Linking to company websites so people looking to buy stuff that company makes can find it is a scam, because company websites are biased in favour of that company is not an argument actual adults should make, still less adults who have used the internet (and for that matter, shops!) before. Actual adults are well aware that a company's web page will say good things about the company and that third parties might have different opinions if they care to look elsewhere for them. Insisting that anything written by anyone paid to sell something is a scam [comparable to a trojan masquerading as popular OSS!] is pretty much the reductio ad absurdum version of HN's general aversion to advertising.

The argument for ad blockers is that ads are annoying and trackers are intrusive, not that people should avoid all interaction with any commercial entities ever, even when they're literally looking to buy something.

(And no, the company paying Google for ads so their website appears in the results for a particular search term is not inherently more dishonest than them paying an SEO consultant to achieve the same thing 'organically'...)

I wasn't even talking about paid links specifically. It's advertising in general that's the problem. Call me a child all you want, I don't care. The simple fact remains that they have an inherent conflict of interest. It's not an absurd argument at all. People who want to sell you something have every incentive to distort the truth and only fools believe them.

Arguing that advertising in general is bad is even more of a nonsense statement.

Yes. Please, people, stop believing their lies. Use your minds too. Don't just react.

> Linking to company websites so people looking to buy stuff that company makes can find it is a scam, because company websites are biased in favour of that company

This isn't a faithful interpretation of the argument. Most people don't use Google to look for things to buy. They use it to find accurate information.

Most people clicking on a link to a company website - ads or otherwise - do so because they want to hear what that company has to say about themselves and their products, not because their childlike grasp of the world makes them expect every result to provide utterly impartial information.