I’ll start:

  • Some significant portion of funds go towards development of the Lemmy software. 80%? Rest goes to lemmy instance hosting.
  • Ads are reasonable and non-intrusive (no popups etc)
  • People can still browse w/ an adblocker

I personally would gladly turn off my adblocker if I knew the ads were supporting development. Hell, I might even click a few!

    • IninewCrow@lemmy.caEnglish
      11·
      2 years ago

      I’m happy when an instance owner just says how much it costs to run a server, how many people actually manage it and how much time they spend to keep it running. I also like it when they just come out and say “we need this much money to keep things running every month, every year, etc”

      Then I just donate and there are more a dozen ways people can send and recieve donations.

      I don’t mind paying for things and services if the person or people I’m donating to are just honest about what they need and why, especially if it’s a service I use often.

  • nuez_jr@lemm.ee
    111·
    2 years ago

    Straightforward funding requests from the instance are just fine. Advertisements can gargle a cactus.

  • Ech@lemm.eeEnglish
    91·
    2 years ago

    In my view, the problem isn’t monetizing an instance, but that ads right now are fundamentally problematic. I don’t know of a way to introduce ads that wouldn’t be intrusive, invade user privacy, introduce bad motives for admins, and just be generally unpleasant. If money is a problem, I think a subscriber model would be better suited for the platform rather than taking any step to normalize ads.

  • AlexTheTurtle@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    91·
    2 years ago

    Never, i would leave my instance immediately. Thankfully i dont believe this will ever happen. If admins need funds community members will donate. Through mutual cooperation we can keep these spaces free of the commercial bullshit that has infested every other faet of our lives.

  • milkjug@beehaw.orgEnglish
    6·
    2 years ago

    Fuck ads, don’t normalize this. I left Reddit because of enshittification, and putting ads on lemmy is just another first step towards that inevitable end. I’ll just spin my own instance back up. I had one running but I took it down to avoid the influx of CSAM on some instances.

  • LoveSausage@lemmygrad.ml
    5·
    2 years ago

    I am all for ways to increase revenue for devs, I have donated. However ads are anti privacy by default. A way for people that don’t want to donate but still want to support? How about a list of referral links people can use? Good middle ground.

  • esc27@lemmy.world
    51·
    2 years ago
    • Transparency - where the ads come from, how the revenue is used, etc.
    • the ads are safe and appropriate and follow the same rules as posts and comments
    • the ads are clearly labeled or otherwise visually distinct and not disguised as user generated content
    • the ads do not make up more than 10% of the displayed content (by any metric (screen space, text, bytes, etc.)
    • the ads are in like/kind to the surrounding content (e.g. if the community is text only, so are the ads, if the community allows images but not video, then the ads cannot move, etc.)
    • no tracking
    • the ads can be removed via subscription or donation
    • no double dipping (e.g. charging for access and still showing ads.) Members who support the instance should not see ads, members who see ads should not be required to pay.
    • a transparent removal process for problematic ads
  • ShadowCatEXE@lemmy.world
    41·
    2 years ago

    Opt-in ads. Disabled by default, but gives the user the choice to support the instance if they do not want to (or can’t) provide a monetary donation.

    I don’t want ads any other way.

  • redballooon@lemm.ee
    3·
    2 years ago

    I’d rather do monthly payments than having ads. Oh wait, I’m already contributing monthly.