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On HN ? Unless you are a student you are making enough money to afford premium without thinking much about it and if you are using it enough to notice ads it ma

On HN ? Unless you are a student you are making enough money to afford premium without thinking much about it and if you are using it enough to notice ads it makes sense to pay for services you use. This is exactly why the internet is in the situation where it is - nobody wants to pay for stuff so they have to monetise tracking and advertising.

jonathantf2 5y ago
> you are making enough money to afford premium without thinking much about it This is a broad assumption, what makes you think everybody on this site can afford £12 a month for something they can get completely for free with uBlock Origin and YouTube Vanced?
behnamoh 5y ago
People _want_ to pay for stuff in exchange for not being tracked. But the business of tracking users and selling their data is much more profitable. Even when small businesses and startups create attractive tools to gain market share, they are (sometimes unknowingly at the moment) following their main agenda which is to get users' data and sell it multiple times to other buyers.
heavyset_go 5y ago
> This is exactly why the internet is in the situation where it is - nobody wants to pay for stuff so they have to monetise tracking and advertising. This is just as oblivious as the "nobody wants to work" rhetoric that's currently popular. It ignores the fact that a lot of products wouldn't be used, and content wouldn't be consumed, if they weren't free. No, the reason people wouldn't use Facebook if they had to pay for it isn't because they're cheapskates, it's because Facebook isn't offering a product that's actually worth paying for. Netlfix et al. show that people are willing to pay for things on the internet if they're actually worth spending money on. Besides, even when you pay for things on the internet, most companies will still show you ads and track you.
- moonchrome 5y ago
  >It ignores the fact that a lot of products wouldn't be used, and content wouldn't be consumed, if they weren't free. This is why I said we are on Hacker News. People here should probably value their time more than 15$/month if they spend nontrivial amount of time watching YT, yet still refuse to pay, freeloading is a common thing unfortunately.
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    I’m no more a freeloader watching ads on YouTube than I am a freeloader watching broadcast TV or listening to FM radio in my car.
    - mitigating 5y ago
      Maybe he meant to say freeloader while complaining or blocking the ads.
    - monkeywork 5y ago
      I think you missed the point the person you are replying to is talking about - if you are watching youtube normally and seeing ads you aren't a freeloader. They are saying those that would use apps like vance or newpipe instead of just paying for premium are the freeloaders
      - sokoloff 5y ago
        Ah. You’re right and thanks. I had read that post, but from the use of the trademark assumed that YouTube Vanced was some other YouTube offering that I also didn’t care about, not that it was a 3rd party app that bypassed ads.
      - BizarroLand 5y ago
        I put a book on a table in a library and every time someone reads it, it costs me a penny. However, every time someone reads it I am also paid 2 pennies by a dude that wants to tell people about his new book. People were fine with that, so I also found another guy to pay me 2 pennies to talk about the book he wrote as well. A negligibly small fraction of those people have started wearing earplugs. How unfair! So I found a third guy to pay me 2 pennies to talk about the book he wrote as well, and more people started wearing earplugs! What the heck!?!
stjohnswarts 5y ago
So stop tracking and use good old-fashioned sleuth work like “he's watching a video about fixing plumbing, let's show him some tools or possibly DIY products for homeowners”.
temporaryi3 5y ago
"On HN ? Unless you are a student you are making enough money to afford premium without thinking much about it and if you are using it enough to notice ads it makes sense to pay for services you use." That's simply not true.
loudtieblahblah 5y ago
I spend exponentially more money on content now than I ever did in the past. Both in digital services and physical media. Not everything is worth my money and Google can kiss my ass.
Cederfjard 5y ago
Not all HN users live in the West. I know YouTube Premium is available in some low-income locations as well, although I concede I don’t know how much they adjust the price.
loudtieblahblah 5y ago
Currently I pay for * Breaking Points (10/mo) * 3 substacks (5/mo each) * ProtonMail (5/mo) * StandardNotes (10/mo) * netflix * hulu * prime * boomerang * shudder * disney+ * hbomax * sometimes pandora This is on top of the fact I buy about 20 records a year and roughly average about 20 dvds/blurays a year and about 10 books a year. I dont care if Google doesn't get some money.

jonathantf2 5y ago

> you are making enough money to afford premium without thinking much about it This is a broad assumption, what makes you think everybody on this site can afford £12 a month for something they can get completely for free with uBlock Origin and YouTube Vanced?

behnamoh 5y ago

People _want_ to pay for stuff in exchange for not being tracked. But the business of tracking users and selling their data is much more profitable. Even when small businesses and startups create attractive tools to gain market share, they are (sometimes unknowingly at the moment) following their main agenda which is to get users' data and sell it multiple times to other buyers.

heavyset_go 5y ago

> This is exactly why the internet is in the situation where it is - nobody wants to pay for stuff so they have to monetise tracking and advertising. This is just as oblivious as the "nobody wants to work" rhetoric that's currently popular. It ignores the fact that a lot of products wouldn't be used, and content wouldn't be consumed, if they weren't free. No, the reason people wouldn't use Facebook if they had to pay for it isn't because they're cheapskates, it's because Facebook isn't offering a product that's actually worth paying for. Netlfix et al. show that people are willing to pay for things on the internet if they're actually worth spending money on. Besides, even when you pay for things on the internet, most companies will still show you ads and track you.

moonchrome 5y ago
>It ignores the fact that a lot of products wouldn't be used, and content wouldn't be consumed, if they weren't free. This is why I said we are on Hacker News. People here should probably value their time more than 15$/month if they spend nontrivial amount of time watching YT, yet still refuse to pay, freeloading is a common thing unfortunately.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  I’m no more a freeloader watching ads on YouTube than I am a freeloader watching broadcast TV or listening to FM radio in my car.
  - mitigating 5y ago
    Maybe he meant to say freeloader while complaining or blocking the ads.
  - monkeywork 5y ago
    I think you missed the point the person you are replying to is talking about - if you are watching youtube normally and seeing ads you aren't a freeloader. They are saying those that would use apps like vance or newpipe instead of just paying for premium are the freeloaders
    - sokoloff 5y ago
      Ah. You’re right and thanks. I had read that post, but from the use of the trademark assumed that YouTube Vanced was some other YouTube offering that I also didn’t care about, not that it was a 3rd party app that bypassed ads.
    - BizarroLand 5y ago
      I put a book on a table in a library and every time someone reads it, it costs me a penny. However, every time someone reads it I am also paid 2 pennies by a dude that wants to tell people about his new book. People were fine with that, so I also found another guy to pay me 2 pennies to talk about the book he wrote as well. A negligibly small fraction of those people have started wearing earplugs. How unfair! So I found a third guy to pay me 2 pennies to talk about the book he wrote as well, and more people started wearing earplugs! What the heck!?!

stjohnswarts 5y ago

So stop tracking and use good old-fashioned sleuth work like “he's watching a video about fixing plumbing, let's show him some tools or possibly DIY products for homeowners”.

temporaryi3 5y ago

"On HN ? Unless you are a student you are making enough money to afford premium without thinking much about it and if you are using it enough to notice ads it makes sense to pay for services you use." That's simply not true.

loudtieblahblah 5y ago

I spend exponentially more money on content now than I ever did in the past. Both in digital services and physical media. Not everything is worth my money and Google can kiss my ass.

Cederfjard 5y ago

Not all HN users live in the West. I know YouTube Premium is available in some low-income locations as well, although I concede I don’t know how much they adjust the price.

loudtieblahblah 5y ago

Currently I pay for * Breaking Points (10/mo) * 3 substacks (5/mo each) * ProtonMail (5/mo) * StandardNotes (10/mo) * netflix * hulu * prime * boomerang * shudder * disney+ * hbomax * sometimes pandora This is on top of the fact I buy about 20 records a year and roughly average about 20 dvds/blurays a year and about 10 books a year. I dont care if Google doesn't get some money.