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curl-6 on 24 July 2026
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Otter said:
curl-6 said:

A free tier with ads on its own isn't the worst thing, but we've seen in other cases like Amazon and Netflix how these ads can creep into paid services. Like the horse armor in Oblivion, the first step towards a hellscape often seems innocuous on its own, what people are wary of is that companies almost always start making such things worse and worse over time. 

Put a frog in hot water and it jumps right out, put a frog in cold water and heat it up gradually, etc.

It's the last I'll say on the topic but there are ad free tiers on Netflix/Amazon, it's just a case of whether you agree with their pricing. 

All services are gradually having price increases, even before the ad-supported tiers come into play, so that is the primary point of friction imo and where the center point of monetising the audience (again looking at $80 Mario Kart & GTA).

That's the thing, the ad free tiers are overpriced and extortionary because the whole strategy is a matter of them deliberately creating an annoyance to customers so they can demand even more money to "fix" it.

It's like saying "I'm gonna flick popcorn at you while you watch your movie, pay me $20 and I'll stop".