Absolutely unusable website. Impossible to read the text between the ugly ads, and impossible to scroll without hitting an ad and being redirected to a used car lot. Shame shame shame on you, whoever you are who created that awful mess and didn’t include a reader-mode button.
Whatever faults Reddit has, it’s one of the best for unobtrusive ad content. On my desktop with adblocker, I see zero ads ever. And on my phone on the app, the ads are less than 10% of the posts, and pretty clearly marked and easy to scroll past. Even the most prestigious media platforms have worse ad placement.
OK, maybe I'll try that. But I assume you just mean it blocks ads in Reddit itself--which I don't have any problem with. Would it block ads on the posted site when you click through to it from the app?
Thank you, that's much better, at least on my desktop (phone ran out). It looks just like Medium, which I'm 99% sure works just fine on my phone browser. I wonder why this site can't do that if Medium can.
Edit to add: I just tried clicking the posted link on my desktop, and it's fine too, so the archive version wasn't really needed. Once my phone's charged, I'll try the archive version on that and see how it looks.
Well, on desktop the site seems fully readable - I’m literally reading it on a laptop with a big cup of hot steaming joe next to me with no issues.
3QD has been around for a long time and seems, like many websites that publish longform, to be struggling financially - thus the ads.
Small independent sites rely on standard ad networks, and those networks behave very differently on phones: more vertical space, more intrusive placements, and more accidental taps. That’s not a design choice by the editors, it’s the reality of programmatic ads on mobile across the entire internet.
Reddit feels ‘clean’ to you perhaps because you’re using an adblocker on desktop and the app on mobile. That’s not a fair comparison, you’re comparing a site with ads enabled to a site where you’ve effectively turned them off.
If you view 3QD on a laptop or with a reader extension, the article is completely normal.
I read the whole article. Interesting takes, but needs perspective imo. I think the author's standard might be some utopian version of a social media site instead of what it's actually competing against. Reddit isn't perfect, but it's hell of a lot better than X, Facebook, etc. The fact that all Reddit posts are on an equal playing field makes Reddit better than most other sites, such as Instagram where the most attractive and popular people get almost all the views.
On an equal playing field, seriously? Between mods, bots, AI, and allegations of echo chamber - how are discussions and diversity of thought any better here than anywhere else right now.
I don’t think you’re understanding my point. If account A posts content X, it will have the same opportunity to do just as well as if account B posts content X. This isn’t the same as if I’m on a different social media platform and I try to post a link versus if Kim Kardasian posts the same link.
I don't think you're understanding the article, which specifically addressed how all content is not treated equally, to which the person you're replying to alluded.
tbh it seems like you read the first part of the article then, maybe, skimmed the rest.
I agree with you Dingetc. - there does not seem to be any serious platform where ideas can be shared sincerely, we are being manipulated by all of them.
That's why there is karma and upvoting here - people live their lives on reddit getting their dopamine surges. It becomes an addiction. It's almost crazy how easily people's lives can be altered and guided toward addiction on sites like these - just with a karma score and upvoting people get hooked to this platform and spend hours on it spewing hatred and outrage.
Mental health treatment needs to have better tools to understand impact of phones and social media, like the same caliber psych phds working at meta (on the dark side) should be studying and socializing how taking breaks and working on rebalancing attention span, dopamine surges is healthy
I’m finding it strange that I’ve been here for 14 years and I’m the person the author says has never existed here: female, educated, professional, with a nice social life. I don’t haunt the political subs and enjoy hobby subs, subs about my favorite authors, plant and bird ID subs, places to get cooking ideas, and the snackier relationship and bridezilla stuff when I’m in a reality TV kind of mood. It’s like TV used to be, lots of different stuff, you don’t just need to watch WWE.
coleman57 | 23 hours ago
Absolutely unusable website. Impossible to read the text between the ugly ads, and impossible to scroll without hitting an ad and being redirected to a used car lot. Shame shame shame on you, whoever you are who created that awful mess and didn’t include a reader-mode button.
Whatever faults Reddit has, it’s one of the best for unobtrusive ad content. On my desktop with adblocker, I see zero ads ever. And on my phone on the app, the ads are less than 10% of the posts, and pretty clearly marked and easy to scroll past. Even the most prestigious media platforms have worse ad placement.
jesst | 20 hours ago
I use the app Narwhal for Reddit. I haven’t seen an ad in years.
coleman57 | 17 hours ago
OK, maybe I'll try that. But I assume you just mean it blocks ads in Reddit itself--which I don't have any problem with. Would it block ads on the posted site when you click through to it from the app?
jesst | 12 hours ago
No. The only way to do that is to pay for Reddit but for my normal browsing I just use narwhal.
PrometheusLiberatus | 19 hours ago
https://archive.fo/KTtLp
coleman57 | 17 hours ago
Thank you, that's much better, at least on my desktop (phone ran out). It looks just like Medium, which I'm 99% sure works just fine on my phone browser. I wonder why this site can't do that if Medium can.
Edit to add: I just tried clicking the posted link on my desktop, and it's fine too, so the archive version wasn't really needed. Once my phone's charged, I'll try the archive version on that and see how it looks.
[OP] gubernatus | 22 hours ago
Well, on desktop the site seems fully readable - I’m literally reading it on a laptop with a big cup of hot steaming joe next to me with no issues.
3QD has been around for a long time and seems, like many websites that publish longform, to be struggling financially - thus the ads.
Small independent sites rely on standard ad networks, and those networks behave very differently on phones: more vertical space, more intrusive placements, and more accidental taps. That’s not a design choice by the editors, it’s the reality of programmatic ads on mobile across the entire internet.
Reddit feels ‘clean’ to you perhaps because you’re using an adblocker on desktop and the app on mobile. That’s not a fair comparison, you’re comparing a site with ads enabled to a site where you’ve effectively turned them off.
If you view 3QD on a laptop or with a reader extension, the article is completely normal.
James_Fortis | 20 hours ago
I read the whole article. Interesting takes, but needs perspective imo. I think the author's standard might be some utopian version of a social media site instead of what it's actually competing against. Reddit isn't perfect, but it's hell of a lot better than X, Facebook, etc. The fact that all Reddit posts are on an equal playing field makes Reddit better than most other sites, such as Instagram where the most attractive and popular people get almost all the views.
Ding_Bingus | 16 hours ago
On an equal playing field, seriously? Between mods, bots, AI, and allegations of echo chamber - how are discussions and diversity of thought any better here than anywhere else right now.
James_Fortis | 16 hours ago
I don’t think you’re understanding my point. If account A posts content X, it will have the same opportunity to do just as well as if account B posts content X. This isn’t the same as if I’m on a different social media platform and I try to post a link versus if Kim Kardasian posts the same link.
Spookyrabbit | 13 hours ago
I don't think you're understanding the article, which specifically addressed how all content is not treated equally, to which the person you're replying to alluded.
tbh it seems like you read the first part of the article then, maybe, skimmed the rest.
[OP] gubernatus | 9 hours ago
I agree with you Dingetc. - there does not seem to be any serious platform where ideas can be shared sincerely, we are being manipulated by all of them.
That's why there is karma and upvoting here - people live their lives on reddit getting their dopamine surges. It becomes an addiction. It's almost crazy how easily people's lives can be altered and guided toward addiction on sites like these - just with a karma score and upvoting people get hooked to this platform and spend hours on it spewing hatred and outrage.
Ding_Bingus | 4 hours ago
Mental health treatment needs to have better tools to understand impact of phones and social media, like the same caliber psych phds working at meta (on the dark side) should be studying and socializing how taking breaks and working on rebalancing attention span, dopamine surges is healthy
kobayashi_maru_fail | 15 hours ago
I’m finding it strange that I’ve been here for 14 years and I’m the person the author says has never existed here: female, educated, professional, with a nice social life. I don’t haunt the political subs and enjoy hobby subs, subs about my favorite authors, plant and bird ID subs, places to get cooking ideas, and the snackier relationship and bridezilla stuff when I’m in a reality TV kind of mood. It’s like TV used to be, lots of different stuff, you don’t just need to watch WWE.
[OP] gubernatus | 9 hours ago
Uh, what? Nobody said you never existed. I think it was pointed out that users have been predominantly male.
Reddit User Age, Gender, & Demographics (2025) --- 2/3 users are male.
So I'm curious, why come out here and misrepresent something? I don't get it.
redditor_since_2005 | 8 hours ago
Also, Reddit is 21. Ahem!