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How I Experience Web Today (2021)

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Re: How I Experience Web Today (2021)

#121

Post by xnorswap »

rglynn wrote: post #96
darajava wrote: post #87

I don’t get why more people don’t use Brave. It literally blocks all of these annoying things (not only ads) on mobile and desktop and it’s very easy to disable all the crap they add to make money (although I do feel bad and actually writing this made me think to donate if that is an option). Brave search is 80% as good as Google’s too.

Yeah people always complain about ads, I havent seen a single ad in years (except twitch).

I probably shouldn't divulge this since it risks this privilege disappearing, but Twitch is the one place I don't see ads, even though I don't use an ad-blocker.

I think some years ago, I may have had a flag set on my account which stops me getting ads. In the past I've given security@twitch a heads-up about some minor vulnerabilities, so perhaps it was a gesture of good will from twitch.

It may also have been a freak case of falling between the cracks when having "twitch prime" transitioned from ad-free viewing across all twitch to not doing so.

It took me years to realise that I don't see adverts on twitch when I "should", and I don't fully understand why not. I'm not sure who even at twitch I would report it to, as it doesn't feel like a security issue.

Re: How I Experience Web Today (2021)

#122

Post by forgotmypw17 »

It is not how I experience the Web today, and I was initially confused by what the hype was about this site, because… Anytime I see a pattern like this, I just close the tab and move on to browsing sites that respect me. So that's what I did after clicking the first link.

It’s sort of like if an annoying or obnoxious person approaches me on the street… I just walk away! What could they possibly have to say to me that could be so important?

And I have noticed the same with Web sites… this type of low-quality behavior correlates strongly with low-quality content, which also adds nothing to my life. So by immediately leaving, I am not only saving myself from aggravation, I am also saving myself from wasting time on fluff pieces, useless studies, clickbait, etc.

I highly recommend this strategy, because it has transformed the Web for me into once again being usable and useful.

(I still use an ad blocker for security reasons.)

Re: How I Experience Web Today (2021)

#123

Post by forgotmypw17 »

cle wrote: post #4

It's even worse than that, first Google will bug you to use Chrome, then bug you to login, then after your search the browser will pop up "Google would like to use your current location". And then the first half-page of results are ads. And half of the actual results are AI slop and a helpful AI summary of the slop. And that's before you even get to the page.

I switched my iPhone to Bing recently because of this. It’s in the same order of magnitude of usefulness.

Re: How I Experience Web Today (2021)

#124

Post by Filligree »

photonthug wrote: post #90
Terr_ wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lots of us don’t want to pay a dime because it’s like negotiating with terrorists. For a concrete example of the implacable amorality of advertising, consider how cable-TV once offered the promise of subscribing to end the ads, but still ended up showing you ads and demanding a subscription fee anyway. Then the same pattern happened again with online streaming services and Youtube: Every would-be savior keeps getti…

Or consider the commuter that is obliged to pay hundreds a week for gas, and is assaulted by ads at obnoxious volumes while they fill up. Or the jet passenger that endures ads on what should be the PA that is reserved for emergency communications, after they’ve been gouged on ticket prices, because hey, why not monetize a captive audience for all they are worth? Does a first class ticket buy the right to avoid harass…

Joke’s on them, I just don’t listen to the PA.

Re: How I Experience Web Today (2021)

#126

Post by darajava »

tiffanyh wrote: post #88
darajava wrote: post #87

I don’t get why more people don’t use Brave. It literally blocks all of these annoying things (not only ads) on mobile and desktop and it’s very easy to disable all the crap they add to make money (although I do feel bad and actually writing this made me think to donate if that is an option). Brave search is 80% as good as Google’s too.

Some have lost trust in Brave given various reports of them selling users data, which conflicts with their messaging as being the "privacy safe browser". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36735777

Seems indirect and I don’t really care if they use my usage data.

Re: How I Experience Web Today (2021)

#127

Post by darajava »

botanical76 wrote: post #97
darajava wrote: post #87

I don’t get why more people don’t use Brave. It literally blocks all of these annoying things (not only ads) on mobile and desktop and it’s very easy to disable all the crap they add to make money (although I do feel bad and actually writing this made me think to donate if that is an option). Brave search is 80% as good as Google’s too.

Another option is Vivaldi, I swapped from Brave some months ago and I've been quite happy with its ad-blocking. Plus it's tons more functional IMO.

I’ll give it a go if I ever get sick of Brave. What makes it more functional? I love how polished and robust Chromium-based browsers are.

Re: How I Experience Web Today (2021)

#128

Post by snapplebobapple »

forgotmypw17 wrote: post #123
cle wrote: post #4

It's even worse than that, first Google will bug you to use Chrome, then bug you to login, then after your search the browser will pop up "Google would like to use your current location". And then the first half-page of results are ads. And half of the actual results are AI slop and a helpful AI summary of the slop. And that's before you even get to the page.

I switched my iPhone to Bing recently because of this. It’s in the same order of magnitude of usefulness.

I was on bing for a while but switched to brave search necause it surprisingly had much better results and was even less annoying than bing.

Re: How I Experience Web Today (2021)

#129

Post by graypegg »

staplers wrote: post #57
judah wrote: post #48

This is great. I see: - Cookie acceptance overlay - Email prompt when switching away from tab - Push notification custom UI prompt - Push notification browser prompt - Subscribe to our newsletter prompt - Ad blocker detected modal - Please subscribe overlay - Continue reading overlay - Ratings prompt - Floating feedback button - "How can I help you?" chat popup - Email prompt when scrolling - Create an account footer…

Could we do something similar but for top level DOM? It's called "reader mode" on most browsers.

One interesting thing I noticed after updating to iOS 18 specifically, is the removal of reader mode as a "mode". It's now OFFERED to you in the new view menu based on some heuristic about the page that Apple has determined, but it's not a mode you can turn on regardless of if Apple thinks you're on a "readable" document or not.

Frustrating since their "remove distracting elements" feature was a great value-add, done in the same update.

Re: How I Experience Web Today (2021)

#130

Post by hosh »

ravenstine wrote: post #66
n_plus_1_acc wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of my favourite blogs are ad-free. The people behindert it just do it with passion and don't expect anything in return. This is in contrast to nrwspapets and magazines, which just pump out clickbait shit while bring full of ads and tracking. Another option is the patreon/twitch model, where people Sonate money to creators.

Yes, the irony I have seen with written content is, with the exception being books, most paid written content is still crap.

At some point, you stop selling content, and you start selling an audience with a known demographic to advertisers.

In such a market, the business is disincentivized to produce thoughtful content, and need to churn the bait the draw in the audience. So it isn't as if creators are being compensated for creating, and instead content producers are compensated for producing words that will lure in readers.

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