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HN has sponsored posts. You can identify them because HN’s interface won’t let you comment or vote on them. The buttons and links literally are not present.

a1369209993 5y ago
Yes, and those should in fact be banned. (Although complaining those specifically is like complaining about mercury tilt switches in a pinball machine in a cafe down the street from a factory that dumps thousands of tons per day of assorted toxic waste into the nearby river.)
- aspenmayer 5y ago
  You can hide them like any other post, so I don’t see that they are as impactful to user experience as most other ads, which require third party browser extensions and/or DNS level blocking. On balance, I think HN does ads “right” and the only way I think they could be improved is with explicit labeling indicating that they are sponsored, unlike user-submitted posts. Being entirely anti-ad is an acceptable position to hold, and I don’t really disagree, though it feels a bit of a cheap shot to single out HN like this.
  - a1369209993 5y ago
    > I don't see that they are as impactful to user experience as most other ads Yep. Hence the comparison to mercury tilt switches. > it feels a bit of a cheap shot to single out HN like this Yep.
  - paulcole 5y ago
    If someone is entirely anti-ad, they have to be anti-ad-on-HN.
    - a1369209993 5y ago
      Exactly. Sponsored posts are ads and need to go, but this is not particularly significant on either side. HN in general is no more a ad than donating money to charity for PR reasons is a ad, and it requires a considerable confusion of ideas to think otherwise. (Or a confusion of what "ad" means. FWIW, BGP address advertisments are not ads either.)
yborg 5y ago
They're not identified as such? I thought it was required to identify such ads.
- aspenmayer 5y ago
  I thought so too, at least in EU? I remember social media influencers getting in hot water for not labeling sponsored content as such.

a1369209993 5y ago

Yes, and those should in fact be banned. (Although complaining those specifically is like complaining about mercury tilt switches in a pinball machine in a cafe down the street from a factory that dumps thousands of tons per day of assorted toxic waste into the nearby river.)

aspenmayer 5y ago
You can hide them like any other post, so I don’t see that they are as impactful to user experience as most other ads, which require third party browser extensions and/or DNS level blocking. On balance, I think HN does ads “right” and the only way I think they could be improved is with explicit labeling indicating that they are sponsored, unlike user-submitted posts. Being entirely anti-ad is an acceptable position to hold, and I don’t really disagree, though it feels a bit of a cheap shot to single out HN like this.
- a1369209993 5y ago
  > I don't see that they are as impactful to user experience as most other ads Yep. Hence the comparison to mercury tilt switches. > it feels a bit of a cheap shot to single out HN like this Yep.
- paulcole 5y ago
  If someone is entirely anti-ad, they have to be anti-ad-on-HN.
  - a1369209993 5y ago
    Exactly. Sponsored posts are ads and need to go, but this is not particularly significant on either side. HN in general is no more a ad than donating money to charity for PR reasons is a ad, and it requires a considerable confusion of ideas to think otherwise. (Or a confusion of what "ad" means. FWIW, BGP address advertisments are not ads either.)

yborg 5y ago

They're not identified as such? I thought it was required to identify such ads.

aspenmayer 5y ago
I thought so too, at least in EU? I remember social media influencers getting in hot water for not labeling sponsored content as such.