I do agree it is not a dilemma to everyone. Still many believe that blocking ads harms creators supported by them. It is true for google adsense based platforms like youtube (youtube premium requires account, hence privacy implication).
Instead any content anyone watches can be rewatched with ads enabled.
In case a platform trust not logged in views less (as it might be on youtube, I am not sure) the privacy risk can be mitigated by having a -big enough) network of logged in account to ‘view’ the contents ad enabled.
What do you think?
Agreed. Go to Patreon and let me pay for an ad-free stream. I’m a member of fourteen different Patreon projects. Used to be more, but a couple of podcasts drifted from where they were when I signed up and I lost interest.
I buy software licenses too. And I buy my music. I rent movies on streaming services and sometimes buy for things I know will have a high replay value.
I feel no shame blocking ads. They’re invasive and annoying. People have been conditioned to accept them, but I got rid of television in 2021 and started torrenting content. Now that there’s good infrastructure to pay for my media (ad free) and I can afford it, I choose to support those who make what I enjoy. Fuck ads. If I can’t block them, I’ll just go elsewhere.
Patreon is great, I’m talking about the gratis option. I personally have no ‘guilt’ regarding ad blockers and I don’t remember last time I saw ad (except on other people’s devices) online1. The question was about convincing people to use ad blocker or alt clients who do not want to or can’t afford to pay creators directly.
1 excluding sponsorship in videos… I do not use sponsorblock and I found sponsored contents from some channels useful.