News sites say I am ad-blocking, and want to charge me a paywall unless I remove it. I have tried to follow their instructions and can't get it done.
For instance this morning, National Post says I've looked at one free page with ad-blocking, and I'll be limited unless I subscribe or disable ad-blocking. I would disable ad-blocking but I have been unable to figure out how to do it, even following their instructions. Their instructions (which are typical of sites who give this notification) are:
"If you are using Firefox Private Browsing with Tracking Protection, a shield icon is displayed to the left of the Firefox address bar. Tracking Protection blocks ads from being displayed.
1. Click the shield icon to the left of the address bar. 2. Select Disable protection for this session. 3. Click Done below to close this window and refresh the page. "
When I go to Firefox, I don't find what they're talking about. I did find the shield, but I didn't see Disable protection. Under Options/Browser Privacy, I see Content Blocking, but that only addresses Trackers and Third-party Cookies. Under Permissions, I have Block Pop-Up Windows selected, and wonder if that's what I need to disable. Under Security, there are three categories, none of which seem wise to disable. I just don't see options that match the instructions. And I don't see a "refresh" button for saving my changes. How do I get this done? Thanks.
الحل المُختار
In the screenshot below : if that is what you are seeing - you can either click on the yellow 'Allow ads' button or the closing X ......
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Hello KingAlexander,
You say that you do see that shield icon - when you click on it
you will get a dropdown, and there you should see :
"Disable Blocking For This Site " .......
If not addons then your security software is doing the blocking then. There is more than one way it can happen.
The only shield-like thing I see when looking at the site is the "pocket" icon. I saw the shield when I opened Firefox in a separate tab for settings. I don't know what just happened, but now I'm seeing the article without the message-- I'm still not seeing any ads, just white on both sides. The message comes frequently with various different sites, and I would like to support news sources, preferably by allowing their ads if I can rather than by subscribing. Thank you for responding. I'll continue trying to figure it out when it happens again, which I trust it will.
So what is the actual link that your using then?
This: about:preferences#privacy -- found in the drop-down menu at the top right of my screen in the icon that is a stack of four horizontal lines. When I click there I see as the second item the proper shield with "Content Blocking" out to the right.
I should add that I am the rankest sort of button-pusher, but you probably already gathered that.
If you can't provide the link to the site news that is giving you that error this makes it even harder for others to see what is going on.
The link to the news site? It was this one: https://nationalpost.com/ But the same things happens with any number of them: New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Daily Caller, to name a few. It's always the same thing: "We see you're blocking ads." They ask me to allow ads to support their efforts. Some will charge if I don't, others not, but all prefer I allow the ads, and I don't mind. Then they walk me through the supposed steps to allow the ads, referring first to a red stop sign logo, but that doesn't apply to Firefox. With Firefox, they refer me to the shield. And finding that, I still don't see how to unblock ads, and frankly I don't recall ever selecting ad-blocking in the first place. Thanks for your efforts to help me with this.
McCoy said
You say that you do see that shield icon - when you click on it
you will get a dropdown, and there you should see : "Disable Blocking For This Site " .......
Dear KingAlexander, I know that it's a lot to take in and quite confusing, but would you please click on that "Disable Blocking For This Site" ?
Maybe this article will explain why :
الحل المُختار
In the screenshot below : if that is what you are seeing - you can either click on the yellow 'Allow ads' button or the closing X ......
When I click on that, it isn't automatic. It gives me another window with instructions to find and click the red octagon which is the Adblock Plus icon. I don't see that anywhere. It says if I don't see that, click this other link that says _Don't see the red octagon?_ When I click that it gives me a drop-down menu titled _Which of these are you using?_ There I have selected Firefox Private Browsing (icon: purple square containing white cat-eye face mask) not that I really know that I'm using that specifically, I just know that I'm using Mozilla Firefox browser. That says this: If you are using Firefox Private Browsing with Tracking Protection, a shield icon is displayed to the left of the Firefox address bar. Tracking Protection blocks ads from being displayed.
Click the shield icon to the left of the address bar. Select Disable protection for this session. Click Done below to close this window and refresh the page.
I get to the shield icon labeled "Content Blocking" from the top right menu (four horizontal lines). When I open that, I am presented with a lot of choices for different things, but I don't see an option that says "Disable protection for this session." I've done trial and error on different things, unsuccessfully so far.
Yes, I get those same instructions - but you can just ignore them and follow my advice .....
Right, I can get past their message. I was trying to accommodate their wishes rather than just continue to freeload, but at this point I feel like I've made more than an honest effort. Thanks again.