[henvic]

I'd advice you stop charging and just place Amazon ads on your page. Besides being safer as people said, it'd easily generate more money for you.

Ads are not "worse", and it's going to be safer for you, and you could've made a lot more money from it because people would go to your website and many would download it, even if they feel they don't need it... Also, many people are interested in noise canceling headphones, and this would likely be how you'd make money out of Amazon's affiliate program :)

I myself have a Bose QC35 headphone, but use it on wired mode (to my Blue Yeti X mic), so I'd be one of the people who downloads it... but I wouldn't pay for it. However, if you had an ad there maybe I'd click on it if it showed the newer and greater 700 headphone with a nice price.

https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

* I speak this from experience, as I made about ~500 USD with this post here https://henvic.dev/posts/homelab/ even though I added ads on it just when it was not hot anymore (had a few dozen thousands views, but mostly on the first days when I still didn't have ads).

[inetknght]

No, do not place Amazon ads on your page.

Do not place any ads on your page.

[henvic]

I'm gladly going to remove all my ads on my page if you promise to give me money through GitHub Sponsors or something lol

Money matters. Not everyone is rich to not care about that. In my case, what I make is still below what makes a difference in my life, but if I can multiply by 10 times it's going to make a lot of difference.

* I promise my ads aren't that intrusive. lol

[elliekelly]

They might not be visually intrusive but they are indeed very intrusive. If you went to the mall would you find it intrusive if Macy’s put a little beacon on your shoulder every time you walked in the door so they could follow you around and track your movement for the next few days? The beacon is small and unassuming and tasteful - you’ll hardly even notice it! Who cares? A stalker is a stalker no matter how nicely it blends with the aesthetic.

[henvic]

If you're this worried about being tracked, you can always choose to turn off cookies, JavaScript, and maybe try the ToR browser. No problem with this either!

If I placed a magnetic beacon holder in my arm, I sure wouldn't bother. That is the case with most browser users, unfortunately. If they aren't happy with that, they might consider switching browser vendors to ones that protect more their privacy.

Awful as they might be, ads are part of society and a source of revenue (and information!) for many.

[bassdropvroom]

> If you're this worried about being tracked, you can always choose to turn off cookies, JavaScript, and maybe try the ToR browser.

Half of the internet doesn't work without JavaScript these days, the rest barely works on TOR because of the likes of Cloudflare.

[elliekelly]

I do take steps to prevent internet stalking but I don’t find the “stalkers are part of society and need to earn a living, too” argument all that persuasive.

[henvic]

Guess what I find the 'remove all ads' arguments? Much less persuasive.

[bassdropvroom]

> I'm gladly going to remove all my ads on my page if you promise to give me money through GitHub Sponsors or something lol

OP's product doesn't rely on goodwill of individuals though. You get the app for $9. Full stop. Not "please donate $9 but you don't have to if you don't feel like it".

[jsgo]

OP's comment was for them to remove the $9 and go ad supported though.

[bassdropvroom]

That's right. Then when someone mentions they'd rather have a product that can be bought because ads and trackers are the devil, OP suggests they'll remove ads if they pinky promise to to sponsor. Buying a product is different from being a sponsor.

[12ian34]

Ads aren't just intrusive, they're a manipulative dark pattern

[Oddskar]

I'm not the biggest fan of ads either, but "manipulative dark pattern"? Come on now.

[robbrown451]

If you are going to call ads a "dark pattern", you might as well call capitalism a dark pattern. That's not say either are positive, but I think your terminology is extreme.

[12ian34]

Going by the wiki[0], I absolutely stand by my comment that ads fit this description.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_pattern

[robbrown451]

Many ads fit that description. Many don't. Characterizing ads in general as a dark pattern dilutes your message about the problematic ones, in my opinion.

Some of them are just telling me about, say, a TV show or movie that is coming out. Nothing deceptive, nothing bothersome about it. I think it is quite a stretch to consider that the term "dark pattern" applies to that.

I understand that ads that are targeted are bothersome to many due to privacy issues, but I personally don't mind that Amazon and Ebay regularly show me ads for skateboard/roller sport equipment, music keyboards and other midi controllers, shoes of styles I like, and so on. But you seem to be simply saying ALL ads, even untargeted, non deceptive ads such as for a movie or car or something are "dark patterns." I don't get that.

[jen20]

It doesn't matter how unintrusive _your_ ads are - the shysters that make up most of the industry have poisoned the well, making _any_ ads unacceptable.

[henvic]

Okay, but now how about you pay me and everyone else who uses ads to remove them?

[jen20]

If you provide a service I want, sure. I’m more than happy to pay for software and moderately happy to pay for subscriptions, but with it I expect ironclad guarantees about data being local, and absolutely no tracking.

[henvic]

Is this you? https://github.com/jen20

If so, maybe you want to use my https://github.com/henvic/httpretty

Just give me, say, $300/month, and I'm taking out all ads from my website. Don't lose this unique opportunity :P

[passivate]

Systemic issues prevent individual devs from finding alternative means of revenue. Its easy for someone to say stop using ads, but most people here work for companies that advertise online, and thus their livelihood is interlinked with ads in some fashion or another. We can acknowledge this reality and simultaneously work towards changing it.