> Those tools that you use daily on the browser that saves you time and makes your life easier got to that point because they had a way to learn how they were used.
As far as I am aware, Hacker News has never used Google Analytics.
As far as I am aware, Hacker News has never used Google Analytics.
I'm totally against ad tracking where a company can identify what I do on multiple websites and link my browsing behavior. But I have no problem to let a company track my clicks and what I do on their website if it's used to improve their product and ultimately to benefit from it.
And yet you have no problem using it when it's included as a third-party script, because you want to give the first-party that information. Why do you suddenly forget about the third-party (Google) in this framing?
My experience tells me that most "data-driven" products are absolute trash. The best products I've used were developed in the good, old-school way of someone having a concept of how the product should be, common sense, user research and feedback.
Nowadays I see shit changing all the time for no good reason because I guess somewhere there must be a 0.1% short-term increase in some metric, while annoying a bunch of people and eroding their goodwill.
I also don't feel "free" using a product with analytics because I don't always want my usage pattern to skew the data and make the product change in any way. There are times when I do weird things for good reasons, but it doesn't mean I want the weird thing to become the primary way to interact with the product because someone wanted to make a "data driven" decision.
> I'm totally against ad tracking where a company can identify what I do on multiple websites and link my browsing behavior
You do understand that third-party analytics services can do exactly that? And those provided by advertising companies like Google probably do use the data for their own purposes as well.
That doesn't mean you have a right to collect it from me, and if your business model fails as a result, well that's a shame for you.
It is impossible not to use it at this point. If you don't use it, you will be forced to add it for another 3rd party working with you or with your client.
Maybe the reason is that a lot of products are just useless trash and don't actually fill a legitimate need? They only sell because of the advertising exploiting a weakness in people's mind, but wouldn't sell on their own because it turns out people don't actually need this product?
If you make a product that truly solves a problem, it should sell itself. A good example of this is Monzo - they founded a new modern bank that addresses all the problems of the legacy banking industry. The product sold itself and they reached a million customers without any marketing.
In any case, whether you need ads and tracking to be in business is one thing, but being in business and profitable is not a right, so if you can't do so while respecting the law such as the GDPR then it shouldn't be our problem as users.