Qualia: Living Ad-Free and Breaking Away from Dark Patterns, Hidden Fees, and More

5 readers
1 users here now

Welcome to Qualia

Tired of dealing with ads everywhere, hidden fees, sneaky tricks, and endless subscriptions? You’re not the only one. Here in our community, we come together to help each other avoid ads, point out shady tactics, and call out companies when they try to pull one over on us.

Qualia refers to the unique, personal experiences we each have—how we individually perceive the world around us.

Here’s what we’re about:

When every aspect of daily life feels like it’s designed to push you into spending more, it’s time to take a step back. We are about making intentional, informed choices and living on our own terms without the constant pressure to buy, subscribe, or upgrade.

Join us and take control of your choices. Together, we can create a life with less distraction and more clarity.

Rules

1. Be Respectful

2. No Spam

3. No Politics

4. No Piracy or Illegal Content

Added for search purposes: ad free,

founded 1 month ago
MODERATORS
qlya
listing: all - local
1
35
Prime Video to add even more ads (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 month ago by qlya to c/qualia
2 comments fedilink
 
 

It looks like it’s Amazon’s turn. They’ve decided people are enjoying the ads enough that they won’t cancel their Prime Video service. So now, they’re planning to ramp those ads up even more—because why stop a “good” thing?

Steps We’ve Already Seen:

  1. Introduce an ad-free experience for a fee (e.g., original Prime membership)
  2. Gradually introduce ads, offering a higher price to maintain the ad-free option.
  3. Ramp up the number of ads, pushing users to consider the ad-free option.

What’s Next:

  1. Raise prices across the board, even for those paying extra to avoid ads.
  2. Further increase ad saturation for all users.
  3. Repeat the cycle endlessly, ensuring the price hikes and ads never stop.

When they first announced adding ads, I canceled my subscription. I wish more people would follow suit so these companies stop getting away with it.

2
11
How I Save Money with My Library Card (self.qualia)
submitted 1 month ago by qlya to c/qualia
0 comments fedilink
 
 

Here's how I save money and get access to a bunch of stuff for free with my library card:

Streaming Video: Hoopla, Kanopy, and TumbleBookLibrary.

eBooks & Audiobooks: Libby, TumbleMath, Gale eBooks, and ComicsPlus.

Online Learning: LinkedIn Learning, Universal Class, and Scholastic Teachables.

News & Research: The Seattle Times Collection, Consumer Reports, and EBSCOhost Magazine and Newspapers.

Language Learning: Mango Languages and LOTE4Kids.

Career Development: Gale Presents: Peterson's Test Prep and JobNow.

Your library card gives you access to a ton of great services, and what's listed here is just a small sample of what's available. Each library is different, so check with your local library to see what they offer. If you have access to multiple library systems—like city and county libraries—you'll have even more options to explore.

The best part is that nearly all of these services are ad-free!

3
11
Safeway called out for their fake "sales" (www.classaction.org)
submitted 1 month ago by qlya to c/qualia
2 comments fedilink
 
 

Finally, some good news! Albertsons and Safeway are being called out for their fake sales. It's about time.

Hopefully something good for the consumer comes out of this.

4
-2
How I Remove Ads Using Google Opinion Rewards (surveys.google.com)
submitted 1 month ago by qlya to c/qualia
0 comments fedilink
 
 

I use Google Opinion Rewards to earn small amounts of money, which I then use to remove ads from apps. Each survey typically pays around $0.10, but occasionally, I get up to $1. While these amounts might seem small, consistency is key. By completing surveys as soon as they pop up, the rewards start to add up.

Once I've earned enough credits, I use them in a couple of ways:

  • In-app purchases to remove ads from apps I use regularly.
  • Buying premium versions of apps that already have ads removed.
  • Occasionally, I use credits to rent movies when I have some left over.

It’s a simple way to get rid of ads without spending actual cash!

5
6
Techdirt and DuckDuckGo Let You Turn Off Ads for Free. Do You Know of Any Others? (self.qualia)
submitted 1 month ago by qlya to c/qualia
0 comments fedilink
 
 

You can turn off ads for free on DuckDuckGo and Techdirt. Both sites let you disable ads in their settings if you’d rather not see them. They encourage support in other ways, like donations or subscriptions, which I’m totally fine with.

Anyone else know of other sites that offer this?

6
-4
Dark Pattern by the State Government When Renewing License Plates/Registration (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by qlya to c/qualia
7 comments fedilink
 
 

They bold the price at the top as well as calling it Total and then in the line items they do their best to blend the option of removing $5 with the other two options of adding more costs.

I wish I would have taken a photo of it before I circled the content and wrote the comment. I can only imagine how many people fall victim to this and are paying an additional $5.

With all that being said, I already support the state parks as my license plate is a special state park plate which costs extra per year to have.