Real talk from an /all browser: Why use an app that has ads at all? Why not use one of the many free apps that are available and do the exact same things?
this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2023
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Sync For Lemmy
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I used Sync for about 10 years on Reddit. I really like the UI/UX, and I've grown accustomed to it. I've tried Jerboa, but it feels clunky and is missing features. I do like to support FOSS projects, but it's not like Sync is some big business. It's one guy who's built up a pretty good app, and he's generally well trusted in the community.
Hey, use NextDNS. I use Sync too and I never see any ads.
Edit: also use DuckDuckGo's app blocker that is built into their browser. It stops apps from calling home when they're not running. Sync is a grievous offender and tries to call home 300-1000 times per day when it isn't running.
Try a few of the other clients out. I’m on voyager now, but was using memmy for a while, and tried out Mlem for a minute too.
Hey so, I was in the same position. Try "Thunder", it felt close enough to me and I prefer it.
Gross
Google AdSense shows ads based on your activity though…
I've used this app for months and this is the first political ad I've seen. I avoid google as much as reasonably possible, and I don't really search news or political topics often. I get almost all my news from here, Reuters, or AP News. The only thing in this ad relevant to me is that it's Canadian.
Yes, but Sync uses Google Analytics for their analytics service. That means Google gets all of your activity on this app. If you browse the Everything channel even a little bit, it's flooded with politics and gun stuff. Now Google thinks that's something you're into. You can block it with the DDG app tracking blocker.
Adguard DNS is my best friend
Sorry Laurence
I just use an ad blocking DNS. In your android device go to settings, then Network and Internet. Find private dns and add noads.libredns.gr There are others, but I use that one. Never looked into how or what criteria Sync uses to slap ads at people. Whether it's random, platforms they prefer, or based on tracked data, etc.
I intend to switch to thunder when they add hold for peek https://github.com/thunder-app/thunder/issues/1160
then i'll be done with sync myself, I highly recommend thunder if you like sync
You're in the wrong place. The company that actually runs the ads is who decides whether or not to accept a client, not the developers of an app.
The only thing the developers decide is which company to use, and they all accept political ads of some kind. It'll get worse the closer a major election gets.
Your choices are to pay for the app if it has that option (and sync does), use an ad blocker, or get into modding apps so that you can DIY your way around it.
It doesn't even matter what your politics are, because most of the ad companies will gladly take clients of any given party/platform in the world. I'm not aware of any ad companies that won't. At best, they'll turn down the ones that they know will cause a big stink via being racist or otherwise untenable.
On an issue like this one? They don't care because the issue is not one sided enough to cost them anything. Even if it is was a one sided political stance, they'd take the money if they thought they could get away with it.
Welcome to the ad driven internet.
This is exactly the right place. End users don't deal with the ad company, the dev does. If you want them to change their ads, they need pushback from the devs using their service. The only way to get pushback from the devs using their service is if the users complain to the devs.
Exactly. As end users we are limited on where we can exert our influence. It's also likely the dev doesn't even know about this, so telling them is absolutely the right thing to do.
You do know that the ad companies do not care, right? If it isn't enough of a pushback to make the news, they don't care at all, no matter how much anyone complains otherwise.
And, being real, when it's political, they care less because any divisive issue is going to balance out since all of those are divisive because there's enough people on either main side of an issue that they'll gain clients as much as they lose.
You might, with a big enough movement, get an ad company to just not allow any political ads at all, but you'll never get them to pick a side like you're wanting.
The devs? That's an individual thing. What I can say about this dev is that he'd maybe switch companies. Which achieves nothing in the long run because all of them do it. Political ads aren't the same as porn ads, where there's a single point of objection
Hell, I'd be willing to bet a small amount of real money that annoying an individual dev with bullshit like this would just push them into deciding it isn't worth maintaining the app at all.
Seriously, if you really think that anyone at whatever ad service is hosting this cares, you're naive. There's even a decent chance that whoever makes the decisions agrees with the ad, though I haven't seen the ad or clicked on it to get an idea of what it entails other than the post title.
As a tangent to that, why do you think any given dev should capitulate to your political opinion? Pretty fucking arrogant, that. For all any of us know, the dev agrees with the ad, though I know he isn't an idiot, so there's no way he'd jump into that issue. Wouldn't matter what his stance is, it would be a pain in the ass.
This ain't some nazi propaganda here, it's a very common subject with robust public debate. You just aren't going to achieve what you seem to want.
All the major ad networks/mediators let you opt out of certain categories of ads, Political and Gambling are typically opt-in or excluded entirely because they're so unpopular.
Either the devs of sync opted-in to political ads or this is an advertiser breaking the network's TOS which should be reported to the ad network.