3 ms·

Advertising underwrites the web. But who underwrites the underwriters? Us of course: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9961761 https://news.ycombinator.com/i

Advertising underwrites the web. But who underwrites the underwriters? Us of course: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9961761 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9961761 If it is ad-supported it is not free: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7485773 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7485773 Advertising as a way to get paid for whatever it is you are offering people isn't very honest, a way around your product not being valuable enough that people will pay for it. If you make it feel like it is free, people will go "But if it is free, what the hell, why not?" What they do not know is you are taking more from them than if you charged them straight up.

threesixandnine 11y ago
How is it not honest publishing well researched sociology articles for example and splashing an ad or two (Adsense) somewhere on the page. Just an example. These articles get picked up by teachers and professors for students to study via search engines. How is it not honest? These articles have no chance of being commercialized in current world. No one would buy them and person behind them has no means to market...no money, no knowledge in marketing...maybe that person is not interested in commercialization of his/her product and just wants to earn a buck or two for coffee on each article... How is it not honest? Please don't generalize and project your view onto others.
- byron_fast 11y ago
  That sounds great, if they don't grind my computer to a halt. But if you host a site that lets bad actors chuck evil spew into the web stream, it doesn't matter what your content is. You are bad by association.
  - threesixandnine 11y ago
    Can you please give me an example of a web site that will grind computer to a halt. I am yet to encounter such web site with this old and weak computer of mine. I would really like to see it.
    - byron_fast 11y ago
      This site: http://www.washingtontimes.com/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/ seems pretty bad. Though any place reached via "clickbait" will suffice.
      - threesixandnine 11y ago
        Apart from annoying pop-up the site itself works perfectly fine on my ancient Thinkpad.

threesixandnine 11y ago

How is it not honest publishing well researched sociology articles for example and splashing an ad or two (Adsense) somewhere on the page. Just an example. These articles get picked up by teachers and professors for students to study via search engines. How is it not honest? These articles have no chance of being commercialized in current world. No one would buy them and person behind them has no means to market...no money, no knowledge in marketing...maybe that person is not interested in commercialization of his/her product and just wants to earn a buck or two for coffee on each article... How is it not honest? Please don't generalize and project your view onto others.

byron_fast 11y ago
That sounds great, if they don't grind my computer to a halt. But if you host a site that lets bad actors chuck evil spew into the web stream, it doesn't matter what your content is. You are bad by association.
- threesixandnine 11y ago
  Can you please give me an example of a web site that will grind computer to a halt. I am yet to encounter such web site with this old and weak computer of mine. I would really like to see it.
  - byron_fast 11y ago
    This site: http://www.washingtontimes.com/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/ seems pretty bad. Though any place reached via "clickbait" will suffice.
    - threesixandnine 11y ago
      Apart from annoying pop-up the site itself works perfectly fine on my ancient Thinkpad.