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Reminds me of the core-js debacle. I don’t like donation banners. I don’t like more that they’re necessary and actually work. A small problem is they degrade
by armchairhacker 7mo ago
Reminds me of the core-js debacle.
I don’t like donation banners. I don’t like more that they’re necessary and actually work.
A small problem is they degrade the software even when I’ve already donated. The bigger problem is they’re a downward spiral: people get desensitized, so you have to add more aggressive banners, until you’re like the 33MB news sites where 90% of the screen is intrusive noise. Our society, offline and online, is already crammed with ugly boards asking us to give money.
There are ad-free spaces, and it’s at least theoretically possible to make money without ads yourself. I hope eventually ads will become less effective and people will become more inclined to donate (or something like UBI), so it will be more possible.
Until then, I don’t really fault LibreOffice for this. Especially because it’s FOSS, so people who really care can just remove it.
- alt187 7mo agoI'm not sure people get desensitized. Personally, whenever I notice a really unintrusive donation banner, I have more chance to actually give money to this entity, because I've been shown so much crap all over, so I can respect someone who places a gentle nudge at the bottom of a screen I'll look at for a whole 5 seconds. I'm not sure how it degrades the experience, too. Also, you might want to read the article. LibreOffice specifically points out the banner was moved, and not added or removed.