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In a funny kind of way, I'd rather have unsolvable problems than be advertised at. If the problems actually need solving, ill go looking. If I'm not looking,

In a funny kind of way, I'd rather have unsolvable problems than be advertised at. If the problems actually need solving, ill go looking. If I'm not looking, there's no problem (to be solved).

geoduck14 4y ago
>If the problems actually need solving, ill go looking. What if you are looking, but an advertisement helps you find it faster? As an example, I was shopping for a keyboard the other day. I spent several hours looking through different specs. It would be handy if a website would have popped up "hey, here are the 3 you are probably looking for, pick one!". The benefit would have been for me (less time looking) and for three site (less server time serving pages to me)
- Larrikin 4y ago
  In my experience all three options are usually crap and I would have been better served doing my own research. The only time advertising has been of use to me is advertising clothing. It's an extremely saturated market, so searching for "cool t shirt" or "nice jeans" is worthless. Before COVID I would go to a nice area in Tokyo, NYC, or some other major city and just load up when it was time to buy new clothes. I block most ads, but a couple ads have gotten through over the years and I've learned about new brands or atleast new styles and had a jumping off point. I still feel I am way better off blocking as many ads as I can, but can't say they've been completely worthless. Most of the HN crowd can't fathom the idea of spending money on clothing outside of necessity. Shirts that will last ten years is more popular of a topic than shirts that actually look good.
- plorkyeran 4y ago
  When I am looking to buy something, ads actively get in the way of that. Ads are why we don't have websites that tell you "these are the 3 options you're probably looking for" any more because people figured out that they can make sites like that where the three choices are just ads rather than good recommendations. There's been times when I've simply given up on buying something because I got sick of wading through ads looking for any actual information.
  - piva00 4y ago
    > There's been times when I've simply given up on buying something because I got sick of wading through ads looking for any actual information. It's happening more and more often to me. I've been caught on this spiral of mistrust ever more often, even when wading through what once was a good place for human reviews: reddit. I can't tell anymore what's an honest review to a paid one, be it affiliate links bullshit all the way to astroturfing on social media, it's exhausting.
- int_19h 4y ago
  You basically want an oracle. That's fine, but none of what you just described requires a push model - you have a specific query, "best keyboard for me", so what you want is a service where you can go and explicitly ask that question, and get an accurate answer. OTOH if an ad popped up and said "here's the best keyboard for you" - or even "here's the top 3 choices for you" - would you seriously trust that?
deltree7 4y ago
Newsflash: There are unknown, unknowns. The vast majority of the population, they don't even know there are solutions that would change their life. E.g: In a world of 8,000,000,000 how many people know that there is Coursera which has top-level courses that can change their lives, improve productivity and make impact?. "I know everything, don't tell me. I'll ask" is exactly the attitude that prevents learning (and prevents people from knowing about coursera). You are just advertising that personality to the rest of the world
- ajl666 4y ago
  Seems obvious. I agree. However I think you're not going to get through to those with central planning biases. By which I mean, the notion that perfect planning can beat the market. The Palace Economy central planner says, "give me wheat." The Soviet central planner says, "more steel comrades." The American style technocrat planner says, "we will tell you what you want and then deny market alternatives." I think there's no reasoning with these people
  - ajl666 4y ago
    Hey downvoter. If the point is so weak, surely you can refute my moronic self with some cunning argument. Why are so many information scientists afraid of information?
    - tsimionescu 4y ago
      You're not making any points, and your comments are written to be inflammatory (unlike deltree7's, who is clearly advancing the conversation, even if I don't agree with them).
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - int_19h 4y ago
    How, exactly, each person deciding on their own whether to look or not look for information on a particular subject matter translates to economic centralization? It's the other way around - the ads, with their push model, naturally produce centralization, which is why we have the duopoly this article is about.

In a funny kind of way, I'd rather have unsolvable problems than be advertised at. If the problems actually need solving, ill go looking. If I'm not looking, there's no problem (to be solved).

geoduck14 4y ago

>If the problems actually need solving, ill go looking. What if you are looking, but an advertisement helps you find it faster? As an example, I was shopping for a keyboard the other day. I spent several hours looking through different specs. It would be handy if a website would have popped up "hey, here are the 3 you are probably looking for, pick one!". The benefit would have been for me (less time looking) and for three site (less server time serving pages to me)

Larrikin 4y ago
In my experience all three options are usually crap and I would have been better served doing my own research. The only time advertising has been of use to me is advertising clothing. It's an extremely saturated market, so searching for "cool t shirt" or "nice jeans" is worthless. Before COVID I would go to a nice area in Tokyo, NYC, or some other major city and just load up when it was time to buy new clothes. I block most ads, but a couple ads have gotten through over the years and I've learned about new brands or atleast new styles and had a jumping off point. I still feel I am way better off blocking as many ads as I can, but can't say they've been completely worthless. Most of the HN crowd can't fathom the idea of spending money on clothing outside of necessity. Shirts that will last ten years is more popular of a topic than shirts that actually look good.
plorkyeran 4y ago
When I am looking to buy something, ads actively get in the way of that. Ads are why we don't have websites that tell you "these are the 3 options you're probably looking for" any more because people figured out that they can make sites like that where the three choices are just ads rather than good recommendations. There's been times when I've simply given up on buying something because I got sick of wading through ads looking for any actual information.
- piva00 4y ago
  > There's been times when I've simply given up on buying something because I got sick of wading through ads looking for any actual information. It's happening more and more often to me. I've been caught on this spiral of mistrust ever more often, even when wading through what once was a good place for human reviews: reddit. I can't tell anymore what's an honest review to a paid one, be it affiliate links bullshit all the way to astroturfing on social media, it's exhausting.
int_19h 4y ago
You basically want an oracle. That's fine, but none of what you just described requires a push model - you have a specific query, "best keyboard for me", so what you want is a service where you can go and explicitly ask that question, and get an accurate answer. OTOH if an ad popped up and said "here's the best keyboard for you" - or even "here's the top 3 choices for you" - would you seriously trust that?

deltree7 4y ago

Newsflash: There are unknown, unknowns. The vast majority of the population, they don't even know there are solutions that would change their life. E.g: In a world of 8,000,000,000 how many people know that there is Coursera which has top-level courses that can change their lives, improve productivity and make impact?. "I know everything, don't tell me. I'll ask" is exactly the attitude that prevents learning (and prevents people from knowing about coursera). You are just advertising that personality to the rest of the world

ajl666 4y ago
Seems obvious. I agree. However I think you're not going to get through to those with central planning biases. By which I mean, the notion that perfect planning can beat the market. The Palace Economy central planner says, "give me wheat." The Soviet central planner says, "more steel comrades." The American style technocrat planner says, "we will tell you what you want and then deny market alternatives." I think there's no reasoning with these people
- ajl666 4y ago
  Hey downvoter. If the point is so weak, surely you can refute my moronic self with some cunning argument. Why are so many information scientists afraid of information?
  - tsimionescu 4y ago
    You're not making any points, and your comments are written to be inflammatory (unlike deltree7's, who is clearly advancing the conversation, even if I don't agree with them).
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- int_19h 4y ago
  How, exactly, each person deciding on their own whether to look or not look for information on a particular subject matter translates to economic centralization? It's the other way around - the ads, with their push model, naturally produce centralization, which is why we have the duopoly this article is about.