# CR's new unrelated advertising



## langdonb (Feb 9, 2018)

Today for the first time I see advertisements on the front page of CR. While I understand a site owners right to profit from it's data base of subscribers, at least make the ads relevant to the audience!

Really strange, now I cannot see the ads. I meant to do a screen shot, but did not!

Ok now i found it, it is on the page for new DGI Mavic pro II AND on every main announcement on the home page!

Sorry, I do not approve on this actions...


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## neuroanatomist (Feb 9, 2018)

Ads are generally served from Google AdSense. What you see is linked to your personal browsing history, so if you don't like it........


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## langdonb (Feb 9, 2018)

neuroanatomist said:


> Ads are generally served from Google AdSense. What you see is linked to your personal browsing history, so if you don't like it........


Sorry, I visit this site every day and have never seen these ads..I block all google links and many others within my browser, but maybe something has failed there...


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 9, 2018)

Ads are based on web sites you have visited, and if you use Facebook, it may even include ads for sites your friends have visited. You can clear out your cookies and then get randomly inserted ads that may be all photography oriented.

I strongly suggest that you educate yourself about how ads are directed based on your browsing history.

https://privacy.google.com/how-ads-work.html


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## ethanz (Feb 9, 2018)

CR has had advertisements for years.


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## slclick (Feb 9, 2018)

Mine are all Russian brides...as a married man living in the US of A I'm confused


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## langdonb (Feb 9, 2018)

ethanz said:


> CR has had advertisements for years.


Like this?


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## sanj (Feb 9, 2018)

neuroanatomist said:


> Ads are generally served from Google AdSense. What you see is linked to your personal browsing history, so if you don't like it........



hahahahaha. So true.


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## YuengLinger (Feb 9, 2018)

Please, support sites by either donating or not whining about advertising. For crying out loud.


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## langdonb (Feb 9, 2018)

langdonb said:


> ethanz said:
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> > CR has had advertisements for years.
> ...


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## langdonb (Feb 9, 2018)

YuengLinger said:


> Please, support sites by either donating or not whining about advertising. For crying out loud.


So you would ask me or anyone to support the ads I posted?


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## langdonb (Feb 9, 2018)

Here is the source of the ads I saw...nothing to do with me or my browsing, but the PUBLISHER who is compensated....


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## YuengLinger (Feb 9, 2018)

langdonb said:


> YuengLinger said:
> 
> 
> > Please, support sites by either donating or not whining about advertising. For crying out loud.
> ...



You might try reading again what I wrote. Especially the part about whining.

Better yet instead of complaining, make some helpful suggestions regarding paying the bills to keep this site running.


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## ethanz (Feb 9, 2018)

YuengLinger said:


> langdonb said:
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> > YuengLinger said:
> ...



Yeah, with all the people that view this site, it probably costs a lot. I blame all these people who stay logged in 24/7 (I'm sure I'm missing a few):
ethanz, Click, neuroanatomist, hmatthes, Canon Rumors, bholliman, kphoto99, sedwards, YuengLinger, slclick, ahsanford, sanj, Talys, Mt Spokane Photography, Jack Douglas, ajfotofilmagem, Valvebounce, rrcphoto


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## Don Haines (Feb 9, 2018)

I keep getting adds for retirement homes, and I have never searched for them.....

Does Google know something that I don’t?


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## slclick (Feb 9, 2018)

ethanz said:


> YuengLinger said:
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> > langdonb said:
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## sanj (Feb 9, 2018)

OP. Please do not get me wrong. I would prefer an ad free website. But how will that be possible?

And my response to Nero was in agreement that the ads being generated according to our viewing history. Not that I like the ads.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 9, 2018)

They are a way to help pay for the web site, and no matter where you go, those ads follow you.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 9, 2018)

Logging on does not require significant computer power. Doing searches, uploading images and videos, looking at topics with hundreds of pages of images, each of which must be rendered take significant CPU, but individually, its still not much. When 10 thousand are using the site, it gets bogged down a little, the 1600 some logged in right now are not a issue.


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## hne (Feb 9, 2018)

Don Haines said:


> I keep getting adds for retirement homes, and I have never searched for them.....
> 
> Does Google know something that I don’t?



Yes. Both Google and Facebook extract significant information about you based on a combination of the data you voluntarily give them and information gathered from your internet habits. The easiest way for them to do this is to serve Like and +1 buttons all over the web. Then they can know which sites you frequent. They can also see from where you access these by doing geolocation on the IP used to retrieve those buttons. On top of that, both Facebook and Google record voice data from your smartphone unless you opt out. This is not expressly for purposes of targeting ads, but seeing how having a discussion on a topic you don't care about can make ads for that pop up next time you unlock your phone...

It wouldn't surprise me a bit if both Facebook and Google knew your full name, home and work address (I know google found that about me without me telling them), phone number, a few relatives and friends, main 5 interests, top 10 most likely favourite dishes, most common colour in your wardrobe, last 10 illnesses you've had and when, illnesses among your relatives and acquaintances (and could do pattern matching to figure out who has what from that), household income level, probability of you moving home in the coming 6 months, ...

All this without you telling them. Retirement homes ads? Not surprising a bit if they believe you're >60yo, your spouse is 55+, you've done searches for at least 3 age-related illnesses in the last 12 months and your probability of moving home in the coming 6 months exceeds 10%.

I get loads of generic ADs for how to get rich fast, unbelievable images from north korea and grow your own willie. But then again, I'm using a no-tracking extension called Ghostery that disables all like, share, +1 and similar buttons, as well as site statistics scripts, ad network tracking scripts and a boatload of other stupid things. And I've denied facebook microphone access on my phone and turned off voice search and voice history in my google prefs.


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## AlanF (Feb 9, 2018)

Thanks for the tip about Gostery - now installed.


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## zim (Feb 9, 2018)

Don Haines said:


> I keep getting adds for retirement homes, and I have never searched for them.....
> 
> Does Google know something that I don’t?



Clearly not otherwise you would be getting adds for catteries


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## Canon Rumors Guy (Feb 9, 2018)

The MoneyWise issue has been resolved.

It costs thousands of dollars a month to host this site, plus the ongoing development costs. The new forum update that will be online soon will cost me thousands and thousands of dollars. Then the web site update will double that cost and it will never end. Web sites have to earn revenue. Sometimes a revenue stream turns out to be a bad one, but they are quickly removed, I don't like intrusive things on the site.

We've removed any sort of video ads, we've never had any popups or page takeovers, those are lucrative, but people hate them. Sometimes these things still slip through the ad networks, but that shouldn't be all that common.

With all of the copycat sites and on and on, revenue streams get smaller and we have to find new ways to bring money in.

There will be new revenue streams that are not intrusive that you'll see here over the next 6 months or so.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Feb 9, 2018)

I guess it was resolved before I tried, I only saw ads based on items I had searched for online. 

I mentioned my use of a cochlear implant in a post here yesterday, and today, there is a ad. Its for a different brand than I have, and once you select a brand, you cannot practically change without $100,000 surgery, so the targeting is not perfect, or it would have listed accessories for my brand.


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## zim (Feb 9, 2018)

Of all the sites I frequent the ads on this site don't annoy, this site is great whatever it takes to keep it going so be it. Thank you.


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## slclick (Feb 9, 2018)

Craig,

What is your take on the link kickback such as the type Bryan at TDP uses? Is that sort of thing available/viable here? Also I know it might be a touchy subject and you wouldn't want to venture into Ken Rockwell territory but a 'Tip Jar' of sorts? I have a hunch myself and many others who find this site invaluable would like to contribute. 

B


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## Canon Rumors Guy (Feb 14, 2018)

slclick said:


> Craig,
> 
> What is your take on the link kickback such as the type Bryan at TDP uses? Is that sort of thing available/viable here? Also I know it might be a touchy subject and you wouldn't want to venture into Ken Rockwell territory but a 'Tip Jar' of sorts? I have a hunch myself and many others who find this site invaluable would like to contribute.
> 
> B


 
I have some plans that are a little less forward and I think may add value.


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## Valvebounce (Mar 24, 2018)

Hi Craig. 
How about a fund raising drive similar to Wikipedia, once a year asking for just a few dollars to support our addiction to your site doesn’t seem out of line,  purely voluntary in participation and amount, enabling people to donate an amount they feel is commensurate to the value they perceive the site offers. 
I hate the begging adverts for charities that insist I donate just £3 a month!  

Cheers, Graham.


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## Don Haines (Mar 24, 2018)

I buy a fair bit of stuff for work.... I seek it out on the web, get a quote, hand it off to purchasing, and then start seeing adds for it in my feed....

Targeting someone after they have bough is wasted adds... I find them amusing....


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## stevelee (Mar 24, 2018)

I don't mind ads generally, especially if that pays the bills. Targeted ads will sometimes provide useful information, such as making me aware of something new in which I might be interested. Where it doesn't work so well is when I keep getting ads for places I visited in recent months and probably won't go back to for a long time, if ever.

However, as recently as yesterday, I was getting ads that took over the browser on my iPad, and wouldn't let me get back to the board content. So I just closed the tab and waited until I was using the computer to read this board. I don't have the problem on my Mac.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 24, 2018)

Get rid of targeted ads by clearing the cache of cookies in your browser. Google reads them in order to decide which ads to show you. You will still get ads, they may be random.

I've been seeing ads for glasses lately, after I accidentally stepping on a pair and looked online at replacements. Fortunately, there was no real damage done, so I'm not ready to buy my next pair yet, but ads for glasses are not annoying.


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## ethanz (Mar 24, 2018)

stevelee said:


> However, as recently as yesterday, I was getting ads that took over the browser on my iPad, and wouldn't let me get back to the board content. So I just closed the tab and waited until I was using the computer to read this board. I don't have the problem on my Mac.



I get that on my iphone too. Almost like the web server has some malware or something.


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## Canon Rumors Guy (Mar 24, 2018)

ethanz said:


> stevelee said:
> 
> 
> > However, as recently as yesterday, I was getting ads that took over the browser on my iPad, and wouldn't let me get back to the board content. So I just closed the tab and waited until I was using the computer to read this board. I don't have the problem on my Mac.
> ...



There's no issue with CR or malware on the server, this is a problem with ad networks and seems to affect iOS/Safari far more than any other OS/Browser combination. Though Android/Chrome aren't immune.

I have seen similar things on Yahoo.com, CNN.com and other big sites.

Ad networks are working on this and hopefully it'll become a thing of the past soon.


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## ethanz (Mar 24, 2018)

Canon Rumors said:


> ethanz said:
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> > stevelee said:
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Ok thanks. As a bandaid, I just start loading a page on my phone and hit stop loading when it gets to a point I can read what I need to. That stops it from loading the ads and redirecting the site.


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## Canon Rumors Guy (Mar 25, 2018)

ethanz said:


> Canon Rumors said:
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> > ethanz said:
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Interesting idea.

I wish this nonsense wasn't going on.

Do you come to the site directly, or through social media?


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## ethanz (Mar 25, 2018)

Canon Rumors said:


> ethanz said:
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Directly. You are a bookmark in my iphone on safari. If I'm away from my computer for too long I start feeling the need to catch up on anything new here


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