Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Brave launches private search ads

brave.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 299 posts

Re: Brave launches private search ads

#181

Post by input_sh »

skinnymuch wrote: post #96
satvikpendem wrote: post #74

After all the Brave controversies [0] I'm not sure why anyone uses Brave anymore. They took creators' money while ostensibly "collecting" it for them, and they inserted their own affiliate links when you visited certain sites. It's just shady behavior all around. I mean, when you have your own "Controversies" section on Wikipedia, you know there's something wrong. Especially with Manifest v3 looming which would kill…

Will manifest 3 really kill modern ad blockers? Like adguard and ublock won’t work as they do now in some upcoming Blink/Chromium version?

It'll work as it does now on large websites, but smaller ones will probably not make the cut (due to filter list size limit).

Anyway, there's already a manifest 3 version, swap uBlock Origin for uBlock Origin Lite and experience the changes yourself.

Firefox promised multiple times that they're gonna deviate from manifest v3 on that front, so only uBlock Origin (proper) will only work there.

Re: Brave launches private search ads

#182

Post by rightbyte »

NoGravitas wrote: post #117
SeanAnderson wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They will work but not as well.

Correct: they will work about as well as DNS-based adblockers. The "cosmetic blocks" you depend on in uBlock Origin to block same-origin and in-page elements, the things that make Fandom wikis usable, will not work.

I had to check what you meant and turned of uBlock on a Fandom wiki. Ye, well, those popup ads are really distracting. Even pop-up video ads. Following your scrolling around.

It's good to remind oneself about how the internet looks like to most people ...

Re: Brave launches private search ads

#183

Post by hannofcart »

thewebcount wrote: post #149
Archipelagia wrote: post #41

Not the biggest fan of Brave myself, but they seem to actually get extra points in my eyes for adding the paid option. It's not like you can pay $3 to Google to get them to stop surveilling you. On a bigger note, monetizing search without ads seem to be a pretty tricky business model. Especially if you want to move beyond being a niche product; even an average HN reader would be hard to convince to pay for a regular…

It's a slippery slope though. We saw this with Google, so it's not like it's a straw man. First it's small, discrete ads to the side. Then it's the first few entries are ads, but are marked as such. Then it's the first page of entries. Then the marking disappears. (Yeah, they put it back eventually after a backlash. I wouldn't expect a company like Brave to do the same, though.) I just go with a search engine I pay f…

> I wouldn't expect a company like Brave to do the same, though.

Companies change. When the leadership/guard at a company changes, or with enough investor pressure, policies can easily change from benevolent to a money grab.

Re: Brave launches private search ads

#184

Post by r00fus »

Archipelagia wrote: post #41

Not the biggest fan of Brave myself, but they seem to actually get extra points in my eyes for adding the paid option. It's not like you can pay $3 to Google to get them to stop surveilling you. On a bigger note, monetizing search without ads seem to be a pretty tricky business model. Especially if you want to move beyond being a niche product; even an average HN reader would be hard to convince to pay for a regular…

> It's not like you can pay $3 to Google to get them to stop surveilling you.

You can, at least for Youtube - the premium offering is ad-free. In fact, that's the only reason I subscribe - not the content - because my entire family uses my account or is part of my Google "family" to bypass YT ads. Worth the (ever increasing) monthly fee.

My guess is that this only exists to foil Netflix, and if Netflix didn't have an ad-free service, Google would make this option cost a lot more or remove it entirely.

Re: Brave launches private search ads

#185

Post by arepublicadoceu »

r00fus wrote: post #184
Archipelagia wrote: post #41

Not the biggest fan of Brave myself, but they seem to actually get extra points in my eyes for adding the paid option. It's not like you can pay $3 to Google to get them to stop surveilling you. On a bigger note, monetizing search without ads seem to be a pretty tricky business model. Especially if you want to move beyond being a niche product; even an average HN reader would be hard to convince to pay for a regular…

> It's not like you can pay $3 to Google to get them to stop surveilling you. You can, at least for Youtube - the premium offering is ad-free. In fact, that's the only reason I subscribe - not the content - because my entire family uses my account or is part of my Google "family" to bypass YT ads. Worth the (ever increasing) monthly fee. My guess is that this only exists to foil Netflix, and if Netflix didn't have an…

> You can, at least for Youtube - the premium offering is ad-free.

ad-free =/= surveillance free.

Re: Brave launches private search ads

#186

Post by pbronez »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #175
travisgriggs wrote: post #105

This statement (second paragraph) > Ads are a key part of search engines, helping to facilitate the free and open exchange of information on the Web, and to connect users to helpful products and services related to their search terms. Is just non sequitur for me. It's said in such a smooth way, in such a gaslight-ish way, that your tempted to just accept it. But it actually makes no sense to me. I get what ads are ke…

"An index (yellow pages) of what's available would help me search for a product." This is what "tech" companies are seeking to prevent. If the user has no idea of what's available, then the "tech" company can "suggest" its advertisers' products and services. "Recommendations" are supposed to be technologically indistinguishable from "search". Gaslighting indeed. But don't believe me. Get it from the horse's mouth. Re…

> In the past, I have had personal projects where I create an alternative way to explore the www, using a Yellow Pages type of process. The reason no one seems to care about this area anymore2 is not that such projects are infeasible or too challenging, it is that there is no financial incentive to pursue them. Big Tech has sold out the web.

Yes. I’m thinking about some ways to do this for specific niches. I suspect it will need to be non-profit. For revenue, I’m leaning towards something like affiliate links. Basically, third parties can pay to offer a generic way to take action on a particular thing. The site may provide several similar options, but by paying you go to the top of the list.

Since the main value of the site is documenting the thing, the monetization is strictly supplemental.

Re: Brave launches private search ads

#187

Post by amelius »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #145
travisgriggs wrote: post #105

This statement (second paragraph) > Ads are a key part of search engines, helping to facilitate the free and open exchange of information on the Web, and to connect users to helpful products and services related to their search terms. Is just non sequitur for me. It's said in such a smooth way, in such a gaslight-ish way, that your tempted to just accept it. But it actually makes no sense to me. I get what ads are ke…

> If I sat down with a troubled couple who was having a hard time communicating, I wouldn't periodically interrupt and say "let's pause a moment for an ad. I think that's going to really open up a better and more free exchange between the both of you." Couples counseling isn't free, maybe with ads they could be. I mean obviously not, but only because a professional counselor can only see about 8 couples per day while…

> Couples counseling isn't free, maybe with ads they could be.

Ads can only pay a couple of dollars at most. That's one of the problem with ads: they don't scale. You can only sell cheapish stuff using them; you can never increase your price above a certain point. It's very much a broken form of monetization in many ways.

Re: Brave launches private search ads

#188

Post by pempem »

SebastianKra wrote: post #169
squeaky-clean wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I sat down with a troubled couple who was having a hard time communicating, I wouldn't periodically interrupt and say "let's pause a moment for an ad. I think that's going to really open up a better and more free exchange between the both of you." Couples counseling isn't free, maybe with ads they could be. I mean obviously not, but only because a professional counselor can only see about 8 couples per day while…

I hate that ads are now seen as a necessary evil for funding free access to services. The money still comes from you, just through the purchase of products. What's worse, if you pay for YouTube Premium or Kagi, you're effectively paying for your content twice. No wonder, poorer people can't afford that. I guess you could frame it like this: "Company are overcharging us by insane amounts anyways, so at least some of t…

Its more pernicious imho. "Let us pay for this service by serving you ads which undermine your comprehension of what you actually need and cause you to constantly have an investigative part of your mind on, or mindlessly consume."

Its truly more than walletshare and tremendously mentally taxing or can destroy your financial wellbeing if unchecked.

Re: Brave launches private search ads

#189

Post by amelius »

hunterb123 wrote: post #109
travisgriggs wrote: post #105

This statement (second paragraph) > Ads are a key part of search engines, helping to facilitate the free and open exchange of information on the Web, and to connect users to helpful products and services related to their search terms. Is just non sequitur for me. It's said in such a smooth way, in such a gaslight-ish way, that your tempted to just accept it. But it actually makes no sense to me. I get what ads are ke…

You've never opened a newspaper up to the classifieds? Those are ads. You may not know of a tree cutting service until you look there. You may not know where to get a car part until you look there. Having ads riddled throughout the internet is one thing, but having a directory where ads are supposed to be is another. Yes billboards are annoying, that doesn't make classifieds equal. (oh and you could just pay $3/mo or…

What you need is yellow pages.
Post reply on HN