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Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

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Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#271

Post by cortesoft »

asdkhadsj wrote: post #107
duxup wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like a fun challenge. It's just ads. If we're talking about some ad for a coffee maker, whatever. Now their whole selling data to unscrupulous folks, taking money from parents via their kids, selling fake news that makes people hate other people (now that gets into the ad space...) .... That's where I'd want to nope out.

Thank you. I feel like ads have such a bad rap because of the state of the internet. Yet, what does everyone expect? Is it shocking that content providers want money for their product? And yes, I know, some sites and ads do terrible things. The actively hurt viewership. BUT, isn't that the same with everything ? Even my groceries are getting worse as companies seek ways to increase profits without pissing me off; the…

I think advertising has value, but there is a really good article about why targeted advertising is bad:

https://zgp.org/targeted-advertising-considered-harmful/

The tl;dr is basically that one of the key aspects of advertising is signaling (i.e. we stand behind our product so much that we can waste this much money advertising it to you)... with targeted advertising, it becomes so cheap display an ad to only a few people that you lose that signal, and you have no way of knowing if a product is total crap or not.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#272

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

minimaxir wrote: post #50

This example is likely not specifically targeting ad blockers, but ad scrapers for transparency: https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-blocks-ad-transp... > Our tool recognized ads by searching for that word. Last year, Facebook added invisible letters to the HTML code of the site. So, to a computer, the word registered as “SpSonSsoSredS.” That article also links to this tweet in that paragraph.

That has to destroy accessibility. I mean, a human using a screen reader is nearly equivalent to a scraper, so the whole thing seems problematic.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#273

Post by 0xffff2 »

minikites wrote: post #172
reaperducer wrote: post #163

At first I thought that this might be another good indication that having "Facebook" on your resume isn't the golden egg it once was. Then I realize it's even better than before because it demonstrates for a potential employer that you'll push whatever buttons you're asked to in exchange for money, regardless of whether it's good for the user, the internet, or society as a whole.

This is why I genuinely believe STEM majors should be required to take more liberal arts (e.g. ethics) classes as a requirement to graduate.

We do though? I had to take two GE philosophy courses and an engineering ethics course to get my degree.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#274

Post by ufmace »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #145
asdkhadsj wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. I feel like ads have such a bad rap because of the state of the internet. Yet, what does everyone expect? Is it shocking that content providers want money for their product? And yes, I know, some sites and ads do terrible things. The actively hurt viewership. BUT, isn't that the same with everything ? Even my groceries are getting worse as companies seek ways to increase profits without pissing me off; the…

I run an old collaborative writing (roleplaying) forum populated mostly by teens that's paid for by a banner ad. When I read HN comments about ads, I see people who are forgetting what ads have actually gotten us: more people able to create more things that are available to everyone for free. HNers like to say "well, then adapt your business model," but look at the incredibly friction that exists for getting people t…

As a question of curiosity, roughly how much traffic does your site get and how much are you paying for your servers? I run a few sites to do various minor personal things. None of them get much traffic, and my monthly hosting costs are in the neighborhood of $20 or so, and that's probably using servers that are more powerful than what's really needed.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#275

Post by chairmanmow »

duxup wrote: post #134
taurath wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I choose to believe we could have a better world, where loading a local news site doesn’t look like a virus-ridden Windows 95 desktop, where just trying to talk with friends isn’t interrupted by.. (checks twitter) payday loan lobbyists. Where the smartest people of my generation are using every dark pattern in the world to take my attention away from what matters to me.

I think it is very possible, even with ads. So ads are often a place where dark patterns happen and such. But take Apple for instance. Apple seems to respect user privacy to a fairly far extent compared to say, Facebook, Google. If apple wasn't around ... we would probably say something about "you can't have these fancy smartphones without someone stealing all your data". But clearly Apple can do it (for a lot of rea…

Apple's a little better, but anecdotally speaking after deleting facebook from my phone I switched to Apple's News application for reading news on my iPhone, and there are dark patterns in play, or maybe it could be called 'curating' the feed. Point is, there's algorithms and sponsored content hiding inside that app that I don't have much control over. I'd like to read a newspaper like there used to be where we're viewing the same version and the same ads. Apple's not completely innocent they're just not direct about it. I wish they were.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#276

Post by dlandis »

reaperducer wrote: post #163

At first I thought that this might be another good indication that having "Facebook" on your resume isn't the golden egg it once was. Then I realize it's even better than before because it demonstrates for a potential employer that you'll push whatever buttons you're asked to in exchange for money, regardless of whether it's good for the user, the internet, or society as a whole.

> Then I realize it's even better than before because it demonstrates for a potential employer that you'll push whatever buttons you're asked to in exchange for money...

Well you don't know why the person left the company...maybe they were dissatisfied with its direction/practices.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#277

Post by manigandham »

engineeringwoke wrote: post #269
manigandham wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok. You previously stated [1] that you "work in finance" and then described it in the same comment as "People hate finance because at the core it's sales and you make your keep by being predatory since everyone does it." Perhaps you should have chosen not to work in finance then? Doesn't that industry quite literally "treat human beings like money machines"? Does this judgement not apply to you too? 1. https://news.y…

Yes, I am aware. That's why I quit finance, taught myself software engineering, and moved to northern Europe. Combing through my post history is a pathetic attempt at saving damage to your precious ego

I think you lost the topic here. The OP was talking about judging people based on just having Facebook on their resume. Likewise, under that rule, you too would be judged for having worked in finance. Your history is therefore relevant, and by your arguments I'm assuming you think it's fair to judge that way?

Good for you for changing careers but that doesn't make you better than anyone else nor is it applicable to any other person's life. Anyway, I'm not sure what ego has to do with anything but I'll take that as a sign that there are no better arguments forthcoming.

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#278

Post by duxup »

ishanjain28 wrote: post #268
duxup wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like a fun challenge. It's just ads. If we're talking about some ad for a coffee maker, whatever. Now their whole selling data to unscrupulous folks, taking money from parents via their kids, selling fake news that makes people hate other people (now that gets into the ad space...) .... That's where I'd want to nope out.

There was an study done on some students from top universities in US. The question they were given was, If they would work for Facebook given all kinds of scandals they were involved in. A lot of people said they wouldn't work for Facebook but later when some of them received offers nobody declined those offers and went on to work for Facebook. I am wondering if the same experiment on people already working in indust…

I like to think it would be different, but I guess I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't any different.

Not likely I'll ever have to consider that problem so I'll remain morally confidant... if only due to circumstance ;)

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#279

Post by sim0n »

nickv wrote: post #89
packetslave wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I need to meet the team I'll be working with before accepting an offer. It's the only way to know if they're competent, can communicate, and are not assholes. This is exactly how Facebook's onboarding process works (at least in engineering). You spend 3-4 weeks in "bootcamp" classes (React 101, IOS 101, etc.). After that, you spend another 3-4 weeks auditioning teams -- you sit with teams that have open headcount f…

Is this process for new college grads or senior engineers? I can't imagine principals go through this process, do they?

I'm sure they do. This is pretty standard at lots of big tech companies (Airbnb, most likely Uber, etc).

Re: Facebook adds 5 divs, 9 spans and 30 CSS classes to every post in the timeline

#280

Post by justapassenger »

hobs wrote: post #106
duxup wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like a fun challenge. It's just ads. If we're talking about some ad for a coffee maker, whatever. Now their whole selling data to unscrupulous folks, taking money from parents via their kids, selling fake news that makes people hate other people (now that gets into the ad space...) .... That's where I'd want to nope out.

Do you think creating something that goes counter to your users desire is not unscrupulous? The only difference between the first stage of the pipeline and the rest is a matter of degree.

I desire free eggs at the grocery store. Grocery store doesn't want to give me them. Grocery store is unscrupulous.
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