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Ads work because they're embedded in interesting or useful things. No one would use a search engine composed of 100% ads. Chat-GPT can be used for this: returi

Ads work because they're embedded in interesting or useful things. No one would use a search engine composed of 100% ads. Chat-GPT can be used for this: returing interesting results. The ads don't have to be served through chat-GPT, but could be given as a side result.

isx726552 4y ago
> No one would use a search engine composed of 100% ads. Isn’t that pretty much what the Yellow Pages used to be? As long as you know what you’re getting…
- eduction 4y ago
  Yellow pages were not 100% ads. They were where you got phone numbers and addresses for businesses, which was important pre internet. They did have tons of ads alongside the listings, but the unpaid listings were core to the offering. If you wanted to call for a reservation at a particular restaurant, check movie showtimes at a particular theater, you would go to the yellow pages, and to the regular listings specifically (not ads, although they’d certainly be there trying to entice you elsewhere). (You could also get the numbers via 411 but this cost money, 50 cents or a dollar IIRC).
  - Turing_Machine 4y ago
    > If you wanted to call for a reservation at a particular restaurant, check movie showtimes at a particular theater, you would go to the yellow pages If you wanted to find the number of a particular restaurant, the white pages were far more efficient. The yellow pages were primarily useful when you wanted a list of restaurants, not a specific one. Something else that was nearly 100% ads: the old Computer Shopper magazine. As I recall, they printed just enough editorial material to qualify for the "literature" postal rate rather than the "advertising" rate.
    - eduction 4y ago
      My memory is that originally business listings were excluded from the white pages, added in later years. Been a while though!
- pessimizer 4y ago
  Or virtually all trade magazines, Auto Trader, swingers' magazines, plenty of hobby magazines. There are tons of things you buy for the ads. MaximumRocknRoll in the 80s and 90s, the reason you bought it was to find out where to buy records, the articles were extras (and they told you what records might be good and what bands might be good to see.) Their coolest co-publishing thing was issuing guides to all of the clubs and other vendors in every city and state that touring bands needed to book. These are all ads. The enemy isn't ads, it's an extremely intrusive and adversarial advertising industry posture. Ads are useful, they tell me where and what things are available. The problem is that everyone uses the methods originated with patent medicine to sell everything. The methods of selling patent medicine are simply the methods of confidence men; the "medicine" was probably just some unholy mix of alcohol and mercury. Patent medicine marketing emphasizes secrecy, because they're usually mostly frauds; and also because to any extent they are not fraudulent, they want to be exclusive and not copied. Patent medicine marketing also emphasizes leads, surveillance and secret dossiers. When you're selling dreams, you have to know what people are dreaming about; you also have to know how much they have to spend. Our advertising problem is a legislative problem. We find it very difficult to police this kind of behavior because it is so widespread among the powerful (and is usually what got them powerful.) It is also completely rational behavior because the methods of con men will sell more regardless of the quality of the product i.e. a good product sells even better using underhanded methods. So there's simply no way to protect your world from being run by the best con men without creating legal obstructions for them.
elcritch 4y ago
> No one would use a search engine composed of 100% ads. And why I'm using Google less and less. I've literally had the entire first page be all ads.

isx726552 4y ago

> No one would use a search engine composed of 100% ads. Isn’t that pretty much what the Yellow Pages used to be? As long as you know what you’re getting…

eduction 4y ago
Yellow pages were not 100% ads. They were where you got phone numbers and addresses for businesses, which was important pre internet. They did have tons of ads alongside the listings, but the unpaid listings were core to the offering. If you wanted to call for a reservation at a particular restaurant, check movie showtimes at a particular theater, you would go to the yellow pages, and to the regular listings specifically (not ads, although they’d certainly be there trying to entice you elsewhere). (You could also get the numbers via 411 but this cost money, 50 cents or a dollar IIRC).
- Turing_Machine 4y ago
  > If you wanted to call for a reservation at a particular restaurant, check movie showtimes at a particular theater, you would go to the yellow pages If you wanted to find the number of a particular restaurant, the white pages were far more efficient. The yellow pages were primarily useful when you wanted a list of restaurants, not a specific one. Something else that was nearly 100% ads: the old Computer Shopper magazine. As I recall, they printed just enough editorial material to qualify for the "literature" postal rate rather than the "advertising" rate.
  - eduction 4y ago
    My memory is that originally business listings were excluded from the white pages, added in later years. Been a while though!
pessimizer 4y ago
Or virtually all trade magazines, Auto Trader, swingers' magazines, plenty of hobby magazines. There are tons of things you buy for the ads. MaximumRocknRoll in the 80s and 90s, the reason you bought it was to find out where to buy records, the articles were extras (and they told you what records might be good and what bands might be good to see.) Their coolest co-publishing thing was issuing guides to all of the clubs and other vendors in every city and state that touring bands needed to book. These are all ads. The enemy isn't ads, it's an extremely intrusive and adversarial advertising industry posture. Ads are useful, they tell me where and what things are available. The problem is that everyone uses the methods originated with patent medicine to sell everything. The methods of selling patent medicine are simply the methods of confidence men; the "medicine" was probably just some unholy mix of alcohol and mercury. Patent medicine marketing emphasizes secrecy, because they're usually mostly frauds; and also because to any extent they are not fraudulent, they want to be exclusive and not copied. Patent medicine marketing also emphasizes leads, surveillance and secret dossiers. When you're selling dreams, you have to know what people are dreaming about; you also have to know how much they have to spend. Our advertising problem is a legislative problem. We find it very difficult to police this kind of behavior because it is so widespread among the powerful (and is usually what got them powerful.) It is also completely rational behavior because the methods of con men will sell more regardless of the quality of the product i.e. a good product sells even better using underhanded methods. So there's simply no way to protect your world from being run by the best con men without creating legal obstructions for them.

elcritch 4y ago

> No one would use a search engine composed of 100% ads. And why I'm using Google less and less. I've literally had the entire first page be all ads.