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Welcome to the ad-free internet

economist.com

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Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#271

Post by loughnane »

theNJR wrote: post #253
loughnane wrote: post #217

I treasure my attention and so I've spent some time to opt out of ads. 5 years ago I couldn't tell what DNS was, now I've got an OPNsense router at home running ZenArmor/Unbound and I can can link to it from my phone over wireguard. Using ublock I've made a point to prune the pages I visit, so classes like "header" "breadcrumbs" "recommended" "sponsor" &c. are hidden. I self-host my media collection so I avoid spotif…

I need to get back on this. I ran PiHole for years which worked really well. Something broke with my network which messed up IP provisioning and the PiHole got permanently disabled. Is there a particular guide you followed or did you put this strategy together over time?

I put things together over time. I also started w/ PiHole before moving to OPNSense (on a box i got from protectli)

If you're looking to get into it I'd recommend that path. OPNSense works pretty nice out of the box, the documentation is great and there's a million switches for you to experiment with. There's even a tool to link your configuration to a git repo so that if anything ever breaks you can always go back.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#272

Post by yummypaint »

DevX101 wrote: post #98
saghm wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently I've noticed that the Uber app (which I grudgingly use instead of Lyft due to a decline in drivers over the years in various areas near where I've lived to the point where it wasn't a viable option most of the time) will show me adds when I open it to check the ETA during a ride. This is something where I'm not paying a subscription but literally paying for the ride itself, because I obviously don't check th…

Lyft started doing the same thing. It's slightly annoying. Jet Blue is also showing mandatory ads on the video display in front of you. They last for around 5 minutes and you cannot turn off the display while these ads are showing. This is highly annoying.

Complain to the FAA about it as a safety issue. I always do this when flight attendants are forced to read credit card ads over the PA. It just trains passengers to ignore the crew.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#273

Post by AlienRobot »

alwayslikethis wrote: post #211

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 on all aspects, even if you ignore the cost, 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.

I don't get this "adblocking culture".

If you don't tolerate ads, you could just... not visit the site? Close the tab?

I don't like paying for things, but I've never been in a transaction where I could say "you know what, I don't like the price of this, I'll just take it and give you no money. Deal?"

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#274

Post by bee_rider »

gosub100 wrote: post #265
bee_rider wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard to say, nobody has managed to replicate the old IRL newspaper business model. You used to be able to get a subscription, or just buy a single paper from a store or a box. The latter is much more convenient, but the former was the only one implemented for the web. For example, I don’t care to have a subscription to the economist, so I didn’t read this article. If I could pay like $1 for it, I probably would. But…

What they need is to combine and meter. I.e. one $x0/mo subscription gets you access to a network of X newspapers, all with one log-in, no ads, and maybe coupons or some other perk. Then it gives you say 30 articles a month, and pays the publisher based on what you read. You're never going to get rid of freeloaders, so maybe have free-tier AI-generated articles and put thoughtful, detailed investigative reporting beh…

I think a system of N articles per month invites these low-effort AI articles that you mention, and adds a huge inter-company political problem of policing what exactly a low effort article is. The incentive is to be the company that is engaging with the system, but putting in the least effort per article, while still passing the “worth money” bar.

On top of financial motivations, newspapers often have different political alignments for example, I suspect some of them basically hate each other; a system where they get along and engage in good faith is too much.

I’d rather see an account where you dump money in, the site can say “buy this article for $x”, and it asks your account for that money. It doesn’t even really need to be a centralized site, it could be an API that multiple services can implement, or whatever.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#275

Post by Shish2k »

shiroiuma wrote: post #158
avgcorrection wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sigh What? I just described two scenarios where I’m on a paid plan and I still get ads. > For journalism, this has become an existential threat as web-users generate nowhere near as much revenue than selling printed paper. Printed, paid-for newspapers also have ads.

Not only that, but back in those days, the ads probably generated the lion's share of their revenues, along with the "classified ads" section (which is also ads, just not so commercial). That $0.10 you paid for the paper only really covered the cost of printing and distribution, if that. Unlike today, though, the ads in newspapers weren't annoying: they were just print, and didn't pop up dynamically in front of the a…

> That $0.10 you paid for the paper only really covered the cost of printing and distribution, if that.

AFAIK for most newspapers and magazines, the cost on the label was mostly there so that readers would feel like the publication was serious - differentiating them from the free papers which were clearly spam and / or propaganda

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#276

Post by AlienRobot »

somethingreen wrote: post #198
ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If ad blockers were more popular the internet would be a much different place. Those who use ad blockers are subsidized by those who don't.

Modern internet is not in business of producing content and using ads as means of paying for said content production and delivery. Modern internet is in business of selling ads and is using content producers as means of keeping users in front of screens while ads are being shoved into their faces. So, yeah, internet would be different, but to me it isn't obvious how it would be any worse or less in value.

That's an interesting point of view.

I think the internet would be worse. No matter how you put it, the ads are funding content. If ads weren't viable, we wouldn't have a different kind of content. We'd simply have less content.

If there's a content business that can exist in this ad-free internet, it would already exist in the current ad-ful internet.

I don't know what kind of internet anti-ads people envision, but I'm afraid the whole thing is very damn fragile and rocking the boat will more likely break it irreparably than make it better.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#277

Post by JTon »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #59
JTon wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That’s also why it takes 2 days to send money to people, in an era of instant communication. I always assumed anti-fraud had something to do with it. Give the victims time to notice and the institutions the ability to reverse transactions without loss

I think it's naïve of you to assume that an inefficiency in the financial system is, in any way, for the benefit of the end-customer.

Perhaps. But what I described benefits the institutions as well, no?

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#278

Post by AlienRobot »

dghughes wrote: post #209

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.

Isn't this because they're using a middleman as an ad network, so the data goes to the middleman, and then it goes to 172 companies that interact with that middleman?

Imagine if a TV channel listed to you every company that paid to show an ad that whole day. I guess it would end up being quite a high number as well.

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#279

Post by EZ-E »

freediver wrote: post #252
EZ-E wrote: post #82

Ironically The Economist shows me ads on the app despite paying 28.99 euros a month in subscription fees

This is frustrating. Have you written them about it?

Just posted a 1 star review on the app to complain about it (have been meaning to do it for a while) - wondering if it's not a bug to be honest

Re: Welcome to the ad-free internet

#280

Post by BobaFloutist »

bee_rider wrote: post #255
DarkNova6 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But is this not a fundamental problem if you expect everything to be available for free? For journalism, this has become an existential threat as web-users generate nowhere near as much revenue than selling printed paper.

Hard to say, nobody has managed to replicate the old IRL newspaper business model. You used to be able to get a subscription, or just buy a single paper from a store or a box. The latter is much more convenient, but the former was the only one implemented for the web. For example, I don’t care to have a subscription to the economist, so I didn’t read this article. If I could pay like $1 for it, I probably would. But…

As someone who doesn't really know because he refuses to use anything with the word "Apple" in it, doesn't Apple News kind of do this?
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