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Comment by someuser1 | Hacker News Reader

Honestly, the experience on some of these mobile websites is so horrible that I've actually started boycotting them when they're just too bad to endure. It's funny, as the screens get larger, the content space stays the same or shrinks. I think, "ooh more content on one page!" and they think "ooh more ads to cram in!"

It's just the worst. Ads with tiny close buttons, ads that mimic the content on the page in order to get you to click, banners at the top and bottom of the screen. I DON'T WANT YOUR SHIT. I can't wait till all of that goes away.

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>Ads with tiny close buttons

I recently encountered an ad with a tiny close button that jittered, making it impossible to touch without triggering the ad popup. How clever.

Which is why people want to block them completely lol

Indeed. If you, as a content provider, depend on such ads then I'm sorry, but your business deserves to die.

I wonder how long it takes for people to learn that they can earn money by not being assholes to their customers?

AT least many vloggers are moving to Patreon or similar services. I've funded vloggers whose content I've enjoyed and I've seen many make a living that way. I think that's the modal we should shoot for. You build an audience and then you monetize that audience in non-intrusive ways.

Indeed, even my favourite blogger whose articles I enjoy moved to Patreon and I'm planning to budget money for him from next paycheck :). I'm much happier to support people this way than through ads.

I'll be very happy to pay for content now that I am an adult and earn money (there's a problem though; I owe my career in part thanks to a lot of free content I could use as a kid). But I suspect that prices will have to drop - the typical use pattern of the Internet is that of breadth, not depth. Myself I visit many dozen different sites daily, often different the next day than the day before. I derive value from all of them, but not enough to pay each of them a few dollars of monthly subscription.

Or maybe this will finally incentivize people to build their websites to attract and keep customers instead of clickbaiting and carpet-bombing with unwanted ads.

"Or maybe this will finally incentivize people to build their websites to attract and keep customers instead of clickbaiting and carpet-bombing with unwanted ads."

This is it. We're suffering from the effects the "Content is king" mantra. Instead of sites having highly focused content, the drive is to constantly have fresh content. It's easy for a monthly magazine to have focused content due to the schedule. When a site has to have new content every single day, or worse, multiple pieces of content every day, of course that's going to lead to excessive fluff of all sorts. The sites with the best content I visit seem less concerned with frequency and more focused on quality. We're in a quantity > quality phase of the web.

Ever visited one of those free live streaming websites? 20 layers of ads with tiny close buttons, that sometimes themselves trigger redirects. It's the perfect example of how ads make you want to punch your screen.

I think the worst are social clickjacking ads. This is a whole new genre of scumbaggery. Every now and then I see a friend of mine embarrass themselves on social media. You open your Facebook and suddenly see the newest status update of a lady or a gentleman that says something like "HEY! I JUST GOT A $10 FREE TOP UP ! HOW FUCKING COOL IS THAT?".

Aside from ads, mobile websites in general are complete garbage. So then adding a banner to the bottom is just icing on the cake.

Ok, you don't want their shit. How do you propose to give the creators of the content you're visiting revenue so they can continue?

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