Ultradisgusting case on StackOverflow: 99.999% top answers are edited by moderators - they just promote yourself with free content.
We need a real alternative - without stupid ads and master-slave karma-based community relations.
Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
351–360 of 416 posts
Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And while we're at it the container should just spit out random shit like different resolution, audio api, user agent, once in a while (unless the user turns it off) to thwart such attempts. Wouldn't that break the legitimate feature-detection uses for these APIs? Asking the user to identify and whitelist each call is impractical, especially since the fail-case in this scenario would be subtle (you'd still see the…
Maybe, but that seems better than the current mess. I'd rather no features than features which act against my interests.
[deleted]
Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
#353Earlier quoted context omitted.
You didn't get Stackoverflow, and barely any of the content today. You may be fine with the internet of the early 90s but most people are not.
The last remaining excuse of advertisers: you wouldn't want something to happen to your favorite content? That would be a shame. Yes, most people would not be "fine" if they lost their googles and youtubes and stack overflows. But then in a few weeks or maaaybe months they'd get over it, because none of these "free" services are in any way essential. Paid alternatives will pop up where needed.
What excuse? Advertisers aren't concerned, there will always be advertising inventory available.
And paid alternatives have been tried for decades (ExpertsExchange if you want a specific example here). It's not a revolutionary idea, it just doesn't work for most content.
Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
#354I don’t get the modern ad stuff, any reasonable person uses an adblocker anyway, because ads are often slow, problematic in terms of privacy and security. The fact that even people of a big site like stack overflow don’t know where it comes from instantly, is only further proof that using an adblocker is a resonable decision. Maybe it is naive, but all ads should be in my eyes is a picture and something that counts t…
It works, it just won’t happen because all the structural incentives point to the status quo. Another reason to love our current crop of monopolists...
Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's just not how digital ad campaigns are run. Advertisers, agencies, media buyers and the rest of the supply chain don't negotiate with individual sites like that, not at any scale that can sustain a site like SO.
> That's just not how digital ad campaigns are run. At that point I'd expect sites like Stack Overflow to point out that they have a specific of way of running their sites as well - and that shouldn't include having ads execute arbitary javascript. While those requirements would certainly exclude a significant number of ad agencies, I can't imagine that there aren't enough advertisers left that would happily play by…
[deleted]
Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
At that point I think most people wouldn't care. Nobody is offended because James Bond wears an Omega watch. When it is doing not so subtly then it becomes weird (e.g.: transformers)
I am. I despise that. It's the worst kind of advertising.
I am torn. On one side it is one of the most effective kind short of a direct referral by a friend. I can understand that if you despise the idea of advertising as a whole then it can be seen as manipulation. (Personally I don't mind)
On the other hand I think that it is the one that blends the best and can even have some value. For example I can imagine that people enjoy a car heist movie more if actual cars that exist are being used as opposed to some made up stuff.
In France there are laws against "accidental" advertising so in news and TV almost any brand will be taped over or blurred. It is actually way more jarring and ugly than just leaving it as it is. It is especially funny when you have the logo of national rail company, which is basically a gradient, blurred.
Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
#357Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't profit your way out of a problem you profited yourself into. There will never be enough people setting up PiHoles to offset the value of spying, and it's publishing platforms like StackOverflow that suffer.
Wouldn't it be cool if it was solved on the provider level? They already have to set up DNS servers, might as well make it a Pi-hole instance.
Many ISPs are part of conglomerates that also contain web content publishers, so they have a vested interest for ads to continue working.
Also, ISP-level adblock will lead to tons of support requests, esp. when news websites start blocking that ISP and tell customers to call the ISP's support to "fix" the internet.
Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
They could “solve” the issue by not having third party ads. Of all the sites on the internet, StackOverflow has the demographics that any advertiser would crave. How large of an inside ads sales force would you need to target higher than average income earners? How large reputable sites trust third party ad servers is a mystery to me. Besides, native ads that could be served from StackOverFlows own servers would be h…
That's just not how digital ad campaigns are run. Advertisers, agencies, media buyers and the rest of the supply chain don't negotiate with individual sites like that, not at any scale that can sustain a site like SO.
> That's just not how digital ad campaigns are run
I appreciate you trying to fight the argument that's being made, and you have a background for a valid opinion people are dismissing.
That being said, I'm on the buying end and work a lot of different channels, and would argue that there are definitely direct buy models that SO could utilise.
Lots of smaller sites have started offering direct buy inventory in larger quantities recently, and pretty much every media package I've bought this year has had some internally served display with it. I'd expect this to work its way upwards, and would fully expect something self serve to come soon for internal buys.
Also, SO seems prime for a self-serve product akin to AdWords, Reddit, or even Facebook. We already buy on those channels (even though through an agency, the agency is just buying self-serve on their end - and they put their insurance, tracking and ASBOF & TI on the cost).
That's be a really cool project actually, self-serve ad platform for a forum/knowledge base.
Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would pay for an ad-free version of Stack Overflow. Take my money, please.
I think the data in aggregate is worth more than people like you would pay for an ad-free service.
I actually wonder about this. SO's typical user is tech-savvy, and I would imagine many access the site with adblockers on (I do). So I suspect my value to the site in terms of ads is close to zero. I would happily pay a monthly subscription to know that the service will remain, given how much value I derive from it, if that gave me the assurance that they won't track me with ads/cookies/fingerprinting.
Their other income is from job ads, and I guess the value is that they have lots of data points about their logged in users (with scores high enough to imply they've interacted with the site a fair bit), in the form of what is posted, worth more than the aggregated list of websites that a user sees (as reported by ads).
I'd love to know more about this, as I have very little understanding of the economics of serving targeted ads. How much can they be making from ads?
Re: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
#360Earlier quoted context omitted.
When you say "it's not allowed", do you trust its own settings? Are you sure it's not doing something like [0]? How do you even protect against that? [0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/bpr6xs/if_you_choo...
Don't buy a "smart" TV?
Isn't every decent TV these days a smart TV? Not exactly practical advice