4 ms·

Ads are a necessary matching method in capitalism, there is no better alternative unfortunately.

by cm2012 1y ago

bee_rider 1y ago
I don’t think this is true, but I also don’t know anybody way to verify it either way. Enthusiast forums were always a better source, although native ads can mess that up. But, even if ads are a necessary evil, they are definitely overhead (in the sense that they don’t actually accomplish anything, just influence the decision as to what should be done). Maybe we can define some sort of ad-efficiency metric for an economy; what percentage of the money is spent influencing decisions, what percentage is spent actually implementing the decisions…
- cm2012 1y ago
  Here is a longer version of my thinking: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44714407 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44714407
msgodel 1y ago
I don't know if that's quite right. A nice business directory would probably be better but most people don't want to settle for that.
- cm2012 1y ago
  Here is a longer version of my thinking: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44714407 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44714407
  - msgodel 1y ago
    Nah I don't think the directories need to be reviewed (except for listings for things that don't actually exist.) Just show the listings in lexicographic order like how phone books worked. We already have the law as the meta norm. Let law enforcement do its job.
    - cm2012 1y ago
      Who is making the directory? Is it public like Wikipedia? How do you decide which businesses are notable enough? Is it the government? Of which country? Can anyone submit without approval? It would get spammed to ruin. Etc etc.
      - msgodel 1y ago
        >How do you decide which businesses are notable enough? Are the a non-duplicate business selling something >Is it the government? Of which country? It doesn't matter >Can anyone submit without approval? As long as your submiting information about a non-duplicate business that's selling something. >It would get spammed to ruin. As long as its deduplicated no one would care.

Ads are a necessary matching method in capitalism, there is no better alternative unfortunately.

by cm2012 1y ago

Ads are a necessary matching method in capitalism, there is no better alternative unfortunately.

I don’t think this is true, but I also don’t know anybody way to verify it either way. Enthusiast forums were always a better source, although native ads can mess that up. But, even if ads are a necessary evil, they are definitely overhead (in the sense that they don’t actually accomplish anything, just influence the decision as to what should be done). Maybe we can define some sort of ad-efficiency metric for an economy; what percentage of the money is spent influencing decisions, what percentage is spent actually implementing the decisions…

cm2012 1y ago
Here is a longer version of my thinking: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44714407 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44714407

msgodel 1y ago

I don't know if that's quite right. A nice business directory would probably be better but most people don't want to settle for that.

cm2012 1y ago
Here is a longer version of my thinking: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44714407 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44714407
- msgodel 1y ago
  Nah I don't think the directories need to be reviewed (except for listings for things that don't actually exist.) Just show the listings in lexicographic order like how phone books worked. We already have the law as the meta norm. Let law enforcement do its job.
  - cm2012 1y ago
    Who is making the directory? Is it public like Wikipedia? How do you decide which businesses are notable enough? Is it the government? Of which country? Can anyone submit without approval? It would get spammed to ruin. Etc etc.
    - msgodel 1y ago
      >How do you decide which businesses are notable enough? Are the a non-duplicate business selling something >Is it the government? Of which country? It doesn't matter >Can anyone submit without approval? As long as your submiting information about a non-duplicate business that's selling something. >It would get spammed to ruin. As long as its deduplicated no one would care.