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There is plenty of price comparison websites that one can use right now that allow one to search for a specific product and compare price offers. One would sea

There is plenty of price comparison websites that one can use right now that allow one to search for a specific product and compare price offers. One would search for a massage chair on there and find that some are cheaper than others and read the reviews to make an educated guess about whether the extra price is worth it.

mwexler 6y ago
So, still ads but different name. These price engines (every one I've seen) are all affiliate hubs; they list only products that pay for the click. Any reviews on such sites are biased in similar ways to the gaming in reviews in major sites like Amazon. Now, one could say, "so what? Most folks know that, useful info still, and it's better than ads!". But is it? At least the ad is an overt block of color, but affiliate links are hidden behind redirects and tiny disclaimers (in the few regions that require disclosure). It's fine (and easy) to complain about display ads or video ads, but there's a lot more. Product brand shown or mentioned in tv or movie:ad. Movie trailers: yep, ad. Public media mentioning a sponsor: ad. That tiktok or insta person who always has branded product in the frame? ad. In fact, most product discovery comes from ads. Is there another way? Probably, but ads have worked better than any other approach for so long, we haven't beaten it yet. I hope we do, but til then, for every 100 ads I despise, I'm still happy I found that one thing I actually liked. Can't say that defends all ads, but it gives me hope that we can find a good middle spot.
- Super_Jambo 6y ago
  It depends who's paying. If the product seller pays then it's an advert. If the product buyer pays it's not. The difference in economic incentives is... stark. Ad supported media has a similarly skewed structure. If I'm paying for media I better like it. If adverts pay for it, the key is lots of people spend lots of time looking at it.
- hedora 6y ago
  There is a difference between advertising and product distribution. I haven’t heard anyone suggest we ban distributors.
- zentiggr 6y ago
  I still say that there should be a .adv TLD, and any paid advertising goes on either the manufacturer's site or in a .adv page, nowhere else. .adv would be the internet catalog (good or bad, awesome shopping resource or godawful bag of crap, as may be) and all other TLDs (even .com) will be free of ads. Period.
tomjen3 6y ago
My point, is that you wouldn't do that if you thought the price was around 5k. But then take the example of new technology: you wouldn't want to buy gore-tex shoes, which would be more expensive than the others, if you didn't know that they were both waterproof and breathable, something you would consider impossible before seeing the ad. Apples M1 is a more recent example: until their marketing/pr blitz hit I couldn't buy a fanless laptop with anywhere decent performance and so because I didn't know it existed, I wouldn't have gone to search for it. You can run a price comparison website for know old things, e.g I use them when I am after something specific. Of course that leaves me the problem of which price comparison site I should use.

mwexler 6y ago

So, still ads but different name. These price engines (every one I've seen) are all affiliate hubs; they list only products that pay for the click. Any reviews on such sites are biased in similar ways to the gaming in reviews in major sites like Amazon. Now, one could say, "so what? Most folks know that, useful info still, and it's better than ads!". But is it? At least the ad is an overt block of color, but affiliate links are hidden behind redirects and tiny disclaimers (in the few regions that require disclosure). It's fine (and easy) to complain about display ads or video ads, but there's a lot more. Product brand shown or mentioned in tv or movie:ad. Movie trailers: yep, ad. Public media mentioning a sponsor: ad. That tiktok or insta person who always has branded product in the frame? ad. In fact, most product discovery comes from ads. Is there another way? Probably, but ads have worked better than any other approach for so long, we haven't beaten it yet. I hope we do, but til then, for every 100 ads I despise, I'm still happy I found that one thing I actually liked. Can't say that defends all ads, but it gives me hope that we can find a good middle spot.

Super_Jambo 6y ago
It depends who's paying. If the product seller pays then it's an advert. If the product buyer pays it's not. The difference in economic incentives is... stark. Ad supported media has a similarly skewed structure. If I'm paying for media I better like it. If adverts pay for it, the key is lots of people spend lots of time looking at it.
hedora 6y ago
There is a difference between advertising and product distribution. I haven’t heard anyone suggest we ban distributors.
zentiggr 6y ago
I still say that there should be a .adv TLD, and any paid advertising goes on either the manufacturer's site or in a .adv page, nowhere else. .adv would be the internet catalog (good or bad, awesome shopping resource or godawful bag of crap, as may be) and all other TLDs (even .com) will be free of ads. Period.

tomjen3 6y ago

My point, is that you wouldn't do that if you thought the price was around 5k. But then take the example of new technology: you wouldn't want to buy gore-tex shoes, which would be more expensive than the others, if you didn't know that they were both waterproof and breathable, something you would consider impossible before seeing the ad. Apples M1 is a more recent example: until their marketing/pr blitz hit I couldn't buy a fanless laptop with anywhere decent performance and so because I didn't know it existed, I wouldn't have gone to search for it. You can run a price comparison website for know old things, e.g I use them when I am after something specific. Of course that leaves me the problem of which price comparison site I should use.