"we've seen a deluge of these recently and not a single one has had something fresh to say"

Then stop reading them? Things get repeated, rehashed and re-posted all the time. Just be glad we arent talking about Bitcoin again :)

Personally, I would love to see these articles on HN everyday, at the top, just to make sure every software engineer has seen at least one.

Have you read it?

Indeed. The point about user intent vs. value of advertising is neither new nor obscure - any semi-competent online marketer knows this (and this is also why Google continues to make the big bucks).

The generic complaints re: "traffic first, fuck revenue!" is true, but like the above, is neither a new statement nor is it one that really needs popularizing - it's already being repeated ad nauseum in the community.

There's also a whole side of marketing being discounted - which is that it is not always necessary for ads to convert directly to a sale. Coca-Cola, for example, invests a great deal of money in advertising without the expectation that each impression convert directly to a sale. Brand maintenance is a valid field, but that's besides the point.

Your post is simply repeating a point that's been hammered home, repeatedly and enthusiastically, by various people over the last few weeks. It's getting pretty old. Which isn't to say the topic should be verboten, but can we refrain from writing another diatribe against the failure of ad-based business models unless we have something new to bring to the table?

[edit] And another thing, and this isn't necessarily pointed at you - but these "screw ad-based business models!" posts seem to have come about mainly after the poor Facebook IPO. There are a lot of people cashing in on the schadenfreude, writing "I told you so!" posts. It all strikes me as self congratulatory and needlessly vindictive.

People have complained about the lack of originality from the beginning of times. Please stop writing about it unless you have something new to say.

I did, and while i'm not going to be as aggressive as the poster above you, it really doesn't say anything new.

It's rehash of arguments that occurred the very second facebook and twitter became popular.

Don't let him get you down. I enjoyed your article, as did all the other people who voted for it.

Please stop writing posts that tell people to stop writing articles that tell people to stop working on ads.

Weeing all over kittens is the new old.