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[imoldernu]

Driving me crazy. Almost every website clouds the item I'm interested in with video. and so many side, top, overlay , pop-up and blocking ads that... well...

Anyway... the solution is the free to download Mercury Reader. Not only does it present a clear ad-free easy to read age, but surprisingly, for those websites that are "Pay"... and show the first few words of the article ... then require you to sign up in order to read the rest... yeah... for those sites, if you click right away, you can read the article you signed on for in the first place.

I don't mind paying my fair share, but signing up for a month to month or yearly contract.... for all of the sites I visit, would cost me more money than my food budget. My conscience is clear. the app/program is free, and as far as I can tell, legal.

I'm quite sure I'm not the only ER member who uses this great browsing help... but for those who haven't tried it, give it a whirl. I think that even if you've used Readability, you'll be pleased with the speed and clearness if this program.

Good luck and happy browsing.

 

[Aerides]

For me the solution is

A) adblock is your friend

B) I don't use sites that push ads and vids to make me see content. 99% of the time it means the content is clickbait and non-value, and not worth the bother. Actual news I can get from far better sources, and other quality stuff I either subscribe to or stay with trusted sites. Anywhere that pushes pop ups, videos, overlays? Nope, the bounty underneath is never worth it.

C) if I really want to read something at an occasional quality source that I don't subscribe to, I use incognito mode.

 

[zinger1457]

I'm noticing more and more web sites monitor if you're using an ad blocker, some make it optional and ask you to turn it off, some won't let you proceed until you turn it off.

 

[easysurfer]

I use uBlock Origin as my pop up blocker. If sites require me to subscribe or nag like flag my popup blocker with a warning, I don't continue (unless I really really need to read that article) and move on to a site that is more friendly.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I don't mind ads (other than the spam ads that steal your browser, as happens occasionally and you have to close everything down, of course )--I don't think people should work for free.

 

[easysurfer]

For me, a lot has to do with time. I don't want to have to register to a site just to read one article. That can be quite time consuming.

 

[Bir48die]

For me the solution is

A) adblock is your friend

B) I don't use sites that push ads and vids to make me see content. 99% of the time it means the content is clickbait and non-value, and not worth the bother. Actual news I can get from far better sources, and other quality stuff I either subscribe to or stay with trusted sites. Anywhere that pushes pop ups, videos, overlays? Nope, the bounty underneath is never worth it.

C) if I really want to read something at an occasional quality source that I don't subscribe to, I use incognito mode.

+100

 

[Jerry1]

When that happens, I enter the site through incognito mode. Not failsafe, but at least I don’t have to see ads that seem like they know me based on my browsing history.

 

[imoldernu]

We all know what we know...
Has anyone tried the Mercury Reader?

 

[scrabbler1]

The ones which bug me are the websites I am already paying for, even indirectly (i.e. my internet service provider, Optimum, owns a local cable TV news station), which have annoying popups and popovers to disrupt my browsing. I mean, I have to pay THEM to throw these annoying popover ads at me which slow my ability to navigate their website?

 

[CaptTom]

I don't mind ads...--I don't think people should work for free.

I don't mind ads either. But I don't think "people" should use my network bandwidth to send me gigabytes of unwanted video, or auto-play things I don't want to see on my screen.

Since the browsers won't give me a way to block auto-play video, or flashing, obnoxious ads which distract me or take up too much screen real estate, I'm forced to install extensions which do so. If that means unobtrusive, legitimate ads are blocked too, that's not my fault.

My conscience is clear.

Side note: I've yet to talk to anyone outside a web development or marketing role who thinks this "pivot to video" is a good thing.

Anyone here prefer having a talking head read you a story, rather than reading it yourself?

Has anyone tried the Mercury Reader?

I just learned about it here, and installed it. It certainly does what it says. I like that I get to choose when I want to click on it and activate "reader" mode. Hopefully that means it isn't always running and slowing down my browsing.