How do they know???

J

JamesTXSD

Active member
This is in regards to the ads that now appear on the home page. Yeah, I'm totally OK with that, so this isn't anything negative about the ads. At first, the ads had portable refrigerators and stuff that related to boat cruising. Just now when I pulled up the home page here, the ads were specific and personal... I have been updating my guitar and music stuff inventory. Just this morning, I did a search for a very specific guitar cable and, lo and behold (and how often to you get to use that phrase?) that cable came up in the ad here... and for a better price than I found in that search. How cool is that? 8)

OK, someone said something about cookies... but, I ate all the cookies our daughter sent home with us, and Joan hasn't made any more lately... so, I know that isn't it. I think it is brain waves; if this is what they can do, I might web surf without wearing my tinfoil hat! :lol:
 
Hi Jim,

Those are tracking cookies. The yuky kind. They are deposited onto your computer as you browse the web by advertisers and marketers who pay affiliate partners to display the banner ads in hopes of getting me and you to click the link and shop. I am seeing a Zappos ad on C-Brats today as I was at Zappos looking for new running shoes yesterday. If you Google “ad tracking cookies” you can read all about them and how to clear them off your machine.

The tinfoil hat will help only if you have on dry rubber boots. They are watching our every move.

Kevin
 
I think it's kind of cool, but also a bit creepy. The possibilities with targeted advertising are far from exhausted and I think they offer great hope to a lot of struggling industries. Newspapers, for instance, provide a vital service, but few have been able to monetize their growing online operations.

Hyper-targeted ads should be more effective than generally placed ads, and thus advertisers should be willing to spend more if they know there is a greater return.

For the consumer, targeted ads mean relevant ads. I don't care about (and won't click on) an ad for a hearing aid, but I might well click on an ad for a new marine related iPad app. The hearing aid ad would be a distraction for me, the iPad app ad would be a service to me.

The key is avoiding the creepiness associated with knowing everything that I do online, where I go (from my phone), where I spend money (from email receipts in my Gmail account), etc.
 
Dry rubber boots? Sandals or barefoot right now, 'cause it's 82º in the Tropical Tip. I much prefer chocolate chip over ad-tracking cookies... ever try to dip ad-tracking in milk? Now, that's yucky. :lol:

Cool... creepy... I felt that same way about girls when I was a young lad. Come to think of it, I still feel that way once in a while. Whoa, I may need some tinfoil shorts if that gets out. :wink:
 
I don't know about other browsers, but with Firefox you can customize your settings so you don't see the ads. The big ad box is just blank.

jd
 
Google now tracks all things you do on Google. G-Mail, google searching, Android phones, etc. They then composite all the info into your profile, and sell it to advertisers. As mentioned, you can get Ad Block Plus for Firefox and never see those adds.

You can also set your browser to delete all cookies when you close the browser. This means you have to log in to C-Brats and other sites every time, but it gets rid of some of the tracking cookies.
 
With the MAC all I seem to get on this site are the boating specific--like boat dealers etc. That's ok, because they support the site and pay for it. I am not so sure that the other type ads you describe actually support the site directly. (?)

Our local news paper is threatening to charge to get any on line news or post on their sites--that will be the day they loose me as a customer, and I won't go back.

What is strange is that Wall Street Journal wants $900 a year for print edition (Don't worry I don't pay that much)--but on Kindle it is only $18 a month--up from $14 a month--and no ads...Sounds like a looser in the long run.

I don't pay for magazines any more--if they want to send them to me free--OK--if not--forget it...
 
I generally use Safari on a Mac. I have AdBlock installed so that I see no ads, and Incognito installed so that Google and Facebook can't use tracking cookies. Seems to work well...

Cheers!

John
 
Granted, I'm not wearing the tin foil hat but can someone explain why I'm getting pop-ups for beer, sex toys, and beef jerky? :shock:
 
What is especially scary about the new Google procedures is that they also constantly track you via your mobile device and them send ads based upon where you typically travel.

When they instituted that on March first I quit using Google. Just hope that the other search engines aren't that bad.

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
joefish":qk80u6hw said:
Granted, I'm not wearing the tin foil hat but can someone explain why I'm getting pop-ups for beer, sex toys, and beef jerky? :shock:
Click to expand...

:lol: Thanks for getting it... I was wondering when someone would fess up?
 
nimrod":3eiaw09m said:
I don't know about other browsers, but with Firefox you can customize your settings so you don't see the ads. The big ad box is just blank.

jd
Click to expand...

Bingo, JD! I made the change a couple of yrs ago!
 
I don't mind the advertising too much. Without it I wouldn't know what I need. And anyway, even if it is there, doesn't mean I have to spend the money on my end. :shock: :roll:

And if it helps keep the site afloat, more power to the guys.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
The site does get paid for allowing content network ads to appear. The term for ads and ad types that follow you is oddly enough "re-targeting". The buyer can also limit the number of times the ad will appear per IP address.

I hope the site is able to pull in a little extra money.

--Matt
 
Well, one of those ads saved me $25 yesterday, on an item I was going to buy. An on-line place had a special cable $25 cheaper than the local store, and the local place matched the price. I'm OK with those ads. :D

Dr. Bob mentioned magazines in an earlier post. We used to subscribe to a couple dozen magazines, but that is a pain to have to forward those when you're traveling a bunch. So, we get our "magazine content" on-line. All those magazines had ads in them, and I probably got as much out of the ads as the articles. Easy enough to ignore ads that are promoting something I don't need, printed or electronic.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
I go through and erase cookies on a regular basis.
On one of our trips to the SBS/C-Brat Party I noticed that after pricing airline tickets and checking around, I came back to buy the tickets----- only to find they had gone up $$$!!!!
They were tracking my search and when I came back to buy they raised the price. I've been erasing cookies ever since.
 
matt_unique":ma57hp0g said:
The site does get paid for allowing content network ads to appear. The term for ads and ad types that follow you is oddly enough "re-targeting". The buyer can also limit the number of times the ad will appear per IP address.

I hope the site is able to pull in a little extra money.

--Matt
Click to expand...

If we see that Mike and Bill both bought new boats, we'll know for sure!! (Just kidding guys, thanks for the job you do!!)

Charlie
 
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