Ask HN: Would you sign an anti-ad pledge? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Would you sign an anti-ad pledge?

#21

Post by muzani » Thu, Apr 18, 2019, 6:06 AM UTC

yellow_lead wrote: post #19

Even if you were to sign this pledge, ads aren't as simple as "I see, I buy". Lots of branding seems to be around changing your perception of or just making you aware of a company or product so that several months later, when you're purchasing something in that category, you'll think of them. You can't possibly remember all the ads you have or haven't seen, so trying to restrain yourself from buying products which yo…

I tried ads once for a sports blog. A lot of it was things like marketing a chocolate drink as an energy booster or breakfast meal for athletes. I thought it was quite dishonest .

Re: Ask HN: Would you sign an anti-ad pledge?

#22

Post by tomjen3 » Sat, Apr 20, 2019, 5:50 AM UTC

No. Ads are not bad. Ads for products that suck are, which is to say 90% of products and something like 99.99% of ads (really great products only need ads if they are in areas that are not normally talked about, e.g tampons).

Ads for products that don't matter to me are noise and annoying.

We should actively work toward rewarding people who create stuff that solves problems, but right now nobody has a better way to get the word out there than using ads.

Re: Ask HN: Would you sign an anti-ad pledge?

#23

Post by tomjen3 » Sat, Apr 20, 2019, 5:55 AM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #2

> I'm also willing to pay for an ad-free It has been tried multiple times, particularly in print media. Most people, regardless of what they claim, aren't willing to pay for ad free. Just the pure fact that it used to be free, often makes it even harder to convert them. You say you're willing to pay for ad-free, but I'd ask why you aren't paying for ad free already. Many websites now offer it, and few pay it (e.g. al…

Most of the offers I have seen are either widely out of proportion to a reasonable price (e.g essentially all newspapers), won't allow me to maintain privacy, aren't easy to purchase or are pointless bundles (newspapers linked from Facebook, I just want to buy that one article).

I am typing this while listing to google music, which I have a paid subscription for. I also pay for Netflix and HBO. They are worth it for now.