5 ms·

Serious question: what are these publishers to do? I look at a site like Reddit: no tracking, no flashy ads, no sound, significant investment in their own cust

Serious question: what are these publishers to do? I look at a site like Reddit: no tracking, no flashy ads, no sound, significant investment in their own custom ad serving software to try and make things more targeted and relevant, clearly marked ads, etc. They are doing _everything_ that our community continually says that we would like more publishers to do and they are severely struggling despite being one of the most popular sites on the entire Internet. If you have even a semi technical audience for your site, you're today looking at a rapidly growing 30% of your audience using an ad-blocker. Except in very few cases, most people aren't willing to pay for content and more paywalls (the non-advertising business model) further fracture the open web. I feel kind of scared for where we're going.

icehawk219 10y ago
Is this not the natural conclusion of the trend that started with ad supported sites/services though? I use an adblocker because most sites require one in order to be usable but do whitelist sites I like and use frequently. The problem though is that for the last decade and a half entire industries have gone 100% free in exchange for ads and when people stopped clicking they started adding more and more ads and then made them more and more obnoxious and then added more and more tracking and analytics. I also feel kind of scared of where we're going because I don't see any way for everyone to win. An entire generation has been taught that they should expect everything 100% free out-of-pocket. And to pile on top of that there's another point to consider. Even if everyone was willing to pay for their favorite sites, how many can actually afford to do so these days? And that problem is only going to get FAR worse before it gets better.
a3n 10y ago
I'm willing to "pay" for content via ads, as long as those ads are not a vector for security violations. I just wrote to the NYT the other day, pointing out that I block ads, yet had just visited a site (linked from NYT) where I saw ads despite blocking and didn't mind. These were just content in the page, not ad network-served. If the only way a publisher can profit is to risk my security, then they have a problem, not me. (I also pay for NYT access, but I still block)
whamlastxmas 10y ago
Reddit does a shitload of tracking
- Caprinicus 10y ago
  Here's the reddit CEO bragging about it https://youtu.be/6PCnZqrJE24?t=499 https://youtu.be/6PCnZqrJE24?t=499
deleted 10y ago
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snowfield 10y ago
Supply vs demand? there are just wayyyy too many websites for any particular niche to be paying for it. If its not economically viable, shut it down, find another job

icehawk219 10y ago

Is this not the natural conclusion of the trend that started with ad supported sites/services though? I use an adblocker because most sites require one in order to be usable but do whitelist sites I like and use frequently. The problem though is that for the last decade and a half entire industries have gone 100% free in exchange for ads and when people stopped clicking they started adding more and more ads and then made them more and more obnoxious and then added more and more tracking and analytics. I also feel kind of scared of where we're going because I don't see any way for everyone to win. An entire generation has been taught that they should expect everything 100% free out-of-pocket. And to pile on top of that there's another point to consider. Even if everyone was willing to pay for their favorite sites, how many can actually afford to do so these days? And that problem is only going to get FAR worse before it gets better.

a3n 10y ago

I'm willing to "pay" for content via ads, as long as those ads are not a vector for security violations. I just wrote to the NYT the other day, pointing out that I block ads, yet had just visited a site (linked from NYT) where I saw ads despite blocking and didn't mind. These were just content in the page, not ad network-served. If the only way a publisher can profit is to risk my security, then they have a problem, not me. (I also pay for NYT access, but I still block)

whamlastxmas 10y ago

Reddit does a shitload of tracking

Caprinicus 10y ago
Here's the reddit CEO bragging about it https://youtu.be/6PCnZqrJE24?t=499 https://youtu.be/6PCnZqrJE24?t=499

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

snowfield 10y ago

Supply vs demand? there are just wayyyy too many websites for any particular niche to be paying for it. If its not economically viable, shut it down, find another job