So much for ad-blocker on Flightsim.to

Navy Chief

Navy Chief

Senior Member
I use ad-blocker with Brave Browser. Download wait time is zip or used to be. Flightsim.to figured out how to prevent people from using ad-blocker on their site. Still looking for a workaround, but it was great while it lasted. NC
 
I´m a Brave user, it seems to work sometimes and sometimes not. I use Brave also on my phone and via that I have sometimes downloaded files.
 
I tried adding Ghostery to Brave, and it worked perfectly. But I am saving the other recommendations, should that situation chance. Thank you all. NC
 
I love how they frame it as if our use of adblock directly harms content creators.

I'll disable my ad blocker when they stop mixing in payware with all the freeware.
 
Whoever is running flightsim.to seems to work really hard trying to alienate the the people who visit that site. Amazing.
 
I must be doing something incorrectly. At first, Ghostery was working perfectly, but now I am getting the popup again on Flightsim.to.
 
I'm all for blocking pop-ups, but honestly, as you know as Sim-Outhouse users, bandwidth and hosting are not free. And I can only imagine how much data FS.to pushes. Their store can't be high-volume enough to cover even a fraction of that.

I thought their reaction to the licensing hullabaloo was unprofessional and hostile to their supporters, so I'm not "in the Flightsim.to camp" on this. And even here, rather than forcibly disabling adblockers, a better approach would have been a banner asking users to turn them off on the site to help ensure it can keep running. These folks really need some PR/social media advice, and this is another example of handling an issue poorly.

But in the end, I think allowing (non-obtrusive/non-pop-up) ads on a download site is just doing your part to pay for the convenience.

If you don't like the ads and timer, there's a way to directly support the site with a subscription fee. That's what I'm doing. I have a terabyte of content from the site, so I feel that's fair.

(No need to debate this, I know both sides of the argument here. Just presenting the side from someone who used to work on ad-supported tech magazine websites who knows what this sh*t costs.)
 
DennyA said:
I'm all for blocking pop-ups, but honestly, as you know as Sim-Outhouse users, bandwidth and hosting are not free. And I can only imagine how much data FS.to pushes. Their store can't be high-volume enough to cover even a fraction of that.I thought their reaction to the licensing hullabaloo was unprofessional and hostile to their supporters, so I'm not "in the Flightsim.to camp" on this. And even here, rather than forcibly disabling adblockers, a better approach would have been a banner asking users to turn them off on the site to help ensure it can keep running. These folks really need some PR/social media advice, and this is another example of handling an issue poorly.But in the end, I think allowing (non-obtrusive/non-pop-up) ads on a download site is just doing your part to pay for the convenience.If you don't like the ads and timer, there's a way to directly support the site with a subscription fee. That's what I'm doing. I have a terabyte of content from the site, so I feel that's fair. (No need to debate this, I know both sides of the argument here. Just presenting the side from someone who used to work on ad-supported tech magazine websites who knows what this sh*t costs.)
Click to expand...
The ads themselves do not bother me. For me, it is the countdown popup that runs until you can actually download. With a ad blocker, the time ticks by in a couple seconds. Without it, depending on time of day and server load, it could take up to 30 sec. NC
 
Navy Chief said:
The ads themselves do not bother me.
Click to expand...
When the ad features admitted criminal Cardi B with her mammaries hanging out on a page that is visited by minors, then I have a problem with their ads.

Oh, and ads for R-rated movies - there's an ad for the latest John Wick installment running on that site right now.

Second edit... I let that video frame keep running and it got worse. I thought about uploading a screenshot, but decided against it. Let's just say there was enough blood and gore to make the ad qualify for an R rating. This has no business on a flight sim page!
 
It's 2023. I seriously doubt any minors are going to get their first exposure to Cardi B or violent films from ads on a flight simulator download page. :) Also, sadly, I doubt many minors are visiting anyway... And if they are young aviation fans, they're probably also simulating virtual killing in DCS and Ace Combat.
 
Tom Clayton said:
When the ad features admitted criminal Cardi B with her mammaries hanging out on a page that is visited by minors, then I have a problem with their ads.

Oh, and ads for R-rated movies - there's an ad for the latest John Wick installment running on that site right now.

Second edit... I let that video frame keep running and it got worse. I thought about uploading a screenshot, but decided against it. Let's just say there was enough blood and gore to make the ad qualify for an R rating. This has no business on a flight sim page!
Click to expand...

I don't get it Tom. With my simple setup (FireFox and uBlock Origin), I don't have that bother!

Priller
 
I'm using Chrome with Malwarebytes Browser Guard (available for free on the Chrome web store),
and I don't get anything like that on fs.to. MBG isn't perfect, but I'm happy with it, it's free, and I
would recommend giving it a try if nothing else is working, although I don't know how it will work
on browsers other than Chrome.

Tom, are you noticing other similar unsavory pop ups on other sites? From what you said, I wonder if
you might have picked up a toxic cookie or two (ones that allow those kind of pop ups to sneak in). Have
you tried clearing your browser history and cookies (although I know it's a pain having to relog in to all your
regularly visited web sites), or maybe running a pc sweep with Malwarebytes (free version)? It's just a
thought, that's all.

-RobM
 
DennyA said:
It's 2023. I seriously doubt any minors are going to get their first exposure to Cardi B or violent films from ads on a flight simulator download page. :) Also, sadly, I doubt many minors are visiting anyway... And if they are young aviation fans, they're probably also simulating virtual killing in DCS and Ace Combat.
Click to expand...
I posted this in an elevated part of the official forum, and one kid that responded is 13 years old.

As for the ads I get, besides the video, there were ads for Adobe Pro and Temu (Chinese ripoff of Amazon) - pretty generic stuff that I've never looked up. Plus, I keep as much of Chrome's settings tweaked to reject as much as I can. Between Chrome sending Do Not Track requests with all page clicks and trackers being blocked by plugins like Ghostery and now uBlock, I rarely see any ads based on past browsing. And if memory serves, the Cardi B ad was for a women's fragrance that I'd never even heard of.

But it looks like I'm good for now. I've uninstalled Ghostery and added uBlock, and f'sim.to hasn't caught on - yet.
 
Using Opera GX, and its spotted UBlock for me.

I'm surprised by how frustrated I am that they put this big bad red box telling me that it's more or less my fault that fs.to is sinking under its lack of ad revenue.

and I'm getting tired of being forced to pay for the ability to live a peaceful life without someone trying to sell me something.
 
Ads and commercials are a part of life. If you watch broadcast TV, you'll be watching ads - unless you do like I do and hit the head real quick before the show comes back on. But honestly, I'd be OK with ads on the site if they were subject appropriate, but even more importantly, age appropriate.

I also wouldn't mind paying for a subscription if their price wasn't so completely outrageous. Their lowest price plan equates to just under US $80 annually. There's no way in Hell I'm paying that much for the ability to download 5-6 freeware files in a year's time. The site claims to have over a half-million "members." If that's true, he could charge $5.00 for an annual membership and become a millionaire overnight.
 
Tom Clayton said:
Ads and commercials are a part of life. If you watch broadcast TV, you'll be watching ads - unless you do like I do and hit the head real quick before the show comes back on. But honestly, I'd be OK with ads on the site if they were subject appropriate, but even more importantly, age appropriate.I also wouldn't mind paying for a subscription if their price wasn't so completely outrageous. Their lowest price plan equates to just under US $80 annually. There's no way in Hell I'm paying that much for the ability to download 5-6 freeware files in a year's time. The site claims to have over a half-million "members." If that's true, he could charge $5.00 for an annual membership and become a millionaire overnight.
Click to expand...
100% agree...... NC
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top