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Dr. Quadragon ❌

Truth of the matter is, there's no such thing as free lunch. But if I have to choose between ads and paywalls, I'd choose paywalls. Yes, they're annoying as all hell, but at least they don't create the illusion of "free". It's more honest this way.

18 Jul 2023 at 10:24 | Open on mastodon.ml
15 comments
Dick Smiths Fair Go Supporters
DELETED

@drq@mastodon.ml would the same reasoning apply to libraries (or information in general)? paywalled (almost every publisher) vs libgen (ads).

18 Jul 2023 at 11:11 | Open on shitpost.poridge.club
Dr. Quadragon ❌

@taxuswc What *kind* of information?

If you're talking science (which services like libgen are concerned with), well, then we've *already* paid for this information.

You know, in taxes. That's what they're for.

18 Jul 2023 at 11:16 | Open on mastodon.ml
DELETED

@drq@mastodon.ml libgen is primarly targeted at books, and books are quite often written in free time (basically every acknowledgement section mentions that)

18 Jul 2023 at 11:21 | Open on shitpost.poridge.club
Dr. Quadragon ❌

@taxuswc Hmm, sorry. I confused Libgen with SciHub.

Well, you're talking about copyright. That's separate issue. I'm talking about provision of services.

As for copyright, the period of exclusivity should be reduced to what it was in the first Copyright Act of 1790 - 14 years - or even less. RMS says it should be 5 years max. After this period, all work is public domain and accessible by anyone everywhere.

18 Jul 2023 at 11:33 | Open on mastodon.ml
DELETED

@drq@mastodon.ml yep, indeed.

ok, so I would try to approach the same point from another side: many news outlets have paywalls nowadays. the news are information, sometimes very critical to make the right decision, and not everyone has the means to pay. so, are the paywalls still better than the ads in this case?


.. there is guardian though, which probably has the best stance in this game, but it can be tricky for anyone smaller.

18 Jul 2023 at 12:17 | Open on shitpost.poridge.club
Dr. Quadragon ❌

@taxuswc Middle ground might be crowdfunding, but it too only works starting from certain scale, and people generally don't like paying for something unless they have to.

So... No easy answers, I guess.

18 Jul 2023 at 12:20 | Open on mastodon.ml
DELETED

@drq@mastodon.ml yeah.., but I mean do you really think paywalled news websites are better than freely readable but full of ads, and, if this is the case, why?

18 Jul 2023 at 12:40 | Open on shitpost.poridge.club
Dr. Quadragon ❌

@taxuswc Because "free" is a lie.

Ad problem is bad enough on its own, if left unchecked, ads can literally substitute reality, as explored by Pelevin, for example. It's *already* doing it, as media industry and ad industry merge.

And then comes the problem of targeting which leads to surveilance, which leads to mass surveilance and data collection, which leads to spyware-based economy and surveilance capitalism - which opens the doors to manipulating that data to manipulate vast swaths of demographics in advance (so that you buy more shit you don't need or vote for somebody you don't want), and then there's state interest that *will* leverage that data.

Compared to that, "pay a dollar or fuck off" approach is far more blunt and far less insidious.

@taxuswc Because "free" is a lie.

Ad problem is bad enough on its own, if left unchecked, ads can literally substitute reality, as explored by Pelevin, for example. It's *already* doing it, as media industry and ad industry merge.

And then comes the problem of targeting which leads to surveilance, which leads to mass surveilance and data collection, which leads to spyware-based economy and surveilance capitalism - which opens the doors to manipulating that data to manipulate vast swaths of demographics...

18 Jul 2023 at 12:48 | Open on mastodon.ml
DELETED

@drq@mastodon.ml
Ok, I agree with the overall idea, I'm just trying to understand your point better, so I would stretch the question even further (sorry)

If you are going to run a medium-sized (such that donations don't work yet, but paying out of your own pockets is no longer an option) investigative journalism agency on some potentially important topics to a large group of people from third-world countries, would you make it paywalled or fill it with ads? (maybe it is a false dichotomy, but I can't immediately see a third option here)

@drq@mastodon.ml
Ok, I agree with the overall idea, I'm just trying to understand your point better, so I would stretch the question even further (sorry)

If you are going to run a medium-sized (such that donations don't work yet, but paying out of your own pockets is no longer an option) investigative journalism agency on some potentially important topics to a large group of people from third-world countries, would you make it paywalled or fill it with ads? (maybe it is a false dichotomy, but I can't...

18 Jul 2023 at 13:00 | Open on shitpost.poridge.club
Dr. Quadragon ❌

@taxuswc As I said: I don't have easy answers.

18 Jul 2023 at 13:07 | Open on mastodon.ml
DELETED replied to Dr. Quadragon ❌

@drq@mastodon.ml ok, I see

my answer would probably be either to "optimise costs to return back to small scale" or "to find a good(are there any?) sponsor" running as minimum ads as possible as the last resort.

the problem with paywalls is that when people hit them, they just go to a different website in the search feed until they find the first okayish hit which is free. I do this all the time when I need to find some piece of news which has not been covered in a set of trusted free outlets yet. thus, effectively the choice can boil down to either 1) force your readers to watch ads you have some control on 2) force your (potential) readers to watch some ads you can not control. I am not sure which option is better, probably, just don't get yourself into the situation above :)

@drq@mastodon.ml ok, I see

my answer would probably be either to "optimise costs to return back to small scale" or "to find a good(are there any?) sponsor" running as minimum ads as possible as the last resort.

the problem with paywalls is that when people hit them, they just go to a different website in the search feed until they find the first okayish hit which is free. I do this all the time when I need to find some piece of news which has not been covered in a set of trusted free outlets yet....

18 Jul 2023 at 13:32 | Open on shitpost.poridge.club
DELETED replied to DELETED

@drq@mastodon.ml my favourite approach is probably the oldest one: someone at my work just buys the physical newspaper (süddeutsche zeitung, it is mostly fine) and leaves it in the common room for everyone to read, thats how I get the local news :D

18 Jul 2023 at 13:35 | Open on shitpost.poridge.club
A Friendly Broken Chatbot

@drq wouldn't it create the same situation as streaming has now? If every major news site or tech blog has a paywall / subscription model and demands "a cup of coffee" from you, you'll run out of "coffee" pretty quick.

18 Jul 2023 at 11:29 | Open on mastodon.ml
Dr. Quadragon ❌

@broken_chatbot It may. But I find it less unfortunate than mass ignorance we have today.

18 Jul 2023 at 11:36 | Open on mastodon.ml
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