I'm right there with you.

I hate the advertising industry.

Advertisements are a service-killer for me, and when that happens I'll also share my ad-free files with everyone I know.

I remember when Google had two, context relevant ads on the top of their searches. They were clearly marked as such and I could ignore them or use them if they looked intriguing. This has never been the case since. That industry is just out there trying to scam publishers, advertisers and users. It's horrific.

If Netflix had ads on top of the monthly service charge I'd cancel immediately. I stopped using YouTube on any device other than my Linux box where I can adblock everything.

This article does not suggest that Netflix should ever show ads to you, an existing customer.

It suggests that Netflix should offer an ad-supported plan for people unwilling to pay current prices.

Why would they grandfather in existing subscribers though, that's not gonna happen.

The article specifically argues that they should do this in order to further grow their customer base, and retain customers that are unwilling to pay current prices.

Why couldn’t they keep existing subscribers ad-free? Those people are currently paying huge subscription fees.

Why would it be impossible for Netflix to implement advertising in the way this article suggests?

Of course it's not impossible, they could do it if they wanted to, but that's not what would happen. That's not how anyone does it. Inevitably they would add ads at approximately the current price, and raise the price of the ad-free tier.

Spotify seems to have been successfully doing it as described for many years now, no?

That sounds great for everyone but the Netflix consumer.

First, who cares? This article isn’t about the consumers. Perhaps it would be great for the Netflix consumer if Netflix became a nonprofit?

Second, why? Why would this be bad for the Netflix consumer. Consumers willing to pay current sub fees shouldn’t be affected, and those unwilling to pay current prices would be able to access Netflix for less money.

This would obviously benefit consumers with less disposable income.

You can't abuse new users like this, even if you suspect they're not a genuine new user. We don't want HN to be hostile to outsiders. Welcoming new good-faith users is a thousand times more important than the irritation of serial trolls, so it's important to err on the side of the former.

Also, please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30925375, because what you did downthread was much worse yet. That's the sort of thing we ban people for, and I don't want to ban you.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

lol.

Your comments here make it pretty clear that you’re an ideologue who never intended to seriously engage with anyone anyway.

You hate advertising, therefore everything about this article is evil regardless of how correct it may be from a business perspective. You have no interest in debating the article, but only care about pursuing your holy war against advertising.

We've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines. Please don't create accounts to do that with.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I think it’s pretty obvious that I did not create that account to break the site guidelines, but as an attempt to constructively engage with c0nduktr.

He didn’t like what I had to say, and chose to attack my account instead. While I might have been a little harsh in my reply to that, I said nothing that wasn’t perfectly in line with his comments.

It’s not unfair to call him an ideologue, he admits to hating the advertising industry https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30916159

Given the nature of his other comments under this post, and his choice to attack me over the age of my account it was certainly not unfair to point out his disinterest in engaging in a thoughtful conversation.

> While I might have been a little harsh in my reply

Everyone always feels that the other person started it and did worse. Those perceptions aren't reliable, and they're a recipe for a downward spiral.

If you want to participate here, you need to follow the site guidelines regardless of what anyone else does.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Breaking the site guidelines that egregiously will get you banned here, regardless of how badly another account is behaving or you feel they are.

If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules, we'd appreciate it.

Please don't respond to an account breaking the site guidelines by doing so yourself. That only makes everything worse.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html