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Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

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Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#171

Post by duderific »

duxup wrote: post #134
taurath wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I choose to believe we could have a better world, where loading a local news site doesn’t look like a virus-ridden Windows 95 desktop, where just trying to talk with friends isn’t interrupted by.. (checks twitter) payday loan lobbyists. Where the smartest people of my generation are using every dark pattern in the world to take my attention away from what matters to me.

I think it is very possible, even with ads. So ads are often a place where dark patterns happen and such. But take Apple for instance. Apple seems to respect user privacy to a fairly far extent compared to say, Facebook, Google. If apple wasn't around ... we would probably say something about "you can't have these fancy smartphones without someone stealing all your data". But clearly Apple can do it (for a lot of rea…

Apple makes massive profits on the hardware they sell you, that's how they can do it. The software companies that give it away "for free" (Facebook, Google) don't have any way other than advertising or selling/using data to make money.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#172

Post by minikites »

reaperducer wrote: post #163

At first I thought that this might be another good indication that having "Facebook" on your resume isn't the golden egg it once was. Then I realize it's even better than before because it demonstrates for a potential employer that you'll push whatever buttons you're asked to in exchange for money, regardless of whether it's good for the user, the internet, or society as a whole.

This is why I genuinely believe STEM majors should be required to take more liberal arts (e.g. ethics) classes as a requirement to graduate.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#173

Post by thebaer »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #145
asdkhadsj wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. I feel like ads have such a bad rap because of the state of the internet. Yet, what does everyone expect? Is it shocking that content providers want money for their product? And yes, I know, some sites and ads do terrible things. The actively hurt viewership. BUT, isn't that the same with everything ? Even my groceries are getting worse as companies seek ways to increase profits without pissing me off; the…

I run an old collaborative writing (roleplaying) forum populated mostly by teens that's paid for by a banner ad. When I read HN comments about ads, I see people who are forgetting what ads have actually gotten us: more people able to create more things that are available to everyone for free. HNers like to say "well, then adapt your business model," but look at the incredibly friction that exists for getting people t…

People love to complain about giving up money when they don't understand the value they'll get from something. Make it clear what you're selling and why it's worth $10 / month, and people will pay you. It's not as big of a problem as you think.

We can still create a world of free products that enable what your forum has -- it just needs a simple business model like, Hey, do you enjoy writing here? Send me $5! Then subsidize your free users with paid ones. If you have a day job, you can consider it a success when the servers are paid for every month.

There is nothing inherent about the internet that says it must be run on ads. That's just what ad-powered platforms want you to think, to justify their own terrible existence. Get creative, put on the tiniest of marketing hats, and just ask people. There is no quick and easy lunch, but I think you'll be surprised by what you find.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#174

Post by taurath »

Mirioron wrote: post #135
taurath wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I choose to believe we could have a better world, where loading a local news site doesn’t look like a virus-ridden Windows 95 desktop, where just trying to talk with friends isn’t interrupted by.. (checks twitter) payday loan lobbyists. Where the smartest people of my generation are using every dark pattern in the world to take my attention away from what matters to me.

Then pay money for those services.

Gladly. Its not an option.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#175

Post by chatterbeak »

sly010 wrote: post #26

I wonder at which point will we just stream pages as interactive video content with a text optimized codec. Most pages on the internet are bloated to the point where it might just make sense. (I am not advocating, I am predicting)

Isn't this (sort of) what the remote desktop protocols do? That may actually be feasible!

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#176

Post by pmontra »

andrepd wrote: post #164
asdkhadsj wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. I feel like ads have such a bad rap because of the state of the internet. Yet, what does everyone expect? Is it shocking that content providers want money for their product? And yes, I know, some sites and ads do terrible things. The actively hurt viewership. BUT, isn't that the same with everything ? Even my groceries are getting worse as companies seek ways to increase profits without pissing me off; the…

To me ads are fundamentally about misleading you, manipulating you, or in short: making you do something that you wouldn't do otherwise. This to me is morally wrong on a base level. Advertisement is an attempt to attack/manipulate your vulnerable mammal brain to make you do something against your interest (be it buying a product, voting on someone, etc). In other words, to do something that you wouldn't do rationally…

Exactly. I don't remember the words but my parents were like "it's an ad, don't believe it." It was the time of TV commercials and little else but I think it's still a good piece of advice now.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#177

Post by thoughtpalette »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #33
agumonkey wrote: post #20

meanwhile https://text.npr.org/ ps: thanks for the comments below, I was curious about similar websites

CNN does a decent job as well: https://lite.cnn.io/en

I use this daily. Such a great implementation.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#178

Post by tenaciousDaniel »

matthewwiese wrote: post #79
tenaciousDaniel wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a job where I had to reverse engineer broker API's. A few brokers sent us warning letters since it's technically legal but brokers obviously hate it. That was the best cat-and-mouse game. We had a revolving door of proxies that we would use to hit their endpoints so they couldn't catch us. So much fun.

In what context was this done/could you provide more details (without giving away any information that you don't care to share)? Sounds like something I would enjoy doing as well!

It was from a previous employer and I can't remember what I signed in my NDA, so I'd rather not put myself at risk. Sorry!

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#179

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

eropple wrote: post #160
matz1 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sure, thats why I said what everyone consider 'matter' are different, for me this doesn't matter that much.

...And I am lightly suggesting that maybe it should matter . Hurting others unnecessarily is the only sin in the world. Don't ever, ever be That Guy.

Making people looks at adverts is hurting them?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a uBlock user myself but come on.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#180

Post by otabdeveloper2 »

rchaud wrote: post #111
eeeeeeeeeeeee wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they are fighting the people that absolutely do not want to see advertisements whatsoever (most normal people I know do not have ad-blockers), which already makes them the least likely to be attracted by advertisements. If anything, those brands are souring their reputation anytime they are seen by those kind of people in a medium that those consumers find obnoxious. You can make a similar argument that the R…

"Delivering value to customers"? It's a website-cum-message board. There is no further value to deliver via software features; all of that work is going towards meeting the needs of advertisers. And advertisers are asking them to show what they are doing to combat adblocking. FB isn't doing this to target customers least likely to convert, they're doing it to check a box for their ad sales team.

Newsflash: Facebook's customers are advertisers, not the honeypot victims stuck to their site.
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