Contributor by Google | Hacker News Reader

Contributor by Google

google.com

24 pointstiziano8815 comments

This page has been online for a while, and it still appears to be limited to a very small, select number of publishers. Did anyone request an invitation and actually receive an invite during the last 5 months?

I'm assuming this is another Google service that'll die before I'm able to try it.

We're enabled as a publisher, though I can't try it without a US bank card.

My biggest concern with this is that it is still so integrated into the ads system. I don't use AdBlock and its kin solely because I don't want to see the ads, but also so that I am not tracked everywhere I go on the internet. This does not seem to address that.

Do you have an alternative way to determine whether you are a contributor to avoid displaying ads to you?

If the service were launched as a wholly separate entity, with clearly stated legal terms for data privacy and retention, I would be able to accept that as a necessity.

> "When you visit a participating website, part of your contribution goes to the creators of that site."

Umm, why does Google have to control this sort of ad-prevention mechanic? Obviously because it lets them profit from potential lost ad revenue, but what about the publishers? What sort of "cut" are they getting? And why are they only getting a cut of contributions that are essentially for their content?

The advertising business is getting really messy...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9154960, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8637365

So what if I disapprove of one of the participating sites?

From my understanding, your money only goes to participating sites that you end up visiting.

You don't visit them, and they don't get your money?

I just stumbled on this link, and apparently you can stop contributing to specific sites, and also select whether to contributor to all participating sites, or ones you specifically select.

http://www.droid-life.com/2015/04/21/this-is-google-contribu...

It looks overpriced. I need to be signed into my Google account at all times when browsing the internet, pay $10-15/mo, and even then, it's only removing something like 50-75% of advertisements. It's more expensive than ad block, it removes less ads than ad block, and it leaves a big empty space that ad block can typically remove.

This sounds like a poor experience for the end user, and I can't see it catching on.

So it's patreon?

looks like patreon for companies already making money. The Onion, IMGUR, etc.

It's Patreon for the entire web - so that $10 donation becomes diluted over all the (participating) websites that you visit.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com