I guess it had to happen sooner or later. When I went to access Flightsim.to this morning, I got the message that I could no longer access the site unless I turned off my ad blocker. The problem is, I don't use an ad blocker, I use Malwarebytes Browser Guard. And Browser Guard doesn't block ads per se, it blocks, "malware, scams, phishing and trackers". I take this to mean that Flightsim.to doesn't want to merely display adds, it also wants to install tracking cookies in my pc to monitor my browsing habits. And that I draw the line at. I also very much dislike financial blackmail, which I take this to be. If they want to run a voluntary donation drive, then I would be more than happy to contribute.

So, I would kindly request all those talented people who freely upload their addons and products to Flightsim.to to also use the new guaranteed forever free site Hangar Addons at https://hangaraddons.com/ I won't be visiting Flightsim.to any longer.

Sorry for the rant everyone, and maybe it's something we all should get used to and just bow our heads, but as said this kind of thing makes my blood boil.

A few people here recommended uBlock Origin light for Chrome. I've been using it for awhile now and have not had a single problem (and fs dot to works just fine too).

I just went to the site and I use Adblocker+ with no problems.

Ditto. Every once in a while they flash up 'Make you feel guilty' message. "Continue without supporting us". I reckon I've supported them quite enough.

Your using the wrong blocker, as mentioned above use ABP (AdBlock Plus) and uBlock both enabled.

If you go to a other sites and something seems strange and won't load its more then likely because of uBlock just have the icon enabled in the toolbar and you can enable/disable it quickly and reload that page.

I have used this combo for years with out any issues, it works perfectly on fsto.

Edited September 16Sep 16 by eagle FMJ

Thanks for the suggestions. I cleared all cookies associated with FSto, then added UBlock Origins Lite, and turned off Browser Guard, and that allowed me to get back in to FSto without problem and pop ups. I then turned Browser Guard back on, and now no problems (I like Malwarebytes and their Browser Guard) .

But I still have a sour taste in my mouth about this, and I stand by what I said before:

I would kindly request all those talented people who freely upload their addons and products to Flightsim.to to also use the new guaranteed forever free site Hangar Addons at https://hangaraddons.com/

Lest we forget, it can be dangerous to have all the flightsim addons in one basket, as we saw with the AVsim Library disaster of a decade ago.

Thanks all.

I'll chime in here. I use AdBlock Plus. On Flightsim TO I got tired of repeatedly answer the "no support" prompt. I reluctantly switched Adblock Plus off for the site and refreshed. That was over two weeks ago. With AB+ off I have not seen one popup add since.

The ads I do see (image below) are few and are located within the matrix of addons available to download. In the world of obnoxious popups, I consider this unabusive.

I do not pay TO subscription fees, so this as it is presently seems fair to allow them a source of revenue. I have literally hundreds of freeware addon airports, mostly GA airports that will not be rendered by payware developers. This to me is a small price to pay for all of those, plus other addons such as liveries, sim tools and mods, etc.

Edited September 16Sep 16 by fppilot

Having more than one site is great, but ultimately it becomes an endless loop. Site A starts up doing something well, gets bigger and bigger, monetizes more, Site B pops up offering to do it better, gets bigger, etc. It happens all over IT.

There's actually a term for it I probably can't type, but something like en-poop-ification. It isn't just a joke, but an actual problem where as things get bigger they tend to get worse for consumers.

Again, not preaching against an alternate site. I registered there and will check it out. I'm just saying, the cycle will keep going. One site will "win", get worse, etc.

As others have said, I get the occasional "Please disable your Popup blocker" message, but it let's me click on the emotionally-charged "Continue without supporting us" message. 😊

Any site that is asking people to turn off their ad blocker, has the wrong revenue strategy.

I've paid for 6 or 7 one month subs on FS.TO. But no, I won't disable my ad-blocker and drag my experience down into the internet gutter, thank you.

Firefox with uBlock Origin and no issues. And start supporting...

https://hangaraddons.com/

Edited September 16Sep 16 by udidwht

4 hours ago, kerosene31 said:

There's actually a term for it I probably can't type, but something like en-poop-ification. It isn't just a joke, but an actual problem where as things get bigger they tend to get worse for consumers.

I don't even think this is a result of the word you alluded to, since the change isn't deliberate... Bandwidth and storage isn't free, and what was once somebody's hobby ends up becoming a full-time job. The site admins get more desperate to not only get the site to pay for itself but also to make money to reimburse their own time spent maintaining the site. It's also likely they spent a good chunk of their own money creating and maintaining the site before it was popular enough to survive off ad revenue alone.

When the company behind the product goes public (or is trying to go public) and has shareholders to bribe... that is when things really go down the toilet, as the goal becomes extracting as much profit out of the product as possible. FS.to doesn't seem to be resorting to full greed mode, but only the site admins know the financial situation they're in.

Competition is good though, and I hope hangar addons can keep up once their site becomes popular and hosting costs start going through the roof.

Logged in with no problem. Using uBlock origin lite.

13 hours ago, BBCM said:

I guess it had to happen sooner or later. When I went to access Flightsim.to this morning, I got the message that I could no longer access the site unless I turned off my ad blocker. The problem is, I don't use an ad blocker, I use Malwarebytes Browser Guard. And Browser Guard doesn't block ads per se, it blocks, "malware, scams, phishing and trackers". I take this to mean that Flightsim.to doesn't want to merely display adds, it also wants to install tracking cookies in my pc to monitor my browsing habits. And that I draw the line at. I also very much dislike financial blackmail, which I take this to be. If they want to run a voluntary donation drive, then I would be more than happy to contribute.

So, I would kindly request all those talented people who freely upload their addons and products to Flightsim.to to also use the new guaranteed forever free site Hangar Addons at https://hangaraddons.com/ I won't be visiting Flightsim.to any longer.

Sorry for the rant everyone, and maybe it's something we all should get used to and just bow our heads, but as said this kind of thing makes my blood boil.

no issues at my end and i use malware as well and it turned on as well

Just adding my two-cents to the discussion as a (real) amateur developer with 30+ freeware hosted on flightsim.to representing something like 500k downloads globally. I'm lucky to have the Creator status on flightsim.to from the early beginning. Among more than a hundred. As far as I understand the Creator program has some strong requirements, not easy to achieve or get these days. So, I'm fortunate to have a free Premium access, store coupons, discount on the product store and a monthly reward pool (few bucks based on my activity and contributions). It's a small part of the reason, for now, I'm staying with them.

Edited September 17Sep 17 by vbazillio

I seem to be ok on dot To and I'm using Adblock plus 4.44.0

I like the sound of the other addons site though

Edited September 17Sep 17 by Max Kraus