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Comment by tester756 | Hacker News Reader

I disagree

There is good and bad advertising.

I'd want to receive ads for things that I'm really interested in.

I can’t relate to that. When I see a banner ad I find it obtrusive whether it’s from Bank of America or my favorite HAM radio company. If I’m in the market for a product I value hearing the testimonials of people in my life rather than an advertisement.

I'm mostly thinking about finding things that you werent even aware that they do exist

I’m trying to think of anything I find useful that I stumbled upon thanks to ads over the past twenty years or so, and I’m pretty much drawing a blank. It certainly seems negligible.

The problem with prohibiting ads is how to prevent (or even define) payed hidden promotions. But tracking and targeted ads could be prohibited, which would already make things much more civil and less relevant as a tech profit center.

>I’m trying to think of anything I find useful that I stumbled upon thanks to ads over the past twenty years or so, and I’m pretty much drawing a blank. It certainly seems negligible.

Maybe the ad is good when you arent even aware that you were influenced by it?

like Cola vs Pepsi, McDonald vs KFC, etc.

The one case where I find ads useful, when word of mouth isn't an option, is in a static image on a site (review site, blog, whatever) where I'm researching a thing. The ad would be related to that thing, doesn't need to know a thing about me other than I'm browsing that page, and is related to the content on that page. I click on those ads sometimes.

It's like saying there is good and bad diseases because some solve other problems like space in nursing home.

No, it isn't.

People want to buy things, especially the ones that make their life easier, but you got to get to know them somehow, right?

Depends on the product being advertised. I don't see how you can compare a product that enhances someone's life to a disease.

If you're "really interested" in something, you're already following new releases, doing extensive research for purchases etc, so why would you need ads?

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