Ad block technology

[SwampGas]

I think I found a way around ad blocking technology...wanted some opinions.

The issue is that you can block stuff based on domain, location and name.

ads.zophar.net/images/campaign1.jpg

or

ads.zophar.net/adsrv?2475624756245|782645786245|2478623457645

Neither change from view to view.

My idea creates random info so to the browser, it would appear like:

f616ccb312ea19bdde877e4b28fa39f6.zophar.net/3fa8c27f1d13b9c2de664f363d085872/414efa4e40d20b60df4e0f3984ff79a1.jpg

or

f616ccb312ea19bdde877e4b28fa39f6.zophar.net/3fa8c27f1d13b9c2de664f363d085872?414efa4e40d20b60d f4e0f3984ff79a1

Each subdomain doesn't need to exist because of wildcard dns and each directory can be a symbolic link to the real directory (1000 subdirectories that are recreated each night). It'd be impossible to block an ad because the next time you load the page, everything would be different. You can't block *.zophar.net or zophar.net/* because then the site itself wouldn't load.

Your thoughts?

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[Ugly Joe]

What about a white list? Only allow www.zophar.net/*.

Edit: Also, just tried this with AdBlock. I have http://www.zophar.net/ads/addata/scban125.gif blocked. If I load ZD, it won't show up. If I load it directly, it shows up. So, AdBlock at least wouldn't stop pages from loading, it would just not show any images or media.

<P ID="signature"></P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Ugly Joe on 04/15/05 04:08 PM.</FONT></P>

[Isildur]

> f616ccb312ea19bdde877e4b28fa39f6.zophar.net/3fa8c27f1d13b9c2de664f363d085872?414efa4e40d20b60d f4e0f3984ff79a1
>

Couldn't you just do http://www.zophar.net/3fa8c27f1d13b9...4e0f3984ff79a1
since people wouldn't block the www subdomain?

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[SwampGas]

> since people wouldn't block the www subdomain?

It makes my life a bit easier parsing the logs because it separates them by subdomain by default. Matching ![^www], especially since apache will do the default vhost in the absence of a listed one.

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[phonymike]

that may be cool for advertising and shit, but it's annoying to the potential customer. I have ad blocking shit, so do a lot of other people. they don't want ads, the second I see one I close it. if someone tries to force an ad down my throat, I'm not buying their gay shit.

<P ID="signature">immortality</P>

[SwampGas]

> that may be cool for advertising and shit, but it's annoying
> to the potential customer. I have ad blocking shit, so do a
> lot of other people. they don't want ads, the second I see
> one I close it. if someone tries to force an ad down my
> throat, I'm not buying their gay shit.

My client is targeting professionals...not someone who calls stuff "gay shit".

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[phonymike]

whoever wants this gay shit of yours is an asshole. why not try to develop some sort of uncurable flesh eating powder or something that will be more beneficial to the human race other than annoying people for money. maybe you can just tatoo his ad on your ass.

<P ID="signature">immortality</P>

[SwampGas]

> whoever wants this gay shit of yours is an asshole. why not
> try to develop some sort of uncurable flesh eating powder or
> something that will be more beneficial to the human race
> other than annoying people for money. maybe you can just
> tatoo his ad on your ass.

You are a sad little boy. I'll pray for you tonight <img src=smilies/headshake.gif>

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[(wraith_)]

> My idea creates random info so to the browser, it would
> appear like:
>
f616ccb312ea19bdde877e4b28fa39f6.zophar.net/3fa8c27f1> d13b9c2de664f363d085872/414efa4e40d20b60df4e0f3984ff79a1.jpg

I'd stay away from using strings that are entirely hexadecimal. Ad blockers that allow regular expressions (i.e. Adblock for Firefox) could block it with a filter that would take about five seconds for anyone who's ever taken an entry-level UNIX course to come up with.

On top of that, ad blockers that allow exceptions could get around it by allowing the individual subdomains and blocking anything else.

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[The 9th Sage]

>the second I see
> one I close it.

Usually, unless it's a pop-up, I'll ignore it if it's not gitantic or obtrusive. But oh lord...someone kill the flash ads...like some that I've seen on IGN before. Good lord, takes over your whole screen. I am not interested in a bunch of football players suddenlly screaming and charging at me out of my screen while I'm looking up info on Castlevania DS, kthnx.

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