Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

vice.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 115 posts

Re: Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

#91

Post by bryans »

nine_k wrote: post #78
winternett wrote: post #33

I'm very proud of my history of never clicking a Facebook ad in over 10 years... Most of them are really just shills for capturing targeting data to associate with my profile anyway. This also explains why Facebook shows me wildly random ads for Viagra alternatives, yoga pants, conservative news, and better kitty litter than my current brand... All things which have no relevance to me, yet quite often triggering my u…

I, on the contrary, clicked every relevant ad on facebook. Now they learned my preferences and show me mostly ads about vintage 8-bit computers and tracker music software and groups. And no ads about viagra or yoga pants. I'd say that FB ads generally can target much better than general web ads because they can track and profile you precisely, e.g. from your posts, comments, and other interactions. But at least you s…

You can accomplish this without clicking on any ads. Just send a DM to someone with all of the keywords you want to see ads for, and you will start seeing them within a few minutes. It's the best way to find new startups with highly specific relevance.

Re: Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

#92

Post by [deleted] »

winternett wrote: post #33

I'm very proud of my history of never clicking a Facebook ad in over 10 years... Most of them are really just shills for capturing targeting data to associate with my profile anyway. This also explains why Facebook shows me wildly random ads for Viagra alternatives, yoga pants, conservative news, and better kitty litter than my current brand... All things which have no relevance to me, yet quite often triggering my u…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

#93

Post by sushsjsuauahab »

catillac wrote: post #68
sushsjsuauahab wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, with regard to conservative news, there's about a 50% chance that you would be interested, not necessarily enough to click though

Significantly less given that they’re on HN, but I suppose there’s no way FB would know that this person posts on HN.

And thats why they just blanket spam ads to everyone :)

Re: Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

#94

Post by kingcharles »

balls187 wrote: post #18
kingcharles wrote: post #2

A LinkedIn ad the other day urged me to apply for the position of CEO of Boeing. I was just released from jail. Coincidence?

Will you be writing about this experience (I recall another thread where you discuss being on the receiving end of a state sponsored attack).

Yes, absolutely. I do want to write about it, but there are certain aspects that I feel I can't until the situation is over, and that might be another 6 months, or as much as another 3-4 years.

Re: Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

#95

Post by jollybean »

winternett wrote: post #77
jollybean wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"explains why Facebook shows me wildly random ads for Viagra alternatives, yoga pants, conservative news, and better kitty litter than my current brand." Scroll to the bottom of CNN - it's all rubbish ads. That's just the long tail of attention-scamming, it's not FB.

On the back-end it's likely linked to FB data though... A whole lot of sites began to lag when facebooks DNS went offline earlier this year and that was quite telling. That data on us flows all the way across the net.

Yes I agree, but that said, it's just noise.

Also, FB learning algorithm is not some Orwellian disaster - the ads will get marginally better if you click them and that's it, I don't suggest there is any real harm there.

Google, on the other hand, is much more powerful and they know much more about you and the results they chalk up (that you depend upon for life, work) are geared to this.

Google doesn't have a 'Zuck' to pin it on, such is populism.

And FYI the 'big culprit' is VISA. They sell your data to FB and that's a big chunk of how FB learns. But it's not in the headlines, no Congressional 'Whistle blowers' etc., they fly under the radar.

Re: Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

#96

Post by hutzlibu »

hluska wrote: post #31
selestify wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The genius of it is that it is a note for note send up of ideologies of every kind, literally, the logic of an idea, where when you project it on something, the reflection doesn't illuminate the object so much as reinforce the underlying idea itself as a lens. Could you expound on this? I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what you are saying

It sounds like David Icke. If you really need someone to expound on this, you could read the source but we’re both on HN and likely reasonably similar. Can I give you some loving advice?? Forget this. There’s nothing good in Icke. I’ve seen way too many brilliant hackers get sucked into David Icke’s bullshit on their way to a crash. If you still really need closure, I can sum it up as the royal family, the elite and…

Well, I'd say for me googling him was fun. But I also just watched "Inside Job" a new cartoon series on netflix about all that(including shape shifting lizzard people), so I was in the mood.

But I know, it is less fun, when you have to deal with people who takes that shit serious.

Re: Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

#97

Post by rolleiflex »

kgeist wrote: post #88
winternett wrote: post #33

I'm very proud of my history of never clicking a Facebook ad in over 10 years... Most of them are really just shills for capturing targeting data to associate with my profile anyway. This also explains why Facebook shows me wildly random ads for Viagra alternatives, yoga pants, conservative news, and better kitty litter than my current brand... All things which have no relevance to me, yet quite often triggering my u…

>All things which have no relevance to me For the past 6 months, every single ad on Youtube (TV app) for me is about Indians singing something in Hindi... I wonder why that happens. I'm not Indian, I don't understand Hindi, and I'm not interested in Indian pop music. Yet Youtube thinks I'm a huge fan and I have no idea what to do about it.

Have you by any chance sold any Android phones you used to own at one point? Google I think does associative linking based on phones. If your phone eventually found its way to India, Google might have started to think something similar. This happened to me personally, except I was both of the people in the exchange, that’s how I know.

Re: Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

#98

Post by colechristensen »

hluska wrote: post #36
batshit_beaver wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What in tarnation

I can’t make this shit up. The dude has published many books and found people who actually believe it all… If this startup thing doesn’t work out, maybe I’ll just start a cult. :) Edit - The second paragraph was a bad attempt at a joke. Don’t start cults. Fuck David Icke.

> If this startup thing doesn’t work out, maybe I’ll just start a cult. :)

I know you’re not being serious but unfortunately many people are in this kind of thinking. All over society are movements and groupthink driven by a small group of people that realized that you can get a whole lot of money and power by making people believe outlandish things.

Re: Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

#99

Post by nine_k »

bryans wrote: post #91
nine_k wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, on the contrary, clicked every relevant ad on facebook. Now they learned my preferences and show me mostly ads about vintage 8-bit computers and tracker music software and groups. And no ads about viagra or yoga pants. I'd say that FB ads generally can target much better than general web ads because they can track and profile you precisely, e.g. from your posts, comments, and other interactions. But at least you s…

You can accomplish this without clicking on any ads. Just send a DM to someone with all of the keywords you want to see ads for, and you will start seeing them within a few minutes. It's the best way to find new startups with highly specific relevance.

TIL!

Re: Facebook ads told me to become a certified cryptozoologist, so I did

#100

Post by gunapologist99 »

8bitsrule wrote: post #11

>My assistant suggested we first try the “wood-knock” technique. According to expert Bigfootologists, the creatures are said to communicate with one another by hitting tree trunks with thick branches... Sounds like Tamlin's 'assistant, a lawyer' is an id^H^H^H^H hasn't spent much time in the bush. BIG NOISE generally means: run fast and hide deep.

The lawyer could always just hide in the nearest loo until eaten.

Chaos theorists might have a more philosophical take that is rich with enlightenment, layers of hidden meaning, and a deeper understanding of the universal meta-reality: must go faster.

Post reply on HN