There are two kinds of ADS in my book:<p>One kind is an appeal to the person in some general fashion.  The usual forms apply.  There isn&#x27;t much of a value add, beyond the appeal.  &quot;Ours is 2x better&quot;, or &quot;You will feel GREAT!&quot;, etc...<p>The other kind is a value add, in that something of value is given in return for a bit of mindshare or implied consideration.  This is HN, and a lot of other content marketing type approaches.  Some use forums for discussion, others blogs, still others white papers, and or maybe things like apps, or data one can make use of.<p>In my own personal thoughts, I refer to this as, &quot;give &#x27;em a cookie.  Who doesn&#x27;t like a free cookie?&quot;  And when they take the cookie, they will often give you that little bit of consideration, or a contact address, opinion, something.<p>Musicians do this by dropping free to play and sometimes free to download tracks.  &quot;Here&#x27;s your cookie, I&#x27;m selling more in the store.&quot;<p>I&#x27;m generally OK with value added type advertising.  I like my free cookie, same as most people.  The non-value added ADS are often trading on shock value, or their ability to interrupt you, or some other inane thing.  Noise.