Gmail. Really?
by Mike on Apr.23, 2009, under Computer, Irritated, Technology
So… I use Gmail as a catch-all account for all of my email and I use the web interface because Outlook doesn’t handle the IMAP so well. I also use Gmail Redesigned, which gives the web interface a cool face lift. To complete my web ensemble, I use AdBlock Plus to keep my web experience focused on what I am working on and not the ads.
So I logged into my Gmail account a few minutes ago, and what do I find in the message page, but a bar full of ads. My natural instinct is to zap the div container with Ad Block, so I do. This confuses me, as this is the first time I have ever seen them since I initially zapped them after installing AdBlock. I laugh to myself over my victory and proceed to continue reading my messages. As I open the next message, I am shocked to find another column of ads plaguing my window. So again I adblock the area. For good measure, I reopen the message. Ads. Again!
It seems as if Gmail is randomly naming the div container to prevent AdBlock from blacklisting the ad’s container. This is a low blow, and while genius from a company and coding standpoint, is beyond irritating for me as a user. I will keep trying to de-crap the experience as best as possible, but this is really going to irritate me. Keep it up Google and you just might lose another user.
April 23rd, 2009 on 8:21 pm
Firstly, let’s put this into proper context: Google’s ads are not at all bad, in fact they really do not create any annoyance whatsoever. I love Google for that, they popularized plain text ads when websites were running large flashy animated GIF banners announcing that you were the one millionth visitor and you were entitled to a cash prize (unfortunately, some sites still do this). Even better, the ads are all styled to blend in well with the page, so they wouldn’t draw your attention if you were trying to do something else. If you’re irritated enough by a list of unobtrusive links to stop using a vastly superior service altogether, then I think your irritation meter needs a new battery
With that said, if you’re manually blocking DIVs with AdBlock, you need to refine your methods
. AdBlock Plus will let you automatically stay in sync with a filter subscription, so I’d recommend you subscribe to Easy List. I do, and I get no ads in Gmail. It does more advanced Regex matching and other stuffs that I don’t care enough to look into 
Or you can also just add this rule:
.googleadservices.$~stylesheet
Problem solved