An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion • Hacker News Board

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#231

Post by captainmuon » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 2:27 PM UTC

If the margins are so high for an ad exchange (~20%), I don't understand why nobody opens a new independent one. Sure, such a thing is hard to get off the ground, but if you have VC backing or contacts with a few classical media sites and industry associations, it seems definitely possible.

Also, I don't think the advantages of targeted advertising and ad auctions are as big as people think. Maybe people should start placing ads via the sites' thematical context instead of the users' browsing history.

Finally, I would also look into serving ads first-party, that is embedded in the page and from the same domain. A lot harder to block, more performant, and you might be able to get rid of the stupid cookie banners.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#232

Post by eclipxe » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 2:29 PM UTC

willvarfar wrote: post #5

I remember when google was the shining light of “be nice company” that we all dreamed of working for, at odds with the evil that was M$crosoft. And, from reading all the “why I left google” posts and hearing about them leaving China, the old google of 20 or even just 10 years ago was the good or even just a better google. With how google went from “do no evil” to this, with how Facebook has always been profits over e…

Work where you want and don’t feel bad because of HN opinions. HN hates everything eventually, except RSS.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#233

Post by lucasverra » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 2:29 PM UTC

willvarfar wrote: post #5

I remember when google was the shining light of “be nice company” that we all dreamed of working for, at odds with the evil that was M$crosoft. And, from reading all the “why I left google” posts and hearing about them leaving China, the old google of 20 or even just 10 years ago was the good or even just a better google. With how google went from “do no evil” to this, with how Facebook has always been profits over e…

The ones that do not pay FAANG(M) salaries

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#234

Post by eclipxe » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 2:32 PM UTC

true_religion wrote: post #178

throwaway6734 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I mean, if they were still paying us all handsomely like stock brokers then I bet popular opinion would be on their side. Aren't FAANG salaries still absurd?

Faang salaries are pretty good when you are starting out, but they level of pretty quickly. After say twenty years, my friends on Wall Street are mysteriously richer than I am. Of course the ones who didn’t survive the early treadmill aren’t included, but I guess that’s the trade off. Engineering is fairly stable and well paying, but you don’t get million dollar payouts unless you are a founder.

That isn’t true.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#235

Post by ryan93 » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 2:35 PM UTC

pverghese wrote: post #14

Are we going to trial on Twitter nowadays? What is this nonsense

People claiming its hard to read twitter threads has gotten cliche on hacker news.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#236

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 2:37 PM UTC

true_religion wrote: post #178

throwaway6734 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I mean, if they were still paying us all handsomely like stock brokers then I bet popular opinion would be on their side. Aren't FAANG salaries still absurd?

Faang salaries are pretty good when you are starting out, but they level of pretty quickly. After say twenty years, my friends on Wall Street are mysteriously richer than I am. Of course the ones who didn’t survive the early treadmill aren’t included, but I guess that’s the trade off. Engineering is fairly stable and well paying, but you don’t get million dollar payouts unless you are a founder.

[deleted]

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#237

Post by sanderjd » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 2:47 PM UTC

mips313 wrote: post #171

Regarding companies putting profits above all else, which companies are doing things better, and how we create better cultures, I thought I might have something valuable to add to the discussion: I work at one of Elon's companies and, yes, he cares about profitability, but I really appreciate the way he frames it, which is to use profitability as a forcing function for getting things done and as a feedback signal abo…

In my experience this is always the framing. The hard part is figuring out when you're being BS'd.

I agree that a strong founder personality impressing their personal philosophy on the company leads to very different outcomes. I think Google's slow loss of its founders' day to day impact over time is very relevant to this conversation.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#238

Post by MichaelMoser123 » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 2:52 PM UTC

matsemann wrote: post #59

willvarfar wrote: post #5

I remember when google was the shining light of “be nice company” that we all dreamed of working for, at odds with the evil that was M$crosoft. And, from reading all the “why I left google” posts and hearing about them leaving China, the old google of 20 or even just 10 years ago was the good or even just a better google. With how google went from “do no evil” to this, with how Facebook has always been profits over e…

Being a xoogler used to be something to put in your profile bio, and basically an instant hire if in your CV. Now it almost carries a stigma.

Where does it carry a stigma to have worked for google? Lots of interesting tech and lots of open source projects come from inside google.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#239

Post by DLA » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 2:55 PM UTC

Twitter threads suck so bad from a UX perspective. Long form “article” in a zillion tiny chunks with all the UI control cruft repeated over and over and over and over providing no value whatsoever. An enormous post, page, or article would be so much better. So over threads.

Re: An enormous thread on alleged Google Facebook collusion

#240

Post by bluedevilzn » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 2:58 PM UTC

true_religion wrote: post #178

throwaway6734 wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I mean, if they were still paying us all handsomely like stock brokers then I bet popular opinion would be on their side. Aren't FAANG salaries still absurd?

Faang salaries are pretty good when you are starting out, but they level of pretty quickly. After say twenty years, my friends on Wall Street are mysteriously richer than I am. Of course the ones who didn’t survive the early treadmill aren’t included, but I guess that’s the trade off. Engineering is fairly stable and well paying, but you don’t get million dollar payouts unless you are a founder.

If you worked at FAANG and survived the treadmill for 20 years, you should be a Principal Engineer/Engineering Director at least. L8 compensation starts at a million dollars per year.