> ... does being cynical automatically make an observation accurate? Not at all, and that's not the claim made by GBS. It's the converse, that things that are

> ... does being cynical automatically make an observation accurate? Not at all, and that's not the claim made by GBS. It's the converse, that things that are accurate and true are often incorrectly dismissed under the umbrella of "cynicism". > I think the question by @chance_state above is legitimate, inclusion of a cloud service in the page source is not strong evidence of your conclusion. Agreed, but it did serve to crystallise the feeling that had been developing. > ... all pages on the internet are intentionally designed to draw traffic. Actually, that's not true. It' might be true in the world you inhabit, but most of the content that's directly relevant to my work is provided "as is", information and ideas, offered without a follow-up "Sign up for my weekly email". > How many pages do you read that don't have a signup form, don't invite the reader to subscribe, ... For me, most of them. I suspect we inhabit different circles, mine isn't full of people trying to develop a following. This isn't a criticism, it's an observation. I do, however, feel that when I read many of the more popular items linked from HN and other tech forums that I'm walking through a carnival and being beset by hawkers and barkers.