This thread has justified the time wasted on hn. I had recently felt the signal to noise had been dropping consistently here; The smarts catalyzed here justifies keeping HN in my list. The signal is still strong. 
Cheers!
PS: that idlewords blogpost linked by w1ntermute <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;idlewords.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;the_advertising_bubble.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;idlewords.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;the_advertising_bubble.htm</a> is exactly what I&#x27;ve been thinking for years now, great blog too.