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

Post by def_true_false » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 10:53 PM UTC

johnny99 wrote: post #117

hobs wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Disagree. How do you suggest they operate their business? Does this extend to print magazines and newspapers--do you suggest they stop running ads and just give away their product? Do you think Facebook should start charging a subscription? What users want, naturally, is everything awesome free forever. It's naive, though, to things that everyone should always get what they want. As other have said, I agree there are…

Post by justplay » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 10:54 PM UTC

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #286

locklock wrote: post #11

I'm really thankful I haven't yet had a job where all I'm developing is new ways to force people to see ads. Imagine working on a 'feature' like this for weeks or months, and the end result is simply that people who don't want to see ads now have to see ads.

I did this. I helped build the Air Installer network. I truly regret it. If you look up that name, all you get is people worried that it installed viruses or malware (guess what... it did) and how to remove it. The other results you'll see include the owners trying to sell its virtues. As though it's anything other than a way to exploit unsuspecting internet users for money. I was young and naive, and I didn't think…

Post by peterangular » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 11:03 PM UTC

TimothyBJacobs wrote: post #294

peterangular wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep yep - if the text isn't distorted I can rip it from an image within minutes using pre-built OCR libraries. If the text is distorted there's full-blown API-driven services for solving CAPTCHAs and the like.

It seems like a time span of minutes wouldn't be fast enough for on-the-fly blocking of sponsored posts?

Post by bartread » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 11:13 PM UTC

badpun wrote: post #240

JacobJans wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very immature view of advertising, that, unfortunately many advertisers share -- and it leads to scummy ads, with no eye on the long term relationship with the person viewing the ad. However, many ads are not deceptive in any way, and instead simply offer something of value to people who may be interested, without any deceit, psychological trick, or ulterior motive. Just because there are bad ads does not m…

If I were king, all ads would have to be black text on white background, containing ONLY the name of the product/service, its description and advertised merits. The description would have to consist of well-defined and falsifiable statements only.

Post by bartread » Fri, Feb 08, 2019, 11:23 PM UTC

dfinninger wrote: post #211

chillacy wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Privacy is one of the features that helps the iPhone sell for over a thousand dollars. I remember one of the Amazon Kindles sold 2 versions: one with ads that was cheaper, and one without ads that was more expensive. So people do pay at least to get rid of ads (I'm sure both versions collect your data), it just costs more, and most end up not being able to afford it. For all the good in the iPhone, year after year an…

Just had to replace a Kindle. They sell one version now, with ads, and you can turn them off permanently by making a one-time payment though your Amazon account. They also offer it as a check box during checkout.