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HN has ads-that-look-like-posts too. They're mostly job postings for Y Combinator startups—a perk of that incubator being getting privileged positions on HN's f

HN has ads-that-look-like-posts too. They're mostly job postings for Y Combinator startups—a perk of that incubator being getting privileged positions on HN's front page. I filter them with uBlock.

pierat 3y ago
If you cant comment on a post, it's not a post but a shitty ad. Tells me that VCs are afraid of actual criticism, and 'no comment ad-posts' are their version of a safe space.... for critiques.
- perihelions 3y ago
  - "If you cant comment on a post, it's not a post but a shitty ad." Right, that's the basis of my uBlock rule. :) news.ycombinator.com##:xpath(//td[contains(@class,"subtext")]):not(:has-text(/\b(comment|comments|discuss)\b/i)):xpath(.. | ../following-sibling::tr[1] | ../preceding-sibling::tr[1]):style(display: none)
  - bossyTeacher 3y ago
    Now that you posted your secret, Dang can update the html to bypass you rule
    - djbusby 3y ago
      I bet that doesn't happen.
jasonjmcghee 3y ago
They have very nearly zero negative impact on my experience though.
- lutoma 3y ago
  Except for the 'OneSignal' startup ones. I always think they're posts related to Signal (the messaging app) for a bit.
  - ghostpepper 3y ago
    I always find it odd when startups pick names that resemble large, unrelated companies. BuildZoom is another one - has nothing to do with Zoom
    - kgermino 3y ago
      Not sure about onesignal, but I’m pretty sure BuildZoom long predates the zoom video conferencing tool being a household name. There’s an element of luck, but also the names are part of the culture from the time they’re created. Multiple people often come up with very similar names for different things just because of what’s going in the world around them.
xg15 3y ago
At least they are predictable and closely related to to the community. I can sort of understand that a startup accelerator that runs a discussion board on the side would want to post job postings for their own startups on their own discussion board. (Also the fact that YC runs HN isn't exactly hidden - the first hint is right there in the URL) I think it would be something completely different if YC suddenly showed promoted posts from unrelated "partners" or just opened this up as an advertising opportunity to the general public.
- perihelions 3y ago
  I agree. I think this is one of the key reasons HN succeeds as it does: the narrow, delimited incentives on the part of YC. All of the writing and discussion that exists on HN, which isn't a YC ad, is a "halo" to attract and retain readers to this forum (and see the YC logos and YC ads). That's their primary incentive: attract users, attract a specific culture of users. It's an incentive aligned with quality and pleasantness for us. The daily forum experience isn't the revenue source; to monetize that, YC would risk losing more (on their YC-halo boosting side) than they could expect to gain (from McDonald's ads, or whatever). This is the diametric opposite of how most social media platforms think about users, and their business models around them. The Reddit IPO is a case study: they've willingly chased away countless millions of users with an abrasive, horrible forum experience, because they calculate they can extract more revenue from those that remain. Where HN is a "narrow, tall" revenue source surrounded by free stuff, Reddit is "wide and short": everyone and everything is the product.
jspash 3y ago
This must be why those "EasyPost is hiring" posts show up every 3-4 weeks like clockwork. I assumed they were just bad at employee retention.
IncreasePosts 3y ago
I filter them too. Anyone who posts an ad and doesn't allow comments is a coward.
- solarkraft 3y ago
  One thing I really liked about Reddit and Twitter ads is that they did allow comments. I think that started to change when I stopped using them.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

HN has ads-that-look-like-posts too. They're mostly job postings for Y Combinator startups—a perk of that incubator being getting privileged positions on HN's front page. I filter them with uBlock.

pierat 3y ago

If you cant comment on a post, it's not a post but a shitty ad. Tells me that VCs are afraid of actual criticism, and 'no comment ad-posts' are their version of a safe space.... for critiques.

perihelions 3y ago
- "If you cant comment on a post, it's not a post but a shitty ad." Right, that's the basis of my uBlock rule. :) news.ycombinator.com##:xpath(//td[contains(@class,"subtext")]):not(:has-text(/\b(comment|comments|discuss)\b/i)):xpath(.. | ../following-sibling::tr[1] | ../preceding-sibling::tr[1]):style(display: none)
- bossyTeacher 3y ago
  Now that you posted your secret, Dang can update the html to bypass you rule
  - djbusby 3y ago
    I bet that doesn't happen.

jasonjmcghee 3y ago

They have very nearly zero negative impact on my experience though.

lutoma 3y ago
Except for the 'OneSignal' startup ones. I always think they're posts related to Signal (the messaging app) for a bit.
- ghostpepper 3y ago
  I always find it odd when startups pick names that resemble large, unrelated companies. BuildZoom is another one - has nothing to do with Zoom
  - kgermino 3y ago
    Not sure about onesignal, but I’m pretty sure BuildZoom long predates the zoom video conferencing tool being a household name. There’s an element of luck, but also the names are part of the culture from the time they’re created. Multiple people often come up with very similar names for different things just because of what’s going in the world around them.

xg15 3y ago

At least they are predictable and closely related to to the community. I can sort of understand that a startup accelerator that runs a discussion board on the side would want to post job postings for their own startups on their own discussion board. (Also the fact that YC runs HN isn't exactly hidden - the first hint is right there in the URL) I think it would be something completely different if YC suddenly showed promoted posts from unrelated "partners" or just opened this up as an advertising opportunity to the general public.

perihelions 3y ago
I agree. I think this is one of the key reasons HN succeeds as it does: the narrow, delimited incentives on the part of YC. All of the writing and discussion that exists on HN, which isn't a YC ad, is a "halo" to attract and retain readers to this forum (and see the YC logos and YC ads). That's their primary incentive: attract users, attract a specific culture of users. It's an incentive aligned with quality and pleasantness for us. The daily forum experience isn't the revenue source; to monetize that, YC would risk losing more (on their YC-halo boosting side) than they could expect to gain (from McDonald's ads, or whatever). This is the diametric opposite of how most social media platforms think about users, and their business models around them. The Reddit IPO is a case study: they've willingly chased away countless millions of users with an abrasive, horrible forum experience, because they calculate they can extract more revenue from those that remain. Where HN is a "narrow, tall" revenue source surrounded by free stuff, Reddit is "wide and short": everyone and everything is the product.

jspash 3y ago

This must be why those "EasyPost is hiring" posts show up every 3-4 weeks like clockwork. I assumed they were just bad at employee retention.

IncreasePosts 3y ago

I filter them too. Anyone who posts an ad and doesn't allow comments is a coward.

solarkraft 3y ago
One thing I really liked about Reddit and Twitter ads is that they did allow comments. I think that started to change when I stopped using them.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]