• ominouslemon@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I’ve recently been downvoted to oblivion for writing this exact thing, talking about online newspapers.

    People don’t want ads and they don’t want to pay. They just expect to get stuff for free and I can’t decide if that’s because Lemmy is either filled with spoiled brats, or people who genuinely do not know how the world works, or both.

    In their partial defence, I must say that the way companies have used the Internet up until a few years ago may have led them to believe that free content is a thing.

    And, before someone comes along and tries to tear me a new one, YES, I do use uBlock on sites that harvest too many data (e.g. anything by Google) or sites that are too aggressive with ads. But at least I know that I’m either a freeloader or, in the best case scenario, a protester. And I know that, if everyone did the same, so much of the internet would just shut down or go behind paywalls.

    • Serinus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I provide financial support to the services I believe in, Washington Post, NYT, Nebula, previously HBO, a few others.

      But it’s absolutely on my terms. If I were a broke college student. I’d have no issues pirating literally everything. As it is, I’ll find ways to get the stuff from companies that get too greedy. “Public secrets for sale” isn’t a thing, and that’s all data of any form really is. The difference between someone telling you the basic plot of a movie and telling you every pixel of the movie isn’t all that far apart, just the amount of data they’re repeating.

    • Kepabar@startrek.website
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      1 year ago

      Nah, it’s neither.

      It’s that while I do enjoy whatever it is, if it were to disappear because I’m ad blocking and won’t sub then … ohh well?

      There are a select few groups I actually care about and I donate to them (like PBS).

      Anything else will either find a way or die but I don’t care which.

    • kameecoding@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      that’s my take too, everyone wants free youtube, well the servers aren’t free, the content creators don’t do it for free, youtube is as big as it is and has as varied content it has is because they provide a platform, but then people want to watch it both for free and without ads.

    • Demuniac@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yes, thank you! I’ve been downvoted previously in a topic similar to this one. I know change can be hard for some people but we always knew this would come sooner or later. A huge company wants to make money off their service and people here act as if it’s their right to find a way around it. It’s not. You were just lucky that there was one. Either find other entertainment or accept that you will get ads.