Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Ad blockers
Raised as a usability problem by 41 people on Hacker News over 17 years (2010–2026), in 40 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Some ad blockers make certain sites almost unusableUnreviewed
20102026- Many sites break when an ad blocker is running, forcing users to disable it2026-03-03
- Ad blockers leave some sites unscrollable, forcing manual developer-tools fixes2026-03-03
- Ad blockers are hard for non-techies to set up, especially on iPhones2024-12-10
Login silently fails with ad blocker on, with no explanationUnreviewed
20102026- Login silently fails when an ad blocker is enabled, with no explanation2021-12-10
- Ad blockers silently break apps, leaving users unable to use core features without knowing why2018-10-16
- Ad blocker breaks bank site, forcing user to disable it to see balance2018-01-02
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 40 complaints
- Many sites break when an ad blocker is running, forcing users to disable it2026-03-03
- Ad blockers leave some sites unscrollable, forcing manual developer-tools fixes2026-03-03
- Fake popup blocks page viewing when an ad blocker is active2026-01-11
- Websites become unusable when ads load and overlay the whole page2025-02-14
- Ad blockers are hard for non-techies to set up, especially on iPhones2024-12-10
- Has to disable the ad blocker on most sites just to access them2024-09-09
- Ad blocker runs so slowly on the machine it's painful2024-03-17
- Ad blocking breaks some websites, and users must diagnose the cause and disable blocking manually2023-11-23
- Most of the internet is almost unusable without ad blockers2023-11-23
- Mobile ad blocking is tricky: app choice is iffy and system webview stays unfiltered2023-09-25
- Full-page adblock prompt blocks reading the article entirely2023-09-09
- Login silently fails when an ad blocker is enabled, with no explanation2021-12-10
- Some ad blockers make certain sites almost unusable2021-09-23
- Ad blockers leave some sites stuck without a scroll bar2021-08-25
- Blocking ads on mobile is much harder than on desktop2020-11-26
- Pages block content until the blocker is disabled, costing more time than it saves2020-11-12
- Hosts-file ad blocking breaks websites, such as commenting on Reddit2020-01-21
- Adblocker makes page loads noticeably slower, with a delay after clicking2019-10-12
- Websites break in non-obvious ways, forcing users to disable the blocker to log in2019-09-05
- Hard for non-tech users to set up, and it randomly breaks sites and needs constant attention2019-04-14
- Blank pages or endless spinners after entering card details, unsure if charged2018-10-25
- Ad blockers silently break apps, leaving users unable to use core features without knowing why2018-10-16
- Some sites became literally unusable because of ad-related redirects2018-05-05
- Ad blockers block page sections and disable contact form JavaScript, confusing users2018-04-13
- Ad blocker breaks bank site, forcing user to disable it to see balance2018-01-02
- Managing blacklists is too much work or too difficult for most people2017-02-07
- The web was simply unusable without an ad blocker2016-11-21
- Ad blockers randomly break websites' functionality, and developers cannot reliably test against them2016-10-20
- Text squeezed into a narrow column on phone, wrapping mid-word2016-03-20
- Article blocked when adblocker is enabled; must hide popup manually2016-02-03
- Without ad blocking, websites are hard to read and load slowly2015-09-09
- Without an ad blocker, the web is basically unusable due to ads2015-07-28
- Some pages won't load at all until the browser is restarted2015-06-11
- Blocks non-annoying direct-sold ads because they match size or class name rules2015-04-22
- No way to turn the blocker off, so urgent work sites stay blocked2014-12-07
- Manually blocking each annoying ad means combing through a long list, which is tedious2014-01-18
- Affiliate purchase links get blocked as ad clicks, stopping purchases2012-11-10
- Ads shift page layout, so familiar modules move and content falls below the fold2011-12-12
- Pages hang while waiting on responses from ad servers2011-11-27
- User can't figure out how to whitelist specific ads2010-12-03