4 ms·

It harms all the industries where the content is ad supported, which is the majority of the Internet right now. For just what I use every day Facebook, Spotify,

It harms all the industries where the content is ad supported, which is the majority of the Internet right now. For just what I use every day Facebook, Spotify, Google, almost all news, Youtube, Reddit, and xkcd are all add supported. I get why people don't like ads but it's clearly how an absolutely massive portion of the modern Internet is monetized right now

pavel_lishin 8y ago
> I get why people don't like ads I don't like ads. But I positively loathe underhanded tactics ad networks utilize, all the way from the "I can disagree but see their point of view" tracking, to "what the fuck are you doing" drive-by malware installs. Fuck them, unequivocally. They're incapable or unwilling of effectively policing the content they serve, so they don't get to serve it to me.
thinkingemote 8y ago
And also that the majority of techies here work for companies either directly or indirectly ad supported. I include myself in that group and I use as blockers.
- yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
  Some of us are doing paid B2B. Not sure about relative frequency, though.
zzzcpan 8y ago
I don't think anyone has a problem with ads per se, as long as there aren't that many of them, they are contextual, non-intrusive, non-tracking, etc. So the problem is more about not ads, but who is controlling what ads are acceptable and how they are displayed. Imagine a web browser that doesn't let publishers decide how ads are displayed, where and how many of them. It can choose an acceptable ad format for the user, like textual non-tracking ads below the content, and if publishers want, they can use that format to put an ad here, but nowhere else. It will still permit a lot of ad supported content, but will remove all those ad surveillance capitalism incentives and clickbaity user engagement.
- gaius 8y ago
  anyone has a problem with ads per se, as long as there aren't that many of them, they are contextual The ad industry 100 years ago solved this problem. Wanna sell widgets? Take out an ad in Widgets Weekly and you know you will perfectly target an audience of widget-fans. All this tracking stuff is totally unnecessary and everyone must know it.
yellowapple 8y ago
> Spotify Maybe I'm just a freak or something, but I've been pretty happy as a monthly-paying Spotify subscriber. It's not my impression that the ad-supported version of Spotify is the "core" product.
- bdcravens 8y ago
  I think it's not that uncommon (I've been paying for several years myself)
PyroLagus 8y ago
While I agree with your comment, I have to say that xkcd does not have ads.
guy98238710 8y ago
> It harms all the industries where the content is ad supported Nearly all content online is user-generated. The publishers simply rip off contributors, slap ads on their content, and sell the content back to the same public that created it.
- seandougall 8y ago
  This thread is about CBS. Are you saying television is all user-generated content?
  - toofy 8y ago
    I’m not sure this comment is entirely fair if we consider they’re responding to a comment which refers to the wider internet, multiple times. > It harms all the industries where the content is ad supported, which is the majority of the Internet right now... almost all news... absolutely massive portion of the modern Internet is monetized right now..
tomxor 8y ago
> For just what I use every day Facebook, Spotify, Google, almost all news, Youtube, Reddit, and xkcd are all add supported. Out of all of those xkcd is the only one I like and I don't see any ads on it... The author does writes books though. > I get why people don't like ads but it's clearly how an absolutely massive portion of the modern Internet is monetized right now Maybe it just doesn't need to be monetised, everyone who defends intrusive internet ads talks about no alternative - Here is the alternative: If people aren't willing to pay for it, it probably shoudln't be monetised, there are plenty of things on the internet which are free, cost little to run and don't make a profit: search, social networking and video, all decentralisable in an affordable way... they don't need to be monetised, their corporate future is short.
- tdb7893 8y ago
  Oh, whoops I meant smbc for the webcomic, not xkcd. I haven't read xkcd in a while (maybe I've just got old but I feel like the quality of jokes started going down a few years ago)
bdcravens 8y ago
Ads aren't bad. Self-hosted ads often aren't blocked. Self-hosted ads don't spike my CPU either usually, or attempt to install anything. I'm sure the "massive portion of the modern Internet" will evolve towards a more sustainable advertising model. Additionally, the "modern Internet" may need to steal from the credits scene in Dr. Strange: "there are too many websites"
lostmsu 8y ago
If only there was a way to list your product on some shopping aggregator, and fight for clients by providing a better product. Too bad it is technically impossible.

pavel_lishin 8y ago

> I get why people don't like ads I don't like ads. But I positively loathe underhanded tactics ad networks utilize, all the way from the "I can disagree but see their point of view" tracking, to "what the fuck are you doing" drive-by malware installs. Fuck them, unequivocally. They're incapable or unwilling of effectively policing the content they serve, so they don't get to serve it to me.

thinkingemote 8y ago

And also that the majority of techies here work for companies either directly or indirectly ad supported. I include myself in that group and I use as blockers.

yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
Some of us are doing paid B2B. Not sure about relative frequency, though.

zzzcpan 8y ago

I don't think anyone has a problem with ads per se, as long as there aren't that many of them, they are contextual, non-intrusive, non-tracking, etc. So the problem is more about not ads, but who is controlling what ads are acceptable and how they are displayed. Imagine a web browser that doesn't let publishers decide how ads are displayed, where and how many of them. It can choose an acceptable ad format for the user, like textual non-tracking ads below the content, and if publishers want, they can use that format to put an ad here, but nowhere else. It will still permit a lot of ad supported content, but will remove all those ad surveillance capitalism incentives and clickbaity user engagement.

gaius 8y ago
anyone has a problem with ads per se, as long as there aren't that many of them, they are contextual The ad industry 100 years ago solved this problem. Wanna sell widgets? Take out an ad in Widgets Weekly and you know you will perfectly target an audience of widget-fans. All this tracking stuff is totally unnecessary and everyone must know it.

yellowapple 8y ago

> Spotify Maybe I'm just a freak or something, but I've been pretty happy as a monthly-paying Spotify subscriber. It's not my impression that the ad-supported version of Spotify is the "core" product.

bdcravens 8y ago
I think it's not that uncommon (I've been paying for several years myself)

PyroLagus 8y ago

While I agree with your comment, I have to say that xkcd does not have ads.

guy98238710 8y ago

> It harms all the industries where the content is ad supported Nearly all content online is user-generated. The publishers simply rip off contributors, slap ads on their content, and sell the content back to the same public that created it.

seandougall 8y ago
This thread is about CBS. Are you saying television is all user-generated content?
- toofy 8y ago
  I’m not sure this comment is entirely fair if we consider they’re responding to a comment which refers to the wider internet, multiple times. > It harms all the industries where the content is ad supported, which is the majority of the Internet right now... almost all news... absolutely massive portion of the modern Internet is monetized right now..

tomxor 8y ago

> For just what I use every day Facebook, Spotify, Google, almost all news, Youtube, Reddit, and xkcd are all add supported. Out of all of those xkcd is the only one I like and I don't see any ads on it... The author does writes books though. > I get why people don't like ads but it's clearly how an absolutely massive portion of the modern Internet is monetized right now Maybe it just doesn't need to be monetised, everyone who defends intrusive internet ads talks about no alternative - Here is the alternative: If people aren't willing to pay for it, it probably shoudln't be monetised, there are plenty of things on the internet which are free, cost little to run and don't make a profit: search, social networking and video, all decentralisable in an affordable way... they don't need to be monetised, their corporate future is short.

tdb7893 8y ago
Oh, whoops I meant smbc for the webcomic, not xkcd. I haven't read xkcd in a while (maybe I've just got old but I feel like the quality of jokes started going down a few years ago)

bdcravens 8y ago

Ads aren't bad. Self-hosted ads often aren't blocked. Self-hosted ads don't spike my CPU either usually, or attempt to install anything. I'm sure the "massive portion of the modern Internet" will evolve towards a more sustainable advertising model. Additionally, the "modern Internet" may need to steal from the credits scene in Dr. Strange: "there are too many websites"

lostmsu 8y ago

If only there was a way to list your product on some shopping aggregator, and fight for clients by providing a better product. Too bad it is technically impossible.