61–70 of 148 posts
To the author: I think that if you cut the paranoia, you would actually be wealthier in spirit as well as material "net worth".
I am pretty sure such an downloading ad blocker would be considered a kind of click fraud.
By contrast, books (for example) are awesome. I pay for a book, and then I read the book start-to-finish with no ads Thats the issue, you paid money for the book, it's the business model the author used to make writing the book worthwhile. Historically the Internet doesn't seem to support content producers this way.
The author seems to be saying that he is entitled to take from the creator of content without having any obligation to give something in return. I believe that this misses one of the most basic principles of our economy - namely the idea of a value-exchange. You get, you give. I believe it's morally wrong to get, get, get, and not be willing to give.
No, he has no obligation to stare at an advertisement, but if he's not willing to stare at the ad he should look at other ways to compensate the creator of content or else not feel entitled to view the content.
Not that it matters, but the author's post is obviously link-bait also.
I rather like Ars. The content is a bit varied in quality, but I do have a look at it most days. The best content makes me reminisce about Byte Magazine. The ads are annoying. The alternative is $50/year. It just feels like quite a big sum of money when the extra benefits are not that interesting. $50/year that also gives me a good daily iPad edition, with articles I can save, without ads and full archive access may…
OK, a thought experiment: what about an ad blocker that downloads the ad, but doesn't display it? Because the argument seems to be that it is not necessary to look at the ad, only to download it, so that the site get's paid. I am pretty sure such an downloading ad blocker would be considered a kind of click fraud.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps a better way to phrase it: you should expect your customers to act in accordance with their best interests (as they understand them.) They aren't trying to "screw" you so much as trying to get the best value they can. Not viewing annoying ads is of value to people, which is why they go to the trouble of running adblock or paying for ad-free premium pages. It's up to content providers to figure out how to get…
"I submit that, if sites ran carefully-vetted ads that were of legitimate interest to their readers, were not annoying, and did not compromise user privacy, far fewer of us would use adblock." How do you know if the site has changed if you are using adblock? If they do decide to change ads, it won't really matter because they are already blocked. What about people that are using a computer with adblock already instal…
If, for example, your site has a community and ads are indeed "of legitimate interest", your community will discuss interesting ads. I have seen this happening on MetaFilter and Reddit.
By contrast, books (for example) are awesome. I pay for a book, and then I read the book start-to-finish with no ads Thats the issue, you paid money for the book, it's the business model the author used to make writing the book worthwhile. Historically the Internet doesn't seem to support content producers this way.
Then remind me again, why don't the advertising sites just block people with ad blockers?
A system that lets willing participants opt out of ad-viewship for direct micropayments. Wait a second, I think what I'm describing is close to the new 'Flattr' -- but still not quite it. Let the users choose between micropayments or ad-viewership.
What if someone made a browser plugin where every time an you visited a website it gave that website 1/1000th of a cent (and took 1/1000th of a cent out of your paypal/google-checkout/etc. account), and in exchange that website saw the plugin and served you a version with no ads. How many people would choose to use this plugin?
Of course, every website in the world would have to support it and micropayments don't work, so... it's not realistic.
By contrast, books (for example) are awesome. I pay for a book, and then I read the book start-to-finish with no ads Thats the issue, you paid money for the book, it's the business model the author used to make writing the book worthwhile. Historically the Internet doesn't seem to support content producers this way.
Then remind me again, why don't the advertising sites just block people with ad blockers?