Doc Searls gives a great example of what I've been calling the shared delusion that most advertising is - the advertisters pretend that they get results, and the sellers of the ads pretend that it all works. It's been clear to me for a long while that it's mostly useless, and i think Doc is right: online advertising is more delusional than most. It doesn't need to be, but - as he points out - that's how it is. If we have a real downturn as a result of the current financial mess, I think people are going to start noticing just how few clothes the advertising emperor is wearing - and an awful lot of businesses that have floated themselves on the ability to sell ads will have real problems.