Wondering how much of the Lemmy user base wouldn’t use an adblocker. If you do use one what other blocking do you use to circumvent data collection, YouTube and reddit front ends and things alike?

  • @smackjack
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    111 months ago

    I don’t use one because I feel that the more people use ad blockers, the more intrusive and annoying the ads will be for people that aren’t using one, and less overall content will be available for free. The only ads that I can’t stand are video ads, and that’s why I have YouTube premium.

    • @LemmyKnowsBest
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      1011 months ago

      The more intrusive and annoying the ads become, the more people will retaliate. This is war. eventually we will smash out those annoying ads. somehow. There must be some other more civilized pleasant method for companies to make profit. This is getting out of hand.

      • @focusforte
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        111 months ago

        I mean, there are other civilized pleasant methods for companies to make profit. For users to pay.

        That’s why lots of places now have an ad-free subscription option. If you really want to smash out ads, pay for the ad-free subscription service.

        • @LemmyKnowsBest
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          511 months ago

          well I remember in the late 1970s when cable TV became a thing, the concept was you pay for it so there are no ads.

          Then guess what happened?

          few years later we were still paying for cable TV and then they started including ads. We were outraged at first but then it became normal and we got used to it.

          Now YouTube is doing it, including ads even though we’re paying for it

          Amazon prime is doing it, including ads even though we’re paying for it

          and other streaming services, I can’t name everything but pretty much every company is doing it. Even though people are paying for the service, there are still ads.

          • @focusforte
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            -111 months ago

            YouTube is not doing it, I use YT premium and I never get a single ad. Ever.

            And I know that ad supported cheaper versions of a lot of streaming services are becoming more common, but, to my knowledge, all of them have an ad free option. It may be more expensive than their cheapest tier, but they do have an ad free option.

            If you want to see the internet less dependent on ads, the only way to do that is to be willing to pay for it yourself. Because streaming video content online is actually extremely expensive to do. And someone has to pay for it. If you as the consumer aren’t paying for it then someone has to pay for it on your behalf. They’re only going to do that if they can get something out of the deal.

            • @[email protected]
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              fedilink
              511 months ago

              YouTube is not doing it, I use YT premium and I never get a single ad. Ever.

              *yet

              It will come, once their subscription gets traction.

              • @focusforte
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                -111 months ago

                YouTube subscription does have traction… And like I said, every streaming service has an ad free option. Some of them have an ad supported cheaper option, but they all have some option that allows you to consume the content without ads. It seems like you’re kind of just talking out of your ass.

                There’s an economics of everything at play here, broadcast television had ads, cable TV at first didn’t but it was also significantly more expensive. Cable TV wanted to lower prices to attract more customers, and in order to do that they started receiving more money from advertisers to make up the difference. Not all of the cable TV channels did this. However, even to this very day there are plenty of cable TV channels that don’t have ads. They are considered the premium channels that you have to pay extra for.

                The same thing is going to continue to be true on the internet as well, You will always have options to avoid ads by paying for the content that you want.