Petnel, Richard J. ALBANY Richard "Rick" J. Petnel, 56, passed away Friday, April 3, 2009 at St. Peter's Hospice Inn after a brief illness. Rick was born in Lansingburgh, N.Y., July 3, 1952, the son of the late Joseph and Marion Petnel. He has been a lifelong resident of the Capital District, residing in Colonie for the last 15 years. He was a machinist for MTI out of Albany for 19 years. Rick aka "Rick 752" was also very active and well known in the internet world. He spent a great deal of time maintaining the web page "Ad Block Plus" and was featured in a Washington Post article in connection with the same.
Obituary
A machinist and self-described "blue-collar guy" in his mid-50s from upstate New York, Rick752, as he's known online, spends most nights upstairs in his den assembling a list of Internet ad sites and related data. That work, dubbed EasyList, enables millions of Web surfers to filter and freeze out nearly all advertising that would otherwise appear on their screens.
Yet the effort to block millions of Internet ads, while drawing raves from users, is feared by some who say that if it continues to grow in popularity, it could threaten the financial underpinnings of much of the Web, where publishers are largely dependent on advertising. Rick, who said he receives no money for his work, agreed to talk only if his full name was withheld.
"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?"
Washington Post
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Adblock Plus EasyList author "Rick 752" dies
Started by
Guest_scaramonga_*
, Apr 06 2009 07:47 PM
7 replies to this topic
#1 Guest_scaramonga_*
Posted 06 April 2009 - 07:47 PM
#2
Posted 06 April 2009 - 11:08 PM
best wishes go out to his family and friends. he will be sorely missed
#3
Posted 06 April 2009 - 11:49 PM
ditto that MO
#4
Posted 07 April 2009 - 02:25 AM
He made the internet better. Few can claim as much.
#5
Posted 07 April 2009 - 06:17 AM
RIP...how many can say that they tried (and succeeded) with something like that?
#6
Posted 08 April 2009 - 12:26 AM
what bad taste posts? personally, if none is to keep up his work, i am frightened we will loose one great browser tool's effectiveness...yours might just be a personal interpretation?
#8 Guest_scaramonga_*
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