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I love your idea of clicking on facebook ads just to see what would happen for a person that did happen to be in that cohort. Other things I have thought of tha

I love your idea of clicking on facebook ads just to see what would happen for a person that did happen to be in that cohort. Other things I have thought of that would be interesting to do this experiment with is multi-level-marketing BS, political ads catering to the opposite side of the isle, and "Preppers". I would find that much more interesting than my current facebook feed that just feeds me more of what I am already into. Tangentially related, I recently spent a week in Hawaii and listened exclusively to a local radio station the whole time. It occurred to me that my view of what people did for fun, or where they grocery shopped, or what issues were important to them, and generally "what the locals do" were largely determined by who happened to be paying that radio station to play their ads. And it was just an "ah-ha" reminder that in every group, culture, hobby, or community there are a few advertisers that have an outsize influence on what people think their own grass-roots culture is.

thaumasiotes 9y ago
> I recently spent a week in Hawaii and listened exclusively to a local radio station the whole time. It occurred to me that my view of what people did for fun, or where they grocery shopped, or what issues were important to them, and generally "what the locals do" were largely determined by who happened to be paying that radio station to play their ads. And it was just an "ah-ha" reminder that in every group, culture, hobby, or community there are a few advertisers that have an outsize influence on what people think their own grass-roots culture is. Maybe if you'd spent longer than a week there you'd have a more informed view of how one or more groups of locals really spent their time? Those advertisers weren't affecting your opinion of what your own culture was, they were affecting your opinion of a foreign culture.
- freehunter 9y ago
  That's literally their entire point, you just repeated it back to them as an insult.
  - read_if_gay_ 9y ago
    That was not insulting at all. It was also said that >there are a few advertisers that have an outsize influence on what people think their own grass-roots culture is. so no, not "literally their entire point" since he said it affected people's view of their own culture.
  - thaumasiotes 9y ago
    How is the point that advertisers can give locals a misleading picture of their own culture illustrated, or supported in any way, by a foreigner getting a misleading picture of local culture?
- dang 9y ago
  Can you please make your point in HN comments without being personally acerbic? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - thaumasiotes 9y ago
    I may not be able to, without understanding why this one was apparently so offensive. I provided two sentences. I'm assuming the second one was unobjectionable to just about everyone: > Those advertisers weren't affecting your opinion of what your own culture was, they were affecting your opinion of a foreign culture. The first one > Maybe if you'd spent longer than a week there you'd have a more informed view of how one or more groups of locals really spent their time? is overtly insulting inasmuch as it explicitly calls ryankshaw's view of local Hawaiian culture uninformed. But his comment is a story about himself in which he draws the moral that his view of local Hawaiian culture is uninformed. I don't see how my response can avoid referring to him personally, since the only content of his comment is a story about himself, or why it should avoid agreeing with his own assessment of his knowledge of Hawaiian culture. Do you find the hypothetical > Maybe the locals have a clearer view of "what the locals do" than tourists who have been there for a week do? to be less acerbic or more in line with your guidelines?
    - dang 9y ago
      Just not invoking any trope of stupidity (like "tourists who have been there for a week") would get you a fair way toward not being disrespectful.
      - thaumasiotes 9y ago
        Assume I'm saying that when you take one week of vacation somewhere, the view of local culture that you end up with is not even weakly informative as to the view of local culture held by locals. I think that's a fairly relevant counterpoint to an observation beginning "I just spent a week in Hawaii". You think it's hitting below the belt to observe that ryankshaw's opinion is based on one week in a culture he's not familiar with, just because "tourist making conclusions after spending one week in an unfamiliar culture" is such a well-known example of terrible reasoning that it's become a stereotype? I didn't even make that point. I limited myself to observing that a longer-term experience would probably give a more reliable impression.
cordite 9y ago
That happened for me with programmer T-shirts. That's all they showed for months and now it seems to have waned in intensity.
jxramos 9y ago
Because half-a-dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field; that of course they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little shrivelled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome insects of the hour. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grasshoppers#Quotes https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grasshoppers#Quotes
- stryk 9y ago
  what?
  - codeisawesome 9y ago
    The few “squeaky wheels” making the most noise - determining the very face and presentation of a context (in this case a field full of cattle, in GP’s case a handful of advertisers on radio) - is an old idea that even has prose to describe it.
    - stryk 9y ago
      So, comparatively, a few bad screaming apples spoil the whole bunch? (should clarify, I'm not disagreeing, just trying to relate)
      - codeisawesome 9y ago
        In the negative case, yes. In the positive case, a few well behaved individuals viewed in isolation could cause a misunderstanding of the wider population (“ideal minority effect”).
      - dredmorbius 9y ago
        It's more that the apparent signal, whatever it is, is not the whole of reality. And often gives quite the mis-placed view of same. And if the name Edmund Burke means nothing to you, you've a whole universe of enlightenment to attend to.
hueving 9y ago
>And it was just an "ah-ha" reminder that in every group, culture, hobby, or community there are a few advertisers that have an outsize influence on what people think their own grass-roots culture is. What makes you think that the locals listen to those radio ads and assume it represents their own grass-roots culture? I grew up in a small town and the radio ads were dominated by a few dominating businesses, but I was never under the illusion that they represented the culture at all. I think you are right for what outsiders think the grass-roots culture is, but that's a completely different statement.

thaumasiotes 9y ago

> I recently spent a week in Hawaii and listened exclusively to a local radio station the whole time. It occurred to me that my view of what people did for fun, or where they grocery shopped, or what issues were important to them, and generally "what the locals do" were largely determined by who happened to be paying that radio station to play their ads. And it was just an "ah-ha" reminder that in every group, culture, hobby, or community there are a few advertisers that have an outsize influence on what people think their own grass-roots culture is. Maybe if you'd spent longer than a week there you'd have a more informed view of how one or more groups of locals really spent their time? Those advertisers weren't affecting your opinion of what your own culture was, they were affecting your opinion of a foreign culture.

freehunter 9y ago
That's literally their entire point, you just repeated it back to them as an insult.
- read_if_gay_ 9y ago
  That was not insulting at all. It was also said that >there are a few advertisers that have an outsize influence on what people think their own grass-roots culture is. so no, not "literally their entire point" since he said it affected people's view of their own culture.
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  How is the point that advertisers can give locals a misleading picture of their own culture illustrated, or supported in any way, by a foreigner getting a misleading picture of local culture?
dang 9y ago
Can you please make your point in HN comments without being personally acerbic? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  I may not be able to, without understanding why this one was apparently so offensive. I provided two sentences. I'm assuming the second one was unobjectionable to just about everyone: > Those advertisers weren't affecting your opinion of what your own culture was, they were affecting your opinion of a foreign culture. The first one > Maybe if you'd spent longer than a week there you'd have a more informed view of how one or more groups of locals really spent their time? is overtly insulting inasmuch as it explicitly calls ryankshaw's view of local Hawaiian culture uninformed. But his comment is a story about himself in which he draws the moral that his view of local Hawaiian culture is uninformed. I don't see how my response can avoid referring to him personally, since the only content of his comment is a story about himself, or why it should avoid agreeing with his own assessment of his knowledge of Hawaiian culture. Do you find the hypothetical > Maybe the locals have a clearer view of "what the locals do" than tourists who have been there for a week do? to be less acerbic or more in line with your guidelines?
  - dang 9y ago
    Just not invoking any trope of stupidity (like "tourists who have been there for a week") would get you a fair way toward not being disrespectful.
    - thaumasiotes 9y ago
      Assume I'm saying that when you take one week of vacation somewhere, the view of local culture that you end up with is not even weakly informative as to the view of local culture held by locals. I think that's a fairly relevant counterpoint to an observation beginning "I just spent a week in Hawaii". You think it's hitting below the belt to observe that ryankshaw's opinion is based on one week in a culture he's not familiar with, just because "tourist making conclusions after spending one week in an unfamiliar culture" is such a well-known example of terrible reasoning that it's become a stereotype? I didn't even make that point. I limited myself to observing that a longer-term experience would probably give a more reliable impression.

cordite 9y ago

That happened for me with programmer T-shirts. That's all they showed for months and now it seems to have waned in intensity.

jxramos 9y ago

Because half-a-dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field; that of course they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little shrivelled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome insects of the hour. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grasshoppers#Quotes https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grasshoppers#Quotes

stryk 9y ago
what?
- codeisawesome 9y ago
  The few “squeaky wheels” making the most noise - determining the very face and presentation of a context (in this case a field full of cattle, in GP’s case a handful of advertisers on radio) - is an old idea that even has prose to describe it.
  - stryk 9y ago
    So, comparatively, a few bad screaming apples spoil the whole bunch? (should clarify, I'm not disagreeing, just trying to relate)
    - codeisawesome 9y ago
      In the negative case, yes. In the positive case, a few well behaved individuals viewed in isolation could cause a misunderstanding of the wider population (“ideal minority effect”).
    - dredmorbius 9y ago
      It's more that the apparent signal, whatever it is, is not the whole of reality. And often gives quite the mis-placed view of same. And if the name Edmund Burke means nothing to you, you've a whole universe of enlightenment to attend to.

hueving 9y ago

>And it was just an "ah-ha" reminder that in every group, culture, hobby, or community there are a few advertisers that have an outsize influence on what people think their own grass-roots culture is. What makes you think that the locals listen to those radio ads and assume it represents their own grass-roots culture? I grew up in a small town and the radio ads were dominated by a few dominating businesses, but I was never under the illusion that they represented the culture at all. I think you are right for what outsiders think the grass-roots culture is, but that's a completely different statement.