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Just doesn’t feel good

marco.org

81–90 of 315 posts

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#81
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

We're talking about extremely low marginal cost. More like a free glass of water or free use of the restroom than a free pair of jeans.

Marginal cost? free glass of water? No. Writing articles cost time and money. They are not free.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#83
post #47
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.

>It looks like he just felt uncomfortable making money off of his friends' and colleagues' loss.

Anytime you sell a product in a competitive market, you do this. Those ad companies are happy to steal costumers' attention from other companies.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#84
I'm really disappointed by the amount of support he has gotten for this. He has directly mislead consumers into buying a product with an intent of support, and then immediately pulls it and forces the user into a difficult process with Apple to reclaim that money. Anyone that is unsuccessful in the process will have their money go directly to the developer. I understand the possibility change of heart, but that doesn't change the fact that every action of this matches what would happen in a scam, other than the fact that I truly believe he didn't set out to intentionally scam users. He really should have thought about this before releasing the app, and I feel like the support he's getting will convince him or other developers that this is at all a decent move.

I think Apple should be at least overly cautious any time he attempts to release another application. I know many developers that would have been effectively blocked for less, but he has the fortune of being in good with Apple so I don't see that happening.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#85
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Makes sense, really, even if some posters can't seem to fathom giving up money to sleep soundly at night. This is like kicking kittens and then announcing to the world that you're going to stop kicking kittens. Then why kick kittens in the first place? No one made Marco create an ad blocking app. No one demanded his coordination with Ghostery. No one demanded that he announce it with great fanfare on his site. Morali…

> This is like kicking kittens and then announcing to the world that you're going to stop kicking kittens. Then why kick kittens in the first place?

Sure. That having been said, people do things all the time without realizing how it's going to make them feel. Marco made an ad blocker, turns out it made him feel bad, so he's going to stop doing it. Fair enough.

I'm not trying to suggest Marco is some Saint here. Like you said, he created this problem for himself in the first place. I just can't believe how unwilling HN's readership is to believe that there isn't some ulterior motivation behind him pulling the app.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#86
post #32
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…

>paywalls are reviled by normal people

Really? Everyone pays for services that they value.

I certainly don't hear people complaining about the 'paywall' for eating a banana.

In my view, the advertising model exists because most things posted on the internet are not worth paying for.

What I hear more often is people paying for access and then complaining that a high level of advertising is served anyway. Paywalls are not the answer to ads.

What I also hear is people paying for access and then complaining that the quality is not worth it or reduces over time. Paywalls are not transparent.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#87
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.

I assume you are responding to me primarily. This is the issue- Him having 'fuck you' money makes no difference to me. Plenty of rich people do things with a hidden agenda. Personally I feel like the reason he gave seems far fetched and much less likely then another causation point. So, with Occam's razor in mind I default to my viewpoint that this was likely a issue induced by Ghostery. For what its worth, I also fe…

Flappy Bird

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#88
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…

As the verge pointed out[1], small publishers do have a way to get paid that will work a lot better than subscriptions. They'll just put their content on Facebook -- ad blockers don't work inside the Facebook app. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10233010

Doesn't do anything for sites not considered "publishers." Popular "tools," such as calculators, forms, etc. will not have these Facebook-type options.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#89
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Makes sense, really, even if some posters can't seem to fathom giving up money to sleep soundly at night. This is like kicking kittens and then announcing to the world that you're going to stop kicking kittens. Then why kick kittens in the first place? No one made Marco create an ad blocking app. No one demanded his coordination with Ghostery. No one demanded that he announce it with great fanfare on his site. Morali…

You kick kittens because you didn’t really think about it, then you think about it and you stop. Humans make errors in judgement all the time. That’s just ordinary.

Also, he himself clearly says that he doesn’t think blocking ads is somehow undoubtedly immoral (like kicking kittens) or something. He makes a much more subtle argument, basically saying it’s a complex issue and he doesn’t feel confident in his ability to make the right decisions looking forward in his stewardship of what would probably have been one of the most popular ad blockers on the platform.

He just doesn’t want to make those decisions. He feels uncomfortable making them. That’s it. I think that’s a very sensible argument for pulling the app, especially if you expected this app to be not very popular in the first place.

Re: Just doesn’t feel good

#90
post #74

* I don't want ads * I don't want native advertising or sponsored content * I don't want to pay for content * I don't want my tax goes to government sponsored content * I want free independent content That's me nowadays... I don't even know what's the answer!

There isn't one, because your position is idealistic and naive.
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