There's little difference between organic and adverts. It's just content that the webmaster has put there. It clearly says "sponsored content", which discloses the fact it's a paid advert.
So personally, obviously it's not evil.
If people were being mislead into clicking, then none would convert to sales.
Haha no it clearly doesn't. If it was about doing things clearly he would stick to banners and highlighted ads.
It doesn't even matter what bias'd SEO guys with twisted morals think, anyway.
The majority gets to decide what's right, and obviously the majority thinks it's wrong.
Nobody likes to be treated like a fool.
What if when you clicked on a HN story, a third of the time it were an ad?
Maybe we could generate false comments to minimize the difference between organic and adverts...
Anyway it'd just be content that the webmaster has put there.
With a little warning in the footer, to stay morally sound.
Your hn hypothetical statement sounds a lot like the YCombinator job postings embedded into the main news stories... deceptive but not necessarily bad.
Yeah... that's why people are clicking through, and converting to sales :/
Are you saying they click through, and sign up to buy product, and then suddenly feel duped because they didn't know it was an advert they clicked on, and demand a refund???? Are you crazy?
> What if when you clicked on a HN story, a third of the time it were an ad?
I'd say about a third of the time it IS an ad - a YC backed startup with no merit etc.
So personally, obviously it's not evil.
If people were being mislead into clicking, then none would convert to sales.