[jarcane]

So disable linking.

The clickthrough rate on internet ads is execrable. Frequently in the fractions of a percent at best.

No other advertising space operates on the assumption that linking represents.

Eliminating linking and leaving pure visual ads would be in line with every other form of advertising in existence, and eliminate the "problem" of click fraud, link-bait, and actually fraudulent links.

Do we really need a business model that exists largely to enable ad networks to defraud each other and consumers? We have advertising standards bodies that are meant to prevent this kind of thing in every other form of advertising, but somehow the internet is "special"?

[marvy]

So you end up with ads that say: copy/paste this URL. What have you solved?

[jarcane]

I think realistically, the friction against such a method is strong. People can scarcely be arsed to bother with QR-codes anymore. It could still happen, but this sounds an awful lot like a "perfect is the enemy of the good" sort of argument. Is not some X% of the problem better than the 100% that we have now?