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There are more lies in that article. This one for example is so often repeated but untrue: > Rewards is their shitty program that will replace ads displayed on

There are more lies in that article. This one for example is so often repeated but untrue: > Rewards is their shitty program that will replace ads displayed on websites with their own. Brave doesn't replace ads with their own. Brave ads are displayed as desktop pop-ups. They can also be easily disabled (which, surprise, the author doesn't mention because of his bias). And the idea behind Brave ads is to give you tokens which are then distributed to the content creators you engaged with. This is the default setting. Their idea is not to shovel you with ads or offer you "get rich with crypto" schemes. Idea is to block ads but still provide revenue to the content, based on how many users engage with that content. When I see people saying "Brave replaces ads with their own" I have to wonder if they have tried using Brave themselves before writing these critique articles.

Belphemur 5y ago
To play devil advocate. On one side, Brave come with an adblocker that will remove any ads from the website you're visiting. On the other, they provide their own ads through the reward program. So it can be seen as "replacing website ads by its own". I approve that line of reasoning, but I think that what the author meant.
- Belphemur 5y ago
  Edit: I don't approve that line of reasoning, but I think that what the author meant.
- kkoncevicius 5y ago
  To play the devil's devil's advocate :) Brave allows you to do whatever you want. You can see publisher ads without Brave ads. You can see Brave ads without publishers ads. You can see both. Or you can disable both. Since individual users can achieve any configuration of ads they like, to me it seems that some people are only unhappy with this because they want to push their moral stances on everyone else. Like, for example, stating that the ability to block publisher ads while enabling Brave ads is immoral and shouldn't be allowed.
- ABCLAW 5y ago
  The idea that the experience is equivalent as a result of substitution is incorrect, though, and the author's original heavy implication that Brave's substitution is malicious and selfishly designed does not hold up. Brave basically aligns advertising incentives to match with viewer incentives. A Google served ad is not the same thing as a Brave served ad from the perspective of a viewer, because Brave ads are optional and some of their value accrues to the viewer. Is the alignment perfect? No. But I do view it as a substantially better starting point than the currently centralizing, adversarial model that currently exists.
- nmz 5y ago
  You can disable seeing ads in settings though. if you choose to see ads however, the website doesn't get anything, you get crypto from it.
  - jonathansampson 5y ago
    In Brave, by default, when a user opts-in and earns rewards from Brave Ads, Brave will enable the user to tip verified sites and content creators (even making automatic, pro-rata contributions possible). This is currently how content creators benefit (indirectly) from Brave Ads. Their users earn rewards, and forward them along. We're currently settling more than 8-figures each month to website owners and more. See creators.brave.com for more information. Further options will come in the future as well.
teejmya 5y ago
I think people are misremembering or misunderstanding a recent controversy where Brave was adding their own affiliate links to the user's browsing session without the user's knowledge or consent: https://www.coindesk.com/brave-browsers-affiliate-link-controversy-explained https://www.coindesk.com/brave-browsers-affiliate-link-contr...
- kkoncevicius 5y ago
  I don't think this is it because the article has a separate section about affiliate link controversy.
  - 411111111111111 5y ago
    These points had been true at some point though... Also, brave is constantly astroturfing, so you should always take whatever you read online with a grain of salt. I used brave's android browser a long time ago as well (at that time these claims were true - but they didn't replace the ads on all pages). I cannot speak about whats the current situation however, as I'm not up to date on the topic.
rch 5y ago
I'd prefer it if I could contribute cash monthly, and let the browser distribute the funds based on my browsing. The notion of getting paid to view a separate stream of ads seems bizarre. It's the 'Ad Buddy' model, but with crypto.
- jonathansampson 5y ago
  You can do that today with Brave. Brave Rewards enables users to self-fund, and contribute automatically to the sites they visit, proportional to the time spent on those sites. See https://brave.com/rewards https://brave.com/rewards and https://creators.brave.com https://creators.brave.com for more information. The beautiful thing about Brave Ads, however, is that everybody can support the content they love. Even if they don't have the ability to self-fund; they can convert attention into substantive support for content creators.
  - freeone3000 5y ago
    Okay, but, how do I give them actual money, instead of BAT? Will you redeem BAT for dollars?
    - jonathansampson 5y ago
      Within the Brave ecosystem, BAT is the unit of account for attention and support. Those who receive BAT, however, do not have to hold BAT. We offer creators and publishers the option of automatically converting their received tokens from BAT into various other types of assets and/or currencies. Many keep the BAT, others auto-convert to Bitcoin, and a large portion auto-convert to their regional currency (USD, CAD, etc.).
- dharmaturtle 5y ago
  Possibly what you're looking for, though less browser-dependent: https://coil.com/ https://coil.com/
mattalex 5y ago
I still don't really get how brave is supposed to work: You watch significantly fewer ads than before, these ads are then supplied to whoever you yourself engage with. That seems like watching these fewer ads directly on the site, just with a few hoops in between. The difference is that now you watch fewer ads in total, and you have the Brave-browser as an inbetween, which also somehow has to survive. This means that you get potentially even less money, since less ads are watched and the ones that are watched are more diluted (even if brave currently doesn't take a cut at the moment: At some point they have to pay their developers, too). Also, why do they pay out in BAT? (other than the fact that they cooperate with "uphold" a crypto-exchange and that they also really really want to jump on the crypto-bandwagon) Somehow there has to be money going into the system that supports its own existance. If brave had something like a subsciption service or other way to get additional funds into the Network, then it might be more understandable, but even then: Why should I support someone by using BATs instead of paypaling/patreoning/whatever-elseing him the money directly?
- jonathansampson 5y ago
  I recently did a 5 minute video on the history of digital advertising, with an introduction to Brave's model: https://youtu.be/LsrrT502luI https://youtu.be/LsrrT502luI. Per https://brave.com/rewards https://brave.com/rewards and https://creators.brave.com https://creators.brave.com, users opt-in to Brave Rewards and begin participating with privacy-preserving Ads. Each ad nets you, the user, 70% of the associated revenue. Rewards come in the form of BAT, which moves more easily and comes with considerably less friction. The blockchain enables users to effortlessly and anonymously participate. This also means that everybody with attention (and not necessarily disposable income) can support the content they love online. As for paying out in BAT, creators can choose to have BAT auto-converted into Bitcoin, US Dollars, etc. Users can also have their rewards converted into another type of asset or currency via Uphold too. BAT is simply a utility token, whose utility is currently best demonstrated within the Brave ecosystem. To your last point, the "money going in" comes from advertisers. They pay in fiat currencies, or via BAT. If they pay us in dollars, we purchase BAT as needed from the market. Users can also self-fund their wallet, if they have disposable income.
gentleman11 5y ago
The long term play might be that, but they would probably never get the market share to exploit it fully

Belphemur 5y ago

To play devil advocate. On one side, Brave come with an adblocker that will remove any ads from the website you're visiting. On the other, they provide their own ads through the reward program. So it can be seen as "replacing website ads by its own". I approve that line of reasoning, but I think that what the author meant.

Belphemur 5y ago
Edit: I don't approve that line of reasoning, but I think that what the author meant.
kkoncevicius 5y ago
To play the devil's devil's advocate :) Brave allows you to do whatever you want. You can see publisher ads without Brave ads. You can see Brave ads without publishers ads. You can see both. Or you can disable both. Since individual users can achieve any configuration of ads they like, to me it seems that some people are only unhappy with this because they want to push their moral stances on everyone else. Like, for example, stating that the ability to block publisher ads while enabling Brave ads is immoral and shouldn't be allowed.
ABCLAW 5y ago
The idea that the experience is equivalent as a result of substitution is incorrect, though, and the author's original heavy implication that Brave's substitution is malicious and selfishly designed does not hold up. Brave basically aligns advertising incentives to match with viewer incentives. A Google served ad is not the same thing as a Brave served ad from the perspective of a viewer, because Brave ads are optional and some of their value accrues to the viewer. Is the alignment perfect? No. But I do view it as a substantially better starting point than the currently centralizing, adversarial model that currently exists.
nmz 5y ago
You can disable seeing ads in settings though. if you choose to see ads however, the website doesn't get anything, you get crypto from it.
- jonathansampson 5y ago
  In Brave, by default, when a user opts-in and earns rewards from Brave Ads, Brave will enable the user to tip verified sites and content creators (even making automatic, pro-rata contributions possible). This is currently how content creators benefit (indirectly) from Brave Ads. Their users earn rewards, and forward them along. We're currently settling more than 8-figures each month to website owners and more. See creators.brave.com for more information. Further options will come in the future as well.

teejmya 5y ago

I think people are misremembering or misunderstanding a recent controversy where Brave was adding their own affiliate links to the user's browsing session without the user's knowledge or consent: https://www.coindesk.com/brave-browsers-affiliate-link-controversy-explained https://www.coindesk.com/brave-browsers-affiliate-link-contr...

kkoncevicius 5y ago
I don't think this is it because the article has a separate section about affiliate link controversy.
- 411111111111111 5y ago
  These points had been true at some point though... Also, brave is constantly astroturfing, so you should always take whatever you read online with a grain of salt. I used brave's android browser a long time ago as well (at that time these claims were true - but they didn't replace the ads on all pages). I cannot speak about whats the current situation however, as I'm not up to date on the topic.

rch 5y ago

I'd prefer it if I could contribute cash monthly, and let the browser distribute the funds based on my browsing. The notion of getting paid to view a separate stream of ads seems bizarre. It's the 'Ad Buddy' model, but with crypto.

jonathansampson 5y ago
You can do that today with Brave. Brave Rewards enables users to self-fund, and contribute automatically to the sites they visit, proportional to the time spent on those sites. See https://brave.com/rewards https://brave.com/rewards and https://creators.brave.com https://creators.brave.com for more information. The beautiful thing about Brave Ads, however, is that everybody can support the content they love. Even if they don't have the ability to self-fund; they can convert attention into substantive support for content creators.
- freeone3000 5y ago
  Okay, but, how do I give them actual money, instead of BAT? Will you redeem BAT for dollars?
  - jonathansampson 5y ago
    Within the Brave ecosystem, BAT is the unit of account for attention and support. Those who receive BAT, however, do not have to hold BAT. We offer creators and publishers the option of automatically converting their received tokens from BAT into various other types of assets and/or currencies. Many keep the BAT, others auto-convert to Bitcoin, and a large portion auto-convert to their regional currency (USD, CAD, etc.).
dharmaturtle 5y ago
Possibly what you're looking for, though less browser-dependent: https://coil.com/ https://coil.com/

mattalex 5y ago

I still don't really get how brave is supposed to work: You watch significantly fewer ads than before, these ads are then supplied to whoever you yourself engage with. That seems like watching these fewer ads directly on the site, just with a few hoops in between. The difference is that now you watch fewer ads in total, and you have the Brave-browser as an inbetween, which also somehow has to survive. This means that you get potentially even less money, since less ads are watched and the ones that are watched are more diluted (even if brave currently doesn't take a cut at the moment: At some point they have to pay their developers, too). Also, why do they pay out in BAT? (other than the fact that they cooperate with "uphold" a crypto-exchange and that they also really really want to jump on the crypto-bandwagon) Somehow there has to be money going into the system that supports its own existance. If brave had something like a subsciption service or other way to get additional funds into the Network, then it might be more understandable, but even then: Why should I support someone by using BATs instead of paypaling/patreoning/whatever-elseing him the money directly?

jonathansampson 5y ago
I recently did a 5 minute video on the history of digital advertising, with an introduction to Brave's model: https://youtu.be/LsrrT502luI https://youtu.be/LsrrT502luI. Per https://brave.com/rewards https://brave.com/rewards and https://creators.brave.com https://creators.brave.com, users opt-in to Brave Rewards and begin participating with privacy-preserving Ads. Each ad nets you, the user, 70% of the associated revenue. Rewards come in the form of BAT, which moves more easily and comes with considerably less friction. The blockchain enables users to effortlessly and anonymously participate. This also means that everybody with attention (and not necessarily disposable income) can support the content they love online. As for paying out in BAT, creators can choose to have BAT auto-converted into Bitcoin, US Dollars, etc. Users can also have their rewards converted into another type of asset or currency via Uphold too. BAT is simply a utility token, whose utility is currently best demonstrated within the Brave ecosystem. To your last point, the "money going in" comes from advertisers. They pay in fiat currencies, or via BAT. If they pay us in dollars, we purchase BAT as needed from the market. Users can also self-fund their wallet, if they have disposable income.

gentleman11 5y ago

The long term play might be that, but they would probably never get the market share to exploit it fully