Big brother is watching

[Lburou]

Three things:

What is this?

If you use the no script extension in your web browser you wont get any adds.

I think most of those ads are the shotgun approach.

I use Bing and other search engines since Google got out of hand.

[dnichols]

I get the same thing. pretty embarrassing when you sitting there with your young kids typing away and a half naked woman pops up on the right screen. Not sure why this forum doesn't have a paid version so you can stop the the ads.

[cerezha]

It is the ads that appear to be a result of some sort of deep demographic mining that disturb me.

Beemandan, I do understand your concerns. I am very private person and my WEB-browser is properly set to prevent leaks. My computer is very well protected and I do not visit porn-sites. I also do not save any passwords on computer. Until recently, I was fine. But I noticed recently, that the targeting ads become suspiciously precise. I attributed it to the google but what is interesting is that I have these targets when my browser is away from the google. It is a good food for conspiracy theory. I think,there is something happened between major search engines (or just google) and WEB-browser. I think, WEB-browser guys silently created the "pipe line" between search engine and browser itself, so they could direct proper ads to other pages. I am using the Firefox and add-ons are disabled.

From another hand, we are using "free" resources.As Russians and others said: free cheese may be only in the mouse-trap. Sergey

[tsk]

I haven't read the whole thread where this is likely mentioned but these are tracking cookies setup by the advertisers. I think generally these can be avoided by not allowing third party cookies (an option in Firefox I know). When you go to a web site, you want it to set cookies, but if the web page has a banner pointing to a third party, that cookie can track you across multiple web sites. Often you go shopping on one site, and then they pay attention to that. If you disable those third party cookies, then that feeling of being watched goes away a bit. I also block many of the web pages that are strictly tracking (like doubleclick.net) and I cut out a lot of ads. It really depends on how nuts you want to go. I have my cookies cleared each time I close my browser which makes me feel a bit better (it's amazing how many cookies are set in just a day of browsing).

[mrobinson]

Of course, the first thing that you must install on your browser is an ad-blocker. The ads simply "stop."

Second, don't consider your e-mail to be "private." Don't consider anything on the Internet to be "private."

"Big Data Is Watching You™" ... but it is doing so with the ham-fisted approach of a young kid with a new toy who really doesn't know what to do with it. Right now, advertisers are supposed to believe that, the more closely-targeted (sic) an advertisement is to you, the more likely you are to pounce on it.

That isn't true, of course, and it never has been true. The mere fact that I am hungry and that I encountered a pizza ad among the junk-mail in my mailbox does not in fact mean that I am going to buy a pizza right-now from this particular vendor. The mere fact that you think that I belong to this-or-that demographic slot, and that you have tried to craft an advertisement "specific to" this-or-that demographic slot, does not mean that I am in any way more likely to respond to it. But bezillions of dollars of venture capital right now are being wasted on people who think otherwise.

Frankly, I defy anyone to spell out a better all-around advertising vehicle than Grit magazine. Or any of those (try to tell me you don't pick 'em up and read 'em even if you put 'em back ...) supermarket at-the-checkout tabloid newspapers. They didn't really care who you were. But they certainly did know "who you are." And you might not know that they published local issues, which local advertisers glommed on to with great results. Uh huh, that movie "Men In Black #1" knew exactly what it was talking about. If there were any space-aliens operating in your neighborhood, those newspapers were on it. But they produced dependable results for advertisers, and grew quite wealthy in the process, with no "tech" at all.

[djastram]

Type in your address in Bing, click on the map, and select "birds eye view"

I can see my lawnmower in my backyard.

Three things:

What is this?

I think most of those ads are the shotgun approach.

I use Bing and other search engines since Google got out of hand.

[bluegrass]

Half necked women on Beesource? I haven't seen those... All I ever see is Romney and Obama and an Energizer Bunny.

You can opt out of targeting advertising by clicking on the right top corner of the ad.

Facebook is real bad. They target you based on information about the people you associate with. I got an ad for Gastric bi-pass after somebody I am friends with had the procedure.

[Barry]

But today…on Beesource one of the ads had a series of photos of hot looking, young women and the text read ‘We aren’t looking for young men, we want you.’

I got the same one, and I'm not single. It's now blocked. Not sure why it showed since I have the ad category of "dating" blocked.

[Ted adams]

[QUOTE=dadandsonsbees;837502]

Well I am 60, over weight, Married.

Me, I get forklift adds.
What's wrong with me?[/QUOTE


Well I'm 53, short bald and plump,,,well,,,,obese,,,,oh hell,,Im fat. I walk around my house in my underdraws,,, I just got an ad on the top of Beesource for "WINDOW REPLACEMENTS" (And you thought yours was bad.)

Please get the blinds, some things we don't need or want to see

[OSafado]

you may want to consider add blocking addons for your browser

I view this in a very small way as stealing. You are using forums for free. The owners of this forum aren't doing it out of the goodness of their heart. They are doing it because those ads kick back a few pennies. By blocking them, you are blocking those pennies. Ignore them if you will, but don't block them. If there are too many ads for your taste, don't frequent that site.

Just my opinion, take it for what it's worth.

[cerezha]

... The owners of this forum aren't doing it out of the goodness of their heart. They are doing it because those ads kick back a few pennies.

I used to think, that it works in slightly different way - advertiser pay "per click" - you actually must click on the link. I do not know, may be it is changed... I do not mind to pay small fees to use this resource in peace. I think, the time of free Internet is over. Sergey

[deejaycee]

I used to think, that it works in slightly different way - advertiser pay "per click" - you actually must click on the link.

That's one option Cerezha - otherwise known as "CPC". The alternative "CPM" or "CPI" (cost per impression) is actually paid just for displaying the add. A much lower rate than per click, obviously, but you make it up in numbers.

It's been a few years since I was involved with affiliate advertising, but certainly there was a strong "spaghetti fling" element involved - fling a few pieces of spaghetti (ads) at the wall and see what sticks (clicks). Your targetting got tightened up from there.

No doubt the demographics have been identified a lot more clearly since and the recipes will be much more defined as to which ads to serve up where... but I'll guarantee there's still a fair bit of spaghetti being flung and producing surprising results here and there.

[cerezha]

Deejaycee
Many thanks. It was very useful! Is any recipe how to minimize the exposure to advertising on the Internet? Sergey

[deejaycee]

Deejaycee
Many thanks. It was very useful! Is any recipe how to minimize the exposure to advertising on the Internet? Sergey

heh... nope, sorry. As a past webmaster wanting some of that advertising revenue to defray my site costs, I have no problem with those sites (like beesource) who use that model. And from a user perspective, I think beesource is a good representation of that - the ads are there but not obtrusive, banner ads are easily ignorable and scroll away, sidebar ads are generally highly relevant. At no point have the ads interrupted my use of the site.

If ads are so imposing that they interfere with the information on site or impede my using the site though, I vote with my feet and go elsewhere. In a forum situation I would certainly let my reason for leaving be known to the webmaster as a courtesy, but on general sites there are far too many other sites out there offering me information/service to spend any time on a site that wants to bully me with ads.

[Slow Modem]

If Beesource would put up a donate button for paypal, I'd throw in a little every once in a while. I think it would be a bargain.

[Barry Digman]

If Beesource would put up a donate button for paypal, I'd throw in a little every once in a while. I think it would be a bargain.

Go to the homepage http://www.beesource.com/ and look on the left. You'll see a "Make A Donation" box there.

Maybe Barry should add a donation button on the forum page.

[bluegrass]

If Beesource would put up a donate button for paypal, I'd throw in a little every once in a while. I think it would be a bargain.

That is how things used to operate around here. People forget that it cost money to run a site like this and forget to donate.

The banner ads are a pretty recent development. What I am wondering is if now that we have banner ads to stall dialup connections, have we discarded the picture size rules?

I think the site would receive plenty of monetary support if the "vendors" paying day to day operations were protected from the hoards of negative posts they receive around here in the name of "Checks and Balance". Look at the Betterbee thread as an example. They will not spend a dime advertising with us when threads like that are allowed to trash them at every turn.

[beemandan]

I'll guarantee there's still a fair bit of spaghetti being flung

The babes may have been targeted at beekeepers in general but I'm thinking that the Laser Liposuction was spaghetti.....although a couple of posters referred to being overweight....hmmmmmmm....there goes that paranoia again.

[Diogenes]

The babes may have been targeted at beekeepers in general but I'm thinking that the Laser Liposuction was spaghetti.....although a couple of posters referred to being overweight....hmmmmmmm....there goes that paranoia again.

Nope. Not paranoia. It's Google being Google. All posts are scanned and indexed, and advertizing targeted to current interests.

I have used the StartPage (https://www.startpage.com/) search engine ever since the day I saw adverts for collision repair after googling "Mirror Switch" (I was searching for an electrical switch).

It's still a somewhat free country, look at ads, block ads, use Google, use another search engine. Do what makes you the most comfortable.

Personally, I'm not comfortable with Big Brother watching, so I changed my behavior to frustrate Big Brother a bit. A little thing to be sure.

[TokerM]

I think the site would receive plenty of monetary support if the "vendors" paying day to day operations were protected from the hoards of negative posts they receive around here in the name of "Checks and Balance". Look at the Betterbee thread as an example. They will not spend a dime advertising with us when threads like that are allowed to trash them at every turn.

WOAH!!! No way! So, a website that is designed for community support should be able to censor it's users if a "sponsor" doesn't like what they have to say? Bad enough that my evening news now has to be watched with a critical eye to see the motivation of "news stories," (NBC's relationship with GE is a PRIME example! NBC almost NEVER does a bad story on any of it's subsidiary operations, and I've seen them blatantly misrepresent stories to benefit the parent company.)

Where then should I go for reviews on companies I want to use? If I run a company that has poor business practices, and people come on here to complain about me, how much money will I need to spend to Beesource to ensure I never have an ill word spoken about me here?