Regarding Ad Blockers and Daring Fireball
4 hours ago
- John Gruber found that NetNewsWire omits hyperlinked text for domains starting with 'ads.' like ads.apple.com, due to its CSS ad-blocking rules.
- The ad-blocking rule in NetNewsWire's core.css file strips both the link and the linked text, making articles appear incomplete.
- Gruber chose not to work around such bugs by using URL shorteners, as he values direct, long-lasting links.
- Other blockers, like the Banish Safari extension, similarly remove text linked to blocked domains (e.g., the App Store), causing missing content.
- Gruber argues content blockers should only block intended content without removing linked text, as that creates misleading editing errors.
- He requests users to consider allowing Daring Fireball ads, which are private, unobtrusive, and respect both writer and reader.
- Ad-blocking developers are asked to allowlist Daring Fireball by default due to its non-intrusive ad practices.