I’ve been a fan of flightsim.to, and grateful for it for years. As you may have noticed, over the past couple years the site has had more and more ads, popups, and other “features” to help monetize the site. I’m generally ok with that - they probably have a monstrous data bill every month.
Lately however, some of those ads are redirecting me to places I don’t want to be, and get intrusive. Today one of the sites tried to get me to install a browser plugin. That’s the end of the line for me, and I’ll be using generic scenery and liveries until they get their act together.
If someone tells me I should just pay for access to get rid of the popups, well that’s basically mobster tactics. Pay them monthly to make sure my store doesn’t get robbed lol.
Block ads everywhere, and with extreme prejudice. Problem solved.
Well they condition access on their page by occasionally viewing the ads. Not sure if an ad blocker will work. I run ublock origin on some of my computers and will give it a try.
nonetheless, people who run websites shockingly have little idea what the advertisers are doing. So I’m hoping somehow to raise awareness of the issue. Just saying “use an ad blocker” doesn’t really address a problem, it basically hacks it.
Yeah, uBlock Origin always works. I’ve been running it since it released a bajillion years ago. Set it and forget ads even exist.
You’re correct, no web site vets every single ad that ends up displaying. Realistically, there no way for them to do that. That just means you have to protect yourself, and even the FBI recommends running an ad blocker to avoid the problems you’re running into. Seriously, just run the ad blocker at all times.
Edit: and yes, “Just use an ad blocker,” really is the answer.
The Brave Browser is a great option. It has a very robust built in ad blocker as well as scalable tracker and cookie blocker as well. I use it for sites with overly intrusive ads.
Been using Adblock plus on Opera GX browser for over a year now and super happy with it. Blocks most adds and pop ups. Will never go back to not using one
Ghostery is also an option. Other plugins have failed to block ads in the past and I was required to tell them “Hey - this is an ad that I don’t want to see.” Ghostery just works. I’ll put up with a countdown and throttled speeds if it means avoiding offensive content. I’ve even documented s3xually explicit ads on .to in the past, and they’re supposed to be an “all ages” site.
Well, i don’t actually care. I just wait…
Using UBlock Origin and having zero ads on the site and it works normal
Whilst adverts are a pain, I would still put up with them rather than have to pay. Flightsimming is expensive enough as it is.
Warning the owners of the website flightsim.to may be - among other proposals of this discussion - a good idea. Admin may set some categories of ads authorized or not. Could help the site. But most importantly, it could help other users without the main awareness against cybersecurity issues.
The Report content form is one way Flightsim.to - Microsoft Flight Simulator Mods, Add-Ons & Liveries , feedback and suggestions section of their forum could be another way Flightsim.to - Microsoft Flight Simulator Mods, Add-Ons & Liveries
I would love that all this gets free for everyone even owners of the website but I can’t imagine the bandwidth cost of hundreds of thousands free content hosted and distributed… for free. The ad business is paying for this almost-free world. I’m lucky to be a Premium user (by giving freeware and being registered as a « dev »).
I just opened flightsim.to after a long absence. What a nightmare!!
I won’t be using that again unless it gets cleaned up. I can get what I want elsewhere.
I have been using Adguard for about the last 13 to 15 years. I haven’t seen one ad since I started using it. I also use it on my Android phone and it blocks all ads.
I use Adblock Plus and I’m not seeing anything that is not related to flightsim.to content. No problems for me. I love flightsim.to and I’m also a creater.
I mean, you can also get what you want at FS.2 if you just use an ad blocker. You really shouldn’t use the internet without one.
Edge and UBlock and I do not see a single advert
You are absolutely right! Time to invest in one.
I share your frustration with too many (obnoxious) ads, but running a site like that costs serious money, and it needs to be paid for somehow. Ads are one way to do that and, in almost every way, the most customer-friendly option because you don’t have to ask users for money for the service.
By blocking ads and still using the service, you make it hard for the service to exist, and I find it hard to justify that here.
Mathijs
Well I noted the need to monetize the site in my original post, and I do most of my browsing on my phone and ipad so they’re getting their ad revenue from me. But that doesn’t justify them having one of the worst advertising/popup crud of any site I frequent. They need to speak with their advertisers.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but I still need to protect myself, my personal info, and my PC from malicious ads. They are everywhere, and the only viable option is the nuclear option - blocking them, all of them.
A compromise is whitelisting certain sites, but even your favorite sites could serve an explicit NSFW ad, or even an ad that actively tries to invade my system or steal my information. If site owners could review and approve/deny ads from being shown, I’d be more open to allowing ads through for certain sites. TV and streaming advertisements are regulated by the FTC in the US, but those regulations don’t cover web ads, YouTube ads, and in-game ads. If that changed, just that change alone would ban most of the despicable garbage on the internet.
I don’t like being in a position where I might make a service harder to exist, but what are my options when I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place?