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I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

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Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#471

Post by direwolf20 »

Spivak wrote: post #383
jandrese wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Facebook is especially bad about letting outright scammers buy ad slots.

Meanwhile in real life IG and TikTok ads are the only ones normal people seem to generally trust. I've only ever heard people talking about getting Instagram or TikTok ads for things and actually buying them in a way that would sound genuinely jarring if they said "an ad on Google." I think there's something to be said for how IG and TikTok ads are actually made that makes them more appealing which is that they actua…

My IG ads are so extremely personalized with every detail of my life it's both extremely creepy because I volunteered none of this data, and very useful because they are showing me things I might want to buy.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#472

Post by direwolf20 »

1718627440 wrote: post #395
flkiwi wrote: post #228

My "favorite", and likely related, part of Apple News is that if I have blocked a source because it is unreliable, heavily biased, etc., and a story from that source appears in the main timeline, Apple News shows a greyed out version of the story--headline and image visible--with "You have blocked this publication" (or similar). You can still clearly see the story, so it's not blocked at all. I assume this comes down…

I mean that is also how it kinda works here on HN.

if you turned on the option in your settings to show blocked comments

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#473

Post by direwolf20 »

sammyoos wrote: post #82

I bought a remarkably similar mug (last advert shown) from an add from different site [1]. Everything about it was a fake. Almost every feature they advertised did not exist (including the fact that it did not come in a gift box.) That was from a site I visit a lot and I wanted to show support. BTW the AI generated animation is quite cool, too bad it is not real... Do not buy this!! [1] https://kenmiso.com/products/%…

Sue them for your $28 back?

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#474

Post by jefftk »

nkrisc wrote: post #461
WarmWash wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the "beast" is the Internet content itself. Even HN itself is a massive ad. We are lured here with tech links so YC companies can fish in curated waters for workers. That is explicitly why this board is hosted. The real fix is paying money for everything, but as evidenced by the many attempts at this, no one actually wants to pay. People overwhelmingly want to block ads and backdoor subscriptions. For e…

> Unfortunately the "beast" is the Internet content itself. Don’t threaten me with a good time. Most of what’s on the Internet should not exist and the world would be better without.

Like (ad-funded) HN?

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#475

Post by manuelabeledo »

lloeki wrote: post #462
manuelabeledo wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s your point, exactly? They are still commercials.

To me there's a very distinct difference between unobtrusive same-service tasteful trailers and entirely unrelated third party ads. I genuinely discovered great series and films that I enjoyed a lot but I would not have watched otherwise (e.g Shrinking). This is true for cinema as well.

While I agree that third party advertising is not the same as playing trailers from other same platform shows, once you are in the app, these highly promoted shows are really hard to miss, regardless of how many trailers are placed at the beginning of another show.

For Shrinking, for instance, they placed an almost full screen, auto play trailer in the main carousel. It is also first in the top ten shows, and it appears in a number of other lists.

Regardless of all this, they do play unrelated promotions for their add ons like some sports stuff or the Peacock deal.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#476

Post by direwolf20 »

tcfhgj wrote: post #402
bombcar wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be willing to consider paying for vetted ads - in other words, you pay for the NYT and you get a guarantee that you're only seeing ads that have been personally vetted by the NYT for correctness, appropriateness, etc. Advertising is speech and it used to be that if a magazine/newspaper printed a scam ad, it was horribly damaging to their business, both legally and morally.

> I would be willing to consider paying for vetted ads why, though?

Becoming aware of the existence of products and services you might like is not inherently bad.

It's the state of the industry that is bad.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#477

Post by andrepd »

ruszki wrote: post #378
WarmWash wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally if all the ads you see are scammy, it means you probably are using some form of tracking/privacy protection. When an ad network has a strong profile on you, legitimate companies pay good money for those ad slots. When they don't really know who you are, only bottom feeders bid on the ad slots you see. In a way, it almost acts as retribution for not submitting to the anti-privacy machine.

I don’t think that it’s possible to not have a strong profile on you. I’m using Librewolf with a ton of anti fingerprinting tools, separate sessions for everything, blocking any ads, social media SDKs, Google things, like Analytics, don’t even use Google anywhere for search etc on a Debian. Yet, Google knew immediately when I started to play Minecraft. The only connection was embedded YouTube videos on Minecraft wiki…

A VPN helps. You can essentially mix your traffic with thousands of other people.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#478

Post by bagacrap »

autoexec wrote: post #299
WarmWash wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the "beast" is the Internet content itself. Even HN itself is a massive ad. We are lured here with tech links so YC companies can fish in curated waters for workers. That is explicitly why this board is hosted. The real fix is paying money for everything, but as evidenced by the many attempts at this, no one actually wants to pay. People overwhelmingly want to block ads and backdoor subscriptions. For e…

> Unfortunately the "beast" is the Internet content itself. The idea that the internet couldn't exist without ads is a myth that needs to die. The internet existed, thrived, and was awesome long before it became infested with ads. An ad free internet would be different in some ways, but it'd still be great and filled with endless amounts of content. Your example of youtube kind of proves the point. It was so much mor…

Think of your yt premium sub as a donation to the creators you enjoy.

What, you don't have a sub?

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#479

Post by aaarrm »

direwolf20 wrote: post #400
StilesCrisis wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They tried to kill _competitors'_ ads. Everyone else gets "Ask Not to Track" while Apple gets "Personalized Ads." It's so glaring once you see it.

The ad industry can't destroy itself soon enough.

I often imagine a world where ads are illegal.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#480

Post by WarmWash »

rmunn wrote: post #426
hunterpayne wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people are cheap (or broke). As such they will take for free when they can. In markets like that, ads win out. You should take a look at what happens to human behavior when you change a price from free to tiny (like a penny or a dollar) but non-zero.

You're quite right: that newfangled Patreon nonsense is a flash in the pan that will never catch on. There's no way anyone can be successful getting hundreds of people to pay them $5 (or even $1) per month. Ads are the only way to run the Internet. What? It's 2026, not 2016? And Patreon has been running very successfully for over a decade? Huh. Whaddayaknow?

Patreon is not the issue.

1% of people covering most the costs for the other 99% of people is. Which is what we find when looking at patreon conversions

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