Stupid WP ads

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RANT: I am a larger fella, I have a somewhat big belly, so I have to buy from big n tall stores. Well, the big n tall store sold my address that they made me give them, and now I get entire catalogs from online sports betting websites. I am not interested in sports, nor betting on sports, nor any sort of gambling at all. I'm the type of guy who can spend a whole day in Reno and not enter a casino, unless it's for food. But since I'm a 35 year old size 3XLT male, I MUST be interested in betting on football, right?

The marketers have this down to a supposed science, and refuse to consider that not everybody fits neatly into a little box. So yeah, somebody fit superboyian into a little box that says he likes porn. The fact that he doesn't like porn is immaterial. The marketers wave their SCIENCE around, and like Al Gore and global warming, their "science" is settled. Or rather, they've settled on the science that suits them. They can tell me about my entire life from one thing, but social sciences are called "soft science" for a REASON. People don't fit into nice little boxes, but that won't stop the marketers from trying.

Actually, if a marketing method isn't backed up by results, it'll get dropped. Of course there are going to be a lot of people that don't fit a marketing profile, but there are a lot more that do. It's based on statistics, which is hard data.

Exactly. They're not really concerned with getting a perfect score. As long as there is profit in the end, even losing some income is acceptable.

I used to work as a software developer for a large well known International company that collects, collates and processes such data. They compile everything from the electoral records, vehicle licencing, land registry (house sales), purchases made using bank cards, your income, your credit history, any court orders against you, how many children you have, your ages and their ages, what schools they go to etc etc. They know more about the average person than the person themselves.

Armed with all this information they know where you live, exactly what the neighbourhood is like right down to street level (and smaller), what sort of car (if any) you are likely to drive, what newspaper you purchase, if you are likely to smoke, what insurances you hold, how much you spend going out to restaurants, which restaurants etc, etc. Armed with this huge amount of data they advise companies on junk mail campaigns providing very targeted lists. They also advise large companies such as McDonalds where to build their next drive through (The company I worked for even knows how much traffic goes up and down every street and can predict how profitable a particular new McD would be! - you would not believe the amount of data processed to predict this - including how many people are employed in what types of job and how close they are to the proposed location). They also advise where shopping centres (malls) should be built.

The average person has no idea the amount of data some of these large companies collect and collate. While they don't have an exact profile of every individual, they are close enough to make it a very profitable business. No large companies send out large mail-shots without having their target addresses run through this data company first - it is expensive sending out junk mail to people who are unlikely to buy their products or services, so this helps them to get a better return on their mail shot.

Is it immoral? Well, it certainly shocked me a little while I worked there. I had no idea how much information they held. There was also talk of them getting involved with Google and collating cookie information into the data warehouse. I don't know if it ever went forward or not... the implication being that you could look on a website about new cars and a day or so later start getting physical junk mail through your letter box about new cars - in particular the type of car you are likely to buy based on your demographics, income and aspirations.

Big brother? Yes, most definitely.

I would think that they'd be correct about 99% of the time - and you don't even have to be young to qualify. I like porn myself but I make the effort to avoid it because I'm married and it wouldn't seem right to indulge myself. Though that makes it even worse when they try to push it on people like me. It's difficult enough to be good as it is, without being one click away from corruption.

The ads I get mostly here from WP are about "getting ripped" and "amazing" slimming methods "discovered by a mom." Complete with impossible before-and-after pictures. I used to find them funny, but now they just depress me, to think that such dishonest hokum is tolerated and that there must be people out there who are so sad and desperate that it's actually worth the while of the ad-men to put them up in the first place. PLEASE TELL ME MORE ABOUT THESE AD BLOCKERS! I WANT IN! IS THERE ONE FOR WINDOWS?

Yes! I assume you are currently using Microsoft's Internet Explorer to browse the web. I suggest you download the Firefox web browser:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

There is no reason to get rid of your old Microsoft browser. You can have more than one Internet browser on your computer.

After downloading Firefox. When you run it click Tools > Add-ons > Get Add-ons.

There are lots to chose from, but the one everyone uses is AdBlock Plus. The internet becomes a very different place without all those annoying adverts.

There was a point in time that I found it "interesting" that American Girl (the doll company) was advertising at Wrong Planet. I've long since figured out how that happened. I don't even want to type the word p o r n least I start seeing those ads. I get Disney, diet, autism therapies (an issue by itself) and stuff like that, mostly. Maybe because I mostly post on parenting, eh? Big Brother does not bother me as long as I KNOW what is happening, and how to avoid it when desired. I was very upset, however, to discover that gmail is data mining my emails after I had the bright idea (sarcasm intended) of relocating my business email there. My clients share very personal tax data - I do NOT want that data mined.

I suppose on the plus side, at least Google are upfront about scanning the contents of emails for targeted advertising purposes. I'm not a fan of Gmail. They have a habit of losing emails. I sell a small volume of my shareware software and email registration codes to those who buy a licence. Over the last few months several people have complained they haven't received their registration email - and they were all people who gave a Gmail email address for contact. The emails just vanished. Not bounced back to me and not in the Gmail users other folders (spam, trash etc). Just disappeared.

You know, the same thing happened to me when I registered for this site. I have a yahoo account, and I never received an email regarding registration. I had to use my work email address (which never pleases my employer when I use it for personal business).

As for the demographic software, a number of employers that I have worked for with a customer base use it. My boss was showing us this software one day, I was deeply surprised how much info they had on me and my family.

...And doesn't stop...

Thanks.......I think I'll take your advice. I do indeed use IE. I hate change, but I hate silly ads even more.

YAY! It works!

I did just like you recommended, installed FireFox and Adblock Plus.......at first it made no difference, but I right-clicked each unwanted ad, selected the "adblock image" option, and clicked "add filter." If the ad still persisted (as some of them did in my Hotmail account), I did the same thing again but this time I selected the third "radio button" down (which says something like " http://advertsinyourface.com* " ) and clicked "add filter" again......I presume that made it a little less specific than the default button, which seems to block only one image from the offending advertiser. Only took a few minutes, and I haven't seen an ad since.

Thank you, Tallyman

Just one question - at the top of every WP page, it now says "additional plugins are required to display all the media on this page (click to install)" - should I do that, or will it just bring the ads back? Everything seems perfectly functional the way it is, so I'm tempted to leave well alone.

I'm not sure why you are needing to select particular ads to block them. I don't have to block any manually. All adverts all over the internet are blocked on all sites. I'd hazard a guess that you need to subscribe to Easylist for AdBlocker. This is a list of all the advertisers on the internet and it blocks the lot in one go. Try going into the options of AdBlocker to see if you can subscribe to "Easylist".

Regarding the additional plugins, it probably means you need common plugins like shockwave flash to display some of the youtube type stuff. These are easily installed if you want them.

Needs to subscribe to one of the pre-compiled ad lists, wouldn't that fix the problem?


M.

wow, this is fabulous! I finally did the Firefox thing with the AdBlock (when I modded I always wanted to see what the newbie saw when on WP) and I even eliminated the WP donation ad!

Merle

You're probably right about Easylist. I'll get that if the ads start coming back - I visit a fairly narrow range of websites and it's not been necessary yet.

I haven't zapped the WP request for donations......I don't mind that one, as it's not really intrusive or dishonest. If only all the advertisers were quiet and respectful, there'd be no need for blocking.