Ads are impersonal and unsolicited. I think the last point is key.<p>Someone flogging their site here is a grey area, of course, but HN is a community and there are guidelines and policies and ultimately it still feels like it belongs to the people who use it.<p>There are many places in my daily life where I have to go that feel more and more like they belong to advertisers (commerce) instead of the people who live there. At least on the web you can block the ads.