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Web page annoyances that I don't inflict on you

(rachelbythebay.com)
569 points todsacerdoti | 1 comments | 05 Jan 25 01:54 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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swyx ◴[05 Jan 25 02:41 UTC] No.42599320[source]▶
this is exactly the sort of idealistic post that appeals to HN and nobody else. i dont have a problem with that apart from when technologists try to take these "back to basics" stuff to shame the substacks and the company blogs out there that have to be more powered by economics than by personal passion.

its -obvious- things are mostly "better"/can be less "annoying" when money/resources are not a concern. i too would like to spend all my time in a world with no scarcity.

the engineering challenge is finding alignments where "better for reader" overlaps with "better for writer" - as google did with doubleclick back in the day.

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MathMonkeyMan ◴[05 Jan 25 03:01 UTC] No.42599406[source]▶
The author isn't trying to profit from the reader's attention; it's just a personal blog. An ad-based business would. Neither is right or wrong, but the latter is distinctly annoying.
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NotYourLawyer ◴[05 Jan 25 03:56 UTC] No.42599639[source]▶
Ad-based businesses are indeed wrong and immoral.
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StressedDev ◴[05 Jan 25 06:50 UTC] No.42600206[source]▶
Ad-based businesses exist because a lot of people (including many on this forum) refuse to pay for anything. During the late 1990s/early 2000s, people hated paying for anything and demanded that everything on the Internet should be free. Well, that led to the vast surveillance machine which powers Google, Facebook, and every ad-tech business out there. They need surveillance because it lets them serve more relevant ads and more relevant ads make more money.

The bottom line is if you hate ad-based businesses, start paying for things.

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1. ndriscoll ◴[05 Jan 25 22:06 UTC] No.42605449{4}[source]▶
Netflix does $30B in revenue. Spotify over $10B. Steam estimated around $10B. Those are are services where anyone could figure out how to get the stuff for free with a few minutes of research. People pay when they perceive value.

A better way to characterize what's happening is that there is a lot of material out there that no one would ever pay for, so those companies instead try to get people's attention and then sell it.

Their bait never was and never will be worth anything. People aren't "paying with ads"; they're being baited into receiving malware, and a different group of people pay for that malware delivery.