What’s the harm in using an ad blocker?

In a nutshell, it undermines the way we fund our journalism. We think local journalism is important and we hope you do too. We’re able to pay for it by attracting advertisers and if we can’t show people like you the adverts, we can’t pay for the journalism and there wouldn’t be any articles to read – everyone loses.

But the reason I use an ad-blocker is for some of the other sites I visit, can I just turn it off for your one?

Yes. Click here for instructions.

I have disabled / removed my ad blocker / never had an ad blocker installed, but I am seeing the message - what is going on?!

We are very sorry, this should not be happening, please let us know by sending an email to techsupport@newsquestdigital.co.uk. It would help if you told us what browser you are running, (This site will give you the exact version number - https://whatismybrowser.com/), which ad blocker you were using, (if any) and if you have a firewall installed. There are some instances where a firewall or proxy settings can fool our site into thinking there is an ad blocker running, we are working hard to resolve this.

But it’s the internet! It should all be freely available with no strings attached!

It would be great if it could be like that, but is it really reasonable to expect people to work hard and then not be paid for it? Would you do it?

But there are just too many ads and it means the page takes ages to load.

We know there’s a balance to be struck and we absolutely don’t want adverts to get in the way of you being able to read our articles. If you think that specific types of adverts are doing that then let us know and we’ll take a look. We actively review how we display our adverts and we’re very focussed on making sure you get the best possible experience.

I don’t like the way some ads seem to know something about me, that’s why I use ad-blockers.

There’s nothing sinister about this or any reason to be worried. Surveys show that most people much prefer to have relevant advertising placed in front of them. It’s no different from a mailshot addressed to you landing on your doormat except that it’s helping fund local journalism.

Would you be willing to take the ads off completely if I paid you?

That’s something which we’re keeping under review.


OK, you’ve convinced me - but how do I turn off my ad-blocker for just your site?

The following instructions relate to many (but not all) ad blockers. This list focuses on the most popular tools.

Chrome Browser

AdBlock Plus

Figure 1

(fig 1)

To disable the AdBlock extension for this domain:

  1. Click on the ABP icon in the browser header AdBlock Plus icon
  2. Click on the option entitled "Enabled on this site" (fig 1)
Figure 2

(fig 2)

  1. It should now read "Disabled on this site" and the browser icon will become greyed out. The "Block element" option will also disappear from the list
  2. You can also manually add a domain by clicking on Options (this opens a new browser tab) (fig 2)
  3. Click on the "Whitelisted domains" tab > enter the domain and hit the "Add domain" button (fig 3)
Figure 3

(fig 3)


Figure 4

(fig 4)

To disable or delete Adblock Plus:

  1. Click on the options menu in the top right of your Chrome browser > select "Settings" (fig 4)
  2. Click on "Extensions" in the left navigation
  3. Locate Adblock Plus in the list
  4. Untick the "Enabled" option or click the bin icon to delete the extension (fig 5)
Figure 5

(fig 5)


AdBlock

Figure 6

(fig 6)

To pause the AdBlock extension:

  1. Click on the AdBlock icon in the browser header AdBlock icon (fig 6)
  2. Select "Pause AdBlock"

To disable the AdBlock extension for this domain:

  1. Click on the AdBlock icon in the browser header AdBlock icon (fig 6)
  2. Select "Don’t run on pages on this domain"
Figure 7

(fig 7)

To disable or delete AdBlock:

  1. Click on the options menu in the top right of your Chrome browser > select "Settings" (fig 7)
  2. Click on "Extensions" in the left navigation
  3. Locate AdBlock in the list
  4. Untick the "Enabled" option or click the bin icon to delete the extension (fig 8)
Figure 8

(fig 8)


Firefox Browser

AdBlock Plus

Figure 9

(fig 9)

To disable Adblock Plus for our site in Firefox:

  1. Click on the ABP icon in the browser header AdBlock Plus icon
  2. Click on the option entitled "Disable on domain-name" (fig 9)
  3. A tick will appear beside this option and the browser icon will become greyed out
Figure 10

(fig 10)

To disable Adblock Plus everywhere in Firefox:

  1. Click on the ABP icon in the browser header AdBlock Plus icon
  2. Click on the option entitled "Disable everywhere" (fig 10)
  3. A tick will appear beside this option and the browser icon will become greyed out

To uninstall Adblock Plus:

  1. Click on the browser options icon
  2. Choose Add-ons
  3. Select "Remove" beside Adblock Plus

Adguard

Figure 11

(fig 11)

To disable Adguard for our site in Firefox:

  1. Click on the Adguard icon in the browser header Adguard icon
  2. Click on the checkbox beside the "Protection on this website" to disable it for this website (fig 11)
  3. An "X" will appear to denote that Adguard is now disabled for this site

To disable Adguard for all sites in Firefox:

  1. Click on the Adguard icon in the browser header Adguard icon
  2. Click on "Pause Adguard Protection" (fig 11)

To uninstall Adguard:

  1. Click on the browser options icon
  2. Choose Add-ons
  3. Select "Remove" beside Adguard

AdBlock Lite

Figure 12

(fig 12)

To disable AdBlock Lite for our site in Firefox:

  1. Click on the icon in the browser AdBlock Lite icon
  2. Enter the website URL in the text area (fig 12)
  3. Click "+"

To disable AdBlock Lite for all sites:

  1. Click on the icon in the browser AdBlock Lite icon
  2. Click the "ON" button to toggle it to the "OFF" state
  3. AdBlock Lite will be disabled and the icon will become greyed out

To uninstall AdBlock Lite:

  1. Click on the browser options icon
  2. Choose Add-ons
  3. Select "Remove" beside AdBlock Lite

Firewall Lite

Figure 13

(fig 13)

To disable Firewall Lite for this website:

  1. Click on the icon in the browser header Firewall Lite icon
  2. Enter the website URL in the text area (fig 13)
  3. Click "+"

To disable Firewall Lite:

  1. Click on the icon in the browser header Firewall Lite icon
  2. Select the "Enabled" button to toggle it off (fig 13)
  3. It will now say "Disabled"

To uninstall Firewall Lite:

  1. Click on the browser options icon
  2. Choose Add-ons
  3. Select "Remove" beside Firewall Lite

Internet Explorer Browser

AdBlock Plus

To disable:

  1. Click on the tools icon in the browser header AdBlock Plus icon
  2. Open "Internet Options"
  3. Click on the "Programs" tab > Manage add-ons
  4. Locate "Adblock Plus for IE Browser Helper Object" (fig 14)
  5. Hit the "Disable" button
Figure 14

(fig 14)

To uninstall Adblock Plus:

  1. Go to add/remove programs (Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features)
  2. Locate Adblock Plus for IE (fig 15)
Figure 15

(fig 15)