Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook

I was blog surfing this afternoon and when I tried to view one blog, up came this message:

You’ve reached this page because the site you were trying to visit now blocks the FireFox browser.

The Mozilla Foundation and its Commercial arm, the Mozilla Corporation, has allowed and endorsed Ad Block Plus, a plug-in that blocks advertisement on web sites and also prevents site owners from blocking people using it. Software that blocks all advertisement is an infringement of the rights of web site owners and developers. Numerous web sites exist in order to provide quality content in exchange for displaying ads. Accessing the content while blocking the ads, therefore would be no less than stealing. Millions of hard working people are being robbed of their time and effort by this type of software. Many site owners therefore install scripts that prevent people using ad blocking software from accessing their site. That is their right as the site owner to insist that the use of their resources accompanies the presence of the ads.

While blanket ad blocking in general is still theft, the real problem is Ad Block Plus’s unwillingness to allow individual site owners the freedom to block people using their plug-in. Blocking FireFox is the only alternative. Demographics have shown that not only are FireFox users a somewhat small percentage of the internet, they actually are even smaller in terms of online spending, therefore blocking FireFox seems to have only minimal financial drawbacks, whereas ending resource theft has tremendous financial rewards for honest, hard-working website owners and developers..

Since the makers of Ad Block Plus as well as the filter subscriptions that accompany it refuse to allow website owners control over their own intellectual property, and since FireFox actively endorses Ad Block Plus, the sites linking to this page are now blocking FireFox until the resource theft is stopped.

Netscape users can simply set their browser to IE mode to continue to enjoy the site that sent you here. FireFox users can use Internet Explorer, Opera or Netscape (in IE mode) to access it. FireFox users also have the option of using the IE Tab plug-in which uses the IE rendering engine to display pages, but also disables the Ad Block Plus plug-in.

If you are offended by the Mozilla Corporation’s endorsement of dishonesty please contact the Mozilla Foundation and ask them to stop empowering internet theft.

Whoa. So Firefox is blocked because it blocks ads.

Since when is ignoring ads considered “theft”? That’s screwy. There is no basic “right” of ad-viewing. If a website wants to force people to view ads, charge them to access the page.

It is the epitome of injustice in this world for a good browser to be reprimanded for blocking advertising, but another browser is not reprimanded for being a crappy browser.

As for me, and countless others, I had no real desire to view the website and all its ads, anyway. I’ll pick up my marbles and go visit another site. Without being forced to use Internet Explorer, thank you very much.

P.S. The whole reason I block ads is because they are extremely offensive. Some ads I don’t care about, but being forced to view naked women prancing around in a flash-ad is outrageous. Why doesn’t anybody complain about that? What about my rights? As they say when it comes to watching TV– if you don’t like what’s on, turn it off. I love Firefox because it turns the sewage off.