I started to notice that more sites are turning into paywalls, and I don’t like that and would prefer ads over subscriptions.
I am curious, what does the general community think about that?
It depends.
Ads for something I use rarely or am not quite sure about.
But I pay for Netflix, and I suppose that’s a paywall.
What’s super annoying is when a website has both, and they autoplay. Like most news sites, and if you pause Netflix, something else will start playing, with sound even. I want to pay for what I use… but dayum.
Depends on the site. Ads don’t bother me because ad block. I support paywalls in the case of sign up for some services, like InsaneJournal. Though, I otherwise have no preference either way since I usually don’t go places with paywalls and when I do, I usually find a way to bypass them.
False dichotomy, I’d rather see other funding models like Patreon/Kickstarter. Paying gets you early access/bonus stuff/whatever, and you don’t need intrusive technologies like ads/paywalls.
You may want to clarify, as patreon and kickstarter are often used as paywalls. Do you mean people can donate to a cause, and everyone gets the benefits?
The latter, but I also don’t really mind paywalls in the form of “get early access” like SMBC comics or “get exclusive special content” like a lot of bands do.
You can just straight paywall with those too, but you don’t have too. A band I like crowdfunded a music video and you can watch it free on youtube, but if you didn’t crowdfund it you missed out on perks that go all the way up to being in the music video
Yeah, I want to pay you directly. I, admittedly, pirate things. When those things are good, I make an effort to go send money to the creator directly. Sometimes it’s hard, especially with things like books. I don’t want to buy it on Amazon. And unless someone is self-published, they’re getting peanuts. I’d much rather Venmo an author money direct. When Radiohead released In Rainbows way back when and put it out for “pay what you want,” I gave them five bucks I think.
I understand it can’t always be like that, and that the people between a content creator and me do serve some purpose.
I prefer ads because I can block them. 👍
Ads. I’ve been online since the age of Gopher. I’ve gone through every kind of ad or a pop-up you can throw at me. Even though I use an adblock, even without it I can subconsciously filter out ads so well that they won’t bother me.
Hard agree. Ads, what ads? Those are just swaths of color in my peripheral vision. I watch old-timey television too, and those ads are my free time to do whatever else, like pee or get snacks.
I would rather have ads. If I were to subscribe to every website that asked me to subscribe I would be paying $1,000 a month.
Ads, better to see ads and make the information available to all, than have a portion of the population unable to access the information at all.
Most types of ads can be blocked with uBlock Origin, while only some kinds of paywalls can be skipped with Bypass Paywalls Clean. Ads are the most privacy invasive monetization solution and with ad blocking becoming more common, I don’t think ads are a sustainable way to fund content in the future. Still, I would prefer to see voluntary subscription and donation options rather than hard paywalls.
Funny that changing your UA to like Googlebot means you can see the content since website owners want search indexing
Ad’s. If a sites using the paywall approach, they’ve made an enemy for life with me.
Now I’m not saying I like ads, but as long as they aren’t aggressive I will tolerate them. If they get to aggressive, I’ll block them.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand it’s a business, but I’m a human with a low tolerance for being jerked around.
I prefer ads, as I can block them.
Make your content good enough and be a good enough person so that people are willing to give you money voluntarily or for token rewards. Let those with the means subsidize those without.
Occasionally you see something and the comments are full of “let me throw money at you”. Maybe at least partially try that as a goal rather than searching for infinite growth at the expense of anyone who isn’t an executive.
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Neither; use FOSS!
But in all seriousness, ads. They may be filled with trackers from big tech to try to know my every waking thought and sell them, but I have handy dandy software to deal with that.
Ads, tastefully. Many websites have too many in too many places, pretty much asking for the viewers to use an ad blocker.
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