this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2025
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[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 29 points 2 days ago (5 children)

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

[–] Technus@lemmy.zip 29 points 2 days ago (5 children)

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.

[–] flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 14 points 2 days ago

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

Kind reminder to donate to whoever is hosting your instance. Covering a share of costs increases the chances they will continue running it.

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I pay $100/month for internet access.

Which you'd also pay if you used Honey.

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

You also wouldn't have paid to use Honey.

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

That one, that's a valid argument.

[–] Technus@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You also wouldn't have paid to use Honey.

That's my point? Nothing is ever truly free?

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 1 points 2 days ago

But how does that statement contribute to anything?

[–] Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

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

[–] Asterisms@lemmy.world 4 points 2 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!

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago

It's more expensive in remote areas and areas without competition.

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

Capitalists hate competition, and ISPs have it down to a science.

[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 4 points 2 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.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago

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

"Someone" is paying to host every website. The point is it's free to you.

[–] cmgvd3lw@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] magic_lobster_party@fedia.io 2 points 2 days ago

The catch about Lemmy is that degenerates like me are here

[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 1 points 2 days ago

It's not, my point was more that you see a lot of things being hosted on the Internet for free just out of people's goodness and curiosity.

Honey is not one of them. But it's not the fact that Honey is free to use that's the suspicious part. It's the fact that they had an awful lot of money to spend on sponsor spots for a free product/service.

[–] Shortstack@reddthat.com 4 points 2 days ago

I help pay for my instance to run, nothing is free but there is freeloading. Otherwise someone is else pays for the electricity that powers my server requests as I shitpost on lemmy

[–] madnotangry@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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 1 points 1 day 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.

[–] zephorah@lemm.ee 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It’s definitely not 2005 any more.

[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 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.