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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   8265 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026

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If there was a way to buy a "premium internet pass" that would get rid of all internet ads I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

The uBlock Origin browser extension gets you about 95% of the way there.

Yeah... there's that. (world-weary sigh)

I've used ad-blockers for as long as they've been commonly available- maybe 15 years now? I moved around from one to another, in a never-ending "Red Queen's Race" between advertisers and ad-blockers. uBlock Origin really seemed like "the one" and I happily enjoyed it for about 5 years. But then they abruptly removed it from Chrome. And at this point I'm so tied into Chrome (gmail, Android, other extensions) that it would be a huge pain to switch. Sure, I could switch, but I feel like it's only a matter of time before they clamp down again on uBlock Origin in some other way. Because, let's face it, it's basically piracy- it's a way to hack websites to get their content without paying for it by seeing ads. It feels like when people told me "dont' worry that Napster is getting banned, you can just switch to Kazaa...Limewire... Bittorrent... PirateBay... etc...". When I just give in and pay their premium fee, our interests are aligned and the ads go away perfectly.

(also I disagree that it's 95%. My experience was more like 50%, varying wildly depending on the website.)

I just switched to uBlock Origin Lite and it seems to work just as well.

I moved around from one to another, in a never-ending "Red Queen's Race" between advertisers and ad-blockers.

What? I've literally never seen an ad slip through a blocker.

But then they abruptly removed it from Chrome.

And at this point I'm so tied into Chrome

Then use Brave. It's Chrome, but based (has it's own integrated blocker, supports uBlock, and has a host of other QOL features like virtual tabs).

What's up with all this technological learned helplessness? People used to find and flock to alternatives at light speed.

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