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Ad Block Plus Filter Maintainer "rick752" Dies At 56
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Mon Apr 06, 2009 09:18 AM
from the guy-who-made-the-intertubez-liveable-again dept.
from the guy-who-made-the-intertubez-liveable-again dept.
A user on Reddit pointed out that Richard "rick752" Petnel, maintainer of one of the most popular filter lists for Ad Block Plus, has passed away at age 56. In an article last year Petnel described a bit of what he was up against in the ad world. "'I'm playing against some pretty big players,' he said, explaining his reluctance to step forward. 'I don't want to be harassed. . . . I don't want to be bribed. I started it because I was frustrated with getting my computer infected from ads -- malware and spyware and all that stuff,' he said. 'I kind of went overboard with it. But you have to admit, it's pretty amazing, right?'" Update 15:05 GMT by SM: updated to reflect Rick's status as maintainer of the most popular Ad Block Plus filter as opposed to Ad Block Plus itself.
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erm? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:erm? (Score:5, Informative)
As it turns out - he was a filter maintainer, one of the first, but AdBlock Plus is likely to remain.
AdBlock Plus is one of the best add-ons that has been created for web browsers ever.
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Devil's Advocate (Score:5, Insightful)
Trying to play Devils advocate.
As a user of AdBlock plus myself, I do often wonder how many services that I perceive free have advert revenue behind them. Will we see these services disappear as usage of ad blocking tools continue when they cannot generate enough revenue?
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Re:Devil's Advocate (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Devil's Advocate (Score:4, Insightful)
Interesting question, but the need of adblock tools have originated from the excessive ads that takes over all resources and makes the ads the primary content and the page the secondary content.
If the ads weren't so bad and stressing then the need for adblockers would be small.
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Re:Devil's Advocate (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Devil's Advocate (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes... like stop the jumping jiggling flashing so fucking annoying that I can't actually read the content I went there to read. Personally I have nothing against ads being on the page I'm reading. But when they get annoying because of an extremely high 'look at me I'm annoying as hell' factor, I stop looking at that ad permanently with a filter. It is really a companies own fault if people filter out their advertisements after they hire an ad agency that they seem to think that the only way to sell on the Internet is to create ads that are the equivalent of the late night gizmo pitch men who yell at the top of their lungs with the most annoying voice imaginable. It might be possible that it is the web site owner's fault as well for allowing advertisements that annoy their users too.
If the ad people who seem to think it is important to annoy you in order to make an ad 'work well', would get over that fallacy, people would leave the ads alone. I've seen a lot of very clever ads that have good old fashioned static images. But perhaps now-a-days, clever is being replaced by stupid blunt force trauma on the senses. Too bad, 'cause like grandma used to say, "You attract more flies with honey than with vinegar." I never figured out why she wanted to catch flies anyway.
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Re:erm? (Score:5, Informative)
From http://adblockplus.org/blog/sad-news [adblockplus.org]
"With his work, Rick helped improve the browsing experience for millions of people. And while he will be deeply missed, he built up a strong community that will be able to continue what he started. There are several strong candidates and I expect to announce Rick's successor as EasyList maintainer in the next few days."
So essentially not too much to worry about, but yes that was indeed trollish to care more about yourself rather that the family and friends and publicly ask that question.
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Re:erm? (Score:5, Insightful)
On top of that he asked on a tech site where someone might know, he didn't go up to the guys widow (or mother or whatever) and ask what's going to happen with the project.
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Re:erm? (Score:5, Insightful)
Trollish, No.
The poster brings up a very poignant and VERY on-topic question even if it was tactless. Not all of us have social skills.
If the poster had posted anon THEN I would consider it a troll.
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Re:erm? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, who cares about "social skills" on an online forum for geeks? It's not like his family are going to read it. There's nothing insensitive about it, because the only people who will be offended will be people who didn't even know the guy having mock outrage on his behalf. I'm sorry if I don't want to cater to their imaginary grief.
If Linus died, I would say that sucks, who is going to be the face of the Linux kernel now? I don't know him, a handful of people on here have probably interacted with him on a professional level, but I doubt there are any that would really be effected on a personal level. I'm sure there would be tons eager to proclaim "how dare you talk about the kernel at a time like this" etc. ad nasuem. Fuck that. They don't actually give a crap about the guy who died, in fact they are probably thinking the same question. They have just seized an opportunity to be the high and mighty self-appointed moral police, and to that I say Fuck you. I'd take a troll over you anyday.
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Re:erm? (Score:5, Insightful)
If Linus died, I would say that sucks, who is going to be the face of the Linux kernel now? I don't know him, a handful of people on here have probably interacted with him on a professional level, but I doubt there are any that would really be effected on a personal level. I'm sure there would be tons eager to proclaim "how dare you talk about the kernel at a time like this" etc. ad nasuem. Fuck that. They don't actually give a crap about the guy who died, in fact they are probably thinking the same question. They have just seized an opportunity to be the high and mighty self-appointed moral police, and to that I say Fuck you. I'd take a troll over you anyday.
Agreed.
Yeah, it sucks that Rick died... I'm sure he was loved and his friends and family are in mourning... And I guess I'd rather he hadn't died... But, really, I don't know the guy. Didn't even know his name until this story showed up. I'm supposed to act heartbroken and sympathetic and stuff? Over some guy I never even knew?
People die literally every second of every day. Turn on CNN and you'll see dozens of stories about shootings and disasters and accidents... Am I supposed to just sit around in a permanent state of mourning for all the people who are dying?
A week or two back when Natasha Richardson died in that ski accident they had people calling in, weeping over their loss... Except that they didn't know Natasha. They weren't her friends or family. They were just random people who happened to see her in a movie, or hear her give an interview, or see her at a gathering... They had no real emotional connection to her. Whatever relationship they had, whatever person they thought she was - that was a creation of their own mind, not reality. And they were weeping as if their best friend had just died.
Yes, it sucks that this person is gone. It sucks when most people die. But I didn't know them. I didn't know their friends or their family. I've got absolutely no ties to them at all. The only connection I have to this Rick guy is the fact that I use his filter... So, yeah, I'm concerned about the filter living on.
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Re:erm? (Score:5, Insightful)
So essentially not too much to worry about, but yes that was indeed trollish to care more about yourself rather that the family and friends and publicly ask that question.
I disagree. When someone ties up I-95 with a big deadly car crash, I want to know when they'll re-open I-95, not how everyone is feeling.
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Egotism vs Egoism (Score:5, Insightful)
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This means DONATE. (Score:5, Insightful)
If you liked the software, donate money to his family to help cover funeral costs, or donate money to the charity listed in his obituary, Community Hospice of Albany, as a last tribute to someone whose work you've enjoyed over the years.
Someone else will maintain adblock plus. It could even be you!
...Though it'd be deliciously ironic as a Googler's 20% project.
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Re:erm? (Score:5, Insightful)
how is this a troll?
Because there is no "-1 Classless" mod?
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Re:erm? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not sure it's so goddamn classless. It shows that someone who didn't know the anonymous guy or anything about him still cares about his work. It might be "insensitive" in some situations, but right here and now it's also a display of appreciation. This is Slashdot, not a funeral.
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Re:erm? (Score:5, Funny)
You really should have ended with:
You sensitive clod!
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What can you say. (Score:5, Insightful)
I feel for his family. I use and really like adblock plus but that is trivial compared to what his lose means to his family and friends.
Re:What can you say. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:What can you say. (Score:5, Informative)
Someone else can maintain AdBlock, no one else can be his daughter's father.
Someone else already does maintain Adblock Plus: Wladimir Palant. The summary is incorrect. Rick Petnel maintained the most popular filter list for Adblock, not the addon itself.
That said, it still sucks for his family.
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Rest in peace, Mr. Petnel. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Rest in peace, Mr. Petnel. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Rest in peace, Mr. Petnel. (Score:5, Interesting)
Not to mention as a PC repairman it has really helped me move folks away from the ubercrap that is IE. I would get a call to go out and fix a home user/SOHO/small business and I always carry my flash with me loaded with computer repair utility toolkit [megaupload.com] and portable Firefox [portableapps.com] with Adblock Plus installed. It never seems to fail that I have this conversation:
"Hey, how come I don't see that stupid 'hit the clown and win an iPod ad'?" that is because with Firefox 3 and Adblock Plus I don't have to look at stupid ads anymore. Makes my day nicer and my browser load quicker to boot. "I bet that is expensive and really hard to set up,huh?" Nope, it is absolutely free, no adware or spyware either, and with Adblock Plus I answer a single question and I'm done. It even updates itself so as new ads or Internet bugs come along I don't have to worry. "Uuuhh, since you are here anyway, do you think you could install that to MY machine?"
I can't count how many times I have had that conversation. I even managed to get my Luddite 67 year old dad to get off IE. Trying to sell folks security is like trying to sell them air. They know they need it but actually getting them to grasp it is NOT easy. Thanks to Adblock Plus getting them switched to a more secure browser is simple as 1-2-3. 1-Let them see me using FF3 with Adblock Plus. 2-Tell them it is free and easy when asked 3-Install FF3 and Adblock Plus when requested by the user(which they always do). So my heart goes out to their family. Guys like Rick have done more to spread FOSS than any bullet pointed list about security ever could. Thanks to Adblock Plus the web is what I WANT it to be, not what some damned irritating advertiser makes it into. He really was one of the unsung heroes of FOSS because by maintaining the Adblock Plus list he made FF3 an easy sell to every IE user I've come in contact with.
And for those that suggested a HOSTS file, aka the Cheap Opera hack? That is NOT easy, in fact for the average home user maintaining a HOSTS file is strange and difficult. With FF3 and Adblock Plus they don't have to do ANYTHING, as the software does it all for them. Can't get much simpler than that.
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Re:Rest in peace, Mr. Petnel. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Rest in peace, Mr. Petnel. (Score:5, Insightful)
Without advertising you often have to either charge for access to your website, or rake in donations. You are being very naive with your assumptions.
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Love the product (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Love the product (Score:5, Funny)
How do you know there are no ads in Heaven?
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Re:Love the product (Score:4, Funny)
.... uhm because you know the marketing types all go to hell.
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Re:Love the product (Score:5, Insightful)
.. because there's no heaven ?
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The announcement on the EasyList forum (Score:5, Informative)
Some details... (Score:5, Informative)
From that post:
It's with great sadness that have to announce the passing of a good friend and our EasyList author, Rick752. Rick had suffered a stroke on St Patrick' Day, and I was just informed that Rick had passed away last evening. During this short period, while hospitalized, Rick had his family very close by his side. There was some able communication and awareness between Rick and his family before his passing and although given this short period to "prepare" for the inevitable, this news (as with any of this type) is still quite shocking and difficult to accept.
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Donations (Score:5, Informative)
Donations made to:
Community Hospice of Albany
445 New Karner Rd.
Albany, NY 12205
Condolences.. and kudos (Score:5, Interesting)
First and foremost, condolences to the family.
Second, Rich, thanks for a powerful plugin that I'm sure has kept my blood pressure down a few notches. Whenever I use a browser that doesn't have adBlock installed I am aghast at the irritating clutter that is on most web pages.
AdBlock Plus still maintained by Wladimir Palant (Score:5, Informative)
Though it's sad that the maintainer of one of AdBlock Plus' block lists (the "EasyList") died he still wasn't the maintainer of AdBlock Plus itself.
That's still Wladimir Palant, as can be easily seen here [adblockplus.org].
Somehow I imagine... (Score:4, Insightful)
...some kind of Internet-equivalent of a statue built for him, and the creator(s) of the original AdBlock (of whose I can't even find the names :/).
Without this little extension, the Internet would be unusable for me, and many, many other people.
Any suggestions besides making AdBlock Plus a community project and maybe even integrate it into Firefox itself? (After all, I don't know a more important extension. If I would have to choose between having tabs and having ads blocked, I'd always choose the ad blocker.)
AdBlock (Score:5, Insightful)
He made the world a little bit better for a whole lot of people, quietly and effectively. There's almost no higher purpose in life.
Re:AdBlock (Score:5, Informative)
If only this could be modded higher than 5
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No tears shed for intrusive advertising (Score:5, Insightful)
I read the article associated and all I heard from the content owners' side was "If you block our ads, we lose revenue!" It seems to me that if websites stopped using more and more intrusive ad techniques that people would be less likely to want to use ad-blockers. You already know your customers hate pop-ups, so the ads get blocked. Your answer is to use pop-unders instead, trying to circumvent the wishes of your target customer. You know they block half the ads on your site, so you double the ads and spread the content out over twice as many pages. Again, your customer has already told you what they want, but you insist that you know better.
Seriously, I'm getting tired of website owners and advertisers continuing to whine about how we won't let them bug us. If you want me to look at your ads, stop making them annoy me so much! Stop using blinking, flashing banners (too bad the BLINK tag didn't take you with it when that died), stop using javascript banners that are as likely to infect my computer as not. Stop trying to "bundle" your adware with anything I want to install.
If you make your ads play nice with me, I'll stop using ad-blocker software. I'll look at your ads and I might even buy something from them.
This does underscore one flaw in OSS (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm a big fan of both this project and the Open Source movement in general, but this does show off one major flaw in the system. Just like the proverbial bus that is so widely feared and runs down IT folks everywhere, many projects are small and while there may be many contributors there is one main person whom without the project would fail. When that person meets that proverbial bus, in an instant a widely used and relied upon piece of software can become dead as well. That's a major problem.
If things were truly born of chaos like we seem to think, these things would have no impact... but there is still a major underlying structure and hierarchy to this "chaos" and it is quite fragile.
The biggest barrier is ego, quickly followed by celebrity. It is hard for the creator of some neat widget to give up total control and truly step back and just share the success with those who hopped onto "their" project after the fact, but that is what needs to happen. There should never be less than two individuals at every level of a serious project, and both need to be fully competent... but that is not the case, even in very large projects.
* Oh, and give up on bashing the people who are concerned about what this means as to updates/life of the project... none of us were his good friend and the question is not callous or insensitive.
Re:This does underscore one flaw in OSS (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm a big fan of both this project and the Open Source movement in general, but this does show off one major flaw in the system.
No, it really doesn't, there has already been an announcement that several maintainers are in the running and one will be announced shortly. This will probably not affect anyone who doesn't know the guy personally at all. Nothing to see here from a technical, use perspective.
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"Turned Off"..... (Score:4, Insightful)
FTFA:
"Just imagine, they argue, what television programs would be available if there were no commercials to fund their production. "
-TV show funding comes from the corporations that provide the financial backing from a variety of sources, not just advertising. Plus, the advertising products through ads isn't the only way companies let people know about their products. I can go to several sites and look to see what's new and available. You can use many ways of finding out about products on the Internet at anytime. On TV, you can only watch either the program or the advertisements at any one time. You can change the channel, but you will be watching something other than what you wanted to watch in the first place.
Advertisers should take note: If someone creates a way to NOT look at ads, and the means of blocking the ads are being adopted by more and more users, then that is a *VERY* strong sign that people do not want to see the ads. If people are blocking the ads, then advertisers should understand that whether they show the ads or not, people are most likely NOT going to buy the product or service being advertised. Companies will save money by not wasting it on advertising products that are not going to be bought, and consumers will go to places where they can voluntarily look for a product or service on their own, without having an ad shoved in their face.
People are most likely going to buy things when they need or want them, and when they do, they'll go looking for them. When you walk up to someone and constantly try to sell them something that they weren't looking for in the first place (think TRADE SHOWS), you'll definitely piss them off to some degree and they probably won't but it. Ever get annoyed by people begging for a handout outside a business's doors? That's exactly what ad companies are doing, except advertising on the internet it the equivalent of following you throughout the store and continually giving you sales pitches the entire time you're there. Whiny kids are bad enough, but a salesman attached to your back like a remora is even worse.
Anyways, maybe less TV shows for people to watch would mean more people going outside and having some good, old-fashioned fun as a source of enjoyment.
Re:first post! (Score:5, Funny)
Naw, ya gotta go classy. Discount caskets aren't classy. Now a Folger's coffee can and scattering the ashes when the wind is in your face.... that's classy ;)
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Re:Ditch MS Windows and set up an IP filter list (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been using adblock plus for years now, and I can count the times I needed to disable it or allow something through it because a item or site I wanted to use wasn't working.
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Re:Ditch MS Windows and set up an IP filter list (Score:5, Informative)
So you click the big stop sign and then click "Disable on Hulu.com". You are seriously arguing that this is a problem?
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Re:RIP (Score:5, Informative)
He had a stroke about two weeks ago:
http://forums.lanik.us/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3366 [lanik.us]
"Rick had suffered a stroke on St Patrick' Day"
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Re:I'd like a few things cleared up (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:I'd like a few things cleared up (Score:4, Informative)
What is the difference between Ad Block and Ad Block Plus?
Adblock Plus is faster, has more powerful filtering rules, and has a cleaner subscription mechanism. There is no reason to use the original Adblock any more. Go with ABP.
Do I need to get blacklists elsewhere or are they included in the above-mentioned extensions?
You do not need to manually download any blacklists. ABP supports subscribing to remote blacklists, which it will automatically update itself from. It will automatically suggest a few lists to subscribe to when you first install it.
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Re:So young... (Score:5, Insightful)
One day, you'll have kids. Then come back and read this comment :)
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Re:i'm not usually the tin foil hat kind of person (Score:4, Insightful)
Everybody who knows Rick doesn't view ads, and doesn't contribute to Google's income.
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