Depends what you consider an advertisement - advertising on something like Read The Docs or sponsoring conferences is one thing and I feel that's acceptable, but buying keywords on Google is just spam. I would not trust any software product (especially a low-level one like a library, as opposed to an out-of-the-box SaaS) that advertises on Google keywords or similar.
so you love conferences they sponsor. would you ever pay some minimal amount to go to a conference? If so isn't an adword (in your gmail or in your search results) an appropriate place to see you, in the clearly labelled advertising section? Wouldn't you be quite likely to click it, and also be happy that it was served to you?
> would you ever pay some minimal amount to go to a conference
Yes.
My issues with Adwords are the following:
1) they're abused by spam and garbage, so seeing a (potentially good) software product in there immediately turns me off and is actually a red flag.
2) it shows that the developer has no idea of the target market for their product - anyone that has the brains to use a software library would be blocking the Adwords anyway.
3) the above could mean they're instead targeting managers/CTOs as opposed to the actual people who will be using the library (developers), which is also a huge red flag.
I have no problem at all with your logic for the specific case you mentioned. (In fact it's easy for me to agree with it.)
In fact we're arguing/discussing better targeting now! As a developer you don't want to see an open source product advertised.
On the other hand, if you're a manager who can't deliver a feature that your customer is begging for because there is no out of the box solution/library for it, and you don't have the personpower - but lo, you can license one for $100/month that's worth tens of thousands to your customer, you'll be thrilled if you can learn about the existence of it. (Just a hypothetical, use a different one if you want: again, we're talking about better targeting.)
You didn't answer my question about if you want to see ads for a conference (I took two long sentences to ask you super explicitly) - is it because that's a resounding yes? I get that you don't want to answer the question because it's counter to your philosophy that targeted ads are bad. That philosophy, as we're seeing, is wrong.
The issue I have with targeting is that the ads should be targeted to the content I see, not to me - this is why ads on platforms like Read The Docs are fine by me as they target based on the content of the page they're displayed on, instead of trying to stalk me around everywhere in order to target better ads to me.
I'm happy to see computer-related ads on Read The Docs, but on standard Google I'd rather have cat food advertised (or other generic product).
Oh sorry, I totally missed that you were talking about ads for conferences as opposed to conferences themselves - but again the above still applies; more than happy to see conference ads on developer related websites. On Google, especially when I search for a generic keyword? No, give me cat food any day.
I know you say you want it but I am sure that you will love seeing ads for conferences that actually interest you, in your gmail inbox, and you will be annoyed by irrelevant ads (such as cat food when you don't have a cat.)
I've never been bothered by ads I see in gmail.
they're also super explicit about the way in which they collect and collate data and I understand that maybe I will have to make different Google accounts to be targeted to different things.
I guess your and my perspective is just very different. but enjoy your cat food or Amazing skin lightening! (for darker skinned people) ads - they're both very popular products. (the latter is a scam product category.)
I don't use Gmail as I don't want to have ads in my inbox. Ads might have a place elsewhere but not in my daily work tool. I'm happy to pay Office 365 for the privilege of not having potential garbage advertised to me.
One of my issues with advertising on the web is the tracking/stalking. I am okay with ads that are targeted based on the content of the current page as this does not require stalking me everywhere.
My other issue is that highly targeted ads (to the individual) create an echo chamber. The thing is, after a day of work, I no longer want to see development-related ads. Give me cat food (or other generic products) instead. This is what I actually like about print & billboard ads in the real world - they're generic and actually make me discover new brands & products I haven't heard of before.
Finally the problem with Adwords and similar online advertising is that there just isn't enough vetting nor review for them - there is a lot of spam, garbage products, etc. Print ads are much better as the publisher more or less takes responsibility for them, so they're doing their due diligence when choosing which ads to run. You don't have that on the web.
I do see what you mean about an echo chamber (filter bubble) and can understand some of your points. I guess Google's advertising has just never bothered me - and as mentioned upthread, one of my machines blocks their ad server so that I can't follow their ads when I try to: many times I've manually gotten around it to see what I tried to click. (This reminds me of how I do like their ads.)
Maybe we have a difference in preferences but I just never felt stalked or the like. I suppose it might change in the future. Thanks for your thoughts.
