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Am I The Only One Uncomfortable With These Ads?

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Omnipharious said:
If you knew me personally, you would understand my reason to doubt that Google gathered that I want to look at shirtless women. I would bet my money on that is takes the whole site into account when identifying what ads to put on it, not individuals.

You would be incorrect. Anything I have bought or shopped for online has poped up in talkbass ads.
And if you think google isn't tracking you, then you don't know much about google.
 
If you knew me personally, you would understand my reason to doubt that Google gathered that I want to look at shirtless women. I would bet my money on that is takes the whole site into account when identifying what ads to put on it, not individuals.

I don't care if you're a 90-year-old gay man who only looks at woodworking websites--there is something about the content of what you view that triggers the ads. Google ads are targeted to exactly two things: the content of the pages where they appear, and your individual browsing history.
 
Bongo's right. Google targets ads to personal user behavior. Whether it is something you have searched on Google, or something on a page you looked at, if you are seeing a certain ad, then it is because of something you did - as interpreted by Google's 'bots. You can search for "breast of chicken" and wind up with porn ads, though. It isn't foolproof.
 
I use ad-block plus so don't see many ads.

What you can try is delete your browsing history/cookies using ccleaner (freeware) and come back. See if the ads change.

Then go do a "chicken breast" google search, then come back to the site.

If the ads take a skinny dip, then you know for sure that it is your cookie history that tells the ad bot what to show. Now the ad bots may go farther than your browsing history by doing statistical analysis on sites visited based on their own data mining, such as "67% people who searched for bass guitars also searched for XXX therefore the guy who just entered "Fodera bass for sale" is likely to appreciate XXX. Result, you get an ad for an escort or happy-ending dating service on your screen.

You can of course also browse the cookies on the computer (if it is shared) to see what's there.
 
Now that I have fresh eyes, I can see how this could easily be based on my search results. Sites like those just throw their product everywhere, so if I searched "clothing", then their half-naked ads could come up. I didn't even consider how little Talkbass actually had to do with what ads might be shown to their users.

I'm always surprised at how easily offended some people are.
It's a picture. That offers the barest glimpse of something that over 50% of the population has. And you're offended? Seriously?

I explained it before, nudity is not what offends me, it's the obvious sexuality of the picture. It has nothing to do with the site, and it's not something I wish to see on such a site. Sexuality is something that is almost always private; seeing a family member unclothed doesn't bother me, but if I were to see said family members in the bedroom, that would most likely make all of us uncomfortable.
 
The ads may be based on browsing history, but they are pretty liberal with the interpretation of what you are looking for and they certainly take it a lot farther than I like. Like was mentioned already, if my wife or one of my kids walks in and sees it, that's a problem. Telling them I'm reading the posts on the forum would be like buying a Playboy magazine for the articles.

In short. I'm with you Omnipharious.
 
Eh, the ad doesn't bother me.

And btw, AdBlock users are freeloaders. Websites like talkbass (and many others) are supported primarily by advertising. By using AdBlock, you are depriving the people behind these sites of funds required to remain in operation. I work for a website that is 100% supported by advertising, and I can tell you that ad blocking is definitely a problem.
 
I would like the ad more if she was repulsively fat, ratty hair, trailing a half dozen screaming children and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth... then it would be more lifelike and appeal to my upstate NY sensibilities....
 
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