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VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

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Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#101

Post by CannisterFlux »

creshal wrote: post #68
rm999 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work in the industry - mobile ads can be quite targeted. My guess is apps like clash of clans appeal to a wide range of people and are backed by heavy ad spending. This means a wide variety of people will be targeted with their ads. Doesn't mean ads arent targeted. E.g. a 25 year old white programmer probably isn't getting Spanish language ads, or ads targeting new mothers, or ads for retirement communities…

> Doesn't mean ads arent targeted. E.g. a 25 year old white programmer probably isn't getting Spanish language ads, or ads targeting new mothers, or ads for retirement communities. You'd be surprised. I bought a travel sewing kit five years ago on Amazon, and ever since I'm getting advertisements and "recommendations" for handbags, makeup and high-heeled shoes. It's so blatantly sexist and wrong it's almost funny aga…

I mark everything I buy on Amazon as a gift. This seems to stop the silly recommendation behaviour, and also stops Amazon emailing you asking for reviews or to provide answers to other customers' questions.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#102

Post by archon810 »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #63
archon810 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because any sort of page caching makes it much harder to count impressions, among other reasons.

With HTML5 ads there are several ways around that I think?

HTML is a client-side language for browsers to interpret. I'm not sure what you mean exactly - can you please clarify?

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#104

Post by wtbob »

creshal wrote: post #68
rm999 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work in the industry - mobile ads can be quite targeted. My guess is apps like clash of clans appeal to a wide range of people and are backed by heavy ad spending. This means a wide variety of people will be targeted with their ads. Doesn't mean ads arent targeted. E.g. a 25 year old white programmer probably isn't getting Spanish language ads, or ads targeting new mothers, or ads for retirement communities…

> Doesn't mean ads arent targeted. E.g. a 25 year old white programmer probably isn't getting Spanish language ads, or ads targeting new mothers, or ads for retirement communities. You'd be surprised. I bought a travel sewing kit five years ago on Amazon, and ever since I'm getting advertisements and "recommendations" for handbags, makeup and high-heeled shoes. It's so blatantly sexist and wrong it's almost funny aga…

> It's so blatantly sexist and wrong it's almost funny again.

Have you considered that it's blatantly sexist and right? I.e., that perhaps no-one programmed the ad network to associate sewing kits with handbags, makeup & high-heeled shoes, that perhaps the ad serving AIs learnt that on their own?

I wonder what we'll do when our AIs come to socially-unacceptable-but-true conclusions. Humans can be brow-beaten or persuaded into ignoring the truth systematically, but computers have to either have each bit of truth-denying programmed into them, or have much better intelligence and spend much more CPU calculating at a higher level in order to avoid socially-unacceptable truths.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#105

Post by douche »

anexprogrammer wrote: post #58
franciscop wrote: post #6

If someone needs to have an ad solution to have their website running it is NOT a business that should exist. It's like we say restaurant owners should support the mafia because otherwise they cannot make money in the neighborhood. Or any other criminal(ish) activity. "Without advertising we wouldn't be able to run this" MAYBE it really means you shouldn't run it at all, but don't force advertising(+malware) down you…

But a lot of niche forums - games, hobbies and so forth are unlikely to monetise any other way. Should they die too? Or have to rely on a rich benefactor deciding to host a motorcycling (or whatever) site? Few are going to pay a subscription to chat on a Civilization or fishing forum a few hours a week. Advertising should be the appropriate model for this. Trouble is it's being poisoned by the greed of Buzzfeed and W…

I run my blog with a custom domain name on Azure for $10 a month. I run some ads and Amazon affiliate links, but I've honestly made more from random people clicking my Paypal donation link.

Not that I really care about making money on it - as with most things, measuring my hosting costs in terms of Starbucks coffees puts it nicely in perspective. I should probably go pull my adsense ads.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#106

Post by angry-hacker »

zyx321 wrote: post #30
Dunofrey wrote: post #5

I still won't use ad blockers, I find them akin to stealing from content creators, but I'm getting close.

You can use Adblock Plus. The default settings will allow non-intrusive ads [1]. The company has been criticized for their monetization scheme ('large' entities pay for consideration, while 'smaller' entities are considered for free, with no indication where the line is drawn) but it's the best compromise we got. [1] https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads

Adblock whitelist only serves the interest of big publishers with money. It's basically racket.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#107

Post by franciscop »

archon810 wrote: post #84
snarfy wrote: post #11

Sites need to be legally liable for installing malware on your computer. That will solve all of this. I can go to prison for clicking on the wrong link but somehow they get away with drive-by ransomware installs.

This is laughable. If site owners could go to jail every time a 3rd-party code they're not fully responsible for does something bad, they'd all be in jail now. https://blog.malwarebytes.org/threat-analysis/2015/08/large-... http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/03/big-name-sites-hit-b... Etc.

Then the only standing ones would be site owners who care enough to make sure they don't allow malware on their visitor from their site. What's the problem?

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#108

Post by creshal »

wtbob wrote: post #104
creshal wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Doesn't mean ads arent targeted. E.g. a 25 year old white programmer probably isn't getting Spanish language ads, or ads targeting new mothers, or ads for retirement communities. You'd be surprised. I bought a travel sewing kit five years ago on Amazon, and ever since I'm getting advertisements and "recommendations" for handbags, makeup and high-heeled shoes. It's so blatantly sexist and wrong it's almost funny aga…

> It's so blatantly sexist and wrong it's almost funny again. Have you considered that it's blatantly sexist and right ? I.e., that perhaps no-one programmed the ad network to associate sewing kits with handbags, makeup & high-heeled shoes, that perhaps the ad serving AIs learnt that on their own? I wonder what we'll do when our AIs come to socially-unacceptable-but-true conclusions. Humans can be brow-beaten or pers…

> Have you considered that it's blatantly sexist and right?

I buy an average of a hundred items on Amazon a year, among them all my – male – clothes. Your algorithms are just plain shit when a single purchase five years ago is somehow weighed more than the whole rest.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#109

Post by wingerlang »

nvdk wrote: post #8
matthewmacleod wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also had paid content, which is absolutely taboo and vilified today Is this the case? I've seen absolutely tonnes of blatantly paid-for content across the web, and if anything there seems to be much more than there ever was.

they just call it "native advertising" now :)

Or sponsored, which is fine by me.

Re: VPAID ads destroy performance and are still served by major ad networks

#110

Post by js8 »

creshal wrote: post #68
rm999 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work in the industry - mobile ads can be quite targeted. My guess is apps like clash of clans appeal to a wide range of people and are backed by heavy ad spending. This means a wide variety of people will be targeted with their ads. Doesn't mean ads arent targeted. E.g. a 25 year old white programmer probably isn't getting Spanish language ads, or ads targeting new mothers, or ads for retirement communities…

> Doesn't mean ads arent targeted. E.g. a 25 year old white programmer probably isn't getting Spanish language ads, or ads targeting new mothers, or ads for retirement communities. You'd be surprised. I bought a travel sewing kit five years ago on Amazon, and ever since I'm getting advertisements and "recommendations" for handbags, makeup and high-heeled shoes. It's so blatantly sexist and wrong it's almost funny aga…

> It's so blatantly sexist

Hmm, isn't "being sexist" the whole raison d'etre for recommendation algorithms? I mean, sexism or other form of chauvinism are basically estimation of individual traits based on group affiliation.

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