Would you opt-in to allow for CPU mining while visiting the forums for them to remain ad free?

[UrbanCamper]

Now why would I want to allow someone to use my cpu, increase my power input, cost me more money, without getting anything of intrinsic value in return. Information is free. Anything I want to be informed on, can be found in multiple places. It is easy enough to be alerted to websites using your resources, and these are the websites I tend to not visit.

I think this is a Horrific Idea. Shame on you for even suggesting this. Advertise like darn near everyone else.

 

[bug]

Now why would I want to allow someone to use my cpu, increase my power input, cost me more money, without getting anything of intrinsic value in return. Information is free. Anything I want to be informed on, can be found in multiple places. It is easy enough to be alerted to websites using your resources, and these are the websites I tend to not visit.

Hosting, redacting and curating information, however, is anything but free.

I think this is a Horrific Idea. Shame on you for even suggesting this. Advertise like darn near everyone else.

They already use advertising like everyone else. But since "everyone else" uses an ad-blocker, it's pretty clear advertising isn't the best solution either. This just discussing a potential alternative. Geez.

 

[yogurt_21]

For me, that is simply just stealing if I wouldn't get the income which has used my PC's performance and I pay my electricity.

I'd rather pay for supporting the site via Paypal or something. Like I've spent over 100eur for supporting the Finnish hardware site IO-Tech.

which brings up an interesting question, does TPU have a patreon or similar?

Seems more efficient to go straight to donations rather than attempt a difficult software workaround which may or may not work as intended. (AV, run away processes, firewalls and network restrictions for those of us who visit from work, etc)

If ad revenue isn't keeping up with costs I'd prefer to simply donate. Been on here over a decade, anything I donate will be well worth it.

 

[bug]

which brings up an interesting question, does TPU have a patreon or similar?

Seems more efficient to go straight to donations rather than attempt a difficult software workaround which may or may not work as intended. (AV, run away processes, firewalls and network restrictions for those of us who visit from work, etc)

If ad revenue isn't keeping up with costs I'd prefer to simply donate. Been on here over a decade, anything I donate will be well worth it.

Sites don't really survive on donations either. There's phoronix.com which offers subscriptions, but at the same time they also have to run ads. Be it because not many people think like you or because an online payment is not as convenient all over the world, but that's how it is.

As for the process itself, any implementation is exploitable, but a web worker can be killed at will and is already CORS aware afaik. So I wouldn't worry too much about that.

 

[StrayKAT]

Hell no. My computer. Hands off. I don't mind ads at all, in comparison.

Speaking in general, I might if I was a torrent fiend like I used to be, and may give someone like piratebay a pass. But even those days are long gone. I don't torrent anything anymore.

 

[FPSPusher]

I'm ok with it as long as you send me a dividends check each month.

 

[Vayra86]

While I would immediately stop visiting TPU if it implemented a miner - opt-in or opt-out, to cover expenses and/or whatever its configuration, I really don't care, its fundamentally wrong to do this - this is the ONLY website on the whole WWW where I have turned my adblocker off.

Why?

Its really simple: the ads here, are not intrusive, they are present, they catch my eye, but they don't detract from the user experience.

The solution should be offered by the ad platforms, who should be getting together and find a way to stop overshouting each other to generate more revenue, there should be a 'best practice' where the amount of ads and the way they are presented is balanced, non-intrusive, and has limitations. No pop-ups, flying shit across your screen, autoplay content. Just simple ads, in moderation, in appropriate places on a website. Its not hard. It just requires some common sense - the common sense of asking yourself the question 'would I want to see this every time I visit'. If the answer is not a resounding 'YES', its a bad ad.

Honestly, I would much prefer this idea of miners to generate money will die rapidly. It is bad for everyone except those who only care about short term gain. Crypto mining is a fundamentally bad practice, it is wasteful, it is pointless, and it will kill crypto every time until people get sensible. If you like crypto and its ideas, you really shouldn't be mining it, you should be looking for ways to integrate it in our normal economy in a sensible manner. Anything else is counterproductive and for websites to join in on this 'gold rush' is just real bad taste. ESPECIALLY a tech site.

In the end, long term, us users of websites will have the final say: if we only allow ads to appear when they are presented in a reasonable way, the market will automatically adjust. It will take time, some struggle, but it will happen. The solution is here already and TPU has it.

 

[bug]

While I would immediately stop visiting TPU if it implemented a miner - opt-in or opt-out, to cover expenses and/or whatever its configuration, I really don't care, its fundamentally wrong to do this - this is the ONLY website on the whole WWW where I have turned my adblocker off.

Why?

Its really simple: the ads here, are not intrusive, they are present, they catch my eye, but they don't detract from the user experience.

The solution should be offered by the ad platforms, who should be getting together and find a way to stop overshouting each other to generate more revenue, there should be a 'best practice' where the amount of ads and the way they are presented is balanced, non-intrusive, and has limitations. No pop-ups, flying shit across your screen, autoplay content. Just simple ads, in moderation, in appropriate places on a website. Its not hard. It just requires some common sense - the common sense of asking yourself the question 'would I want to see this every time I visit'. If the answer is not a resounding 'YES', its a bad ad.

Honestly, I would much prefer this idea of miners to generate money will die rapidly. It is bad for everyone except those who only care about short term gain. Crypto mining is a fundamentally bad practice, it is wasteful, it is pointless, and it will kill crypto every time until people get sensible. If you like crypto and its ideas, you really shouldn't be mining it, you should be looking for ways to integrate it in our normal economy in a sensible manner. Anything else is counterproductive and for websites to join in on this 'gold rush' is just real bad taste. ESPECIALLY a tech site.

In the end, long term, us users of websites will have the final say: if we only allow ads to appear when they are presented in a reasonable way, the market will automatically adjust. It will take time, some struggle, but it will happen. The solution is here already and TPU has it.

As you have noted, TPU is on the civil side of ads usage on the Internet. Yet they question us about an alternate source of income. So I'm guessing not many visitors bother to disable their ad blocker on TPU (so they don't even know the ads are far from intrusive), which in turn prompted the staff to start looking at additional means of cashing in. I don't mind that, it's a discussion in the open. As posted above, I could even go along with mining, under some circumstances.

There's this thing about ad blocking: you turn them on, the net is suddenly a much, much better place to be, so you leave it at that. That's the wrong way to use ad blockers. When you frequently visit a web site, at least try to allow ads for a while and if it turns out it's not that bad, leave it off to support the site. Hell, if you like the site, but hate the ads, you can still disable the ad blocker a day each month (or something) in order to show some support.
Also some sites offer subscriptions for a completely ad free experience. Get that, if you can afford it.

 

[Konceptz]

pihole DNS blocks your's and many other site's ads without issue.