What's the go with the "quality" of ads on the EEVblog forum?

[Halcyon]

I ordinarily block all ads, except for those on the EEVblog site (because I know Dave gets a little something from displaying them).

I've noticed recently that the ad section at the top and bottom of the forum pages have been of "lower quality" than usual.

Everything from a "DIY Tesla Generator" (pictured), to fake Windows dialog boxes telling me my machine has "errors" and ads for Thai brides.
And before anyone suggests it, no, it's not due to my own browsing habits (browser history and cookies are automatically deleted every time I close the window anyway) and I don't have a virus, worm or other crapware on my machine.

I've also noticed some ads are using cross-site scripting which IE is actively blocking (also pictured).

[sony mavica]

ads that show up for me are just from gearbest

[sleemanj]

The Tesla one has the little (i) which at least for me says it's a google delivered ad. 

Google thinks you are interested in some tesla quackery.  Why, I dunno, you'd have to ask google that, but they probably know you better than you know yourself.  Google knows everything.  Better book your Thailand tickets.

[Whales]

... (browser history and cookies are automatically deleted every time I close the window anyway) ...

Not always effective, unfortunately.  Advertising companies have a much larger variety of methods to fingerprint you, and normal cookies are no longer the only way of storing local data.

I'm in a particular bad situation as my ISP only gives out static IPs. 

[wraper]

ads that show up for me are just from gearbest

That's because you are buying tons of cheap Chinese crap. Those ads are targeted. Halcyon probably have visited some of those free energy websites before his ads became like this.

[wraper]

Google knows everything.

Exactly. I usually don't use Google+ but logged in recently, it suggested me to add apartment owner where I live and a few other people. The only way I ever contacted her is called her a few times. Fucking assholes apparently are using backed up phone numbers in android phone.

[Halcyon]

... (browser history and cookies are automatically deleted every time I close the window anyway) ...

Not always effective, unfortunately.  Advertising companies have a much larger variety of methods to fingerprint you, and normal cookies are no longer the only way of storing local data.

I'm in a particular bad situation as my ISP only gives out static IPs.

I'm aware of this and my browsers store no such data (at least nothing third party sites can access). I don't have a static IP or use social media of any kind.

I get these same ads outside of home as well.

Halcyon probably have visited some of those free energy websites before his ads became like this.

Nope. As I said it has nothing to do with my browsing habits at all. (Not that I've visited any such crap anyway.)

My only guess is that it's just pulling keywords off the page I'm visiting as it's the same 4-5 ads repeated.

[TerraHertz]

For some reason my eevblog banner adverts seem to be almost exclusively for Texas Instruments ICs. Which is strange since it must be two decades since I bought anything from TI. Slightly interesting though.

Halcyon, you of all people should know how deep the tendrils reach.

I wonder if Microsoft is selling their Windows10 keylogger and file inspection data to advertisers? That would be *just* the kind of thing they'd do.

[Halcyon]

Halcyon, you of all people should know how deep the tendrils reach.

I wonder if Microsoft is selling their Windows10 keylogger and file inspection data to advertisers? That would be *just* the kind of thing they'd do.

Indeed I do.

I also don't use Windows 10 ;-)


I'm convinced it's just looking at keywords now. If I click on the thread about the maths error, I get ads targeting mathematics. If I click on my thread about the NBN, I get ads for network cablers etc... Clicking on the 'Farnborough Airshow' thread gave me an ad for Garmin GPS.

It's all just shit. Sorry Dave, I might go back to blocking ads again. I'll just throw you the odd donation now and again :-)

[Muttley Snickers]

I don't use any type of blocker apart from browser security settings and regardless of the site I will only put up with so much, I do however religiously and regularly clear history, cache and cookies during any online session and run CCleaner at the end prior to shut down. I have given up on Gumtree altogether and can no longer tolerate the amount of flashing popups and follow-me-arounds that are present and I have notified them directly that it is completely out of hand, their response has been less than impressive in all manner of enquiries.

The forum has always been pretty good in my view except lately with the flashy banner things, the main header is generally always fine being stagnant but I find these other blinking things extremely disturbing, they either make me physically ill or drive me completely nuts.   


 

[TheSteve]

Any garbage flashing banner ad like that is grounds for full ad blocking.

I'll happily continue to be a forum supporter and block all ads.

[zapta]

I ordinarily block all ads, except for those on the EEVblog site (because I know Dave gets a little something from displaying them).

I've noticed recently that the ad section at the top and bottom of the forum pages have been of "lower quality" than usual.

Everything from a "DIY Tesla Generator" (pictured), to fake Windows dialog boxes telling me my machine has "errors" and ads for Thai brides.
And before anyone suggests it, no, it's not due to my own browsing habits

It's not necessarily about you personally. We, the EEVblog's demographic, may be a great target for Thai bride ads. You are in good company here.

[Richard Crowley]

Wow. I guess if you do nothing (no ad-blocking, no cache-clearing, etc.) like me, you get only quite interesting very relevant, electronics-related ads.  I've never seen any of those dodgy foreign bride, "your computer is infected" garbage on the EEVblog website.  I'm just using plain-vanilla Chrome on Windows 10.

As I am typing this, I see a banner ad at the top of the page for Quote FX which appears to be some sort of electronic parts purchasing consolidator or search engine or something, and at the bottom a straightforward ad for Arrow which is a large, mainstream electronics distributor here in the US.

[Muttley Snickers]

These banners only show up whilst I'm using Chrome which is more often than not and I have no choice when viewing from the TV, I've now switched back to IE which hides all ads and banners but it does have other limitations, I'm due to format and reload this PC which will include using a different browser altogether hopefully with the tweaks of IE and without the crap from Chrome.   

On the not so smart LG TV with Google as the homepage we get this crap and cant do a thing about it even after a recent firmware update and around five prior ones, "We've detected you're using an older version of Chrome, Update to stay secure".   

Edit: A spell checker whilst posting is damned handy.

[tautech]

Edit: A spell checker whilst posting is damned handy.

You can turn the Chrome spell check off or on Muttley, look at the options within a right mouse click.

[Muttley Snickers]

Thanks tautech, Yes I know, Chrome is good in that regard but my version of IE does not have any checker at all hence the edit, Chrome also permits me to print/ save entire web pages as PDF's which has been extremely valuable for documenting important reference stuff, as has the Windows snipping tool which is the best thing since.....I forget now.

[Richard Crowley]

As if right on cue, I am now seeing the Tesla energy scamming and Greek Women adverts.  Perhaps they have finally made it out to all the CloudFlare mirrors.

[Vgkid]

I always have quotefx and T.I. As the footer I get Tektronix, Fluke, Keysight.

[Muttley Snickers]

Nothing has changed my end as far as I know and that disturbing flashing banner has disappeared altogether, perhaps an intervention from above or something, anyway I now get this thing pictured below and it's not the slightest bit flashy at all which for me is a good thing. 

[EEVblog]

They are Google Adsense ads. They will show whatever google think you want to see.
Been searching for baby nappies recently, you'll see baby nappy ads.
This is the same as every website on the planet (and Youtube) that uses Google Adsense (almost everyone).
Sometimes I have fixed ads from a paying advertiser, in which case you'll only see their ads. But if no one has booked an ad for that month then I put in Google Ads.

[Muttley Snickers]

Google  , I should have known better, anyway I now expect to see banners offering assistance on how to successfully access the ABS page and complete a form in addition to flashing links to anti-anxiety pages for those that may be pushed over the edge by government threats of heavy penalties such as conviction and ridiculously high fines.

One page declared that the census saves lives, what I want to know is how many does it take, not happy Jan.

The Age.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/census-meltdown-rubbish-says-abs-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-census-2016-20160808-gqo1jv.html