Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

It’s undeniable, though, that such a limitation would shut off access for people who can’t afford it. You see it today with newspaper paywalls and the like.

I suspect the vast majority of us in HN would have no problem paying for most of these services but I’m not sure how I feel about us making those choices on behalf of those that can’t.

If its vital enough that everyone must have access, then it should be considered a public utility like water, or something the government should subsidize like food stamps. I'd be happy for my tax dollars to go towards a well-moderated social media platform that everyone can access and by design doesn't do shit like optimize "engagement" or whatever monetizing nonsense current platforms do to try and make a buck.

Your post inspires me to look at it from a real-world analogy. If I imagine that online ads are the same as offline ads, I start to think about what offline ad tracking would look like. I imagine cameras being on the streets to watch me walk down the street, following me to different stores to see what I buy, with whom I meet, and other activities to inform which billboards/street advertisements should exist. I think about ads being not just on billboards and bus stands, but on the sidewalk, on every skyscraper, or even more functionally annoying, having to physically remove an ad to open a door to a building, or going halfway up the stairs to be hit with a physical ad that drops from the sky and stops me from entering unless I swipe my ID card.

I could go on and yet I think some points start to emerge. I'm OK with ads, I don't like the pervasive tracking. I'm OK with ads, I don't like them interrupting the functionality. I actually even like ads when I have some control over them, not them controlling me. Give me more options to choose which types of ads I want to see (not only don't want to see), don't track me to try to guess/manipulate which ones I want to see.

Lastly, I think in physical real estate, there are laws about who can advertise, where, and when, and I think in digital real estate, there don't seem to be those regulations and advertisements and ad-tracking creep more and more. While advertisements seem to be one of the best ways to grow income (i.e., more people viewing/more accurate audience = higher ad price), I think an ad does have a ceiling price and then once it hits it, companies start to make more ads, more intrusive ones, and more tracking ones.

I think more than anything, I want more agency over the process, and right now, my options for agency are often do nothing, avoid the site completely, constantly click on ads to say "I don't want to see ads like this" and end up seeing more ads tangentially like it, install an ad-blocker, or one of many other almost guerrilla-like tactics to gain some semblance of agency.

How about a model like Wikipedia?

It’s free. If you find it useful and can afford it please donate. If not it’s still free.

Seems to work out excellent for them.

Re: blocking ads guilt free:

Not that long ago someone posted this beautiful Banksy quote about it on HN:

> “People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.” - Banksy

I’ll damn well block all shitty ads on every site.

You’re a newspaper site and want to block me for using an ad blocker? Feel free, I’ll leave your site.

You’re an advertiser who refuses to bid on ad space as too many people block the ads anyway? Please stop bidding then.

But don’t pretend that by offering your site for free and me using it for free somehow requires me to see shitty ads.

If you want my money, ask for it. If your content is worth it I’ll pay for it.