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There’s no debate. I use ad supported services (like Facebook) and I block ads. End of story. If these services go away because of some ad revenue problem (unli

There’s no debate. I use ad supported services (like Facebook) and I block ads. End of story. If these services go away because of some ad revenue problem (unlikely) I just don’t care. Right now there is no ad supported service that I believe I would pay anything for other than google search itself. I don’t have to right now so the issue is moot. I had a pretty rich life before Facebook and MySpace, somehow I’ll survive and I think I speak for a sizable chunk of people. Some people might value fb enough to pay for it like compuserve in the 80s. Good on them. I can possibly see how these issues might matter to you if you make a living at google or a large content company, but I, like the vast majority of people do not. It is not my concern. I don’t get why this is so hard to understand.

tajen 8y ago
Especially not newspapers. Not only their information often isn’t balanced, it is sometimes so much propaganda filled with verifiable false facts (e.g. on the wage gap) that I wish they would disappear. I mostly use them only to take snapshots and build videos about how the press publishes false information or correct information worded in such a way that the reader gets the wrong idea. I would pay for Youtube. Or rather, for good youtubers. In fact, I donate using Patreon on a monthly basis to a few youtubers who provide accurate news. QED... No wonder they are dubbed as “Washington Compost” or “Confabulated News Network”. And same for any social network (Twitter, Facebook and Youtube) who censor right-wing informtion, not only I don’t care about their ad revenue, but if they disappeared because of this, it would be a net win for society. Neither newspapers nor social networks will disappear, unfortunately.
e12e 8y ago
I currently host my own email, at, if I only used the servers for email, considerable cost both in rent and time. I wouldn't use Gmail, but I'd probably consider Fastmail if/when I don't want to host my own email anymore. I might use Dropbox over Google drive (rather than store stuff on my server), and I might use Neocities.org to host a static Web site. So there are many ad supported services that live next to "for pay" equivalent services. As for content, I used to subscribe to lwn.net - but stopped when I realised I wasn't reading it closely enough to warrant the subscription. I might come back at a later date. I'd love to see a site like like lwn that syndicated news; a clean look, perhaps with ads/delayed publishing to non-subscribers, the "subscription link"-system (i could share what I read with non-subscribers). And with proper compensation for conrmtributers (individuals and institutions).
standardcitizen 8y ago
Not hard to understand, you’re just the issue I’m referring to, a leech that is bad for the eco system. At least you admit to it. You’re general statement is, I want to use something and I don’t care if they make money. If you don’t want to see ads, don’t use something. Thanks for displaying my point on the issue with people’s mindset on the thai topic. They don’t matter to me, as I don’t make my living this way, but they do matter to me because poeple cant benefit from making cool things because of the mindset you’ve displayed here.
- dang 8y ago
  You've crossed into violating the site guidelines here. We're trying to avoid this kind of flamewar, and ban accounts that do it repeatedly, so if you'd please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow the rules, we'd appreciate it.
  - triangleman 8y ago
    How did he violate the guidelines? It did not seem like an ad hominem as much as a fair argument.
    - dang 8y ago
      Unless I'm missing something from the context, the comment broke at least three: the one against calling names in arguments (e.g. "leech"), the guideline about civility (by going into personal attack), and this one: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - triangleman 8y ago
        I'm sorry but that is splitting hairs. The comment used a name but it was not name calling, it was the core of his argument. He was being relatively civil, it's clear from the comment. And are you really going to delete someone's comment because you think it's engaging in a straw man argument? Can't the other commenter defend himself? Sorry I think you sometimes get too heavy handed around here.

tajen 8y ago

Especially not newspapers. Not only their information often isn’t balanced, it is sometimes so much propaganda filled with verifiable false facts (e.g. on the wage gap) that I wish they would disappear. I mostly use them only to take snapshots and build videos about how the press publishes false information or correct information worded in such a way that the reader gets the wrong idea. I would pay for Youtube. Or rather, for good youtubers. In fact, I donate using Patreon on a monthly basis to a few youtubers who provide accurate news. QED... No wonder they are dubbed as “Washington Compost” or “Confabulated News Network”. And same for any social network (Twitter, Facebook and Youtube) who censor right-wing informtion, not only I don’t care about their ad revenue, but if they disappeared because of this, it would be a net win for society. Neither newspapers nor social networks will disappear, unfortunately.

e12e 8y ago

I currently host my own email, at, if I only used the servers for email, considerable cost both in rent and time. I wouldn't use Gmail, but I'd probably consider Fastmail if/when I don't want to host my own email anymore. I might use Dropbox over Google drive (rather than store stuff on my server), and I might use Neocities.org to host a static Web site. So there are many ad supported services that live next to "for pay" equivalent services. As for content, I used to subscribe to lwn.net - but stopped when I realised I wasn't reading it closely enough to warrant the subscription. I might come back at a later date. I'd love to see a site like like lwn that syndicated news; a clean look, perhaps with ads/delayed publishing to non-subscribers, the "subscription link"-system (i could share what I read with non-subscribers). And with proper compensation for conrmtributers (individuals and institutions).

standardcitizen 8y ago

Not hard to understand, you’re just the issue I’m referring to, a leech that is bad for the eco system. At least you admit to it. You’re general statement is, I want to use something and I don’t care if they make money. If you don’t want to see ads, don’t use something. Thanks for displaying my point on the issue with people’s mindset on the thai topic. They don’t matter to me, as I don’t make my living this way, but they do matter to me because poeple cant benefit from making cool things because of the mindset you’ve displayed here.

dang 8y ago
You've crossed into violating the site guidelines here. We're trying to avoid this kind of flamewar, and ban accounts that do it repeatedly, so if you'd please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow the rules, we'd appreciate it.
- triangleman 8y ago
  How did he violate the guidelines? It did not seem like an ad hominem as much as a fair argument.
  - dang 8y ago
    Unless I'm missing something from the context, the comment broke at least three: the one against calling names in arguments (e.g. "leech"), the guideline about civility (by going into personal attack), and this one: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - triangleman 8y ago
      I'm sorry but that is splitting hairs. The comment used a name but it was not name calling, it was the core of his argument. He was being relatively civil, it's clear from the comment. And are you really going to delete someone's comment because you think it's engaging in a straw man argument? Can't the other commenter defend himself? Sorry I think you sometimes get too heavy handed around here.