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The hilarious thing about this is that so what why not? Can't I opt to let another co-opt my cpu while I watch videos so that I don't have to watch ads? I'd mu

by debt 9y ago

The hilarious thing about this is that so what why not? Can't I opt to let another co-opt my cpu while I watch videos so that I don't have to watch ads? I'd much prefer people using my cpu to mine bitcoin than to render some shitty ad. This is actually a fascinating development in this space.

ben_jones 9y ago
Do we trust the competency of ad providers to normalize for low powered devices? If I read an article on some small news outlet or indie blog using my phone, will my hand get burned off?
- devereaux 9y ago
  I trust their financial interest. A cellphone will not mine enough to be profitable, so they will serve a regular ad instead.
  - adrianN 9y ago
    A normal CPU probably won't mine enough to be profitable either, but since the users pays for electricity, not the advertiser, I don't see the incentive.
    - devereaux 9y ago
      Dust (UXTO with small amounts) would make them incur greater transaction fees when trying to access their account. BTW, it is interesting my comments offering an explanation are being downvoted. I guess cryptocurrency discussions are driven by passion, not by logic.
      - stordoff 9y ago
        Wouldn't they just mine to a pool (private pool if enough clients)? I'm not sure why an inefficient client would lead to additional fees.
klodolph 9y ago
The payoff isn't good enough for this to support add-free services, and the payoff gets worse as crypto becomes more popular. Then there's the fact that you might be browsing from a battery-powered device.
- nopriorarrests 9y ago
  >The payoff isn't good enough for this to support add-free services Hmm, wait. How it works, then? Let's say I'm paying 1$ to display malicious ad which mines something. BTC. If amount of mined BTC is lower than 1$, the whole operations becomes unprofitable. Why should I pay 1$ to mine 90 cents via ad? If people are running this operation on scale, it should be profitable. But then payoff is by definition good enough to support ad-free service. Instead of taking 1$ from advertiser, google can theoretically mine 1$ on my PC and let me watch video without ads. What do I miss?
  - sigstoat 9y ago
    you still get to display an advertisement. so it isn't "mined BTC > $1 --> success"; it is "mined BTC + expected value of running scam ad > $1 --> success"
    - nopriorarrests 9y ago
      Good point! Thank you. PS: Also, I wonder what other sites could be affected. Requirement is "user spending a lot of time on a page", so maybe blogging services with long posts, or shady sites with online sports broadcasts. Ugh, adblocker slowly becomes a requirement for modern web.
    - debt 9y ago
      I think his point was a hypothetical without the advertising component. Like if they just embedded bitcoin miners in every page that displayed a youtube video.
devereaux 9y ago
This! So much! Many people just can't see the progress and the new possibilities offered. Like you, I don't like ads because it distracts me. Mining on my CPU? I do not care. If it pays for bandwidth and allows me to get a ad-free experience, sign-me up!
- delete2 9y ago
  that's so incredibly naive, you're going to get ads on top of a cryptominer
jnordwick 9y ago
Cut out the middle man. YouTube itself can mine cryptos while videos are playing instead of displaying ads. At least then you know the trade off and have a single company to complain to when they are draining your CPU too much.
- lithos 9y ago
  You're still better off selling shovels in a gold rush.

by debt 9y ago

ben_jones 9y ago

Do we trust the competency of ad providers to normalize for low powered devices? If I read an article on some small news outlet or indie blog using my phone, will my hand get burned off?

devereaux 9y ago
I trust their financial interest. A cellphone will not mine enough to be profitable, so they will serve a regular ad instead.
- adrianN 9y ago
  A normal CPU probably won't mine enough to be profitable either, but since the users pays for electricity, not the advertiser, I don't see the incentive.
  - devereaux 9y ago
    Dust (UXTO with small amounts) would make them incur greater transaction fees when trying to access their account. BTW, it is interesting my comments offering an explanation are being downvoted. I guess cryptocurrency discussions are driven by passion, not by logic.
    - stordoff 9y ago
      Wouldn't they just mine to a pool (private pool if enough clients)? I'm not sure why an inefficient client would lead to additional fees.

klodolph 9y ago

The payoff isn't good enough for this to support add-free services, and the payoff gets worse as crypto becomes more popular. Then there's the fact that you might be browsing from a battery-powered device.

nopriorarrests 9y ago
>The payoff isn't good enough for this to support add-free services Hmm, wait. How it works, then? Let's say I'm paying 1$ to display malicious ad which mines something. BTC. If amount of mined BTC is lower than 1$, the whole operations becomes unprofitable. Why should I pay 1$ to mine 90 cents via ad? If people are running this operation on scale, it should be profitable. But then payoff is by definition good enough to support ad-free service. Instead of taking 1$ from advertiser, google can theoretically mine 1$ on my PC and let me watch video without ads. What do I miss?
- sigstoat 9y ago
  you still get to display an advertisement. so it isn't "mined BTC > $1 --> success"; it is "mined BTC + expected value of running scam ad > $1 --> success"
  - nopriorarrests 9y ago
    Good point! Thank you. PS: Also, I wonder what other sites could be affected. Requirement is "user spending a lot of time on a page", so maybe blogging services with long posts, or shady sites with online sports broadcasts. Ugh, adblocker slowly becomes a requirement for modern web.
  - debt 9y ago
    I think his point was a hypothetical without the advertising component. Like if they just embedded bitcoin miners in every page that displayed a youtube video.

devereaux 9y ago

This! So much! Many people just can't see the progress and the new possibilities offered. Like you, I don't like ads because it distracts me. Mining on my CPU? I do not care. If it pays for bandwidth and allows me to get a ad-free experience, sign-me up!

delete2 9y ago
that's so incredibly naive, you're going to get ads on top of a cryptominer

jnordwick 9y ago

Cut out the middle man. YouTube itself can mine cryptos while videos are playing instead of displaying ads. At least then you know the trade off and have a single company to complain to when they are draining your CPU too much.

lithos 9y ago
You're still better off selling shovels in a gold rush.