I've never seen an ad on HN. They must be really hard to spot.

waterhouse · on Aug 19, 2020

There's currently one on the frontpage for GiveCampus, shown below a regular story:

  14. The Haunted House – Privacy on Google Street View (harpers.org)
      8 points by b0b10101 1 hour ago | flag | hide | 1 comment
  15. GiveCampus (YC S15) hiring Sr Engineers who care about education (lever.co)
      1 hour ago | hide

Distinctive features: no upvote button, no point value, no flag link, no comments.

fauigerzigerk · on Aug 19, 2020

14. "The Haunted House" is not an ad as far as I can see. It does have an upvote button.

15. is a job posting by a YC company. Perhaps you could classify it as an ad, but I see it as a perk that YC grants its own companies.

waterhouse · on Aug 19, 2020

Right, I included the Haunted House entry (a regular story) for contrast.

The job posting is certainly "sponsored content", a privileged post put there at the behest of a third party, which blends in fairly well with neighboring posts yet isn't subject to the normal rules. I don't know if money actually changes hands to put it there (maybe each YC company is granted a posting there, or maybe they have to pay for it), but in other respects it's straightforwardly an ad for a job.

All that said, I have no problem with it being there.

fauigerzigerk · on Aug 19, 2020

>Right, I included the Haunted House entry (a regular story) for contrast.

Ah, sorry, I misread what you said.