She/Her - Was bullied off reddit by mean moderators, but it’s a corporation anyway - 🏳️‍⚧️omni, heart - Pro kindness|gressiveness, Anti cruelty|bullshit.

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Joined 4 个月前
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Cake day: 2025年2月23日

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  • I agree that ads can help people be aware of a product’s existence, but I believe, especially at this stage when I am tired of being spoonfed, that a more organic way is preferable. For example - forums, product reviews (REAL ones ofc), product storefronts including online marketplaces…

    When someone needs something, they can go looking for it. A door that grates on a frame for example, may be talked about on a forum, which discusses the products others have found to help. In this case a mouse(shaped) sander. The person can then follow breadcrumbs to the most convenient store that sells it.

    This is actually the way I find most things I need. The vast majority of products shown to me, passively on various items in the streets or in video format, are useless to me. Regarding VPNs, I first learned about them when I looked for a solution to a website article having an error page stating that it cannot be viewed in my country. Again when I pirated movies. Eventually I saw Mullvad mentioned on Reddit, when I entered more FOSS and Linux spaces






  • Here’s the thing. The reason ads are bad is because almost every single one is for a product that will exploit the user. Mullvad is a product that does the opposite. They ask for money, but don’t force it. They intend to give power of the user’s life back to the user. Thus, some ads are actually okay. Ads about VPNs, self hosted systems, anti-corporate anticapitalist services, software that is for you to use and only ever takes telemetry for software improvement, and then only if you consent first.

    Hell, before this garbage, on TV the only ads were products and charities, and everybody grew really sick of the African child ads because its sole purpose was to exploit the viewer’s empathy and get their money. Same with now, except if it’s not money they want it’s data, and data is money to them.