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Just doesn’t feel good

marco.org

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Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#41

Post by w4 »

hullo wrote: post #26
w4 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right...but nothing about Marco's statement suggests anything besides, "It turns out I feel really weird about making an ad blocker, and there isn't any way I can make an ad blocker that works in a way that doesn't make me feel weird with the iOS framework, so I'm not going to make one anymore." Why not take his statement at face value? He's personally reliant on ad income from his site, as are several of his friends…

Just one clarification, and it will seem picky, but while Marco's site does have ads, Marco-the-person is in no sense "reliant" on ad income, as an early Tumblr employee who did well in the IPO and then didn't blow it on yachts and helicopters. In addition to IAP money from his podcast app, selling Instapaper, etc.

Fair enough - maybe personally reliant was a bit strong. :) I suspect his own income was less of a concern than his friends' incomes anyways, given he's taking down what is likely a six figure (or seven, over time) app.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#42

Post by cstross »

superuser2 wrote: post #29
cstross wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively: I am seeing a lot of angry articles by journalists who see adblockers as an existential threat to them, and Marco also developed Instapaper. He's almost certainly already getting hate mail from content sites who don't like the way that Instapaper renders their content readable without allowing annoying intrusions. Releasing Peace on top of Instapaper set him up as a high-profile target -- even higher w…

I'd urge you to medidate on what the constant complaints about paywalls imply about the public's appetite for non-advertising revenue streams. Journalists have to eat.

BTDT (I wrote a monthly magazine column for more than half a decade; I write for a living). There are other ways to earn a crust with the pen than through advertising.

The real headache with paywalls is that buying access is a pain in the arse, with price structures that make no sense from the casual browser's point of view. What we really need is a robust microbilling architecture ... but back when the web began to take its shape in 1994-96 the transaction cost was prohibitive for micro-billing (V.34bis modems rather than broadband put a floor under minimum TCP/IP connection costs that exceeded the sort of transaction size expected for micro-billing).

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#43

Post by carlosrg »

cstross wrote: post #10
DanBlake wrote: post #2

Although I have no direct knowledge, it feels like there is something going on behind the scenes forcing this reaction. If I had to guess, I would point the finger at Ghostery causing this. Lifehacker wrote¹ that Ghostery sells some data to marketers, so perhaps the approach taken with the app interferes with Ghostery's model and they were not willing to continue allowing access to their rule list. Alternatively Ghos…

Alternatively: I am seeing a lot of angry articles by journalists who see adblockers as an existential threat to them, and Marco also developed Instapaper. He's almost certainly already getting hate mail from content sites who don't like the way that Instapaper renders their content readable without allowing annoying intrusions. Releasing Peace on top of Instapaper set him up as a high-profile target -- even higher w…

If Apple allowed BitTorrent clients in iOS 10 I assure you BitTorrent clients would be #1 on iOS 10 launch too. Does that mean illegally downloading is ok?

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#45

Post by dannyr »

mitchty wrote: post #39

Here is the whole thing about ad supported sites: We are worth a lot less than you think, and also overall an individuals monthly worth in advertisements is also small. https://air.mozilla.org/subscribe2web/ Turns out, we're worth about $6.20/mo in advertising. Lets just round this up to $10/month to not have ads but still support sites we visit. If content providers aren't working on an alternative like the above, I…

So I can go to a store, I don't like how they make money, I'll just take away whatever I want for free?

If you don't like how they make money, do not patronize them.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#47

Post by w4 »

cjensen wrote: post #20

Lots of people here trying to infer motives. Why not just believe what he says? He's a guy who has enough money, wants to do what he loves, and doesn't enjoy controversy. He's hacker enough to want to muck about with how to make a blocker, but it's not his joy. Basically, he's what many of us aspire to be.

Seriously. This move makes sense without any conspiracy theories. Just look at his other recent blog post about Peace: http://www.marco.org/2015/09/17/why-peace-blocks-deck-ads

It looks like he just felt uncomfortable making money off of his friends' and colleagues' loss. Makes sense, really, even if some posters can't seem to fathom giving up money to sleep soundly at night.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#48

Post by ino »

tptacek wrote: post #32
cstross wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively: I am seeing a lot of angry articles by journalists who see adblockers as an existential threat to them, and Marco also developed Instapaper. He's almost certainly already getting hate mail from content sites who don't like the way that Instapaper renders their content readable without allowing annoying intrusions. Releasing Peace on top of Instapaper set him up as a high-profile target -- even higher w…

Why exactly do you think that's a dispositive argument? Poll the public about their appetite for paywalls and you'll get an even more vigorous response --- paywalls are reviled by normal people. And yet logically, if you think ad-supported content isn't a good model, you should support paywalls. They're transparent and up-front and don't require cross-site tracking. Really, this is pretty simple: people just want it…

That's why (for now and in this case) apps win. You get to make money from ads, and some people pay you a dollar to remove those ads.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#49

Post by sp332 »

carlosrg wrote: post #43
cstross wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively: I am seeing a lot of angry articles by journalists who see adblockers as an existential threat to them, and Marco also developed Instapaper. He's almost certainly already getting hate mail from content sites who don't like the way that Instapaper renders their content readable without allowing annoying intrusions. Releasing Peace on top of Instapaper set him up as a high-profile target -- even higher w…

If Apple allowed BitTorrent clients in iOS 10 I assure you BitTorrent clients would be #1 on iOS 10 launch too. Does that mean illegally downloading is ok?

That means that there is a lot of room for content producers to improve the customer experience. So far they've just been suing their biggest customers. Hopefully the newspapers will not take that approach.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#50

Post by petercooper »

zyxley wrote: post #37

I wonder how many people will be unable to get a refund from Apple for the app.

This sort of situation is not what refunds on the App Store are typically for. I'm more intrigued if his app gets a colossal number of refund requests if it'll jeopardize his standing with Apple.
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