Marco lost my trust after I purchased Overcast app and it has been mostly ignored by him other than fixing bugs. The Overcast app has seen very few new features. There is still no streaming (100% download before playing) and no bookmarking (so you can come back to something interesting). He mentioned on his blog that he had made a few minor fixes but nothing major.
Just doesn’t feel good
301–310 of 315 posts
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#302Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ghostery is providing the blocklist, not Marco.I doubt they are going to stop anytime soon as they also have a browser extenstion that relies on it
Doubtful. "The app is completely my code, using a copy of Ghostery’s tracker database hosted on my server that the app periodically checks for updates." So since he's abandoned the app, and broken his agreement with Ghostery, I'd assume he'll no longer be receiving an updated database from Ghostery.
He confirmed on Twitter that it'll keep being updated for the foreseeable future.
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#303Lots 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.
> Why not just believe what he says?
for example because Ghostery is owned by Evidon, a company that collects and provides data to advertising companies https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=10240483&goto=item%3Fi...
that's at least suspicious...
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
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)
I don't get this. "the rest of the world said could not be done" - adblocking? I'm not sure what you're implying - the only way he had to know was to try because no-one thought it could be done?
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
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)
I don't get this. "the rest of the world said could not be done" - adblocking? I'm not sure what you're implying - the only way he had to know was to try because no-one thought it could be done?
Anyone who has built a big business or has otherwise accomplished anything significant will have run into a great many naysayers who said it could not be done. If you get anywhere in life, you eventually learn to stop listening to the naysayers and find ways to test reality for yourself.
This is likely why people like Steve Jobs have such negative reputations: They learned what their limits were by hitting a metaphorical wall, because it was the only realistic way to learn their actual limits. If you are very intelligent or competent, it will be your routine experience that you can do a great many things that people around you claim "cannot be done." After a while, you just stop listening to the counsel of the great masses of people who try to tell you to not try, who try to tell you that you will regret it.
It is a general observation about the behavior of very accomplished people. Presumably, someone who has fuck you money that he earned himself (as others here on HN are saying he has) falls in that category.
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#306I hate this supposition that everyone should bend over backwards to allow people who make money in a certain way continue making money in that way. Am I the only one thinks that the user's experience should be more important than everything else? Annoying advertisements are, in practice, the result of people failing to be creative in monetization. Ars Technica, for instance, has done a great job of integrating ads in…
You're definitely not the only one.
I found the post from here http://blog.deathtobullshit.com (http://blog.deathtobullshit.com/post/129431438739/just-doesn...)
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
Presumably because that is the price that their provider sells it for. Most people do not have a choice of ISP, and cannot negotiate the terms of their service.
...which is why I'm curious to know who they are getting their service from. A price point like that ought to be named and shamed if users have no other option.
Ice.net.
And I misremembered the cost; it's actually "only" $5/GB.
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
If HTTP was a contract whereby you agreed to look at everything that was sent over then your analogy would make sense. But HTTP is a protocol, not a legally binding contract. So no.
The terms of service for the site that's delivered to you over HTTP, though--that is a legally binding contract. Some have no-ad-blocking terms.
Downvoting reality.. nice work, HN!
Here's how contracts work: A makes an offer to exchange something of value. If B accepts that offer, there's a contract.
How's that work for websites? The website publishes its TOS. You go to the website and are able to look at the TOS. If you keep using the site, you're held to the TOS. You've impliedly agreed to it. If you disagree with it, you can leave.
There is certainly some legal fiction going on here. Of course most users don't read the TOS, and even if they tried to, they wouldn't understand them. But courts have enforced them anyway. What would happen if they didn't? It would be anarchy.
There are limits to what TOSes can do, sure. But the point of what I said -- that TOS are contracts, and can bind you -- that is true. Mocking that truth is pretty silly and uninformed.
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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.
Availability of quality journalism is higher than it has ever been. You're not obliged to visit Buzzfeed.
Re: Just doesn’t feel good
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except having the ads there is the cost for the content you're looking at.
When you buy stuff in a store, the items remain the property of the store until you pay. If you take them without paying then you're stealing. This is firmly enshrined in both morality and law. When you view something with ads, they send you the stuff first, on the hope or assumption that you will later view the ads. No property changes hands at any time.
I'm hearing a bunch of excuses which are used to rationalize your bad behavior, but nothing based in reality.