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Also the fact that they boast "we blocked X many ads" directly above a Brave-owned embedded avertisement directly in the browser itself. Scummy stuff.

by junon 6y ago

smbullet 6y ago
That's a feature, not a bug. The point of the Brave ad blocker is to (optionally) replace unethical ads with ethical ones so you can compensate the content creators you browse. How is this scummy?
- drusepth 6y ago
  Because it removes a revenue stream for many sites and small businesses (oftentimes the most important or only revenue stream) and replaces it with a setup where Brave happily benefits from holding that income in escrow until you can convince them to hand over whatever percent they think is fair to share... in their crypto. That is, of course, assuming they don't ghost you, which seems like a common complaint among publishers. The company's got a long list of shady practices and "mistakes" where they haven't paid creators and/or screwed over users for their own profits. Even if you give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they just constantly make honest mistakes, no other browser dominates the news every other month with so many privacy scandals.
  - ketamine__ 6y ago
    Ads completely overwhelm my mobile and mac book pro. Sorry?
  - AndroidKitKat 6y ago
    While it is sort of a hostage situation (websites must sign up for Brave rewards to get a payout), would you rather websites get no revenue at all? If the prevailing mentality of most web users is to install their adblocker of choice, I see Brave as an approach that tries to cater to everyone.
    - bscphil 6y ago
      > If the prevailing mentality of most web users is to install their adblocker of choice This is not the prevailing mentality of "most" web users, in fact it's not even possible for it to be because the most common user agent is Chrome on Android. Brave is an attempt to funnel as many oblivious users as possible into a pipeline where native ads are automatically blocked, for the precise purpose of being able to execute the "hostage situation" that you mention. The premise that the target market for Brave is the tiny group of people who are willing to look at one kind of ad (provided by Brave) but not a different kind of ad (provided by the publisher) so that the publisher can get a fraction of what they would have received from the native ad (if they opt into a crypto scam) is laughable. Most people who want to block ads just want to block all ads.
      - BrendanEich 6y ago
        Brave Ads are opt-in and will remain so. You seem to be ignoring our brand promise, which if we violate it, lead users will roast us to a crisp. Also, consent is required under new privacy laws. If you don't want to use the opt-in revenue models in Brave, and just free-ride using best-in-class tracking protection, feel free. That's the baseline default.
        bscphil 6y ago
        I'm sure you've defined "Brave Ads" such that this is technically true, but calling your approach to ads "opt-in" is terribly misleading. Last time I opened Brave, I was immediately greeted by a full page ad on the new tab page. [1] To be clear, I have never opted in to seeing any ads in Brave. If you haven't been roasted by your users over this, I suppose that's informative about who the users are. The Brave FAQ also says > Are all ads blocked or can users allow some or all? Tracking scripts (trackers) and ads that depend on them are blocked by default. So this implies that Brave does not even block all ads by default now? If you go back to 2019 [2] the same line in the FAQ says "Ads and trackers are blocked by default". [1] https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/Qme89K2feqd7pYvUHetXPCJ7yrY7tJasJL3LM34QGiCbtj https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/Qme89K2feqd7pYvUHetXPCJ7yrY... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20190607005611/https://brave.com/faq/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190607005611/https://brave.com...
  - smbullet 6y ago
    I'll admit that if the GP holds the opinion that all ad blockers are "scummy" then I wouldn't be bothered. But considering I never see ublock origin get criticism here I have to assume that when most people criticize Brave's business model, they don't actually care about the publishers.
jeanofthedead 6y ago
You can easily remove cards, top sites, adblock counts, and advertisements from the Brave home page. It's customizable.
- willis936 6y ago
  Their point is not that there is an adblock counter, but that brave injects ads on their own homepage to inflate the apparent usefulness of their browser. It's similar to labeling a casino a buffet and saying you don't need to gamble.
- stjohnswarts 6y ago
  I guess some just want everything for free. It's not like they're hiding it. It's right in front of your face. It's just some are too lazy to turn it off or simply don't care.

Also the fact that they boast "we blocked X many ads" directly above a Brave-owned embedded avertisement directly in the browser itself. Scummy stuff.

by junon 6y ago

Also the fact that they boast "we blocked X many ads" directly above a Brave-owned embedded avertisement directly in the browser itself. Scummy stuff.

smbullet 6y ago

That's a feature, not a bug. The point of the Brave ad blocker is to (optionally) replace unethical ads with ethical ones so you can compensate the content creators you browse. How is this scummy?

drusepth 6y ago
Because it removes a revenue stream for many sites and small businesses (oftentimes the most important or only revenue stream) and replaces it with a setup where Brave happily benefits from holding that income in escrow until you can convince them to hand over whatever percent they think is fair to share... in their crypto. That is, of course, assuming they don't ghost you, which seems like a common complaint among publishers. The company's got a long list of shady practices and "mistakes" where they haven't paid creators and/or screwed over users for their own profits. Even if you give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they just constantly make honest mistakes, no other browser dominates the news every other month with so many privacy scandals.
- ketamine__ 6y ago
  Ads completely overwhelm my mobile and mac book pro. Sorry?
- AndroidKitKat 6y ago
  While it is sort of a hostage situation (websites must sign up for Brave rewards to get a payout), would you rather websites get no revenue at all? If the prevailing mentality of most web users is to install their adblocker of choice, I see Brave as an approach that tries to cater to everyone.
  - bscphil 6y ago
    > If the prevailing mentality of most web users is to install their adblocker of choice This is not the prevailing mentality of "most" web users, in fact it's not even possible for it to be because the most common user agent is Chrome on Android. Brave is an attempt to funnel as many oblivious users as possible into a pipeline where native ads are automatically blocked, for the precise purpose of being able to execute the "hostage situation" that you mention. The premise that the target market for Brave is the tiny group of people who are willing to look at one kind of ad (provided by Brave) but not a different kind of ad (provided by the publisher) so that the publisher can get a fraction of what they would have received from the native ad (if they opt into a crypto scam) is laughable. Most people who want to block ads just want to block all ads.
    - BrendanEich 6y ago
      Brave Ads are opt-in and will remain so. You seem to be ignoring our brand promise, which if we violate it, lead users will roast us to a crisp. Also, consent is required under new privacy laws. If you don't want to use the opt-in revenue models in Brave, and just free-ride using best-in-class tracking protection, feel free. That's the baseline default.
      - bscphil 6y ago
        I'm sure you've defined "Brave Ads" such that this is technically true, but calling your approach to ads "opt-in" is terribly misleading. Last time I opened Brave, I was immediately greeted by a full page ad on the new tab page. [1] To be clear, I have never opted in to seeing any ads in Brave. If you haven't been roasted by your users over this, I suppose that's informative about who the users are. The Brave FAQ also says > Are all ads blocked or can users allow some or all? Tracking scripts (trackers) and ads that depend on them are blocked by default. So this implies that Brave does not even block all ads by default now? If you go back to 2019 [2] the same line in the FAQ says "Ads and trackers are blocked by default". [1] https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/Qme89K2feqd7pYvUHetXPCJ7yrY7tJasJL3LM34QGiCbtj https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/Qme89K2feqd7pYvUHetXPCJ7yrY... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20190607005611/https://brave.com/faq/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190607005611/https://brave.com...
- smbullet 6y ago
  I'll admit that if the GP holds the opinion that all ad blockers are "scummy" then I wouldn't be bothered. But considering I never see ublock origin get criticism here I have to assume that when most people criticize Brave's business model, they don't actually care about the publishers.

jeanofthedead 6y ago

You can easily remove cards, top sites, adblock counts, and advertisements from the Brave home page. It's customizable.

willis936 6y ago
Their point is not that there is an adblock counter, but that brave injects ads on their own homepage to inflate the apparent usefulness of their browser. It's similar to labeling a casino a buffet and saying you don't need to gamble.
stjohnswarts 6y ago
I guess some just want everything for free. It's not like they're hiding it. It's right in front of your face. It's just some are too lazy to turn it off or simply don't care.