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PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

stuartbreckenridge.net

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Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#281

Post by happymellon »

hackpelican wrote: post #194
nathanmills wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unlimited data! You make it sound so easy.

I hope you’re still joking. Data caps are to an extent “fake”, in that telcos’ costs aren’t measured in how many bytes their customers download/upload. Telcos’ costs come from renting bandwidth from tier 1 and tier 2 ISPs. This bandwidth is constant. And for popular websites, they will cache lots of content on their own network or peer directly with data centers so they don’t have to pay for the bandwidth there. The…

> Data caps may help lessen congestion on their cell towers

Data caps make congestion worse, because you are more likely to restrict where you use data and people are predictable. You'll no longer use bits everywhere because you care less, you'll use it where everyone else does.

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#282

Post by FarmerPotato »

hedora wrote: post #217
thevinter wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived for months with a 4GB roaming plan. Given, I was not using it at home since I had a wifi connection, but I rarely came close to using all my data unless I was watching YT videos when traveling or something. I share your sentiment and I agree we should be more mindful of people with metered/slow connections, but the last statement feels blown out of proportion.

I used to be able to get away with this by downloading music, podcasts and maps at home. During the iOS 26 upgrade cycle, iOS deleted all my third-party map apps and then expired the locally downloaded apple maps. My phone also somehow lost my downloaded podcasts + music a few times, but, unlike losing three offline map applications, that didn't strand me in the middle of the woods with no cell coverage and no maps.…

I arrived in a small airport at midnight. Served only by Uber. Since I use Lyft elsewhere, my phone had deleted the Uber app. It took 15 minutes to download that: crappy Wifi and some kind of 5G dead zone. Sometimes you really need to download the app.

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#283

Post by PunchyHamster »

Aurornis wrote: post #73
qingcharles wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked with a lot of people at the bottom end of society in the USA. They are given government provided phones they can use so they have access to Google Maps, email, job search apps etc. These phones come with 3GB of regular data per month. After that they drop down to 2G speed, but not in a way that will allow anything to actually load. Three days into the month these phones are just ewaste.

> Three days into the month these phones are just ewaste. If someone needs a phone like this for email and job searching and has no other option, 2G speeds will work. It’s not e-waste for the intended purpose. It would be great if they got higher days caps, though, because let’s be realistic in acknowledging that they’re not only going to use it for Google Maps, email, and job search apps.

sounds like someone never tried connection that slow on modern sites

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#284

Post by PunchyHamster »

jojobas wrote: post #115
edoloughlin wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that’s fine because that photo (probably) has some utility to you. The 39.99MB of ads accompanying the 2KB of text you want to read possibly has less utility to you.

As you might be aware, you're not the one paying for it so your utility is not really on the table. Also consider the utility of an ad blocker.

If anything ads on page built like that will make sure I won't buy that particular product ever

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#285

Post by PunchyHamster »

OptionX wrote: post #249
neya wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have professionally dealt with these types of people in my career (not these exact 3) in similar settings and I can tell you - they don't care. They care only about revenue numbers. You can walk up to them, show them this article and even this HN thread and their first question will be "how does it affect our revenue?" They don't see it as money made through ripping off users without their consent - they think they…

>"how does it affect our revenue?" Simple, you can serve a reasonable amount of unobtrusive ads and I and others might turn off adblock to support the publication or you can do what you're doing, I'll keep it on and see no ads at all.

But it's PC Gamer, most of their stuff is trash, why would anyone pay for it?

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#286

Post by PunchyHamster »

MBCook wrote: post #17

The title buried the lede. > In the five minutes since I started writing this post the website has downloaded almost half a gigabyte of new ads. I’m guessing this is due to autoplaying videos. *500 MB* in 5 minutes. 37 MB is petite compared to that.

Streaming video of the website would take less than browsing the website

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#287

Post by alexchengyuli »

Sadly many people wouldn't even notice 500MB anymore. That's kind of the point. A PS2 game was 4GB. Now a single update patch is 50GB. Software stopped being designed for everyone a long time ago. It's just more obvious when it's a 500MB article about RSS readers.

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#288

Post by neya »

Angostura wrote: post #274
neya wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have professionally dealt with these types of people in my career (not these exact 3) in similar settings and I can tell you - they don't care. They care only about revenue numbers. You can walk up to them, show them this article and even this HN thread and their first question will be "how does it affect our revenue?" They don't see it as money made through ripping off users without their consent - they think they…

How would you like PC Gamer to pay their staff? Pop the whole thing behind a paywall? Yes it’s poorly designed and annoying, I don’t ses where you get ‘ripping off’ from. It makes you sound like a rambling developer who doesn’t understand how businesses wor

I know for sure good businesses don't make their users download half a GB worth of data without the user's consent/knowledge (which is what the article states) in the name of "paying their staff". Ironically, they are not even a gaming company and the users aren't exactly downloading a gaming application that justifies the size of the data.

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#289

Post by Angostura »

neya wrote: post #288
Angostura wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you like PC Gamer to pay their staff? Pop the whole thing behind a paywall? Yes it’s poorly designed and annoying, I don’t ses where you get ‘ripping off’ from. It makes you sound like a rambling developer who doesn’t understand how businesses wor

I know for sure good businesses don't make their users download half a GB worth of data without the user's consent/knowledge (which is what the article states) in the name of "paying their staff". Ironically, they are not even a gaming company and the users aren't exactly downloading a gaming application that justifies the size of the data.

As I say, it’s very sloppy and could be improved. It probably hurts their readership metrics. ‘Don’t unnecessarily annoy your customers’ is a good maxim. But no-one is being ‘ripped off’.

Re: PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading

#290

Post by qmr »

throwaway5465 wrote: post #85
userbinator wrote: post #48

To use a good point of reference that I've seen others also start using lately, an installation of Windows 95 is roughly 40MB, so in loading that page you've downloaded approximately one Windows 95 installation. Then another 10+ times with the 500MB more that came after.

Windows XP + Encarta. The future is today!

Mind maze!
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