undefined | Better HN

0 pointseevilspock10y ago0 comments

I think it's great what you're doing (DDG is my default search engine). And I'm glad you're profitable so you can stay alive.

But I'd like to think that if you could find a way other than ads, you'd take it in a heartbeat, even if you made less profit, but as long as you could be self-sustaining. Is that true?

I have a very strong opinion about advertising and its effects on the web. I would love to hear your feedback on them:

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7485773

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10047706

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9961025

I'm trying to spin up a movement to shift the web away from its reliance on ads. Let me know if you can be an advisor or resource for that. One day I might thank you in the way you thank all those other founders you listed above. :)

0 pointseevilspock10y ago0 comments

I think it's great what you're doing (DDG is my default search engine). And I'm glad you're profitable so you can stay alive.

But I'd like to think that if you could find a way other than ads, you'd take it in a heartbeat, even if you made less profit, but as long as you could be self-sustaining. Is that true?

I have a very strong opinion about advertising and its effects on the web. I would love to hear your feedback on them:

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7485773

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10047706

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9961025

0 comments

5 comments · 1 top-level

epi0Bauqu10y ago· 4 in thread

Yup, that's very true but the numbers just don't add up well on search in terms of subscription or donation. We have tried to do much less advertising, making it up on affiliate revenue, but we can't do that much because of our privacy policy. We can only use programs that can be anonymous, which means the companies run them themselves through URL parameters, and that's really just Amazon and eBay.

JoshTriplett10y ago

If you don't mind sharing, how much do you get through those affiliate programs compared to advertising?

Also, would you consider providing some kind of paid model in addition to ads? I use DDG dozens of times per day as my primary search engine; I would happily pay for it. I realize that model doesn't scale to the entire world, as only a fraction of people will pay, but do you have some way for people who like what you're doing to pay you a modest amount, with as little friction as Patreon and similar?

epi0Bauqu10y ago

We haven't disclosed it, but advertising is the bulk.

The problem with paid is three-fold. We're a for-profit company so don't want to come off as taking donations like a non-profit. Second, we don't want to collect personal information. So we could do something like bitcoin but that isn't exactly low-friction :). Third, it is promoting that it exists. We have a hard problem getting the word out about anything not on the SERP and we wouldn't want to put it there.

Open to other ideas though.

2 more replies

TYPE_FASTER10y ago

Could it be up to the user? For example, subscribers do not see ads, but everybody else does? Or does that not work for your advertising customers?

epi0Bauqu10y ago

It more doesn't work for our privacy policy since we don't track users.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse