3 ms·

I was trying to think why mid way the article links to an online casino. Then I remembered how many years ago I took a couple hundred dollars to drop a similar

I was trying to think why mid way the article links to an online casino. Then I remembered how many years ago I took a couple hundred dollars to drop a similar link. Yes that's right, I think this entire article was written and financed by that one link. Online casinos need seo juice. They will pay for semi relevant links in blog posts written for such a purpose. As you can see, none of this is related to gambling itself. The casino just wants website quality points, they have a budget and the author had something to say.

throwanem 6y ago
I think you're giving the author too much credit, both for the quality of the work and for the rate of pay. But I'm glad you talked about the grift; I hadn't spotted it.
- Danieru 6y ago
  I think you'd be surprised. Full disclosure: maybe 10 years or so ago I took 250CAD to write a buff article and link to an online casino. I removed the link the instant the 1 year I promised expired. Still, even for a low rank site they paid what to a university student was good money. For a proper writer their budgets are no doubt higher. For an article capable of going viral (as it is now on HN), no doubt they have budgets in the thousands. It seems silly, and no doubt it is, but I would be willing to bet that the author of this article even wrote the article he linked to. Perhaps the most fun aspect to contemplate: this is an example of a journalist with something to say financing said writing as a byproduct SEO warfare between an entirely not-news industry. The casino is not even advertising for the purposes of getting customers. The only reader the casino cares about is GoogleBot.
unnouinceput 6y ago
Ha ha and more ha! Joke's on the website then. My uBlock Origin made sure that link is invisible for me.
- Danieru 6y ago
  That's the fun part! Only the GoogleBot's view matters. Its an AD; for robots!

throwanem 6y ago

I think you're giving the author too much credit, both for the quality of the work and for the rate of pay. But I'm glad you talked about the grift; I hadn't spotted it.

Danieru 6y ago
I think you'd be surprised. Full disclosure: maybe 10 years or so ago I took 250CAD to write a buff article and link to an online casino. I removed the link the instant the 1 year I promised expired. Still, even for a low rank site they paid what to a university student was good money. For a proper writer their budgets are no doubt higher. For an article capable of going viral (as it is now on HN), no doubt they have budgets in the thousands. It seems silly, and no doubt it is, but I would be willing to bet that the author of this article even wrote the article he linked to. Perhaps the most fun aspect to contemplate: this is an example of a journalist with something to say financing said writing as a byproduct SEO warfare between an entirely not-news industry. The casino is not even advertising for the purposes of getting customers. The only reader the casino cares about is GoogleBot.

unnouinceput 6y ago

Ha ha and more ha! Joke's on the website then. My uBlock Origin made sure that link is invisible for me.

Danieru 6y ago
That's the fun part! Only the GoogleBot's view matters. Its an AD; for robots!