There's no doubt that most people online don't like #ads being pushed down their throat. I would also assume that some (most?) of them still believe that there's nothing they can do about it; they throw their hands up in the air and tell themselves that they're so used to ad banners at this point that they hardly even notice them, you know like an notch on a smartphone.
1/2
Yes I find them annoying at the start of you tube videos.
Question is can we advertise here and use that to help maintain the servers, so maybe an instance sponsor or if a company set their own instance up can they promote / advertise their services.
Some instances are feeling pressure right now, so need more resources.
@zleap I don't think the ad-supported model is the best. To run efficient #ads they need to be targeted. To accurately target users, you need to track them. And then you quickly end up poking your nose into people's business and we don't want that.
A much better approach in my opinion is the donation-supported model, and that's what we try to promote here on the #Fediverse at least. I'd rather have most of the millions of users voluntarily pay $1/month than have ALL of them spied on 24/7.
@ilyess Good point, always worth asking this and discussing.
So what is needed is for us to be able to easily find the donation button for the instance we are on.
I was on diaspora years ago, and the instance I was on had a scale graphic where we could see what was needed (target) and how much had been raised.
@zleap Great idea!
Right now, it isn't obvious how you can donate to support the #mastodon instance you're on. I see admins posting their Patreon or Librepay links now and then but this isn't a standard nor is it consistent from an instance to another.