4 ms·

Apologies if this is OT. For a very long time (probably more than a year) I have been seeing the same link at the bottom of every single Ars Technica article;

Apologies if this is OT. For a very long time (probably more than a year) I have been seeing the same link at the bottom of every single Ars Technica article; it is a link to a video titled "SITREP: F-16 replacement search a signal of F-35 fail?" Are other readers experiencing the same? If not, what could be the reason for targeting me? I am not involved in military tech or aviation, and I usually block tracking cookies so I don't expect the site to know much about who I am or what my interests are. I just find it odd that the footer of a publication like Ars Technica would remain unchanged for such a long time.

AdamN 3y ago
It probably converts well and they see no reason to update it ... or the intern turned off the cron job that was written in 2015 that is supposed to update the cross-links every day ...
explaininjs 3y ago
I see it too. Seems to just be an article they like. Perhaps they condition advertisements on referrers. Edit: I see now it's a video, meaning it's really just a flashy headline that gets you to click and immediately watch though an ad. They probably make quite a pretty penny off of that.
3np 3y ago
Always the same discussion about the TV series Quantum Leap, here.
- kkarakk 3y ago
  i wouldn't be surprised if the feature was just broken, ars website works really poorly
- mastazi 3y ago
  oh yes that's right I see that as well, I notice it less because of the more benign topic. I just clicked on a few links from the home page and it seems to depend on the section the article is on (science, tech, gaming etc.), in the "tech" and "gadgets" sections I get the military plane video, when the article is categorised as "gaming" or "information technology" I get the Quantum Leap video, and when I'm reading articles in the "science" category I get a third video about Biomarkers in medical diagnosis.
mastax 3y ago
Yeah I see the same and have thought it strange. I think it’s just that footer was designed to promote their video content and Ars doesn’t produce much video so that’s the most recent thing to put there.

AdamN 3y ago

It probably converts well and they see no reason to update it ... or the intern turned off the cron job that was written in 2015 that is supposed to update the cross-links every day ...

explaininjs 3y ago

I see it too. Seems to just be an article they like. Perhaps they condition advertisements on referrers. Edit: I see now it's a video, meaning it's really just a flashy headline that gets you to click and immediately watch though an ad. They probably make quite a pretty penny off of that.

3np 3y ago

Always the same discussion about the TV series Quantum Leap, here.

kkarakk 3y ago
i wouldn't be surprised if the feature was just broken, ars website works really poorly
mastazi 3y ago
oh yes that's right I see that as well, I notice it less because of the more benign topic. I just clicked on a few links from the home page and it seems to depend on the section the article is on (science, tech, gaming etc.), in the "tech" and "gadgets" sections I get the military plane video, when the article is categorised as "gaming" or "information technology" I get the Quantum Leap video, and when I'm reading articles in the "science" category I get a third video about Biomarkers in medical diagnosis.

mastax 3y ago

Yeah I see the same and have thought it strange. I think it’s just that footer was designed to promote their video content and Ars doesn’t produce much video so that’s the most recent thing to put there.