HN has ads. They are rare (and mostly job postings), but they do exist.

patrickk · on July 30, 2015

Which job links are paid for on HN? That's news to me.

I have no problem with this actually, because such things are on a separate page and its obvious the content you are getting is relevant to you (unlike lots of online advertising). Good luck to pg and the devs and mods behind HN if they want to generate cash to keep the site going.

kaybe · on July 30, 2015

I think the parent post is talking about the occasional job ads for YC companies, in the normal link list on the front page. You can recognize them since they cannot be upvoted. It's not like they pay money I guess, but get visibility to find talented workers.