Jeez enough with all the Ads

[Time Theory]

My comment may get me booted off this forum but what the heck. I will roll the dice. Enough with all the advertisements. When I first joined this forum, it was pretty much laid back. Now it is over the top with all the ads. I know the powers at be need to make money but being greedy never wins. Then again maybe it does. Anyway, take care everyone.

[Orion Jim]

Do you log in and still experience the ad/pop-up issues to the same extent?

[Mike OReilly]

Ad blockers are your friend. I don't see any ads, ever. Makes the whole WWW a lot more palatable.

[wholybee]

Dump Chrome or Edge or Firefox or whatever you use, and switch to Brave. You will not regret it.

[JPA Cate]

I'm using Chrome. No ad problem, but I use AdBlock. No ads on CF at all.

What does happen is that the media share data, so your browsing history will bring you targeted ads. This may happen more with phone access to CF than with regular computer access.

Ann

[capt jgw]

Originally Posted by wholybee

Dump Chrome or Edge or Firefox or whatever you use, and switch to Brave. You will not regret it.

I've been using Brave for years too. Love it, no ads ever. Even the imbedded ads in YouTube are gone when I watch on my phone or computer. It ticks me off when I watch on my smart TV, it shows the ads. Can't do Brave on that.
If you're using Chrome, you'll find Brave quite familiar, it looks and works about the same.

[Mike OReilly]

I mainly use Firefox on my laptop. Ad-block takes care of all the unwanted ads, even on youtube.

But more importantly, I run Ghostery to block all the unwanted trackers and snoopers that almost every website (CF included) attempts to embed on your browser. I see five being blocked right now, as I type.

Also, cancel -- and NEVER use -- a Google account. Google is the principle offender. If you use a Google account, you are basically asking them to track you.

I also use Brave, but generally prefer Firefox.

On my tablet I use DuckDuck and Ghostery. Kills the ads that way, but I'll have to try Brave there. Good suggestion

The bigger issue here is that so many of us feel compelled to run all these blockers. Forcing incessant ads on users is one thing, but it's all the invisible trackers and snoopers that websites use that really ticks me off. If the tracking was upfront, more people would be offended -- which is why it is kept secret.

[YANDINA]

They're wasting their money on me. I get flooded with ads for things I've already purchased.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by YANDINA

They're wasting their money on me. I get flooded with ads for things I've already purchased.

I get the humour, but as all advertisers know, one of the best indicators of whether someone will buy something, is if they've purchased a similar item or service in the past.

This is why you get bombarded with ads for stuff you've already bought. They know that, odds are, you'll buy it, or something similar, again.

[Jhclay]

Now that you mention it, there are a lot more ads on CF these days. And they take up a third of my laptop screen. Logging in does not make any difference. Until this thread, I think I managed to ignore them!

[Uncle Bob]

Hey, I've found that Ghostery is great at eliminating this problem (at least for me)

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Hey, I've found that Ghostery is great at eliminating this problem (at least for me)

Good stuff. Blocking all the background snoopers and trackers is even more important than just blocking the ads.

[SailingHarmonie]

First (second and thrid) rule of the internet. If you are getting soemthing for free, you are NOT the customer, you are the PRODUCT.

Everybody wants somebody else to pay for what they want.

I use safari, there are a row of ads down the right side of the page. That's how I pay for access to CF. I ignore them, almost all the time. Every once in a while there is a useful contact there.

I am not at all sure what the big deal is.

[CaptTom]

I'm going to take exception to the idea that the problem has anything to do with greedy owners.

The owners of this (or any) web site are caught up in an arms race for users' eyeballs.

Advertisers need to get their message to as many people as possible. Users get accustomed to static ads and learn to ignore them. So advertisers make the ads bigger, louder, brighter, flashier and generally more annoying, in an attempt to attract users' attention. Users respond by installing ad blockers. So the ads which get through need to be even more annoying. And the cycle continues.

Nobody wins this war. The advertisers are not getting their message to their potential customers. Sites aren't making enough money through advertising to cover expenses. Users lose access to formerly free content.

I'm all for ad-supported content. But the ads have to be unobtrusive and respectful of the user's time and intelligence. Do that and I'll turn off my ad blockers. Unfortunately I don't see that happening any time soon.

[Island Time O25]

Used to be an issue a few years back when the cellphone was brand new and not "tuned" privacy wise. Then I went through my browser 's (Chrome) privacy and security settings and no more ads. Did the same on my laptop but occasionally, rarely, will still get and ad or two there. No biggie. Beats the alternative of a paid subscription.