Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites
1–10 of 102 posts
Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites
#2It seems that the OP linked to the /sites page, rather than the landing/home page. Can this be corrected? The linked page is pretty bare and has almost zero information.
Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites
#3The problem with Scroll is we trade one evil for another: instead of ads and trackers, we get legally dubious "AS IS" clauses in Terms of Service, and censorship-laden arbitration clauses that cannot be subject to oversight.
Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites
#4I think it's a compelling and feasible solution to the news site monetization problem. It just seems difficult to imagine users flocking to something like this away from ad blockers—which improve daily (and are mostly free).
Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites
#5So this is like Spotify for websites?
Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites
#6Every time people say that if they had how to pay for the site they would use it. Now is the time to show the truth
Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites
#7It’s strange. Part of me thinks this is a great idea, but some of the websites are also the worst offenders of what the site is trying to combat. Looking at Gizmodo and the verge, the crazy amount of 3rd party cookies, unable to really opt out at all. While writing pieces about how horrible google and Facebook are for all the privacy evasive stuff they are doing. I’d rather support content that aim for quality and differ it kind of business model then rewarding some of these sites for being so horrible that this service is even needed. Like https://decorrespondent.nl/ or specific patreons
Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites
#8So this is like Spotify for websites?
spotify without the free tier.
Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites
#9I was really excited about Scroll when I first heard about it, but after I looked into it more I lost almost all interest. I was looking at it almost a month ago, so it may have changed a bit since then, but at the time, the main things were that:
1. Even though almost all of the material about Scroll says "300+ sites supported", it's actually about 30 sites, mostly from the same few networks, and 304 "SBNation blogs". This was the list of domains initially supported: https://gist.github.com/archon810/b4ec827d5fbe9e22a43ad39ca2... (and I broke down that list by owner here, if anyone's interested in that: https://tild.es/lc6#comment-4ij7)
2. Scroll does not get you past paywalls: https://intercom.help/scroll/en/articles/3344875-does-scroll...
So if it's a site that's supported by Scroll that also has a paywall (like The Atlantic), you're expected to both subscribe to the site and Scroll to get a "clean" experience. It's also notable that even though the New York Times is one of the main investors in Scroll, they apparently don't currently intend to support it themselves (mentioned here: https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2020/revolutionary-a-h...).
Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites
#10Every time people say that if they had how to pay for the site they would use it. Now is the time to show the truth
I've been wanting someone to do this idea (spotify for news) for years. But they really need to get one of the heavy hitters with paywalls (NY Times, The Economist, Financial Times, WaPo, or WSJ).
But maybe it's worth paying just to show publishers that it's viable. It's a rough chicken/egg problem.