Suggestion: mute ads instead of removing them

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msilin

Suggestion: mute ads instead of removing them

Post by msilin »

My suggestion is simple, add an option to mute ads rather than disabling them. This would be beneficial for many reasons :

1) Twitch.tv streamers and other companies will no longer lose their main source of revenue - the ads

2) I've noticed a lot of ads volume's play noticeably louder than the stream/video itself. I have also noticed bugs where despite the stream being muted and my wife asleep, the ad still comes in blaring.

3) It would give AdBlock a much better public image. There is a lot of resentment towards people view streams for long periods of time without subscribing or viewing ads.

4) I read an article a while ago about Chrome implementing a master volume mixer that showed each tabs volumes similar to windows volume mixer. This would be the ultimate web browsing feature.
Sometimes when I'm doing research I'll have many tabs open. I'll click on a news article , open a few more tabs. A minute or so later the video will load and I won't be able to find the video to mute it.

My feelings are exponentially worse when an ad opens and I can't find it. That is one of the many reasons why I'd like to thank you for having an amazing product. I understand the fundamental necessity for running ads to provide free service. I don't enjoy them so I use ad block. But I feel really bad for the small people out there who rely on ads for income in today's economy. While its not a good idea to rely on them, they can provide supplemental income to make it. This is why I love the custom filter list, and a custom mute list doesn't seem too far different.
lewisje
Posts: 2743
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:07 pm

Re: Suggestion: mute ads instead of removing them

Post by lewisje »

The WebRequest API (which ABP uses to block ads) gives only three options: Allow, Redirect, or Cancel.
(The nsIContentPolicy API in Firefox and URL Filter API in older versions of Opera are even more restrictive IIRC: just Allow or Deny)

The element-hiding implementation works by setting display:none!important on all matching elements in a custom stylesheet.

Neither of these things can be used to allow an ad to load and then just mute it, I don't know an API that would allow such a thing, it would require a massive overhaul of the code to support it, and I believe this could even be construed as fraud on the part of the websites that run the ads (although it's not as clean-cut as a proposal I recently saw on the AdBlock support forum to let ads load and then just hide them, even when they matched blocking rules, because with your proposal the ads, once loaded, would still be seen).
There's a buzzin' in my brain I really can't explain; I think about it before they make me go to bed.
aFreakOfNature
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2017 7:04 pm

Re: Suggestion: mute ads instead of removing them

Post by aFreakOfNature »

I feel the same about wanting to support the content creators by enduring ads, but I simply manually mute my speakers...
But it's not all the time that I'm paying attention to when the ad is over so I can unmute...

It'd be nice if ABP would just mute my speakers for me.
Is it possible to auto mute my computer when an ad starts and unmute when an ad finishes?

I don't want fancy implementations that manipulate the html and whatever... I just want my speakers to mute at the operating system level just like when I explicitly press my mute button.
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mapx
Posts: 21940
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 2:01 pm

Re: Suggestion: mute ads instead of removing them

Post by mapx »

Chrome will be soon able to provide such feature:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/25/1620 ... ermanently
aFreakOfNature
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2017 7:04 pm

Re: Suggestion: mute ads instead of removing them

Post by aFreakOfNature »

Cool, but maybe I'm asking for even more impossibleness... I was hoping ABP could block Youtube and Hulu ads lol.
I guess what I'm asking for is basically making an Amazon Echo learn what ads sound like and automatically mute my computer or tv lol.
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