> I think the idea is that if advertising on the web respected users, they wouldn't feel the need to block ads. True and more than this, advertising could be a

> I think the idea is that if advertising on the web respected users, they wouldn't feel the need to block ads. True and more than this, advertising could be a service to me. Advertising has multiple functions. One is helping with discovery. Users have some problem they don't know someone is solving. Another is branding. Shove brand recognition down people's throats until they automatically reach for your product. I use friends to discover new products and services, because they provide reliable suggestions and don't water down their reputation through brand building. I was excited for the targeted ads movement, because of what it promised. I really want a recommendation engine that is smarter than everyone I know. That would be amazing. It's a giant world with lots of startups and makers, surely my monkey brain cannot possibly know enough people to track every one of these. So I'm ready, have the grand AI tell me what people are making and how it helps my life! In practice, they didn't deliver. Targeted ads are like an idiot savant. I basically just get recommendations to buy whatever I just bought, even if that makes no sense. (You just bought a blender, why don't you buy two of them so you can have one on every counter!?) It's the simplest logic that would work on a plurality of sales. Most people who buy paper towels later buy them again. Ok, new rule: people like buying what they just bought. No exceptions, logic done. I know incredibly smart people work on targeted ads, so I can't imagine they're missing this. My best guess is that there's too much low hanging fruit to improve a recommendation engine, or that the other lucrative aspects of advertising (brand building) chase out any funding or development for a 100% user-interest focused ad-engine, er, recommendation-engine for products. So I actually respect the impossible bar that BAT sets for itself. If we have an advertising system people will actually install a browser for (or pay a monthly subscription for), then we will have fixed advertising. Not before. It's a good finish line. Whoever can cross it definitely wins.