Ads have destroyed our culture. Just look at the fundamental change YouTube underwent in 2012 when they made all users eligible for monetization. It turned it into junk/infomercial TV.
I don’t disagree with you at all, but it’s not like we didn’t have alternatives. We could’ve just paid for the content, directly subsidising the creators we like.
>We could’ve just paid for the content, directly subsidising the creators we like.
That wasn't an option. And if it had been, they would've rolled out monetization through ads anyway. If you believe otherwise, there's too much we disagree on to sum it up here.
It wasn't an option because people weren't willing to pay. A bit tautological, I know, but it simply wasn't a viable way to fund content. Think how many people use google versus paying for kagi.
There was literally no mechanism, there were no YouTube memberships, there was no Patreon. You could maybe donate to a PayPal link as a one time transaction.
