I really should just laugh, I guess

[ceagle]

It's pretty well-established now that in recent years, Google (among others) have developed Super-Cookies that track you, even through incognito mode, to target ads at ya... They make the browser most of us use, so they know how to sidetrack it (and these strategies usually work against Firefox too).

When I see these ads, my first inclination is to be annoyed at their two-faced tactics... and then I just have to reset and think about it a moment.

With all their devious efforts, they are often just cutting their own foot off. For example, I've bought a thousand nails for a job. Now I am seeing constant ads for MORE nails. Or I buy a refrigerator... and now am seeing repetitive ads for more refrigerators.

Do you see where this is going? ;D ... And why do advertisers pay to promote things I No Longer Need?? LOL!!

Google sure has them fleeced!

Comments

[allaboutweather.livejournal.com]

They nailed it getting the right ads. DX

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Twitter is equally bad, with 'promoted' tweets spamming my timeline. It used to really annoy me, and I would vengefully block these folks from my account, until I realized that by simply muting them they would still think their ads were relevant and keep paying $$ Twitter to advertise: they basically pay for our free use of the service.

[sabotlours.livejournal.com]

If they want to send me ads for fursuits...more power to them!

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

Epic Browser is your friend. :)

https://www.epicbrowser.com/

Also includes a free VPN.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Wowz!
Looks like it's a good contender with Brave...
I checked out their site quite a bit and hope to test it soon.. thanks ^v^ !

[hastka.livejournal.com]

I use a pretty dense array of ad blockers and script blockers. Well, okay 2-3 total but still, that's more dense than nothing. :P

So, essentially I don't see anything unless I want to see it, with a few rare exceptions... though it does make things frustrating as it for some reason also blocks anti-robot scripts from working, even with the site whitelisted. :|

I don't really feel guilty robbing people of their revenue because: 1) the internet is about improving your lifestyle, not monetizing it, 2) ads are not a viable way to turn an unsustainable business model into a sustainable one (put another way, Google has enough revenue sources without needing ad revenue, and could still do "useful work" after laying off 80% of their overpaid engineers), and 3) as you observe, few/no ad engines generate anything useful. And frankly I'd be a little terrified to see what they'd recommend to me if they DID work right. :P And let's not forget 4) sometimes I feel generous and pay for services I use, like wikipedia or livejournal... who, best I can tell, aren't out to monetize me. If a site gripes about my running an ad blocker (and a couple do), great. I'll go to another site that doesn't object. The internet's a big place.

[jedd-marten.livejournal.com]

They will readily use any "search cookies" stored on your browser by other sites. I've noticed that when I search something at home despot and then later go to a website with googie ads, there will be an ad for exactly what I was searching for -- but not if I clear out the cookies first. ^^. On the PC, I use the Edge browser with the "clear all history on exit" option and I don't have that phenomenon occurring. This has the added benefit of logging out of any forgotten sessions too.