have just the ads themselves messed up, than the current situation where the whole page displays incorrectly, there is no comment threading and so on. That's too much "punishment" for a Plus user who is just working with the default settings of their ad blocking program, probably not intentionally blocking the LJ ads at all. In fact, if they were blocking the LJ ads, hiding the CSS that controls the ads wouldn't make any difference.

[foxfirefey]

Yeah, Plus users who want to block ads will be able to block ads. It isn't all that hard.

[foxfirefey]

Because the URL of the CSS includes "ad_base.css" even for Paid users who have no use for the ad CSS, which is why Paid and Permanent users are showing up in a lot of those Support requests for this issue?

I mean, people *can* be running ad-blockers and still be generating revenue (Paid users) or not getting the benefits (Basic users).

I can understand about not wanting to make it easier for Basic and Plus users to block ads, but this isn't just about making it easy for the "freeloaders".