[avian]

> no one wants to give away money from their own pockets in order to sustain their website.

Interestingly, some of the best content on the web (in my opinion) can be found on websites that do not have ads. They are maintained by people genuinely interested in a topic and have a passion for sharing knowledge.

I'm not saying that gift economy works for everyone, but there certainly are people that are willing to pay from their own pockets. It's not like the web wouldn't exist without ads.

[dingaling]

Yes, it is a curious and rather blinkered statement.

Imagine if the author had written 'no one wants to give away money from their own pockets to sustain their [photography|aircraft modelling|horse riding] hobby'. We'd all look askance. But somehow he thinks the web is different?

Plenty of hobbyists and societies run websites entirely without external funding. They will continue to do so, just like they did in the 1990s before advertising exploded onto the Web.

[jbob2000]

This has been my thought on the matter too. If there's no money in journalism anymore, then the only people left doing it are the ones who love doing it. The leeches all slither off to other industries they can make a buck off of.

[hsod]

the leeches and the people who need to make a living

[z92]

Plus, with all the copycat sites gone, stopping ads is more likely to make the web a better place, overall.

[radmuzom]

Definitely not true, especially for web users from developing countries. Few days back there was an article on a company providing articles from various sources for around few cents (Euro) each. Given the exchange rate of the currency in which I earn my salary, it is simply too expensive for me. I would rather see ads (and occasionally click on them to support sites I love) rather than pay for each article I read.

[tptacek]

Many of the best of those sites rely on reporting from other sites that are ad-supported. You can get excellent analysis for free, but you usually can't get wide-ranging on-the-ground reporting that way.

[avian]

To be honest, I was thinking more about art, science and technology content that is primarily published on the web rather than traditional journalism like you would find in New York Times.

I can't speak for on-the-ground or wide-ranging reporting of breaking events, but for instance I know of a local investigative journalism website that does not depend on ads and is often praised for the quality of its content. (http://podcrto.si/about).

[radmuzom]

Can you share some examples where the content IS the business model?

For example, I think Joel Spolsky's articles are some of the best content on the web. He does not serve ads because he does not make money from the content, although his content did serve as a form of advertising for his company. That is not a viable option for all content producers.

I am not against ad-blocking, but do not block them myself. If the ads come in the way of obtaining content which I am interested in, I simply close the web page.

[CaptainZapp]

I can think of http://roadsandkingdoms.com/ , arguably the best travel site on the web.

I actually wonder how they sustain themselves.