The Prodigious Dream: Free Internet without Ads

[Redaktion]

On our own behalf. The reason why Notebookcheck has ads, and the alternatives the media industry is currently considering.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Prodigious-Dream-Free-Internet-without-Ads.88998.0.html

[AlexS]

I have no problems with banners if they aren't intrusive. And for me the current situation is okay.

I think one option to look for  could be to allow notebookcheck readers to buy trough the website.
If firms were truly international*, i mean i could buy directly from HP, Dell, Samsung, Asus etc or affiliated from a link in the notebookreview. I wouldn't had any problems, i really like your reviews with such detail.
*Unfortunately in most countries it is trough resellers and stores where the client as no choice in configuration.
I must say that the big reason i don't change notebook often is because i have no choice on configuration, so i only do that when all components improve, which means 4-5 years.

[TomF]

There have been a number of very well written articles from tech savy sites (Arstechnica and Techreport spring to mind)  on this subject and I would include yours among them.
My personal take on this subject as a lay user is that advertising that requires to run script from an external website is fundamentally insecure, if you are serving it locally then you are taking responsibility.

I think you might be missing a trick too, when i'm reading a review from the UK and you have a sponsored link to notebooksbilliger.de at the end that's saying buy this laptop here if you liked the review is that's absolutely fine but maybe you could also have links for someone more relevant to me ?

[W]

Flattr ?

[UK computer user]

The UK already has a fund which pays all the authors whose books are borrowed from  public libraries. They are paid a small sum every time that their book was borrowed in the last year. Once a method for a country to raise money for websites is identified, surely that country can fund its "public interest" websites in proportion to the number of clicks they receive?

[Stefan Hinum]

Fundraising by Flattr or library licences doesn't render much money. Further, someone, who uses adblockers permanently, will never find out whether our banners are intrusive or not...

[Sir Giles]

I understand the need to get paid, but the current digital economy model is broken. Every time you buy a storage medium (memory card, empty optical disc, HDD, SSD, etc.) you pay the copyright tax. And now the German taxation on citing material? I'm just waiting to see it translate into academic paywalls.

As for ads themselves... I don't just hate them, I loath them. They take up screen space, they consume bandwidth(some of us use metered access!), the flash ones slow down the computer, the popup ones(especially the invisible javascript layer ones) are annoying as hell, and finally, there is the matter of privacy.

Now, I don't have it set up on this particular machine yet, but I have a habit of using a vpn to mask my IP address, my browsers are set to DNT, and I erase cookies on a regular basis. Also, a site that requires cookies to function is already a bit questionable thing.

If the ad companies would avoid using popups, sound ads( I hate those in particular, especially when I can't find the tab that is playing it) AND would respect DNT, or would offer an opt-in model (even better), than I would not go to all the lengths to obscure my digital footsteps.

Finally, it is important to note, I have never, ever willfully clicked on an ad. And I have never, ever, bought anything through an ad. The things I bought, I bought because I knew what I was buying beforehand, and I knew where to find it. I found out both things through good editorials like yours. And I've been on the internet since 1997. Take note of this. I am not alone in finding ads intrusive and in many cases (like not respecting DNT) immoral.

[Stefan Hinum]

@Sir Giles: You point out that you don't want any ads. Now, you should point out how websites like Notebookcheck should finance their editors, please.

At moment, Notebookcheck gets no cent from any copyright tax and I am very sure that we won't get any money from the German taxation on citing material.