Is Anyone Else Seeing Political Ads Pushed to Them On These Forums?

[AKA-None]

Cookies are so old school single pixel images , trackers, are currently hot.

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

How odd Ann. I wonder how it got through.

I run Adblock, along with two snooper blockers (Ghostery & Privacy Badger). I never see any ads. I also do my best to avoid being tracked through these internets. My blockers have currently stopped three snoopers on this very page. CF is also in the game of selling user data. Almost every site is.

Over the top censorship.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

Over the top censorship.

You mean me censoring ads? If so, then guilty as charged.


There are many fairly easy techniques to avoid, or at least limit, being tracked online.

Don't use a Google or Facebook account. Don't sign up, or don't sign in. Doing so basically means you are granting them the right to track you.

Run an ad blocker. It's easy, and makes the whole Web a lot more functional.

Block all trackers using something like Ghostery. Almost every site, including this one, is tracking you and feeding data back to Google or other similar services. There are tools everyone can use to stop this.

A VPN is very useful for masking your IP. A dynamic IP assignment is less so, but still better than naught.

Yes, clear cookies and caches, but it's better to block them in the first place.

All of this will help. But the only sure way to avoid being tracked is to avoid the Internet all together. This is not something one can easily do.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Janet H

...We can block certain types of ads but frankly scurrilous ad purveyors often submit ads to google platform and deliberately mislabel the content. it takes a few days for them to be removed. We have blocked adult content and some political content but that doesn't mean it never displays.

So Janet, just to be clear, is it the owner's (Social Knowledge) policy that all political ads are blocked from this site?

If so, I assume you want users to report when they see these ads (sneaking in through scurrilous ad purveyors), so the owners can take action. Is there something similar to the "Report Post" button that attaches to an ad?

[Tom and Maje]

No, but I'm in Europe. I do get adds in German.

Maje

[Franziska]

No adds on the Android App. Fortunately!

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Don't use a Google or Facebook account.

Exactly as Mike says. DO NOT use your Facebook or Google account to sign up when you have alternatives.


Facebook and Google are among the biggest if not THE biggest data collecting and trading companies. This is what their business is all about.

b.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by StuM

They are targeted ads based on what Google knows about you (and that's a lot)

Telling us what ads you are seeing tells us something about your interests and where else you go on the internet

This is somewhat true, but it's fairly crude. It is possible with a little digging to get a list of what Google thinks it knows about you (or at least what they're willing to tell you they know about you), and you can even remove some associations, but not all. For example, there's no way to tell Google to forget that I'm a male over 45.

CF has no control on what Google decides to show you.

I don't know that this is 100% the case (somewhat confirmed by Janet)... but in a better world, both I and CF would have more control about what ads to show.

Think about it... if you pick up a car magazine, do you see many ads that are not related to cars, or to the sort of person that would read car magazines? Ditto for a fashion magazine, or a sailing magazine, or for any specialized magazine, or for TV/radio ads... the ads are appropriate to the reader.

Further, the ads in print or broadcast are seldom completely off-point or blatantly offensive. Not true with the Internet. And that's my current peeve - gross and off-putting ads.

There's one in particular that's been plaguing me recently - a full-colour ad where someone's pulling this large disgusting nugget of ear wax out of an enormous ear in close-up. It's truly nauseating. At no time have I been on a search for ears or ear wax or remedies or similar, or reading articles about same. Yet I get this ad several times a day...WTF? Must be something that they think over-45 males dwell upon. I cancel it every time it appears, I've tried to report it... no change. It's disgusting.

I've worked in advertising so I'm sympathetic to its importance and economics. But no ad works by offending or annoying the viewer. This is driving me to an adblocker; I am utterly sick of this ad, and less nauseated but no less annoyed by other ads unrelated to my interests or to the site I'm on.

Sites should have more control over the ads that appear there, same as in print or broadcasting. And Google should let the user provide some input - what ad categories they'd like to see, and what stuff they're utterly uninterested in. I'm much more likely to respond to ads that I indicated my interest in, and happier if the ads aren't f#@%ing grossing me out several times a day.

I guess I should be grateful that I'm not served any US campaign ads...

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

This is somewhat true, but it's fairly crude. It is possible with a little digging to get a list of what Google thinks it knows about you (or at least what they're willing to tell you they know about you), and you can even remove some associations, but not all. For example, there's no way to tell Google to forget that I'm a male over 45.

I don't know that this is 100% the case (somewhat confirmed by Janet)... but in a better world, both I and CF would have more control about what ads to show.

Think about it... if you pick up a car magazine, do you see many ads that are not related to cars, or to the sort of person that would read car magazines? Ditto for a fashion magazine, or a sailing magazine, or for any specialized magazine, or for TV/radio ads... the ads are appropriate to the reader.

Further, the ads in print or broadcast are seldom completely off-point or blatantly offensive. Not true with the Internet. And that's my current peeve - gross and off-putting ads.

There's one in particular that's been plaguing me recently - a full-colour ad where someone's pulling this large disgusting nugget of ear wax out of an enormous ear in close-up. It's truly nauseating. At no time have I been on a search for ears or ear wax or remedies or similar, or reading articles about same. Yet I get this ad several times a day...WTF? Must be something that they think over-45 males dwell upon. I cancel it every time it appears, I've tried to report it... no change. It's disgusting.

I've worked in advertising so I'm sympathetic to its importance and economics. But no ad works by offending or annoying the viewer. This is driving me to an adblocker; I am utterly sick of this ad, and less nauseated but no less annoyed by other ads unrelated to my interests or to the site I'm on.

Sites should have more control over the ads that appear there, same as in print or broadcasting. And Google should let the user provide some input - what ad categories they'd like to see, and what stuff they're utterly uninterested in. I'm much more likely to respond to ads that I indicated my interest in, and happier if the ads aren't f#@%ing grossing me out several times a day.

I guess I should be grateful that I'm not served any US campaign ads...

We can fix that for you :-)

[GWilly]

I read the CF posts on my iPad using Safari almost exclusively. Rarely see any ads.

[barnakiel]

I am truly impressed so many people read, react to, or pay any attention to, Ads.


Yes, I know it is enough that the Ad pops up.


But if one has a strongly negative view on the content (imagine a leftie getting a Trump Ad) then the Ad will work against who ever placed it.


So where exactly is the problem?


People who eat pizza get pizza Ads. People who prefer pasta get pasta Ads.


In the end, both pizza and pasta come from the same manufacturer, and serve the same purpose.


Where is the problem with political Ads, I cannot see.


barnakiel

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

...Where is the problem with political Ads, I cannot see.

I don't have any beef with political ads specifically. I choose not to see any ads, but I don't think political ads should necessarily be singled out for exclusion. But neither do I think political discussion should be barred on this forum the way it often is.

My only issue is that CF ownership should be consistent in its approach to political content. They do their best to ban political discussion, so I assume (I hope) they also try and bar political advertising as well.

It would be great to hear back about how CF wants people to report the ads that creep through. I'm hoping Janet will get back to us on that.

[barnakiel]

I fully agree.


Let's see what the admins say about it.


barnakiel

[Yihang]

I bought a MAGA mug and stupidly had it sent to the office. Ever since then I would get weekly mails from 'ivanka' asking for donations. It would always have very prominant letter head. It was pretty awkward.

I was in San Francisco and the person delivering the mail is from Mexico. He always had a smirk on his face.

Really nice mug though. The really nice looking blue one from 2016. Don'tsell them anymore.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Yihang

I bought a MAGA mug and stupidly had it sent to the office. Ever since then I would get weekly mails from 'ivanka' asking for donations. It would always have very prominant letter head. It was pretty awkward.

I was in San Francisco and the person delivering the mail is from Mexico. He always had a smirk on his face.

Really nice mug though. The really nice looking blue one from 2016. Don'tsell them anymore.

Do you still get the begging letters from Ivanka now that you're in Beijing??