Demonoid Blocks Adblock Users – Fair or Fail?

[Ernesto]

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or the so the saying goes. Nevertheless, every day millions of people use online services such as Google without paying a penny. It’s a situation the Internet generation has become very accustomed to.

For millions of BitTorrent users, things move to the next level. After using any of the thousands of available torrent sites for free, content such as music, movies, TV shows, software and games flood into homes around the world, without cash directly forming part of any transaction.

Of course, none of these mechanisms are truly free and for most public torrent sites it is advertising that provides the fuel to keep things running smoothly. While torrent site users don’t usually pay for access directly, by being a viewer of torrent site advertising and therefore a potential consumer, a convenient business arrangement allows ‘free’ access to ‘free’ content.

Unless you’re a user of the semi-private tracker Demonoid, that is.

In recent days Demonoid, once one of the most popular sites on the Internet, implemented new terms of access. If users don’t wish to contribute to revenue streams by viewing embedded advertising, they are now completely barred from the site.



Disabling the popular Ad-Block browser plug-in does re-enable access to Demonoid but of course with that comes the reappearance of sometimes intrusive advertising, something which users of Ad-Block wish to avoid.

Aside from familiar ‘fake’ buttons emblazoned with the words “Play” and “Download”, a strip of gaming focused ads adorn the site’s main page. While these aren’t too bad, annoying and rotating full-screen pop-under ads also make an appearance.

For Demonoid and the majority of other similar sites, having users view ads is a vital part of site operations. Even if there is no intention to turn a profit, servers and other infrastructure still has to paid for and advertising is the number one way to make that happen. Just lately, however, even that hasn’t been as easy as it once was.

There is a concerted effort around the world to stop major brands from advertising on so-called ‘pirate’ sites, so the pool of agencies willing to place ads on sites like Demonoid is dwindling. Solutions are still being found (Demonoid ads include well-known gaming outfits and large betting companies) but with site blocking around Europe and measures by Google to downrank sites, overall traffic is dwindling.

With reduced traffic comes reduced revenue, a situation that may have prompted Demonoid to introduce its “No Ad-Block” policy in order to maximize returns, but even that has its unintended side effects.

One of the pages that doesn’t carry ads is the “upload page” where Demonoid users can upload content to the site – content that arguably keeps the site going more than the ads do. Whether that’s intentional is unknown, but at least one user with 500 plus torrents to his name tells TF that he won’t be using the site or seeding while the Ad-Block policy is in place.

“Some of us support the site by uploading content. Now I haven’t uploaded in a while, but I still support some 535 of my past Demonoid lossless torrents with a fast connection. Torrents I uploaded some three to six years ago,” the user says.

“For now I think I will boycott the site. The few lossless people that post only on Demonoid aren’t posting right now. So I can get content from KickAss.”

Of course, there is another large can of worms to be opened. By blocking non-contributing users because they aren’t ‘paying’ for content, some might argue that Demonoid is submitting to similar methods currently employed by the studios and labels when they apply for ISP site blocking injunctions.

In both cases perceived content free-loaders are being barred from the system. Granted, both can overcome blocks relatively easily, but it’s nevertheless interesting how torrent sites and their arch enemies feel compelled to take similar steps to protect revenues when the going gets tough.

source

[Carjacker]

I think it's fair. It's unfair to think that we, as 'consumers' of the content and enjoying 'free' access of sites believe that the owners/operators should fully foot the bills of maintaining and administering the sites. We all benefit in the end - the sites, by growing and providing more 'services' - and hence, more content becomes available to us, as the 'consumer'.
If you truly believe in 'sharing', then share some of your time and check out an ad - or even buy something if you like it. So far, it's only costing you 'time' by glancing - or not - at an ad. It's not like some sites that actually have a paid subscription policy.
On the other hand, just use common sense (if you have any) and use some sort of protection from malicious ads, since you cant use an ad blocker, use something like Sandboxie or a virtual machine to do your site browsing.
Good luck and have a nice day.

[connor17]

From a comment on torrentfreak:
Sloth :
The easiest way to bypass this is with AdBlock ('Options' > 'Add your own filters') or uBlock, ('Options' > 'My filters') then add the following line:
@@.demonoid.pw/advertisement*.js

http://i.imgur.com/P8xMi4Z.png

It works.

[RobertX]

We don't speak Spanish here, connor17.

[LowOrbit]

Fail. we're Pirates. Add a Donate button or go fuck themselves. Been here, seen this,... and it's a slow motion trian wreck.

End of semi-rant

getting invites before any invites were sent out encouraged me to run for the hills. Fucking parasites

[᠎]

Admins of any site can do anything they want. By which I mean it's perfectly legitimate and nobody's business but theirs. But everything that an admin does has consequences. This step will reduce their traffic. It won't pull them out of the death spiral they're in it will only make things worse. I'm sad about that, on multiple levels.

[RobertX]

Mr. Invisible Man, if you were referring to my post, I'll tell you that it was not meant to be serious; I was joking around.

Laugh or frown, life goes on.

---

Fail. we're Pirates. Add a Donate button or go fuck themselves.  Been here, seen this,... and it's a slow motion trian wreck.

End of semi-rant

getting invites before any invites were sent out encouraged me to run for the hills. Fucking parasites

You know, I like you. You can curse up a storm and seem like a nice guy afterwards.

I've never been to Demonoid recently, but the last time I was there, it was as good as dead. Now that I have to put up with ads, I'll give it a miss.

[ill88eagle]

Admins of any site can do anything they want. By which I mean it's perfectly legitimate and nobody's business but theirs. But everything that an admin does has consequences. This step will reduce their traffic. It won't pull them out of the death spiral they're in it will only make things worse. I'm sad about that, on multiple levels.

For the sake of argument, when you run a site and it's value is based on user generated content, your legitimacy as supreme admin stands and falls with the decisions you make that have direct consequences for the user base. And it is very much the users business, as they are the admins business. You can criticize google and facebook from here to eternity, but they got big because they understood this.

It's very similar to the whole vote with your wallet thing. And societal contract theory in general.

Anyway, I haven't used demonoid in ages. I never trusted their "comeback". Too many tinfoil hats crying honeypot. Better safe than sorry...

[gcjm]

adblock ain't dumb, it has it's own defence against anti-adblock attacks, the 'adblock warning removal list' filter.

A site's request to detect adblock has to reach your browser to be validated. adblock blocks requests before they reach your browser. Adding this filter makes sure the anti-adblock sites don't even get to know that you use adblock.

As for demonoid, that's one way to double-down on fail.