so when you come to HN - and there's a story on the 1st Page about a YC company hiring - that you can't comment on - but just click.

to you is that an AD ?

for all contexts and purposes it's an ad. is it intrusive ? no. that's just a native ad. are you gonna zap it ? most times - just leaving it there makes sense than going through the effort of using the ublock origin picker.

To me it's just a submission. No different than a Show HN.

Marketing people seem to think that everything you do that advances your interests is advertising. Maintaining a good appearance is advertising, because you're "selling yourself". I don't subscribe to that definition.