Ask HN: When was the last time you clicked an ad deliberately? - adgulacti
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darrelld
A few months ago, I was on a linux VM with no ad blocker and I got one of
those banner ads about my Windows PC being attacked.

Being interested and having nothing better to do on a Saturday night I clicked
it, got told my system was infected and to call a number for help.

I called the 800 number, got onto a representative who then attempted to get
me to install a piece of software. I played along as the dumb consumer who
just really to keep the viruses and hackers off his computer.

2 hours later with multiple service escalations, attempts to install a .exe
and a .msi to a Ubuntu install, reboots, running windows commands in my
terminal, giving fake credit card numbers (the kind generated to make sure
your system can handle all credit cards) and me just acting plain dumb ended
with me being hung up on.

I figure the 2 hours that they burned on me was one less poor soul they hooked
in.

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Jonnax
Yesterday. I'm on the hunt for a new guitar and I've been browsing various
sites looking at them. On an unrelated forum there were one of those adverts
which was a grid of 6 items the store sold plus store logo.

It got me to click because the guitar looked eye catching and I wanted to know
more.

That's probably the first ad I've clicked in months.

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cauterized
Probably 18-24 months ago, before adding an ad blocker to my phone, when one
got in my way while trying to scroll or the page jumped around during re-
render when an ad image loaded and pushed the link I was about to tap out of
the way.

Oh, wait, deliberately? 3-5 year ago, I'd guess.

I block ads and thus almost never see them. Even without ad blocking
enabled...

A) they're rarely if ever relevant to me B) I'm too skeptical of advertising
in general to believe a word of them C) when they are about something I'm
researching to buy, they pretty much always suggest an item I've already
eliminated from consideration for very good reasons D) I find ads too annoying
to be willing to encourage their use by clicking on them

Maybe once every five years I'll see one that piques my curiosity enough that
I just have to find out what's behind it.

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WaltPurvis
I sometimes click on ads (sponsored links) on the Google search results page.
Other than that, I'm fairly sure I've _never_ intentionally clicked on an ad
in 20+ years of web surfing. (But I'm probably forgetting a few clicks.)

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p333347
Often while searching a book or other items on google, the item that I want is
shown within an ad box on the right, and invariably found on the big river,
but the 'ordinary' link to that item won't appear on the first page! I am a
bit lazy to click on next page arrow, and also have no grudge against google
to cause them a 'loss', so I say what the heck and click on the item. As to
when, probably last week sometime.

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tedmiston
The last one I clicked deliberately was from one of the meal kit startups on
Facebook offering $40 off your first box. I'm opening to trying all of them at
least once with a discount like that.

Besides that, in the past I've found The Deck ads (such as on marco.org) to be
more relevant than most and I click them occasionally.

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SHOwnsYou
All the time. Demanding job + non-computer related hobbies limit my time to
find new things I like.

I patronize websites that are for my demographic. I follow people that
advertise things I like. They do the initial sourcing, then I do the research
into whether or not I like that product.

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veddox
Very occasionally (once a month?) Facebook will show me an ad that actually
looks interesting enough to merit following it. Apart from that, I have an
adblocker to keep the obnoxious stuff off my screen.

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eastindex
I've a personal account which is on a browser profile with ad blocking enabled
and tracking disabled but on a different business profile I am keeping an eye
on ads. I occasionally click them deliberately.

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patatino
Mostly if I'm looking for new sport gear like running shoes I don't mind
clicking on ads if I see a shoe I like.

And if a company is the top result and also shows up in the ads above I click
on the ad.

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arnold_palmur
I honestly can't say for certain that I've ever intentionally clicked on an
ad.

