The entire fucking web worked with no ads for literally years. I do not feel bad, and won't lament if companies can't afford to pay people to cram even more JavaScript into web pages.

Sorry, web developers. Your masters are making you do evil things. It isn't your fault, but I hate your jobs.

[–] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 24 points 2 years ago (3 children)

There were less than 200 websites in 1993 when the first paid ad was introduced shortly thereafter. There were over 100k websites by the end of 1995.

So you're kind of right, but ads have been part of the Internet for 30 years. And half of the internet that we know today wouldn't have survived if this wasn't the case.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Half of he internet is shit, so - again - I personally would not lament its loss. My mom, who lives in games like Farmville these days, probably would, but she'd probably be healthier and happier if she took up knitting again.

[–] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

I concur. There's a sweet spot for ads where they are mostly tolerable. We haven't been in it for a long time though.

[–] Geek_King@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

I think the difference was, they were just side banners and that's it. They didn't have all this insane tracking, data analysis, metrics, and knowing everything about you bullshit they do now.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

So you're kind of right, but ads have been part of the Internet for 30 years.

And so have been adblockers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_blocking

[–] henrikx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 2 years ago

It's probably worth noting that this has a lot to do with VCs pumping in a seemingly unlimited amount of funding for services that aren't profitable yet but has potential to be later. Hence why Twitter is still a thing despite running at a loss for almost its entire lifetime.