Marco Arment thinks very differently from how I, and perhaps most other hackers, think. It is valuable to have people to disagree with.
Just doesn’t feel good
131–140 of 315 posts
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#132Lots 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 don't want to infer motives because I don't know. I will say that I am among those who doesn't really believe this is simply a morality tale. There are several folks here, like yourself, who are basically saying, "yeah, I can understand the mentality of not wanting to do and ad-blocker because of the moral grey area" I can understand that as well. What I can't understand is the quite sudden change of heart 2 days a…
Some people "don't know what they think until they run it through their mouths." Some test reality by trying a thing, seeing how it feels, deciding what to do once they know how it feels.
For people who have done things the rest of the world said could not be done, this is the only feedback mechanism that makes sense. (Shrug)
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Personally I feel like the reason he gave seems far fetched and much less likely then another causation point. Perhaps an understandable (though not very charitable) reaction if you cannot see yourself having the same viewpoint. But I think the existence of other people who believe they would have the same viewpoint means you should view it as less far fetched, or not far fetched at all. You might discount some of…
The reason I dont see that viewpoint is I feel it doesnt make sense- See this comment : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10240696
The kicking kittens analogy is bad -- we all know we aren't going to like kicking kittens. As I said, I briefly worked on something similar to adblocking. I didn't know it was going to make me miserable until I did it (for maybe 2 months, maybe less).
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> Fair enough
Not really, because now all those who bought "Peace" in good faith feel bad. We trusted this guy to deliver a good product and then it disappears under us. Grrrrr..
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do what you feel is morally wrong, and give away the profits? That's... bad ethics. "It's wrong, but it's for the greater good, so it's OK!" should be a major red flag. It says that what you're doing is wrong, you know it's wrong, and you're rationalizing. What lies down that road is the destruction of such morals as you currently have. Don't go there.
Governments do this on a massive scale with lotteries. I agree it's very dodgy ethically.
Governments have a monopoly. In this case, new services will take all his customers. It's very different.
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
It's especially easy to rationalize not paying when technology makes it so easy to free-ride.
We're all getting the Buzzfeed we deserve.
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#137Sounds like marco chose a lump payment model instead (from the advertisers themselves). Speculation of course, but I wouldn't pull something I worked hard on in just a couple of days, especially if it was succeeding and earning a ton of money.
Are you fucking kidding me? You're going to casually call him corrupt and a liar because you're too small-minded to believe he can have a change of heart?
I mentioned I was speculating. I don't know a lot of people who spend dozens of hours of their life developing a product, then publish it, then manage to achieve success and then throw it all away. I'm not saying that doesn't happen, but what are the chances?
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#138I don't care about the money, but it's annoying that he wasted my time and some of my credibility (because I recommended the app to some of my friends).
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#139Sounds like marco chose a lump payment model instead (from the advertisers themselves). Speculation of course, but I wouldn't pull something I worked hard on in just a couple of days, especially if it was succeeding and earning a ton of money.
Are you fucking kidding me? You're going to casually call him corrupt and a liar because you're too small-minded to believe he can have a change of heart?
Of course!!
Our Lord and Savior Marco wouldn't do such a thing, How dare he be skeptic of His intentions and motives?
Blessed His name Marco
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#140My money is on Ghostery terminating the tracker database license deal with Marco. I wouldn't be surprised if a Ghostery client made a complaint to the CEO.
I wouldn't be surprised if they talked about this before he pulled the application, and that none of what you said would happen.