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Do you think that's what the article is really talking about though? I know that HN is actually a big advertisement for a VC fund. But at some level, the GNU C

Do you think that's what the article is really talking about though? I know that HN is actually a big advertisement for a VC fund. But at some level, the GNU Coreutils documentation (as a random example) is a big ad for GNU coreutils (plus maybe some free software stuff). Those kind of "ads" that are more like "entailed promotion" are actually what a good searchable communication network looks like, and I dont believe are what the article is talking about. Discoverability is advertising, and good discoverability is good advertising. But that kind of advertising is not what we normally think of when we talk about "punch the monkey" style internet advertising, which is what the article is about.

tarotuser 4y ago
"You're a horrible person. You are stupid, and you smell. People stay away from you. You're the most disgusting human in the area..... But amazing wonderful intelligent people use this product. And it makes them smarter, and the women adore and just want you. And you'll go to bed knowing you accomplished everything you could ever want by possessing and using product." Is very different from "GNU coreutils does these things and has X license." One uses a whole slew of psychological games to mentally invade the viewer, and to make them devalue themselves until they buy your product and become 'whole again'. (Adverts targeting women use this consistently - telling them they are stupid or stink and product fixes it.) The other is just matter-of-factly 'thing does stuff'