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Comment by herunan | Hacker News Reader

token controverial comment that all good stuff needs to be sustained with money somehow. always good to find alternatives if/when/for can't afford/appreciate. but there has to be sustenance. nothing against a cheeky freeride, of course. but when it becomes the main source something has to give.

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If this is in reference to sponsorblock: I see this argument often but it's never made sense to me. There's no world in which not using sponsorblock leads to me spending money on the advertised product. It simply saves me 4-5 presses of the "skip forward" button.

It's like when a telemarketer calls, I tell them, there's zero chance of me buying anything, so save us both some time and don't call again.

for sure. but if everyone did this, then there wouldn't be a point for sponsorships and creators would be less incentivised to make content. and at least it's an ad they can control. believe it or not, ads work, and sponsored bits even more. and tbh i do watch some of the sponsored bits if they're fun and creative. i invite you to watch any wulff den video.

Sponsorblock is still super useful even with sponsorships left on. It's more like a "cut everything except the core content" tool.

Ref https://watchwithmira.com/blog/sponsorblock-categories-expla...

Cutting intro/outro/preview is nice if you're watching a bunch of videos on the same channel in a row.

See, this is what I don't get. I don't like watching ads, and not using sponsorblock is not gonna make me watch ads. Even if you went to the "drink a verification can" route, and disabled the skip button, I'd just stop watching the videos.

> if everyone did this ... creators would be less incentivised to make content

Yeah, I guess they'd just have to stop making videos then.

> believe it or not, ads work, and sponsored bits even more

Is that... good? Most of the sponsors I have seen have been semi-shady snake oil like NordVPN and BetterHelp.

You are right. In my subscription list, around 15 channels, there are a few channels who offer patreon subscriptions for 1-2 euros. In my opinion more channels should try to offer this. I don't think they get that much from ads/premium user view.

About NewPipe, which I've tried it in the past, I have to say it was a better app than Youtube's official app, and I'm not talking about the fact it was blocking ads. For example, three weeks ago, the new Youtube app upgraded to a new GUI, and all those filters in the subscriptions list (not watched, continue watching etc) disappeared or at least I can't find them anymore. It's like this new version is trying to make you not see old stuff or wants you to lose time scrolling instead of watching videos. I use very little the Youtube app because TV screen + browser with extensions (there are no ads blocked on Youtube on my PC) + KDE Connect offer a much better viewing experience.

Nobody forces them into this, they can make their videos members only in the platform of their choice and only monetize with membership.

No (realistic) amount of money can protect an app like this from Alphabet. It's their service, and clients like NewPipe are always at risk of being depreciated forever.

I have been using adblockers since perhaps 2012 and now have it on my router.

I don't think I missed anything, or in some cases where ads are unavoidable, ever decided to buy something because of ads. I do my own research for purchases.

In other words, the conversion rate is near zero for me.

I don't care what others do, but it's a waste of compute and network bandwidth to try to target me. Ad lords had better use that resource to target someone else.

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