• boonhet@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    There are plenty of free things on the Internet. You’re commenting on a free social network.

    • Technus@lemmy.zip
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      4 days ago

      I pay $100/month for internet access.

      Lemmy may be free to access, but certainly not free to host. Am I paying for it personally? No, but someone is.

      You also don’t see Lemmy paying hundreds of YouTubers and influencers for ad spots.

      • Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Wow, internet is expensive where you are. I pay £28 (about $35) a month for 1gig up/down in the UK.

        • Asterisms@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          internet in the states and canada can be so expensive :( i’m lucky that my provider has a program for ppl on disability where we pay $10-$20 CAD/mo. I can’t remember the exact amount, nor what up/down we get right now, but it’s pretty decent!

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
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        4 days ago

        I pay $100/month for internet access.

        Irrelevant to the point, but damn that feels so high. I pay something like 30 or 40 euros per month for symmetric 500 megabit, in one of the countries with the highest internet prices in Europe.

        Lemmy may be free to access, but certainly not free to host. Am I paying for it personally? No, but someone is.

        Well yes, someone is, but my point was, there are loads of examples on the Internet where something truly is free to use and hosted by someone who doesn’t ask for anything. There is real altruism to be found here.

        You also don’t see Lemmy paying hundreds of YouTubers and influencers for ad spots.

        Yes, this is where the difference comes in. When something is free AND the people running it have ridiculous amounts of money to spend on sponsorships and ads… Then you can be sure there’s a catch.

    • madnotangry@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Lemmy isn’t paying out the nose for influencers to hook their stuff. I haven’t seen any Lemmy instances advertise at all, much less to the extent that Honey has.

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
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        3 days ago

        Yes, that’s the major difference, but the original comment pointed out you can’t have free things without getting assfucked one way or another. You can, but those free things don’t spend millions on advertising themselves.

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
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        4 days ago

        It’s not, but go look on github. There are so many projects out there that aren’t monetized. People just built them for the fun of it.

        Hell, the entire KDE software suite is not monetized to the best of my knowledge. They ask for donations, but they don’t make a buck off you in any way unless you voluntarily donate.