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Every day results in another example of why free platforms supported by advertising might not be viable a long term solution. I've always said that cheap is be

Every day results in another example of why free platforms supported by advertising might not be viable a long term solution. I've always said that cheap is better than free. If all services like Tumblr had debuted at a nominal $0.25 or $0.50 a month and that had become normalized as a way to support the platform without mining data or being at the whims of advertisers, the internet might be in a better place. Instead we have clickbait, engagement addiction and users as products and not customers.

jotm 8y ago
Maybe pay per (full) view? Granular to 1 view if possible, with thumbnails? People would conserve their views but still watch/view the stuff they like. Better than shitty Chinese ads that make me wary of even opening the Youtube app.
Hoasi 8y ago
> Every day results in another example of why free platforms supported by advertising might not be viable a long term solution. Not just free platforms. No publication supported by advertising is a viable long-term solution let alone a desirable one. Advertising-based publishing was never a good idea. The current state of the press is a good example of that too. Unfortunately, there are not that many viable alternatives. People would pay for good journalism, not sure they would or should pay to reblog memes and other people's posts.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  No publication supported by advertising is a viable long-term solution Define what you mean by “long-term.” America has a number of ad-supported publications that have been publishing for over 250 years. There are probably older ones in Europe and elsewhere.
  - Hoasi 8y ago
    Yes, thank you, I should have been more precise. Within the context of this Tumblr discussion, that comment refers to online platforms and I believe the comment above does too. Indeed the ad-supported model is or was viable in print for a long time, although we started to see a shift there as well. Today the print media is struggling, ad revenue may no longer be enough to keep most publications afloat. The fact this model still works for some titles and was viable for centuries doesn't make it particularly good either. With an ad-based structure, the independent press ideal was flawed from the start.
curuinor 8y ago
you can see something awful and metafilter as examples. they're miniscule and dying now, but somehow despite being the bonafide scum of the internet 2000-2010, something awful has chilled out (and metafilter was always pretty chill)

jotm 8y ago

Maybe pay per (full) view? Granular to 1 view if possible, with thumbnails? People would conserve their views but still watch/view the stuff they like. Better than shitty Chinese ads that make me wary of even opening the Youtube app.

Hoasi 8y ago

> Every day results in another example of why free platforms supported by advertising might not be viable a long term solution. Not just free platforms. No publication supported by advertising is a viable long-term solution let alone a desirable one. Advertising-based publishing was never a good idea. The current state of the press is a good example of that too. Unfortunately, there are not that many viable alternatives. People would pay for good journalism, not sure they would or should pay to reblog memes and other people's posts.

reaperducer 8y ago
No publication supported by advertising is a viable long-term solution Define what you mean by “long-term.” America has a number of ad-supported publications that have been publishing for over 250 years. There are probably older ones in Europe and elsewhere.
- Hoasi 8y ago
  Yes, thank you, I should have been more precise. Within the context of this Tumblr discussion, that comment refers to online platforms and I believe the comment above does too. Indeed the ad-supported model is or was viable in print for a long time, although we started to see a shift there as well. Today the print media is struggling, ad revenue may no longer be enough to keep most publications afloat. The fact this model still works for some titles and was viable for centuries doesn't make it particularly good either. With an ad-based structure, the independent press ideal was flawed from the start.

curuinor 8y ago

you can see something awful and metafilter as examples. they're miniscule and dying now, but somehow despite being the bonafide scum of the internet 2000-2010, something awful has chilled out (and metafilter was always pretty chill)