5 ms·

The worst kind of targeting is when I go to a website, browse some similar items comparing their features and price, buy one... and now you decide to show me ad

by jarfil 8y ago

The worst kind of targeting is when I go to a website, browse some similar items comparing their features and price, buy one... and now you decide to show me ads about those same products for the next week even if it should be clear that I've already made up my mind (I'm looking at you, Amazon).

wlesieutre 8y ago
Customers who bought this television also bought: 1) different television 2) another television 3) alternate listing of the same television and 4x the price because it's controlled by some idiot algorithm 4) more television 5) yet another television Suuuuure they did
- detaro 8y ago
  One possible explanation I've heard (of which I have no idea if it is true) for both this and ads showing after you've made a big purchase is that people actually are somewhat more likely to buy an appliance close to another purchase of one, since they only buy them a) after several years, if the previous one has broken or is outdated, or b) shortly after they bought another one, which they returned for some reason.
  - wlesieutre 8y ago
    Pretty sad state of affairs if that's the case, you'd think Amazon would do something to exclude repeat purchases after a return. But it's been this way for years. As it stands, 99% of their product recommendations are saying "I assume what we just sold you was a total piece of shit and you'll probably need another one after you return it. Here are some options!"
- rusk 8y ago
  Can you not use fixed-width for block quotes please? It’s very difficult to read on smaller screens!
  - wlesieutre 8y ago
    I'd avoid it for anything important, but if you can read the first ten characters of each line I think you get the point of my list there. Didn't want to waste the space with paragraph breaks between items.
    - rusk 8y ago
      This is a matter of custom, fixed-width is for code [0] It is more typical to italicize a blockquote, perhaps with leading `>` to mark it out: > like this - and this is a list-item - and so is this it's just a matter of courtesy to those using smaller screens and assistive technologies Thanks! [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc
      - wlesieutre 8y ago
        I agree in principle, but - I don't - think that - individual paragraphs - for a list - is a very good - use of space - on small screens - or on large ones Code blocks are crappy for small screens, but so are lists written as a series of paragraphs. Unfortunately, HN seems opposed to supporting non-paragraph linebreaks, lists, blockquotes, or any other sort of formatting. That's fine, it's up to dang and the other admins who run the place and they don't want to support other formatting, but it means that the code format gets abused as a poor approximation for these things. EDIT: I should also point out that your source says "fixed-width is intended for code." You left that word out and it's an important one. If it said "is only for code" the meaning would be different. Side note, reddit lets you do a line break by ending a line with two spaces before hitting enter. Just tested to double check, it doesn't work here. I wish it did, and replacing space-space-newline with <br> seems like a pretty trivial and unobjectionable feature, but here we are.
        snowwrestler 8y ago
        In terms of usability, vertical space almost doesn't matter anymore. The vast majority of people have an interface that makes vertical scrolling effortless, whether it's a trackpad gesture, mouse scroll wheel, or touchscreen drag / flick. Horizontal scrolling is harder to do and less common/conventional (chicken and egg as to why, but it's the reality today). You might not like the way it looks, but it's clearly better for usability to spend more vertical space in order to prevent horizontal scrolling.
- hnuser1234 8y ago
  There are different sections, "also bought" and "related". They both show up in the same formatting.
Nursie 8y ago
We notice you're interested in car insurance, how about some car insurance? Yeah, I was, you're right, I spent a couple of hours looking at car insurance stuff and now it's done for the year, so you're spending your advertising budget chasing people who are the absolute least likely to be interested...

by jarfil 8y ago

wlesieutre 8y ago

Customers who bought this television also bought: 1) different television 2) another television 3) alternate listing of the same television and 4x the price because it's controlled by some idiot algorithm 4) more television 5) yet another television Suuuuure they did

detaro 8y ago
One possible explanation I've heard (of which I have no idea if it is true) for both this and ads showing after you've made a big purchase is that people actually are somewhat more likely to buy an appliance close to another purchase of one, since they only buy them a) after several years, if the previous one has broken or is outdated, or b) shortly after they bought another one, which they returned for some reason.
- wlesieutre 8y ago
  Pretty sad state of affairs if that's the case, you'd think Amazon would do something to exclude repeat purchases after a return. But it's been this way for years. As it stands, 99% of their product recommendations are saying "I assume what we just sold you was a total piece of shit and you'll probably need another one after you return it. Here are some options!"
rusk 8y ago
Can you not use fixed-width for block quotes please? It’s very difficult to read on smaller screens!
- wlesieutre 8y ago
  I'd avoid it for anything important, but if you can read the first ten characters of each line I think you get the point of my list there. Didn't want to waste the space with paragraph breaks between items.
  - rusk 8y ago
    This is a matter of custom, fixed-width is for code [0] It is more typical to italicize a blockquote, perhaps with leading `>` to mark it out: > like this - and this is a list-item - and so is this it's just a matter of courtesy to those using smaller screens and assistive technologies Thanks! [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc
    - wlesieutre 8y ago
      I agree in principle, but - I don't - think that - individual paragraphs - for a list - is a very good - use of space - on small screens - or on large ones Code blocks are crappy for small screens, but so are lists written as a series of paragraphs. Unfortunately, HN seems opposed to supporting non-paragraph linebreaks, lists, blockquotes, or any other sort of formatting. That's fine, it's up to dang and the other admins who run the place and they don't want to support other formatting, but it means that the code format gets abused as a poor approximation for these things. EDIT: I should also point out that your source says "fixed-width is intended for code." You left that word out and it's an important one. If it said "is only for code" the meaning would be different. Side note, reddit lets you do a line break by ending a line with two spaces before hitting enter. Just tested to double check, it doesn't work here. I wish it did, and replacing space-space-newline with <br> seems like a pretty trivial and unobjectionable feature, but here we are.
      - snowwrestler 8y ago
        In terms of usability, vertical space almost doesn't matter anymore. The vast majority of people have an interface that makes vertical scrolling effortless, whether it's a trackpad gesture, mouse scroll wheel, or touchscreen drag / flick. Horizontal scrolling is harder to do and less common/conventional (chicken and egg as to why, but it's the reality today). You might not like the way it looks, but it's clearly better for usability to spend more vertical space in order to prevent horizontal scrolling.
hnuser1234 8y ago
There are different sections, "also bought" and "related". They both show up in the same formatting.

Nursie 8y ago

We notice you're interested in car insurance, how about some car insurance? Yeah, I was, you're right, I spent a couple of hours looking at car insurance stuff and now it's done for the year, so you're spending your advertising budget chasing people who are the absolute least likely to be interested...