> First it was "I hate how much ad companies track me and build profiles on me."
> Now it is "I hate how ads are irrelevant."
This is an HN echo-chamber complaint, made by people who work for advertisers trying to come up with a way to make their ads seem less awful.
The fact is, relevant ads aren't better. They're still ads, and ads are still inherently bad.
If I'm looking for a used car, I do not want to hear ads from Bob's Lemon Shop about why they're the best place to buy cars. If Bob's Lemon Shop is the best place to buy cars, I'll find that out from independent reviewers who have shopped their before. An ad from Bob's Lemon Shop is relevant to my interest, but that makes it worse because now I'm susceptible to manipulation by the company that paid the most for ads instead of making a more rational decision based on true information from unbiased sources. Having more relevant ads is not good for me, it's good for advertisers.
> Now it is "I hate how ads are irrelevant."
This is an HN echo-chamber complaint, made by people who work for advertisers trying to come up with a way to make their ads seem less awful.
The fact is, relevant ads aren't better. They're still ads, and ads are still inherently bad.
If I'm looking for a used car, I do not want to hear ads from Bob's Lemon Shop about why they're the best place to buy cars. If Bob's Lemon Shop is the best place to buy cars, I'll find that out from independent reviewers who have shopped their before. An ad from Bob's Lemon Shop is relevant to my interest, but that makes it worse because now I'm susceptible to manipulation by the company that paid the most for ads instead of making a more rational decision based on true information from unbiased sources. Having more relevant ads is not good for me, it's good for advertisers.