Why YSK: Information should be free and open for all

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  • blivet@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I wish the micropayments model people were proposing twenty years ago had taken off. I don’t have any interest in subscribing to The New York Times, for example, because I just don’t read it very much, but I wouldn’t object to paying a few cents every time I happened to read one of their articles.

    • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, I agree that model is more tenable. Honestly, if the websites hadn’t gotten so riddled with completely obnoxious ads, people might have been less motivated to use ad blockers when they were first available. Our older two kids were teenagers in those days, and told us we should start using them. I told them the same thing about the business model, and they just insisted that the content should be free. I said then, and I say now, that’s unrealistic. I know I wouldn’t work a full time job for no pay, and I wouldn’t expect anyone else to.

      • Reliant1087@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I was perfectly fine with having header/footer/banner ads and left my adblocker off, unfortunately almost all advertisements have become so obnoxiously placed and irritating. If they weren’t so greedy, I feel like most people would have been okay with it.

        I’m okay with my physical newspaper running ads too but not putting super intrusive ones or the ones that are disguised as actual reporting.

        • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Exactly. All the ads that cover the content, have X’s that you can barely hit without clicking the ad, have autoplay videos, and that kind of thing just made it unlivable.

          • Reliant1087@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Exactly. It makes me wonder why no one has tried a more ethical advertising model. It seems to be either intrusive ads or paying a subscription.