[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #3752: Sponsor logos in the Sponsors widget get removed by ad blockers

[Making WordPress.org]

#3752: Sponsor logos in the Sponsors widget get removed by ad blockers
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 Reporter:  coreymckrill                |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect                      |      Status:  new
 Priority:  low                         |   Milestone:
Component:  WordCamp Site & Plugins     |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-patch good-first-bug  |
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Comment (by iandunn):

 Here's some previous conversations, for background:

 * https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/meta-wordcamp/p1463501780000432
 * https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/community-team/p1458144700000058
 * https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/community-team/p1438019679000631
 * https://make.wordpress.org/community/2016/06/08/development-update-23rd-
 week-of-2016/ (edited)
 * https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C08M59V3P/p1489004220243086

 The TL;DR is that we tried to get added as an exception for AdBlock, but
 don't meet their criteria. IMO, the sponsor logos ''are'' ads, so it makes
 sense that they'd be blocked.


 Here's a longer quote from one of the above conversations with more
 details:

 > hmmm, i'm not sure we should necessarily change it. it _is_ a sponsor
 logo, and it _is_ an advertisement, so changing the class name to avoid it
 being blocked would really be trying to subvert adblock (and by extension,
 the user's wishes), rather than correcting a mistake that was causing a
 false positive.
 >
 > there's also the issue of backwards compatibility; we can't really
 change the class, since there will be lots of camps with custom css
 targeting it, and a change would break those customizations. (technically,
 we could do it if we also updated all those sites, but i think that'd be
 way more trouble than it's worth).
 >
 > and even if we did change it, there's nothing to stop them from blocking
 the new name in the future. it's not likely that they'd target wordcamps
 specifically, but whatever we choose would have to be semantically
 appropriate, so it'd probably have "sponsor" in there somewhere.
 >
 > what it really comes down to is the user is choosing to run adblock, and
 there are dozens of other extensions they could run to change how they see
 the site, that's just the nature of the web.
 >
 > since it's more of a philosophical decision than a technical one,
 though, ultimately it's not really up to me. the community team meeting
 tomorrow in #community-team would be the best place to get an official
 decision

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/3752#comment:2>
Making WordPress.org <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/>
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