Ok, Now I’m Pissed!
Published July 6th, 2005 in Tech, PoliticsOk, so I’m browsing around, working on some web design stuff that I’ll reveal at a later date ;), and I begin looking for a specific font for this header image (on one of my irreplacably favorite font resource websites) at dafont.com - not suspecting a thing - and as I go to download a font there, I get an error saying this:
An error has occured : banner ad blocking.
Check the settings of your browser or firewall then reload the previous page.
Some download managers may also cause problems.Une erreur s’est produite : blocage de bannières publicitaires.
Vérifiez les paramètres de votre navigateur ou firewall puis rechargez la page précédente.
Certains gestionnaires de téléchargement peuvent aussi causer des problèmes.
I guessed (correctly) that this was caused due to me using the AdBlock extension for Mozilla Firefox. I used the extension’s disable feature and reloded the daFont page. I clicked ‘download’ again and it worked perfectly!
Is this where our internet is going? Punishing unsuspecting netizens for using software that makes their browsing life easier? I’m almost impressed that they managed to detect that I was blocking their ads somehow. I mean that’s some innovative coding - but one has to wonder, couldn’t they have put their minds to better use?
46 Comments to “Ok, Now I’m Pissed!”
- 1 Trackback on Jul 6th, 2005 at 9:34 pm
- 2 Trackback on Nov 4th, 2007 at 7:53 am
- 3 Trackback on Nov 7th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
- 4 Trackback on Nov 14th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
- 5 Trackback on Feb 2nd, 2008 at 8:50 am
- 6 Trackback on Feb 2nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
- 7 Trackback on Feb 5th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
- 8 Trackback on Feb 7th, 2008 at 5:08 am
- 9 Trackback on Mar 18th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
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- 11 Trackback on May 20th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
- 12 Trackback on Aug 19th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I am using Adblock in Firefox and I went to that site and clicked “download” for the first font I saw.
It popped up and asked me where to save the zip file.
Is that different than what you were getting?
Jack, yes that is completely different than what I saw. Check the block quote in this entry for the message that I got, not sure of the cause then. I was however able to reproduce my problem using 3 different computers (2 PC’s, 1 Mac), so who knows, those crazy kids and their ad code…
I was (after my one try) unable to reproduce. I have adblock enabled.
hmmn, i just tried once more and the error was still there, it could be that I’ve got something else going on that is causing their servers to hate me ;) Thanks the for the help - I’m emailing the guys that run the dafont.com site and asking them if they have any more info on all of this.
I have to say that blocking ads is bad. All of the income I generate is from ads. I really do not get that much. A few cents a day if I am lucky. Do you want sites to go to a subscription model? Or not exist at all?
Non-intrusive ads are fine. Popups, “scrollacrosses”, etc. suck.
Just like on tv and in movies… they make tons of money on product placement. They are non-intrusive and most of the time fit right into the movie.
But when they stop you from doing what you want to do, be it watching the movie or the show, then people will do what they can to avoid them.
I do not see the same problem that you do. It appears to work fine for me as well.
I see the same error that you do. Maybe it also has got something to do with greasemonkey? Just a guess tho.
Hey I did not think of that. That could definently have something to do with it.
I know why some are seeing this and some aren’t. You can setup AdBlock to either “Hide Ads” or “Remove Ads”. In the case of hiding them, the actual content is still downloaded by the browser, but simply hidden from view. This allows those that sponser the ads to still get the counts for the ad being “seen” even though it wasn’t actually visible. In the case of removing them though, Firefox stops the content from ever being downloaded in the first place. I always keep mine set to “Hide” since, with a broadband connection, there is no harm at all in letting them download, this way everybody wins. Anyhow, with it set to “Hide”, downloads work fine. Change AdBlock to “Remove” however, and bam, the message shows up. Just keep AdBlock set to “Hide” and you’ll never have these problems. If you’re worried about how simply hiding the ads can sometimes make the page reflow look weird, just get AdBlock Plus (the current dev version), it collapses hidden ad content area so that it behaves just as if they were removed.
Yep, he’s right. I couldn’t download with the “remove” option on, but when I set it to “hide” it worked.
Tim, I have all my set to remove. It still works. I think a more likely theory is the Greasemonkey extension, which I do not have installed.
Note to those interested, if you’re using one of the latest versions AdBlock Plus, the “Hide/Remove” has been renamed and reorganized. It is now under the (well named) section called “Support Websites”. Same options, different interface.
I have better uses for my bandwidth than downloading adverts and tracking images, even if they’re hidden from my view. Any site dictating how I choose to browse the web won’t be getting my traffic. Period.
You do realize that “free content” is never anything of the kind? As I mentioned above, the new AdBlock classification of “Support Websites” is VERY well named. Just realize that when you completely block a website’s ads, unless you are supporting them monetarily, you are in effect removing their income stream from advertising. How else are these sites supposed to make any money if people 1) don’t want to pay for them, and 2) don’t want to even allow HIDDEN ads to be downloaded? Come on, it’s NOT that big a deal. With AdBlock Plus you can SELECTIVELY Hide ads via a hiding whitelist. So if it bothers you so much to hide ads, at least allow them through for the sites you go to all the time to help them out.
Sounds like it’s time for a GreaseMonkey script to delete/disable the test_load() function for dafont.com
I have it set to “Remove Ads”, and it’s working without a hitch.
It’s funny because they got a get firefox banner on their website, so I guess their not firefox haters… I think its a mistake.
Running FF 1.04, Adblock-Plus 0.5.7+ with Remove and Greasemonkey 0.3.3. No problem with loading site or downloading fonts.
It may not be the Adblock settings per se (remove/hide etc), it could be the various *filters* used that causes the differences.
dafont.com may be checking that some specific banner from some special url is downloaded. Some of you may block that url, some of you may not — it is all about the *filters*.
I’ve done some digging and it seems ‘hugoheden’ is right, everyone’s settings differ and that’s what is causing the difference in results. I’m not sure which filters set off dafont.com’s servers but obvioulsy some do and some don’t.
Yes.. I’d like to rephrase though, it’s not *all* about the filters. If you just “hide” ads instead of “removing” them, it means that the ad is downloaded — just not displayed (if I’m not completely mistaken?). In such a case, you should have no problem downloading from dafont.com — no matter what filters you’re using. (This is the effect James sees in comment #12).
This will waste some of your bandwidth though, since you’ll be downloading ads that you never see.
If you block:
http://dafont.com/ads/banner.php?mkinit=#######
Then you don’t get to download. Looks like it’s done server side.
Adblock Plus, whitelist:
@@dafont.com/ads/banner.php?mkinit
Done.
Oh, and I don’t think it’s particularly innovative coding, it’s a bit of a kludge on their part, really. An easily implemented bait system. Integrated? yes, Circumvented? Easily.
I actually don’t see any issue. I have adblock set to “remove” and I didn’t have any problem downloading files.
I even blocked one their largest ad (which was actually very non-intrusive, I didn’t even seen it until I went looking for it), and I could still download stuff.
Possibly they turned the functionality off ?
Well, I don’t know if adblock announces itself somehow, but going through privoxy, all the ads are definitely not fetched in any way, shape, or form, and I can download just fine.
Now, I *do* have Javascript turned off with great thoroughness. Could that be a difference?
Yes, how dare they stop us from blocking one of their major sources of income, and denying us their free content that costs money to maintain!
I’m all for ad blocking (I use the very same program that you do), but don’t sit there pretending that we aren’t screwing them over by doing so. They have to make money, and if that means blocking our blockers, more power to them I say.
seems they have fixed their site:
http://aasted.org/adblock/viewtopic.php?t=2183
http://aasted.org/adblock/viewtopic.php?t=2198
can’t seem to load da font at all, don’t even have adblock on my firefox! what’s going on? worked the other day, grrr
Where do i get this adblock blocking script?
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