Furthermore, if the only thing that premium accounts will influence is the display of ads, I'll be a happy camper. That has been my contribution to minecraftforum.net so far (allowing the display of, and occasionally clicking, those ads). But if certain content or community features start to be accessed only from a premium membership, I will leave these forums.
If there's one thing I really dislike is special forums for members who pay, that'll never happen.
Quote from Avnas »
In regards to 'premium users' being able to block out ads, this is not a good thing. WE can block ads for free. We shouldn't need to have to pay to be able to do it, especially since these ads are so intrusive.
I don't get it? Sure you can block ads for free, but that means you're costing us money and not covering it. If you donate then you offset the costs you incur, if you view adverts you do the same, if you do neither you're costing us money. It's your choice, personally I think it's immoral but as you said, we don't control you.
Quote from Avnas »
citricsquid, you didn't reply to my post:
Quote from Avnas »
I was of the opinion that the host did have some control over what ads were shown, so that they could remove offensive or inappropriate adverts from the site. If this is not the case, well...
Sorry. Yeah, I'm not sure, I'll talk to curse about it. I don't do much with adverts, I know you can blacklist adverts but the number is limited and I don't think it can be done by type. I'll take a look into it!
For those wondering about 'Curse Premium' here is what it offers in its entirety:
Premium Curse Client
*Update all your Addons with one click or let the Curse Client update automatically for you.
*Support the Addon Author Rewards Program
*A part of your subscription will go to addon authors, helping them develop and maintain the Addons you love.
*Addon Sync - Automatically synchronize Addons on Multiple PCs.
*Support Curse
*Help us develop new features for the client and website. Allow Curse to keep providing safe, secure Addons.
*Addon Settings Backup - Automatically backup Addon settings for easy UI recovery.
*Premium-Only Beta Key Giveaways
*Get access to Key Giveaways available only to premium subscribers.
*Ad-Free curse.com Experience *No more annoying or intrusive ads. <--That says a lot.
*Faster Addon Downloads
*Get in the game sooner with lightning fast download speeds on curse.com and in the Curse Client.
Nowhere is it mentioned (nor have I ever seen) content ONLY available to premium users. I've also never seen forums that had 'Curse' only sections.
As for $60 dollars a year, to avoid ads and NOT receive any of the CLIENT benefits - since Minecraft is not supported - no. If you want to do some math, I'm sure I am personally responsible for about ~$1.00, total (and thats being extremely generous) , of the ENTIRE life of the server, and 'they' want $60 PER person - I'll pass.
For those wondering about 'Curse Premium' here is what it offers in its entirety:
Premium Curse Client
*Update all your Addons with one click or let the Curse Client update automatically for you.
*Support the Addon Author Rewards Program
*A part of your subscription will go to addon authors, helping them develop and maintain the Addons you love.
*Addon Sync - Automatically synchronize Addons on Multiple PCs.
*Support Curse
*Help us develop new features for the client and website. Allow Curse to keep providing safe, secure Addons.
*Addon Settings Backup - Automatically backup Addon settings for easy UI recovery.
*Premium-Only Beta Key Giveaways
*Get access to Key Giveaways available only to premium subscribers.
*Ad-Free curse.com Experience *No more annoying or intrusive ads. <--That says a lot.
*Faster Addon Downloads
*Get in the game sooner with lightning fast download speeds on curse.com and in the Curse Client.
Nowhere is it mentioned (nor have I ever seen) content ONLY available to premium users. I've also have never seen forums that had 'Curse' only sections.
As for $60 dollars a year, to avoid ads and NOT receive any of the CLIENT benefits - since Minecraft is not supported - no. If you want to do some math, I'm sure I am personally responsible for about ~$1.00, total, of the ENTIRE life of the server, and 'they' want $60 PER person - I'll pass.
I will pass as well... six of those things do not involve add-ons, and most of those that do not involve add-ons do not apply to the site. Ads are barely a problem- hell, I would be worried if I did NOT see them. Besides, the occational ad is not that bad, and I have occationally played the games mentioned in them... Or at least clicked them and realized how stupid the games were. As long as no stupid scam ones pop up (The whole million-ith visitor things) I am quite content. With the site layout, at least. As for the community it will draw... There is a scroll wheel on my mouse for a reason, I guess...
If there's one thing I really dislike is special forums for members who pay, that'll never happen.
Excellent! Because I can't stand that type of "community offer" either.
Quote from citricsquid »
Quote from Avnas »
citricsquid, you didn't reply to my post:
Quote from Avnas »
I was of the opinion that the host did have some control over what ads were shown, so that they could remove offensive or inappropriate adverts from the site. If this is not the case, well...
Sorry. Yeah, I'm not sure, I'll talk to curse about it. I don't do much with adverts, I know you can blacklist adverts but the number is limited and I don't think it can be done by type. I'll take a look into it!
It will always depend on the type of contract you guys signed with Curse, and what it stipulates for ads that get carried from them to this site. Should be on the contract.
In any case, the control is usually minimum, even for Curse. The scripts are almost certainly not even theirs, but sent by the advertising company or companies they signed a contract with. It's really not that different from Google Ads. One can block ads, but cannot decide on the type that will be coming. And blocking ads, either directly or by tampering with the scripts, is almost always a breach of contract except if the ad has proven to be malicious, or offensive.
Again, it will depend on your contract. But one thing can be said, you do have some influence in that you can complain to Curse about a certain ad, who then will (should) relay that complaint to the provider. Other than that I can almost bet you are limited to very strict rules (malware or offensive material being the only things that you could justifiably block... and only if you will actually be given the tools to do so).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I was trying to think of a signature and this is what came up.
If I had the choice to donate I would but they're closed, I looked for a way to donate the week I bought minecraft. Of course the forum stated that donations are closed.
You're place is no better than mine, that's arrogant and immature to be saying. You're a business owner too? You seem to have the world experience that you would understand why you're not better.(on top of why they need to keep the ads up.)
My whole beef is that ad blocker works just fine. You should invest in installing it. Takes only a few min.
On point: I get what you're saying about the whole popping out ads. They ARE annoying but I'd rather that than lose the forums or curse's support in helping with the bandwidth issues.
I also apologize if I came across as rude. However, just because your name is yellow because you donated, doesn't mean you have some special place or that you're better than the average forum goer. As I made perfectly clear at the start of my post, I would donate too but I'm unfortunately unable to support now because they closed the donations. -- if there still is a way to donate that I'm not seeing, please point me to the thread/link.
I apologize as well if I came across a bit harsh. I'm not all high and mighty because of the pixel color of my forum name... my point was, I realize the purpose of the ad content and the need for it, but the ability to control it is what I was calling into question. If the forum staff here have no control over the ad content being served (aside from dimensions and website formatting), that would be truly unfortunate, and if so I'll likely continue to use
ad blocking addons. That is a personal decision, and my statement earlier was a personal opinion, and I'm fully aware that I don't speak for anyone but myself. I don't need to be reminded of that.
I have used Adblock for FF pretty much since it's release (it's a life saver on Youtube), but I would prefer not use it here if it helps keep the revenue flowing for the staff here. On the flip side, if I have ad content popping out at me then I'm not really down for that.
I wish people wouldn't be so damn defensive around here sometimes. Someone with a colored username has an opinion, then come all the condescending nit-pickers just dying to rip off a limb. It doesn't matter what the hell our user title is, staff, admin, owner, donor, regular, we're all people who enjoy Minecraft and want to keep the forum from turning into a gigantic monetized corporate slum.
Yes, I am a business co-owner, and one thing of immense importance is balancing your customer satisfaction with the bottom line. In this scenario, it's not that bold to assume most users do not want ads that expand to full screen upon rolling the cursor over it. So the obvious solution is a compromise, which is only possible if they have control over the delivery of ad content. If they don't and continue to serve ads like that then yeah, I'll probably keep right on blocking. That's all I was saying, and all I said to begin with. I suppose a user compromise could be something like only blocking the ad content originating from the offending url, but letting the rest pass through. I'll look into that.
Once again, I apologize if I came across wrong in anything I've said previously, but I can't help that, nuances of speech can't be conveyed through text, and the name-color witch hunt is getting old.
But on topic, i dont wanna pay for premium, and If i do pay, im supposed to get beta keys?
what are those?
also, is this like steam? I hate steam.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Looking for a clan..to fill the hole..in my foot...
Quote from aztech101 »
minecraft is like life, you start by beating wood, explore a lot of new things, settle down a bit, finally get that diamond, and then you life starts to suck and you go through hell
But on topic, i dont wanna pay for premium, and If i do pay, im supposed to get beta keys?
what are those?
also, is this like steam? I hate steam.
Beta keys for other games. They will often get a limited number of keys to be given away at their discretion, its essentially a raffle. However, premium is not required, the only real benefit to having it would be getting rid of ads (though if you play other games that curse supports, such as WoW, then there are other benefits).
Its nothing like steam.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quote from Zanith »
There was a man who feared not the reaper
He dug in the earth ever deeper
Diamonds of his
Were lost, with a hiss
There is a man who now fears the creeper
Question: As the "Notch Official" minecraft.net website says that this forum is the - and I quote that website - "official forum (notch reads this)" does that mean that Notch approved this joiningt of Curse?
I am confused by the idea that you claim you are not affiliated with notch, but notch publicly claims you are. Thus the idea exists that Notch also sold out to Curse. Would you please care to explain this better?
It's complicated. We're official in that we are the forum Notch thinks you should use, but we're not official in that Notch has no power over us, although we'd do whatever he wanted :tongue.gif: We talked to Mojang and they're happy with the deal, so yeah, they know about it.
To give you a basic history of the forum: I found Minecraft in... May 2009 (through my brother) and joined in IRC, a few weeks later Notch enabled skins (paid accounts) and I noticed the forum then sucked (mojang.com/forum, for all his games) so offered to make a new one. I did, he signed up and liked it and made it "official". We've been the same since, ran by community members (Not Notch) but he has supported us as the "official" forum.
Let me get this straight. You first convinced Notch his forums sucked and instead of making them better, he should get rid of them and let you do it instead. (Which, it seems, proved harder than you thought, and so...)
And now, you are trying to convince the community to pay 4.95/month for a forum membership for an indie game in alpha?
Awesome. Forgive me for laughing, but this is the stuff creeper oil is made from.
Let me get this straight. You first convinced Notch his forums sucked and instead of making them better, he should get rid of them and let you do it instead. (Which, it seems, proved harder than you thought, and so...)
And now, you are trying to convince the community to pay 4.95/month for a forum membership for an indie game in alpha?
Awesome. Forgive me for laughing, but this is the stuff creeper oil is made from.
Godspeed Criticsquid!
...no.
Notch said his forums sucked and that he didn't want to have to manage them, I said "oh hey, I'll make one" and 10 minutes later I had this forum online, this is back in June 2009 when Minecraft was tiny, now the forum is huge and it's more than one person can pay for. If you don't want to pay for premium curse accounts that's fine, but then you'll either have to view the adverts or ad block them.
Nobody is forcing you to pay, if you want to support us though you can do that.
This sorta scares me because before i knew that citricsquid and aera and WedTM had my personal information like email, but now that curse has it, i just dont know.
Oh well, the benefit of this is that now the servers aren't gonna die on us, the bad side of it is new ads.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quote from Bowserking64 »
Quote from Andeh6 »
What? So when pigs get hit by lighting, they suddenly develop into bipeds and receive brown leather skirts and golden swords from nowhere?
Clearly Curse know the adverts are annoying and obtrusive and so they use them as a lever to encourage payment to them in a similar way to how some file download services artificially reduce the functionality, or otherwise cripple the efficiency, of their free service to encourage people to pay to remove the artificial restrictions.
I don't read that much into that. Everyone knows ads can be annoying and intrusive. It's popular knowledge. So they offer, in exchange of money and along with a host of other features, the possibility of having them removed. The implication that they could be making ads more annoying and intrusive than they could be, so they can use that to convince people to sign in seems slightly askew and, honestly, unfair.
a) they don't make the ads, on most -- if not all -- situations
:cool.gif: they know of AdBlocker and how that makes this offering less appealing
What Curse is instead, is a business. And has a business, it is trying to make money. If they can make a commodity of a service, they will. And they have. Most of what is in that listing is the typical commercial babble meant to make their product-slash-service look bigger and more appealing than it really is.
Don't take me wrong, but I'm honestly starting to become a little bit tired of this demonization of a company most in here even admit they don't know all to well. They are running a business and there will always be a compromise between what businesses want and what customers want. I think it has been made perfectly clear by citricsquid and other administrators of these forums that there is no wish to bring Curse business policies into this community. So at the very least let's give them the benefit of the doubt.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I was trying to think of a signature and this is what came up.
Perhaps when he creates the API, Minecraft can be added to the Curse Client. I would support Curse distributing mods that use an officially supported API.
In fact, I would prefer it. Using a forum to manage mods doesn't really work that well. It's difficult to browse them or find the one you want. It would be great if something like that would happen when he creates the API.
In fact - I'd like to see Curse add Minecraft texture pack support right now! I think that would be a great feature, especially since texture packs are officially supported. Support for mods could be added later, but texture packs can be done now. I'd love to be able to browse and preview texture packs in the client or at their site!
Consider it a suggestion :smile.gif:. Minecraft texture packs in the Curse client.
This. I have been playing WoW for 3 years and using the Curse client to manage my addons for the past 2 years. I honestly dont know how I lived without it.
I'm really sorry but... Flash ads that are roll-over activated?
*Ad Block engaged*
Ads on this forum should require a deliberate trigger from the user in order to activate or expand, and I don't consider cursor location as a deliberate trigger mechanism. Take that however you like.
Rolling over for 3 seconds or clicking is deliberate, how do you accidentally trigger these? I've not once done it.
Eh, WHAT?!
Clicking is, BY DEFINITION, deliberate. Having your mouse on a page, ANYWHERE on a page and expecting action is NOT DELIBERATE.
Not to yell, but the whole point of having a button on a mouse is to identify deliberate action versus movement.
Unfortunately the ad culture is pretty much ingrained now and it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to shake off. If anything, it has been getting worse with the years. And we have been complaining since the 90s when the worse we had was animated gifs.
There may be a point of saturation sometime in the future. I don't know. But this has become a multi-million dollar industry that is very appealing to small entrepreneurs. Just so you have an idea, there are people out there creating websites and web services for the single purpose of hosting ads and getting a steady revenue off that. Meaning, the traditional incentive of website creation has shifted almost entirely. "We can make money, lets think of a web service", as opposed to what it used to be: "I want to create this web service. Oh and look! I can even make money off it".
And don't reject that off the bat. It's really happening. I should know. I'm involved on a such a project.
As long as we can keep parallel technologies capable of answering this onslaught of an ad driven web -- technologies and solutions like AdBlocker -- we will however be able to retain our sanity and the web to maintain some of its early ideals... as much as they have been destroyed already.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I was trying to think of a signature and this is what came up.
Perhaps when he creates the API, Minecraft can be added to the Curse Client. I would support Curse distributing mods that use an officially supported API.
In fact, I would prefer it. Using a forum to manage mods doesn't really work that well. It's difficult to browse them or find the one you want. It would be great if something like that would happen when he creates the API.
In fact - I'd like to see Curse add Minecraft texture pack support right now! I think that would be a great feature, especially since texture packs are officially supported. Support for mods could be added later, but texture packs can be done now. I'd love to be able to browse and preview texture packs in the client or at their site!
Consider it a suggestion :smile.gif:. Minecraft texture packs in the Curse client.
This. I have been playing WoW for 3 years and using the Curse client to manage my addons for the past 2 years. I honestly dont know how I lived without it.
I hope this never happens. As I previously mentioned, Curse allows downloading their addons in one of two ways. You can either jump through hoops passing advertisements on the way to download an addon or you can download their addon downloader. Any other method is forbidden i.e., WUU WoW UI Updater (http://wuu.vagabonds.info/menu.php). On the other hand, I can use any method I choose to download addons from a github or from a code.google project. If somebody hosts their addon on their personal webserver then I can use any downloader I want whether it's firefox, Internet explorer or an automated download utility.
I hope this never happens. As I previously mentioned, Curse allows downloading their addons in one of two ways. You can either jump through hoops passing advertisements on the way to download an addon or you can download their addon downloader. Any other method is forbidden i.e., WUU WoW UI Updater (http://wuu.vagabonds.info/menu.php). On the other hand, I can use any method I choose to download addons from a github or from a code.google project. If somebody hosts their addon on their personal webserver then I can use any downloader I want whether it's firefox, Internet explorer or an automated download utility.
It is not like Curse is forcing addon authors to host the addons on their site. It is just one option. There are plenty of other options. You could upload it to curse as well as hosting it on their website or Google Projects.
If there's one thing I really dislike is special forums for members who pay, that'll never happen.
I don't get it? Sure you can block ads for free, but that means you're costing us money and not covering it. If you donate then you offset the costs you incur, if you view adverts you do the same, if you do neither you're costing us money. It's your choice, personally I think it's immoral but as you said, we don't control you.
Sorry. Yeah, I'm not sure, I'll talk to curse about it. I don't do much with adverts, I know you can blacklist adverts but the number is limited and I don't think it can be done by type. I'll take a look into it!
Premium Curse Client
*Update all your Addons with one click or let the Curse Client update automatically for you.
*Support the Addon Author Rewards Program
*A part of your subscription will go to addon authors, helping them develop and maintain the Addons you love.
*Addon Sync - Automatically synchronize Addons on Multiple PCs.
*Support Curse
*Help us develop new features for the client and website. Allow Curse to keep providing safe, secure Addons.
*Addon Settings Backup - Automatically backup Addon settings for easy UI recovery.
*Premium-Only Beta Key Giveaways
*Get access to Key Giveaways available only to premium subscribers.
*Ad-Free curse.com Experience
*No more annoying or intrusive ads. <--That says a lot.
*Faster Addon Downloads
*Get in the game sooner with lightning fast download speeds on curse.com and in the Curse Client.
Nowhere is it mentioned (nor have I ever seen) content ONLY available to premium users. I've also never seen forums that had 'Curse' only sections.
As for $60 dollars a year, to avoid ads and NOT receive any of the CLIENT benefits - since Minecraft is not supported - no. If you want to do some math, I'm sure I am personally responsible for about ~$1.00, total (and thats being extremely generous) , of the ENTIRE life of the server, and 'they' want $60 PER person - I'll pass.
I will pass as well... six of those things do not involve add-ons, and most of those that do not involve add-ons do not apply to the site. Ads are barely a problem- hell, I would be worried if I did NOT see them. Besides, the occational ad is not that bad, and I have occationally played the games mentioned in them... Or at least clicked them and realized how stupid the games were. As long as no stupid scam ones pop up (The whole million-ith visitor things) I am quite content. With the site layout, at least. As for the community it will draw... There is a scroll wheel on my mouse for a reason, I guess...
Hey.
Excellent! Because I can't stand that type of "community offer" either.
It will always depend on the type of contract you guys signed with Curse, and what it stipulates for ads that get carried from them to this site. Should be on the contract.
In any case, the control is usually minimum, even for Curse. The scripts are almost certainly not even theirs, but sent by the advertising company or companies they signed a contract with. It's really not that different from Google Ads. One can block ads, but cannot decide on the type that will be coming. And blocking ads, either directly or by tampering with the scripts, is almost always a breach of contract except if the ad has proven to be malicious, or offensive.
Again, it will depend on your contract. But one thing can be said, you do have some influence in that you can complain to Curse about a certain ad, who then will (should) relay that complaint to the provider. Other than that I can almost bet you are limited to very strict rules (malware or offensive material being the only things that you could justifiably block... and only if you will actually be given the tools to do so).
I meant at curse's end with changing what types display, I know what is and isn't in the contract :tongue.gif:
oh! :tongue.gif:
Of course. My bad :smile.gif:
I apologize as well if I came across a bit harsh. I'm not all high and mighty because of the pixel color of my forum name... my point was, I realize the purpose of the ad content and the need for it, but the ability to control it is what I was calling into question. If the forum staff here have no control over the ad content being served (aside from dimensions and website formatting), that would be truly unfortunate, and if so I'll likely continue to use
ad blocking addons. That is a personal decision, and my statement earlier was a personal opinion, and I'm fully aware that I don't speak for anyone but myself. I don't need to be reminded of that.
I have used Adblock for FF pretty much since it's release (it's a life saver on Youtube), but I would prefer not use it here if it helps keep the revenue flowing for the staff here. On the flip side, if I have ad content popping out at me then I'm not really down for that.
I wish people wouldn't be so damn defensive around here sometimes. Someone with a colored username has an opinion, then come all the condescending nit-pickers just dying to rip off a limb. It doesn't matter what the hell our user title is, staff, admin, owner, donor, regular, we're all people who enjoy Minecraft and want to keep the forum from turning into a gigantic monetized corporate slum.
Yes, I am a business co-owner, and one thing of immense importance is balancing your customer satisfaction with the bottom line. In this scenario, it's not that bold to assume most users do not want ads that expand to full screen upon rolling the cursor over it. So the obvious solution is a compromise, which is only possible if they have control over the delivery of ad content. If they don't and continue to serve ads like that then yeah, I'll probably keep right on blocking. That's all I was saying, and all I said to begin with. I suppose a user compromise could be something like only blocking the ad content originating from the offending url, but letting the rest pass through.
Once again, I apologize if I came across wrong in anything I've said previously, but I can't help that, nuances of speech can't be conveyed through text, and the name-color witch hunt is getting old.
Off to bed, night everyone.
But on topic, i dont wanna pay for premium, and If i do pay, im supposed to get beta keys?
what are those?
also, is this like steam? I hate steam.
Beta keys for other games. They will often get a limited number of keys to be given away at their discretion, its essentially a raffle. However, premium is not required, the only real benefit to having it would be getting rid of ads (though if you play other games that curse supports, such as WoW, then there are other benefits).
Its nothing like steam.
Let me get this straight. You first convinced Notch his forums sucked and instead of making them better, he should get rid of them and let you do it instead. (Which, it seems, proved harder than you thought, and so...)
And now, you are trying to convince the community to pay 4.95/month for a forum membership for an indie game in alpha?
Awesome. Forgive me for laughing, but this is the stuff creeper oil is made from.
Godspeed Criticsquid!
...no.
Notch said his forums sucked and that he didn't want to have to manage them, I said "oh hey, I'll make one" and 10 minutes later I had this forum online, this is back in June 2009 when Minecraft was tiny, now the forum is huge and it's more than one person can pay for. If you don't want to pay for premium curse accounts that's fine, but then you'll either have to view the adverts or ad block them.
Nobody is forcing you to pay, if you want to support us though you can do that.
Oh well, the benefit of this is that now the servers aren't gonna die on us, the bad side of it is new ads.
I don't read that much into that. Everyone knows ads can be annoying and intrusive. It's popular knowledge. So they offer, in exchange of money and along with a host of other features, the possibility of having them removed. The implication that they could be making ads more annoying and intrusive than they could be, so they can use that to convince people to sign in seems slightly askew and, honestly, unfair.
a) they don't make the ads, on most -- if not all -- situations
:cool.gif: they know of AdBlocker and how that makes this offering less appealing
What Curse is instead, is a business. And has a business, it is trying to make money. If they can make a commodity of a service, they will. And they have. Most of what is in that listing is the typical commercial babble meant to make their product-slash-service look bigger and more appealing than it really is.
Don't take me wrong, but I'm honestly starting to become a little bit tired of this demonization of a company most in here even admit they don't know all to well. They are running a business and there will always be a compromise between what businesses want and what customers want. I think it has been made perfectly clear by citricsquid and other administrators of these forums that there is no wish to bring Curse business policies into this community. So at the very least let's give them the benefit of the doubt.
This. I have been playing WoW for 3 years and using the Curse client to manage my addons for the past 2 years. I honestly dont know how I lived without it.
Eh, WHAT?!
Clicking is, BY DEFINITION, deliberate. Having your mouse on a page, ANYWHERE on a page and expecting action is NOT DELIBERATE.
Not to yell, but the whole point of having a button on a mouse is to identify deliberate action versus movement.
Equating the two is somewhat astounding to me.
There may be a point of saturation sometime in the future. I don't know. But this has become a multi-million dollar industry that is very appealing to small entrepreneurs. Just so you have an idea, there are people out there creating websites and web services for the single purpose of hosting ads and getting a steady revenue off that. Meaning, the traditional incentive of website creation has shifted almost entirely. "We can make money, lets think of a web service", as opposed to what it used to be: "I want to create this web service. Oh and look! I can even make money off it".
And don't reject that off the bat. It's really happening. I should know. I'm involved on a such a project.
As long as we can keep parallel technologies capable of answering this onslaught of an ad driven web -- technologies and solutions like AdBlocker -- we will however be able to retain our sanity and the web to maintain some of its early ideals... as much as they have been destroyed already.
I hope this never happens. As I previously mentioned, Curse allows downloading their addons in one of two ways. You can either jump through hoops passing advertisements on the way to download an addon or you can download their addon downloader. Any other method is forbidden i.e., WUU WoW UI Updater (http://wuu.vagabonds.info/menu.php). On the other hand, I can use any method I choose to download addons from a github or from a code.google project. If somebody hosts their addon on their personal webserver then I can use any downloader I want whether it's firefox, Internet explorer or an automated download utility.
Endorsement:
One Sided Windows: http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27244
Compasses & Grand Magnets: http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24619
It is not like Curse is forcing addon authors to host the addons on their site. It is just one option. There are plenty of other options. You could upload it to curse as well as hosting it on their website or Google Projects.