[cousin_it]

> The whole idea of why the print yellow pages was good was that it was biased toward people who believed enough in what they were selling to pay for an ad to sell the product or service.

Note that this benefit disappears online, because of targeting. If you see an ad in print, you know the company had enough money to put that ad in front of thousands of people. If you see an ad online, it might have been targeted precisely to you, so the company might well be a scam. I wonder if there's a business idea in making online advertising into a more costly/believable signal.