The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web • Hacker News Board

Re: The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web

#181

Post by drb91 » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 8:24 AM UTC

manigandham wrote: post #162

drb91 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was under the impression you could also pay the content producer directly to bypass ads, which is IMHO the ideal solution. Is this no longer viable?

No it's still possible, but doesn't seem viable. Microtransactions have been tried several times. We experimented ourselves. Very hard to get users to pay for something that has always been free, especially when the ads are already blocked.

Correct me if I’m wrong but micro-transactions have never been built into a browser people actually use. How do you figure that they have been tried before in any meaningful way?

Re: The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web

#182

Post by hexane360 » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 8:25 AM UTC

justsee wrote: post #86

arcticbull wrote: post #54

My understanding is they’ve been taking money “on behalf of creators” who never signed up and pocketing it. That’s reason enough for me to not use the product. Sounds like it could be construed as fraud. Eich got pretty defensive on Twitter and this whole thing came up here before too [2]. [1] https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2018/12/24/brave-browser-is-c... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18736759

Actually that's not true. An earlier version of the browser let early adopter users direct where Brave's own marketing budget of BAT tokens was sent to, including sites that hadn't yet signed up. If those sites didn't sign up, the tokens would eventually go back into the marketing budget pool of tokens, to be distributed to other sites (not to Brave). That's very different to the mischaraterisation you mention above,…

>That's very different to the mischaraterisation you mention above, but no surprise as Brave's model is a threat to the current fraudulent ad tech ecosystem.

This alone is enough of an inflammatory and conspiratorial statement that I have a hard time taking you seriously. It's a bad look to cry "shill" in the face of fair criticism.

Re: The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web

#183

Post by aestetix » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 8:39 AM UTC

ChrisCinelli wrote: post #32

sbarre wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was tried during the first dot-com boom as well! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AllAdvantage

I remember some friends using it with some tools to move the mouse around so they could get paid without staying in front of the computer. But it was very little money and it was probably costing more electricity than the money they were getting but for a teenager it was ok.

It was more money if you set up a bunch of computers all doing the same thing.

Re: The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web

#184

Post by SmellyGeekBoy » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 9:21 AM UTC

justsee wrote: post #163

manigandham wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They literally do. They remove ads on the page. Then they show their own ads to the user.

This has been a consistent dishonest mischaracterisation: that Brave literally swaps a publisher's own ads with their own. That functionality is on the roadmap, but Brave has stated that will only occur with publisher consent . Keep an eye out for accounts that try to push this mischaracterisation and see if they're linked to the existing ad tech industry...

> Keep an eye out for accounts that try to push this mischaracterisation and see if they're linked to the existing ad tech industry...

You keep making vague accusations of shilling so I'll turn the tables - what exactly is your connection to Brave?

Re: The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web

#185

Post by rvnx » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 9:27 AM UTC

manigandham wrote: post #169

nostrademons wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would advertisers bid higher when this is not the only channel and comes with less targeting and increased fraud potential? Brave's model - like all ad-supported ones - depends upon them getting very big, enough that they get a substantial fraction of total user attention. They're going for this by blocking all existing ads, which in today's web makes the browser significantly faster and less annoying. They're…

"“A lot of users don’t want to cash out [when they receive BAT],” he added. “It’s not a huge amount of value for most people, so they may prefer to just use it to give back." In that case, it's just an ad network. Users watch ads, publishers get paid. Only difference is a new middleman and 2 hops for payments. Also if the money does add up to a sizable amount then it will be overrun by ad fraud.

It's an incentive adnetwork, users are paid for watching (openly) and clicking ads and installing offers (implicitly, because they get more money if they do). Is it sustainable for advertisers ? Would you want to pay for visitors forced to click on your ads ?

Re: The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web

#186

Post by rvnx » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 9:29 AM UTC

quotemstr wrote: post #164

sbarre wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was tried during the first dot-com boom as well! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AllAdvantage

It's another sign that we're heading for 1999 part 2. I remember what the end of the last boom felt like, and I'm definitely getting the same tingly feeling now.

Time to setup your autosurf and get some crypto ;)

Re: The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web

#187

Post by smurv » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 10:01 AM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #48

manigandham wrote: post #23

Brave is just an intermediary that replaces ads with other ads. It's an adnetwork delivered as a browser that creates ad inventory on top of the page instead of within it. That being said, the tokens are basically worthless. This is not what the digital advertising industry wants and Brave is not going to get any decent advertisers with this. They'll end up with the same shady affiliate/performance marketers running…

Regardless, Brave is a pretty great browser. It increases battery life on my machine by an hour or two compared to Chrome by blocking all those ads.

I don't think a browser can increase battery life, it can however use less power.

Re: The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web

#188

Post by michaelbrooks » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 10:11 AM UTC

manigandham wrote: post #127

nostrademons wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's different from AllAdvantage with the addition of market mechanisms to correctly price the attention consumed by ads. That's why users get tokens for viewing, why users can turn the ads off entirely, and why the tokens are tradeable on exchanges. It creates a built-in feedback mechanism. If BAT is priced too low, then everybody will opt out of ads (because it won't be worth it to them), very little BAT will be av…

Why would advertisers bid higher when this is not the only channel and comes with less targeting and increased fraud potential? Why would users opt-in at all to see ads when they're already blocked? There seems to be missing component of why both sides want to interact through the Brave network.

Website based ads stay blocked. The ads you're viewing are built into the browser which removes any privacy concerns because they aren't sending your personal data to any servers. All personal data stay within the browser and remains there forever or until you delete the browser or format your HDD.

Re: The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web

#189

Post by michaelbrooks » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 10:15 AM UTC

drb91 wrote: post #148

manigandham wrote: post #23

Brave is just an intermediary that replaces ads with other ads. It's an adnetwork delivered as a browser that creates ad inventory on top of the page instead of within it. That being said, the tokens are basically worthless. This is not what the digital advertising industry wants and Brave is not going to get any decent advertisers with this. They'll end up with the same shady affiliate/performance marketers running…

I was under the impression you could also pay the content producer directly to bypass ads, which is IMHO the ideal solution. Is this no longer viable?

Viewing ads is completely optional and is off by default. All website ads are still blocked, the ads you are seeing are built into the browser.

Re: The Brave Browser Will Pay You to Surf the Web

#190

Post by Nursie » Thu, Apr 25, 2019, 10:22 AM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #141

manigandham wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would advertisers bid higher when this is not the only channel and comes with less targeting and increased fraud potential? Why would users opt-in at all to see ads when they're already blocked? There seems to be missing component of why both sides want to interact through the Brave network.

> Why would advertisers bid higher when this is not the only channel and comes with less targeting and increased fraud potential? Brave's model - like all ad-supported ones - depends upon them getting very big, enough that they get a substantial fraction of total user attention. They're going for this by blocking all existing ads, which in today's web makes the browser significantly faster and less annoying. They're…

> They're at about 5.5M users as of January 2019, up from 3M in July 2018. That's still a long way to go, but it's growing fast.

How many of those users just use it as an adblocking browser and don't engage with the BAT aspect?