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"Discord can make money selling ads too, and I would not be at all surprised to see ads in every Discord channel in the future, especially as (unlike Reddit) it doesn't have any third-party clients through which users can circumvent any ads Discord may want to show."

This sounds really uncool, like something that would make a trendy new social media platform flush with investment attractive!

That it's all about ads is the recurring problem.




The people who complain about ads are the kind that use ad blockers -- ie. a small minority of internet users.

Ordinary people don't complain about ads, don't know that ad blockers even exist, and don't seek out ad-free alternatives.

Ads to them are like water is to fish.


Users with adblockers in the US was at 25% in 2019 with adoption steadily growing over the years, based on a quick google search at least. But even if it was 10% that wouldn't be a "small minority" and provides an explanation for recent efforts from platforms to force adblockers out.

There's also a fair number of people who might not install an adblocker but don't engage with advertising, click through rates are even lower than the number of people who have adblockers installed.

Online ads aren't sustainable, it's a grift prolonged by advertising fraud.




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