Topic: Could Bitcoin Solve the Problem of Ad-Blocking? (Read 550 times)

Hi Mike Christ,

My bad, should have started the first post on this topic with Full disclosure regarding my involvement in ADZcoin. I am only a supporter.

I could have written about it in a way that would not look like an Advertisement. Unfortunately I did not and now I think I might have come across in a negative light within  the community  for that I apologize.

And I posted here for further exposure of the concept.

I am not the developer, but I think that this is a good idea just my opinion.

I will only post in this off-topic section if any other person would like to continue the discussion   

But will continue to post over at the Alternative coin section.

So the answer is donation in lieu of ads.  I wouldn't call this a novel solution, and I think it'd be far easier for people to stick with the most popular option since it has the greatest amount of users i.e. bitcoin.  I certainly don't want to have to use yet another crypto to do something very specific.  I think having another crypto for this very specific problem is not worth the trouble.  The issue is still there, to encourage people to donate to sites esp. when they don't want to assist in the generation of ad revenue.  ADZcoin doesn't seem to assist this in any way, all it offers is to be an alternative to bitcoin with a social network attached to it.  I think it's a dud; the only way this can take off is if it gets as big as Facebook, which I don't see happening on a meaningful level; there's already Tsu which does this, but they pay out with dollars, a currency far more popular than bitcoin and to greater extremes relative to ADZcoin, and they don't even pay you much, and still struggle to break into the mainstream.  I am also extremely skeptical that no ads will be involved on the social site itself, which I assume will be the case since it's a response to ad blockers; how then does this company generate its revenue to pay its users?  Will it turn out like Reddit, where the ads are hidden as user-submitted content?

Also, the comments on the article smell fishy.  As in all of the articles.  Nobody is going to criticize it?  They're all just saying how great and wonderful it is that there's a bitcoin clone out there, which is especially fishy on a site specifically devoted to this one crypto.  I also hate how the articles go on and on about filler instead of just getting to the meat and potatoes, for example:


HOLY SHIT, just tell me what you mean to say already, I'll figure out whether it's good or not on my own.  There is no need for all this fluff and all these promises.  Even the news isn't this bad with leading its readers.


  orly

Anyway I figure the only reason this is being posted here--in off topic, rather than alternative cryptocurrencies where it belongs--is that the OP is in some way connected to the project and seeks to get more people in on this crypto; maybe he's got a stake in it.  Tried opening it up as just an innocent sharing of an article, but didn't want to do it in a place where negative attention would be drawn--which wouldn't happen if this was truly about just bitcoin.  But if you place it in the alt cryptocurrencies forum, it gets drowned out by all the other cryptos that nobody cares about.  So here it is.  What really set off the red flag was that the OP responded to Fortify as if focus was being placed in ADZcoin, when Fortify mentions nothing about it.  This makes the intentions of the OP clear: this is an advertisement for ADZcoin, as Jstalk points out, being disguised as a regular post.  So more pleather, on top of the astroturf from the article comments.  Just be honest about what it is you're trying to do and none of this would be an issue; going about it this way makes it seem like there's something to hide, like there's some wrongdoing going on.

I think it all smells fishy and I'm going to avoid it, but even if that wasn't the case, I don't think this is at all necessary to donate to a site instead of looking at ads.  I think the creators are placing way too much faith in everything just working out with enough fancy rhetoric.  I think if you will continue to pursue this mixture of social media and crypto, you should just use bitcoin instead, or perhaps litecoin or doge--something which is out of one company's hands so potential abuses are minimized.  Or better yet, offer multiple crypto payouts for the Tsu-clone.  All I can imagine another crypto is good for, where its purpose is so narrow, is a pump and dump.  What's to stop people from using ADZcoin for purposes outside of funding sites?  If the purpose of ADZcoin is just this, what encourages people to join the social site to earn it?  If it's just to support sites they wish to support, why can they not give charity without ADZcoin?

My verdict: none of this needs to exist for none of it offers anything which isn't already being offered by other services, nor does any of it resolve the underlying issue being encouragement of donations.

I wanted to discuss of Ad blocking and maybe just maybe Adzcoin could be one of the best solutions out at the moment.

Anyone reading this would need to know more if interested about all the options and what the market has to offer for all. 

This thread looks like a promotion of this adzcoin company.
Are you trying to advertise this here?

Hi Fortify,

What ADZcoin creator is talking about, the rise of online users using ad blocking software. Most ad blocking tools are browser extension which can be added to all major browser freely in a couple of clicks, and which block all ads displayed on web pages.

Obviously, when the ads are blocked, the publishers (website creators) don’t earn from the ads they put on their site, causing a huge loss.

In fact, it’s estimated that about 300 million internet users have already installed adblocking software in their browsers to block ads when they surf the web. A result of this is obviously a huge loss for publishers who rely on advertising sales to keep their business running.

Several options have been tested and are currently being implemented by major companies In order to recoup this loss. Here are some examples:

Google contributor program- The main online advertising company Google is currently testing an initiative to make people pay in order to receive less advertisements on websites.

Prices range from 2 to 10 dollars per month and each package will reduce a certain amount of ads buyers get to see.

While this is obviously the only thing a money grabbing company like Google can come up with to solve the huge problem they are currently facing, which is the rise in ad block usage (need to ensure their stock remains valuable right?), it seems a pretty unrealistic experiment to me.

First of all, users will always keep seeing advertisements as none of the plans include a complete ad-free experience.

Secondly, it’s very unlikely the masses will pay up to $10 a month to see less ads. Nobody asks for advertisements and nobody really wants them.

It’s a simple fact of changing business models, but of course, invading users privacy, scraping that data and selling it to advertisers so they can push their products in your face everywhere is the only model they know.

Wired found a solution to deal with ad block software users - Another company who solely relies on advertising income is wired.com, a website publishing news stories and that generates revenue by placing advertisements along the content.

Here are the options they present the visitors who do and don’t use ad blocking software:

One 

“You can simply add WIRED.com to your ad blocker’s whitelist, so you view ads. When you do, we will keep the ads as “polite” as we can, and you will only see standard display advertising.

two

You can subscribe to a brand-new Ad-Free version of WIRED.com. For $1 a week, you will get complete access to our content, with no display advertising or ad tracking.”

 HomeAdzcoin NewsHow ADZcoin And Adblock Will Change Online Advertising Forever
How ADZcoin And Adblock Will Change Online Advertising Forever Jay  February 18, 2016  Adzcoin News, Startpeeps  30 Comments
In a world where over 2 billion people have access to the internet, online advertising is a billion dollar market. In fact, in 2015 the total online ad spent has reached over 170 billion dollars.

In the graph below you can see the immense growth of digital advertising spending every year in billions of dollars, and a prognosis of the ad spent the coming years:

ad spent yearly

There is something which threatens this huge market. Something so innocent, but highly effective that is making online advertising agencies very nervous.

What I’m talking about is the rise of online users using ad blocking software. Most ad blocking tools are browser extension which can be added to all major browser freely in a couple of clicks, and which block all ads displayed on web pages.

Obviously, when the ads are blocked, the publishers (website creators) don’t earn from the ads they put on their site, causing a huge loss.

In fact, it’s estimated that about 300 million internet users have already installed adblocking software in their browsers to block ads when they surf the web. A result of this is obviously a huge loss for publishers who rely on advertising sales to keep their business running.

Several options have been tested and are currently being implemented by major companies In order to recoup this loss. Here are some examples:

Google contributor program
The main online advertising company Google is currently testing an initiative to make people pay in order to receive less advertisements on websites.

Prices range from 2 to 10 dollars per month and each package will reduce a certain amount of ads buyers get to see.

google contributor

While this is obviously the only thing a money grabbing company like Google can come up with to solve the huge problem they are currently facing, which is the rise in ad block usage (need to ensure their stock remains valuable right?), it seems a pretty unrealistic experiment to me.

First of all, users will always keep seeing advertisements as none of the plans include a complete ad-free experience.

Secondly, it’s very unlikely the masses will pay up to $10 a month to see less ads. Nobody asks for advertisements and nobody really wants them.

It’s a simple fact of changing business models, but of course, invading users privacy, scraping that data and selling it to advertisers so they can push their products in your face everywhere is the only model they know.

Wired found a solution to deal with ad block software users
Another company who solely relies on advertising income is wired.com, a website publishing news stories and that generates revenue by placing advertisements along the content.

Here are the options they present the visitors who do and don’t use ad blocking software:

“You can simply add WIRED.com to your ad blocker’s whitelist, so you view ads. When you do, we will keep the ads as “polite” as we can, and you will only see standard display advertising.
You can subscribe to a brand-new Ad-Free version of WIRED.com. For $1 a week, you will get complete access to our content, with no display advertising or ad tracking.”
So as you can see, they will use a similar tactic as Google’s experiment, but go one step further and simply block people who use ad blocking software from the site’s most interesting news stories and charge them $1 a week to get access.

While it’s normal that a company needs to make money to deliver a high quality product (in the case of Wired high quality news stories), I believe that charging people who want to surf ad-free or refuse to have their privacy invaded by several tracking and spy tools will most probably never work.

So what is the solution?

In this article I’ll present to you a complete foul-proof system that will:

Allow everybody to surf the web ad-free without privacy invasion and malware infection from annoying advertisements
Help the website owners get paid for running their site and focus on the quality of the site to earn more
Help advertisers cut their ad spend and focus on relationships with consumers just as it’s supposed to be
The circle is completely round with this system, and it’s time we see an urgent change in terms of experiencing the internet, and ad blockers are necessary to achieve that.

On top of that, You, the internet user is not a commodity that can be sold to the highest bidder in order for them to promote their products to you all around the net, ruining your browsing experience.

Something is wrong here and the intrusive, sometimes with malware infected advertisements are the last straw for many people.

Are you one of them?

all of the above has been taken from the article

ADZCOIN PLUS THE SOCIAL MEDIA – THE CONCEPT EXPLAINED

Found here:  http://adzcoindesk.com/adzcoin-adblock-changing-online-advertising/

There isn't really a problem to solve as most websites have found ways to block the people that use such software and force them to turn it off. Advertising income can be important to webmasters and you'll see more sites start blocking users who have ads turned off - individual users need to fix their attitude.

Copied from cointelegraph.com

Digital news outlets, blogs, and other content creators on the internet are being hit increasingly hard by users’ ad-blocking software. Bitcoin microtransactions could prove to be the solution to this problem.

Huge problem

PageFair is a website devoted to finding solutions to the problem of ad-blocking. In their global report on ad-blocking, ‘The 2015 Ad Blocking Report’, they released the following surprising figures:

Ad blocking was estimated to cost publishers nearly $22 billion during 2015.
There are now 198 million active adblock users around the world.
Ad blocking grew by 41% globally in the last 12 months.
US ad blocking grew by 48% to reach 45 million active users in 12 months up to June 2015.
UK ad blocking grew by 82% to reach 12 million active users in 12 months up to June 2015.
As a result, content creators must adapt to a generation of people who are not necessarily prepared to accept advertising on their favourite websites. BitcoinCT r:  8 could provide a solution to this problem.

Bitcoin solution

Due to Bitcoin’s low transactional fees, it would be ideal for microtransaction payments for viewing sites on the internet. There are multiple startups in the cryptocurrency community who are looking to see widespread implementation.

PopChest, as discussed in a previous article, “is a service that allows YouTubers and video producers to earn money from their videos without the need for advertising. Users pay a very small fee in Bitcoin, usually $0.25 (approximately 0.000414 BTC at the time of my writing), to watch the content producer’s video. This directly supports the creator, and also allows users to see exclusive content. PopChest has had limited success, but recently, a YouTuber with 600,000 subscribers signed up for the service, creating a surge in interest.”

However, PopChest only solves the issue of ad-blocking on videos. Another startup, Satoshipay, hopes to address ad-blocking across all content. Their website states that they “process nanopayments of 1c or less and enable content providers to monetise their digital goods in completely new ways.” This essentially means content is put behind a Bitcoin paywall before users can access it.

ADZcoin

The final startup, ADZcoin, proposes to do something completely different. Instead of using Bitcoin, ADZcoin uses its own cryptocurrency and a social network to pay content creators, without any cost to the user. As explained on their website:

“Startpeeps (the social network) members earn free ADZcoins. Website owners add some code to their site and an ADZcoin donation widget will be displayed instead of advertisements when ad block is enabled. Visitors can donate ADZcoins to the website owner if they like the content and/or want to support the site. There are also other options for website owners, like blocking some premium content and ask an ADZcoin donation to unlock it, or simply ban ads all together and solely use the ADZcoin donation widget.”

The question of how ADZcoin will be able to distribute free ADZcoins to the users of Startpeeps is an interesting one, but the website explains that, even though Startpeeps, “won’t sell advertisements, won’t collect data of members and sell this to advertisers, [or] sell anything directly to its members,” it will still be able to achieve its goal through simple affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing in the context of ADZcoin means:

“There will be 1000s of sites listed and each site will have the latest coupons added to it. Whenever somebody wants to buy something online, they can use the coupon available, save some money, and Startpeepscoupons will earn a referral commission (this will be automated)...Startpeeps members won’t even need to take an extra step, except for installing a lightweight browser extension in a couple of clicks.”

Of the ad-blocking solutions listed above, ADZcoin definitely seems to be the most innovative, and would seem to please both those who simply object to invasive advertising, and those who refuse to see advertising all together. However, its success is yet to be seen.


http://cointelegraph.com/news/could-bitcoin-solve-the-problem-of-ad-blocking