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Tony Haile

Scroll: A better internet - Building a better internet, one site at a time

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Twice as fast, no shady trackers, no junk links and no ads. A Scroll membership unlocks a better internet on a growing network of sites no matter how you get to them.
Your membership funds the sites you love, who make more than they would from serving ads.

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Seb Jachec
So a subscription doesn't guarantee that you won't be tracked, and means you'll still probably have to pay to get past a paywall on some sites, and also that they'll probably serve you native advertising still? Will paying for this subscription also remove adverts in the native apps from some of the listed partner organisations, like USA Today, Slate, and BuzzFeed? They each either have their own existing App Store IAP subscription to remove ads, or no option at all. Will pre-roll video ads be removed from member sites? I'm keen on supporting online journalism, like by splitting some set amount of money every month between publications, but I'm not quite convinced this is the most elegant solution. From the perspective of an average user, I guess I could also pay for a Scroll subscription and install a Safari extension to remove ads, or install an adblocker Safari extension? From the privacy policy: "We may transfer your information in the event of a sale, merger, assignment, or transfer of our assets" is also very concerning. For those in the US, there's a class action waiver and mandatory arbitration in terms of service fwiw.
Juno Suárez
Maker
@iamsebj Hi Seb- thanks for checking out Scroll and digging in to it. Let me try to address your questions. > So a subscription doesn't guarantee that you won't be tracked, and means you'll still probably have to pay to get past a paywall on some sites, and also that they'll probably serve you native advertising still? Scroll’s contract with partner sites requires them to remove ad trackers to participate in the Scroll network. Partner sites are allowed to keep analytics tools that help them improve their own sites, but not third-party trackers that aggregate your information or sell your data. Here’s more detailed information about what Scroll tracks (spoiler alert, we need to know how long you spend reading so we can allocate your membership money to support those sites) : https://intercom.help/scroll/en/... Some sites do have premium sections that require a paywall or a direct subscription. If you have a subscription to that site, your Scroll membership will go along with you and ensure that experience is ad-free. If not, your Scroll membership is not a replacement to that site’s subscription for premium content, but the free articles that you read before the paywall will be ad-free and fast-loading. > Will paying for this subscription also remove adverts in the native apps from some of the listed partner organisations, like USA Today, Slate, and BuzzFeed? They each either have their own existing App Store IAP subscription to remove ads, or no option at all. Scroll is not currently integrated with the native app offerings from the organizations you mentioned, but you can read them either directly on those publisher sites or in the Scroll Reader app. > Will pre-roll video ads be removed from member sites? Yes, for site’s own video platforms. Note that some third-party video platforms like YouTube do not allow sites that embed their videos to remove ads, so those videos would not be covered. > I'm keen on supporting online journalism … From the perspective of an average user, I guess I could also pay for a Scroll subscription and install a Safari extension to remove ads, or install an adblocker Safari extension? Not sure if it’s a question, although it does end with a ?, but I’ll bite :) I helped build Scroll because I’m also very interested in supporting journalists and journalism, and I want there to be a way to build a sustainable business model around online journalism that doesn’t rely on strip-mining private user information. That said, Scroll is compatible with many popular ad blockers, for details see https://intercom.help/scroll/en/... Thanks for your questions, I hope you’ll give us a shot!
Seb Jachec
@junoatscroll Really appreciate your response, thanks Juno, and best of luck to all the team! I feel like it's not often enough that there's significant discussion about products on ProductHunt, between users & makers.
Tony Haile
Maker
We built Scroll because the internet should be better than a bunch of sites pissing users off and laying journalists off. We've spent two+ years working with sites, beta members and platforms to build the beginning of an internet that feels magical again. Scroll works in every major browser, on mobile, desktop or tablet and even in in-app browsers like Twitter or Facebook and there's more sites joining the network every month. Your membership matters because it directly funds the sites you love with better economics than ads. That attracts more sites which creates more vale for more members and site by site the internet gets better. We'd love to have you build something magical with us.
Wowa
@arctictony Thank's to you and the team. I like that this solution works on every browser which easier for mass adoption. What precondition does a page/webapp etc. habe to met to become part of the network? Do partners have to pay for the service? (We already signed up for our platform Unminus.com Excited about the feedback and process. Best Regards from Germany Wowa
Greg Garnhart
I've used scroll for a whopping 24 hours, but I am sold. I use adblockers on most sites, but with certain sites like TheVerge, I've turn my blocker off because I feel like supporting the team is worth the ads. A few years ago I reached out to them and asked them to start an ad-free subscription for The Verge, and understandably, they couldn't do that on their own. Now that Scroll is here, I think I may have found one of my new favorite subscriptions. Cheers to the team!
Tony Haile
Maker
@ggarnhart Thanks Greg! You've just about made my day!
Alex Popescu
I really wish this model catches on. Somewhat ironically, it looks like Brave Browser doesn't work with Scroll, as there's still(?) no way to globally whitelist specific script domains :/
Ethan
Thumbs up for the idea but at the end of the day not really for me. I prefer reading my news with an RSS reader, already without ads and trackers. Also very US centric and only large organizations are covered, whereas I'd rather give some of my money to smaller bloggers. Best of luck!