Hey Boost, could you maybe vet your ads a little better? - eviltoast

I would much prefer this piece of shit die in obscurity, thanks

  • Telorand@reddthat.com
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    3 months ago

    Pretty sure that’s Google’s deal. I don’t think the dev gets to decide which ads they show you.

    ETA: Also, just buy the app. It’s a few dollars, it helps pay for the development, and you never have to see any ads.

      • phanto@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        Non-Play Store Tablet. Bought the app, still get the ads… Pi hole for the win!

        • Dave.@aussie.zone
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          3 months ago

          Bought the app, still get the ads…

          That… sounds like something that you should reach out to @rmayayo@lemmy.world and talk about.

      • Traister101@lemmy.today
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        3 months ago

        It’s weird that you guys cannot seem to comprehend the idea of devs being paid for their work. Free stuff is great. I put my own shit online for free but you know something I don’t do? Maintain an app with 100k+ downloads. Maybe the guy deserves to make some money off his hard work…

      • Telorand@reddthat.com
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        3 months ago

        Those free Lemmy apps cost time and effort to create and maintain; if people want to give their stuff away for free, that’s their business. In any case, I tried those other apps, and I didn’t like them (likely because they’ve put hobbyist levels of effort into them rather than a paid-worker’s amount). And because they’re free, I would never dream of asking for more features (which is tantamount to saying, “Yo, dev. Give me more free shit!”).

        Besides, we’re talking about a few dollars to support a single dev. Not like Ruben has teams of people working for him in some faceless megacorp making billions of dollars.

        Boost has the features I like with the layout I like, and I paid a few dollars mainly as a tip to the dev, which just happens to come with the added benefit of no ads.

      • bitwolf@lemmy.one
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        3 months ago

        Im sure for many it is to support a developer who remains dedicated and has built rapport with their users.

        It’s why I bought Sync Pro (twice), and Synfonium, despite there being plenty of FLOSS alternatives.

    • BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one
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      3 months ago

      Why the fuck do we buy apps when the mobile website should work the fucking same for free?

      • Otter@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        The app offers different functionality and designs, which someone has to spend time making or maintaining

        Lemmy has a lot of different options for how you can access it between the different front ends, open / closed source, or free / paid. You’re encouraged to find the options that work best for you

        I like Boost, and I’m happy to do a one time payment for it

      • Telorand@reddthat.com
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        3 months ago

        The mobile website and its functionality depend on the admins of each instance. I don’t expect server admins to also be UX designers, and neither of those things are free. Lemmy is a free software platform, but it costs time and effort to run it.

        Also, native apps can take advantage of system resources without needing the overhead of the browser. I’m fine paying for someone to undertake that additional burden.

      • kratoz29@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        Yikes, only Voyager offers a good mobile web interface, and it is definitely a slower experience than Boost, Sync, Summit… Heck even Voyager standalone app.

  • JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    If you don’t like ads and don’t want to pay to remove ads on a Lemmy app, use Voyager, Jerboa, or any of the other many FOSS, ad free, Lemmy apps.

    • ChexMax@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I don’t understand why people are using apps with ads. What is the reason? Is connect selling my data and boost isn’t? Why would you pick an app that has ads when so many don’t?

      • nawa@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Because apps with ads (specifically Sync that I use) have better UX and more features than anything open-source. Sorry but that’s it.

        • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
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          3 months ago

          I guess everyone has their own level of tolerance for ads.

          To me, anything ad supported has a terrible “UX”. I’d put up with a lot to avoid ads.

          Obviously you don’t care about ads and that’s fine too

          • nawa@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Yes because ads are the only thing making a difference in the comfort of using an app. Comfortable design (that doesn’t try to cram a million things into a small phone screen) and intuitive navigation mean nothing I guess.

              • nawa@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                Perhaps you could get off your high open-source horse and try reading what I actually wrote. I’m talking about cramming in a million buttons and 0.1 line height so there are 20 comments shown at once. I don’t need my mobile app to look like old.reddit.com, I need it to be actually readable and usable from a small screen. Ads (which are shown in the feed and can be scrolled past) have nothing to do with that.

                • emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  3 months ago

                  Lol sync users are so brainwashed and will say anything to justify it. Connect is so nice and usable, i haven’t had a single issue with it since I started using it months ago. Jerboa has also come a long way, but was a little raw at the time and so I mostly got used to connect.

      • hank_the_tank66@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I’m legitimately confused because I use Boost and don’t see ads.

        I assume my PiHole stops them on my home network, and maybe DDG does elsewhere? Not 100% sure, but it works for now.

      • Max-P@lemmy.max-p.me
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        3 months ago

        A lot of us here came from Boost for Reddit, where we had bought it there so we bought the Lemmy version too and never seen ads.

        I’m a big fan of open-source but sometimes it’s worth throwing the $3.50 for a proprietary app that works well, especially with how the Lemmy app landscape looked a year ago. It’s better now, but I like how Boost works and have used it for years on Reddit.

        The only free app that’s somewhat close to Boost’s presentation is Jerboa, and Jerboa is just a bit too buggy for my taste.

      • Klear@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        I started using Boost since it has user tagging. Didn’t want to pay for the full version until I’m sure I want to stick with it, so ads it is.

        I should stop being lazy and buy it asap tho. I’ve been happy with it for a while now.

  • kitnaht@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Imagine believing that Boost specifically developed their own ad network and dictate what is/isn’t on it…

    • Obinice@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      If you’re not capable of dictating what appears in your own company’s product, maybe that’s something to rethink?

      • cjoll4@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Should Ruben vet the entire Lemmyverse while he’s at it so he can “dictate what appears in his product?”

        As a solo developer with limited resources, one has four choices:

        • Choose an existing ad network and do the best you can within its content preferences,

        • Put a paywall on your app’s features and hope enough people will actually buy it,

        • Work for free, sacrificing your own livelihood, or

        • Don’t develop the app.

        Clearly they all involve a compromise of one form or another, and I trust that Ruben put a lot of thought into the decision.

      • kitnaht@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        It’s not a choice you get. There’s only a handful of ad networks out there, and you get to choose one. If you don’t do that, the only other option is to make people pay for your stuff - which most won’t do because they’re so accustomed to ads.

      • TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        You can’t force the ad networks to rethink. As a dev, your choice would be to completely paywall the app.

  • Xideta@ani.social
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    3 months ago

    Whilst developers can ban specific ads, they can’t really vet them beforehand. I think you can opt out of political ads (or maybe could at one point), but technically the ad you see is just for another app.

    As an alternative solution to the ones already posed by others, you can use “Google Opinion Rewards” to get enough play store credit to buy the app. Every so often it’ll just ask if you googled “Ninja Coffee Bar” (literally), and give you 10-25 cents for answering, and typically a good bit more for any follow-up questions (“How helpful were the results”, etc).

    • wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      I use that money to pay for YouTube. It used to reduce it to paying every other month, but I don’t get nearly as many as I used to. Now I barely get anything. I think don’t of mine about to expire actually, since it’s been so long since I’ve had enough to cover it (and it won’t do partial payment afaik)

  • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Honestly the ads are why I quit using boost when it came out. Jerboa is completely ad free with a similar enough UI that it’s not that hard of a transition.

    • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      Connect is simple and ad free as well. I’ve been using it since I joined Lemmy as it was the closest I could find to RIF.

      Regardless, there are plenty of options out there.

        • Telorand@reddthat.com
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          3 months ago

          Expecting free software is the problem. Software development isn’t free from time or effort.

            • FierySpectre@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Permanent ad free for boost is less than a cup of coffee in a Starbucks… The dev deserves to be paid for their time (especially as a Lemmy app actually requires maintenance for updates to Lemmy).

              Sure hate on shovelware games or games with 15 DLC’s that should have been part of the base game… But don’t hate on proper apps like boost.

              • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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                3 months ago

                I don’t hate on it and do not advocate for or against it. You do you. Boost is simply one of many options and other options may be free and ad-less.

                Because of the nature of ad platforms and ad delivery, various metrics about your activity is also sent to third parties. It’s something to be aware of, at least.

                I am saying that if an app is good enough, I’ll donate or buy it. For now, I am a top contributor to Connect. Yay? Personally, I think the ad route is trashy, but others don’t seem to mind unless they get blasted in the face by Troof Social.

          • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
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            3 months ago

            It’s true that development takes skill, time, and effort, but there are many rewards which are not monetary.

            I don’t “expect” a dev to put themselves into poverty maintaining an app that I feel like I deserve. But if there are apps maintained by devs as a hobby or whatever and are opensource then naturally those will be my preference.

  • RandomVideos@programming.dev
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    3 months ago

    Truth social is a FOSS social media. The app is just, based on you liking other FOSS social medias, recommending apps in the same category.

    (Also, would anyone on lemmy use truth social seriously?)

    • Joelk111@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      It’s open source? Maybe I’ll make some PRs… But honestly that’s shocking to me and huge. Do I support Truth Social now? Wild.

      • RandomVideos@programming.dev
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        3 months ago

        They are open source because(as far as i know) they copied the code of mastodon, slightly changed it, almost got sued and released a zip file of the code on their website to respect the terms of the AGPLv3 license

        But details dont matter

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      I wouldn’t use Truth social seriously, but I might use it for trolling purposes.

      But all the bots on these kind of sites takes the fun out of trolling.

  • Voyajer@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Siphoning money from truth social seems like the best case for an ad you were never going to click on anyway

        • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Any place we could find more details on this? Wonder if setting up an ad clicker would be a decent way to drain their funds (if many people do it of course).

          • Paradachshund@lemmy.today
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            3 months ago

            Theoretically it is. There’s actually an add on for Firefox now called adnauseum that auto clicks every ad it blocks (it’s ublock origin under the hood). You don’t see it happen, but in theory it costs the advertisers money and also scrambles your advertising profile since it clicks everything.

            If you want to learn more just look up ad cost on any ad network as if you were going to buy an ad. They break it down in detail.

    • braindamagebuddy@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      This is also how I feel every time I scroll by it. Positive thinking lol, although I’ll probably get the paid version soon.

  • BoofStroke@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    Buy the app or use a DNS adblocker. There is no relationship between advertisers and developers. That’s the technology world destroyed by marketing that we live in now.

  • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    3 months ago

    still don’t see why google haven’t included politics or political ads under their sensitive ad topics opt outs. :/

    • citrusface@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Oh I know the answer to this one! It’s because $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

    • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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      3 months ago

      You really dont?

      Without political ads their mind shaping powers would be severely reduced. Same as with your data in general, google doesnt want you to keep that to yourself. Sometimes they have to allow you for legal reasons, but they make it as hard as legally possible for you to do.

  • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    It’s been a while since I’ve done mobile ad dev, I believe you can blacklist specific ads, but it’s like a full-time job to monitor them