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Welcome to the ad-free internet

economist.com

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Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#201

Post by chronogram »

littlefish444 wrote: post #9

Does anyone know why there doesn't exist a micro-transaction capability to buy one marginal ad-free item at a time? E.g. buy just this Economist article for $0.25 rather than subscribing for the whole month? I know there are significant issues with micro-transaction cost but I figure you could set up a little token service with minimum cash-in and cash-out amounts (say $5). Do companies like the Economist crunch the…

This is not useful for the Economist as it currently exists. They'd have to charge a significant amount for an article so the engaging articles also cover for the 'boring' ones, and at that point you might as well get that full package. Which you can already buy at the store, or read at the library, but either way the entire edition is funded. The occasional $0.25 is nothing when they're looking for $209 per year from Americans or €300 from Europeans, the single issues are for the people who want to occasionally buy or gift it. The people only interested in single digit articles per year can already get given gift articles from people with a digital subscription.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#202

Post by mbork_pl »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #119
mbork_pl wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does meeting people face to face and talking about what happened in your lives count as "pirating facebook"? ;-)

haha not yet. 2043: you have been fined for having an unlicensed social activity. Please ensure all future social activity is properly arranged via Facebook groups or a registered chat application.

2053: your social credit score was decreased because of unlicensed social activity and dropped below an acceptable level. You were not fined and you still have a lot of money, but that doesn't matter, because you are not allowed to participate in any monetary transactions (in optimistic version: besides buying basic food).

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#203

Post by mhaberl »

voidnap wrote: post #199
avgcorrection wrote: post #116

There’s this local newspaper. While I’m on a logged in account (EDIT: paid) the ads seem to take up at least 25% screen real estate at all times. The best ones are the ones that graciously show up while scrolling, dynamically—it’s like wathing TV (again)! My favorite place though is the gym. Which costs a lot when you just go there to use frickin’ weights and cardio equipment. LCD screens with ads running (for local…

> your peripheral vision gets distracted by irrelevant stimuli (for some reason I automatically have to look when it seems like something is “happening” all of a sudden, an urge I have to repress) If you figure out how to do this, please let everyone know. I don't think it's possible. I think humans have it baked in to them to pay attention to, for lack of a better word, information. I used to have a long commute dri…

> If you figure out how to do this, please let everyone know. I don't think it's possible. I think humans have it baked in to them to pay attention to, for lack of a better word, information.

I agree, but more than that; if we would find a way to avoid paying attention, a more pervasive way of pushing the adds would be invented.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#204

Post by black_puppydog »

voidnap wrote: post #199
avgcorrection wrote: post #116

There’s this local newspaper. While I’m on a logged in account (EDIT: paid) the ads seem to take up at least 25% screen real estate at all times. The best ones are the ones that graciously show up while scrolling, dynamically—it’s like wathing TV (again)! My favorite place though is the gym. Which costs a lot when you just go there to use frickin’ weights and cardio equipment. LCD screens with ads running (for local…

> your peripheral vision gets distracted by irrelevant stimuli (for some reason I automatically have to look when it seems like something is “happening” all of a sudden, an urge I have to repress) If you figure out how to do this, please let everyone know. I don't think it's possible. I think humans have it baked in to them to pay attention to, for lack of a better word, information. I used to have a long commute dri…

I observe this in myself. It's virtually impossible for me to be in a restaurant/bar that has a TV up on the wall, and really be present with my friends/family. I catch myself being drawn into TV content that I'm entirely uninterested in, drifting off, and I hate it.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#205

Post by carlosjobim »

fastest963 wrote: post #54
wolverine876 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brave, the browser, started with some cryptocurrency micropayment idea. What happened to it?

I'm not sure if publishers could get enough from Brave Payments to make it worth it. Brave also blocks ads so they aren't exactly in the publishers' good graces. Some publishers would rather block Brave than try to work out a deal to accept cryptocurrency.

Blocking the publishers ads while putting your own on top is a scam at best and extortion at worst.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#206

Post by Saanti »

rambambram wrote: post #128
avgcorrection wrote: post #116

There’s this local newspaper. While I’m on a logged in account (EDIT: paid) the ads seem to take up at least 25% screen real estate at all times. The best ones are the ones that graciously show up while scrolling, dynamically—it’s like wathing TV (again)! My favorite place though is the gym. Which costs a lot when you just go there to use frickin’ weights and cardio equipment. LCD screens with ads running (for local…

Slightly off-topic, but a home gym pays back in no-time (if you only use weights and some simple equipment like a bench and a pullup rack, that is).

This. Plus doing your cardio work outside, running/cycling/hiking through nature and fresh air

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#207

Post by filipezf »

That's funny, because I'm a PAID subscriber to The Economist, and on opening the page, there is a big ad banner on the top and other on the right, filling more than half the space. (I don't bother using adblockers,though). Newspapers have always shown ads even for paying consumers. As the very article ends with: "Users who pay to block ads in some areas are still likely to find them popping up in new ones."

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#208

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #91
DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. I've been a subscriber to Adobe's Creative Cloud for almost 10 years now - which means I've paid them upwards of $6,000 by now - even though I only use 3 programs (Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator) and even then I only really use base-level functionality that's been present in those titles long before they became subscription-only: if it weren't for (normal and understandable) platform-obsolescence (high-DPI su…

Have you tried Scribus, Krita, Inkscape, say. Is familiarity worth the cost?

I haven't tried any of those suggestions, regrettably; as I've heard good things about them.

But it's not just familiarity, but also about compatibility: I need to be able to open my PSD/AI files going back decades with absolute fidelity; and I know one of the dirty secrets of other programs that claim to have "PSD compatibility" is that they just read the composite version of the image, instead of being able to import individual layers with blending/effects settings, etc.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#209

Post by dghughes »

lol first thing

"We use data to create the best experience for you. Together with our 172 trusted partners". Just 172 close friends?

That's what burns my gears not so much ads as the tracking. How did the Internet become a thing that follows you everywhere? An ad I Can take I look and click or not or buy or not but it's the invasive collection and tracking I hate.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#210

Post by alwayslikethis »

filipezf wrote: post #207

That's funny, because I'm a PAID subscriber to The Economist, and on opening the page, there is a big ad banner on the top and other on the right, filling more than half the space. (I don't bother using adblockers,though). Newspapers have always shown ads even for paying consumers. As the very article ends with: "Users who pay to block ads in some areas are still likely to find them popping up in new ones."

As a non paying ublock origin user, I don't see any ads. The ad-free internet has already been here for a long time if you are willing to spend 10 minutes install ublock origin. Paying is actually worse, because it shows the fact that you have some amount of disposable income and are willing to pay for things, which greatly increases the value of advertising to you specifically.
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