[ZephyrBlu]

This is basically saying that "build it and they will come" works, but we know that's a fallacy.

[op03]

Wikipedia, Linux, Blender, Firefox are all what?

[Lvl999Noob]

This might be survivorship bias talking. I do not have any examples with me but I am quite sure, there are a lot more projects that ended up dead.

[paxys]

Most projects end up dead, ad supported or not. I don't think that's an argument one way or another.

[op03]

They are not Ad based models proving non ad based models exist and work especially in the domain of free rider/collective action problems.

[sokoloff]

I could have sworn I’ve seen ads for Firefox. I know I’ve seen ads in Firefox, some placed by Mozilla, but I could have sworn I’ve seen ads for Firefox not in Firefox. (This is nearly impossible to Google for due to all the hits for ad-blockers.)

Mozilla spends 10s of millions every year on “advertising and promotion” per their financial statements, though they have other things to advertise about than just Firefox.

[tonyedgecombe]

Didn't Linus make an announcement on Usenet when he started the project. A form of advertising.

[ZephyrBlu]

I would call them the exceptions that prove the rule.

[fnord123]

That's not what that means.

It means a sign saying "no blue cars" is the exception proving the rule that non-blue cars are allowed.

[auggierose]

Kind of like special relativity is an exception to Newtonian mechanics?

It's good to know the rules, but you shouldn't live your life by them.