Are ads going too far?

[Egomaniac]

Why are people against targeted ads? You are going to see an ad anyway, might as well to be an ad that can adverstise something useful for you rather than cocktail dress.

I'm against targetted ads because of the means they use to get the information required to target me.

[melzas]

I'm against targetted ads because of the means they use to get the information required to target me.

What means? And why does it matter? Am I missing something here?

They use cookies to see what you are interested in, right? It only benefits you that they do it, I don't understand this "problem".

[PC2]

What means? And why does it matter? Am I missing something here?

They use cookies to see what you are interested in, right? It only benefits you that they do it, I don't understand this "problem".

I mean they took personal data and used it elsewhere without asking. While it may be legal it's not a good sign in general, it should be based on consent or a toggle button.

[melzas]

I mean they took personal data and used it elsewhere without asking. While it may be legal it's not a good sign in general, it should be based on consent or a toggle button.

Doesn't literally every site asks you to accept cookies before you start browsing these days...?

Not to mention I'd rather get ineresting ads that might show me something I was actually interested in than worry about oversea company algorithm learning that I like compter games and metal music...?

[PC2]

Doesn't literally every site asks you to accept cookies before you start browsing these days...?

Yes but that doesn't mean they ought to be doing anything they want with the data.

[Shadowferal]

I block all ads, I don't see them. Been doing that for 10+ years.

Yup...And scripts are also blocked.

[melzas]

Yes but that doesn't mean they ought to be doing anything they want with the data.

Help me understand. What kind of data they are gathering and what are they doing with it that worries you? I genuinely am trying to see if there is something I should be concerned about that I'm missing here.

[PC2]

Help me understand. What kind of data they are gathering and what are they doing with it that worries you? I genuinely am trying to see if there is something I should be concerned about that I'm missing here.

Many sites gather all data that could be useful in shifting your attention and interests beyond the original thing you agreed to viewing. Which is cool but ought be transparent or have an opt-out toggle to prevent it from potentially being used in shady ways.

[announced]

I use uBlock Origin and some other software to get rid of adds on my PC.

If they made a rule against making adds intrusive that would be fine, or something where you get one add every hour for 10 seconds that you can skip or mute that also works (which I have at work).

[cface]

Use Adguard on my phone and all computers. I don't watch any TV that has commercials, if I somehow can't skip the ad, like hard ads on twitch or whatever, I just instantly mute and open new window for a few minutes.

Ads are the dumbest thing I know. In fact, if I see a product in the ads, like gamer headsets etc, it's a negative impression of that product. Firefox seems to block better with Adguard, chrome is getting more and more f'ed up.

[bladeXcrasher]

I can understand ads keeping sites free, but some of them are overboard. Either the content is not right, or there’s an insane quantity of them. Then there’s the invasion of privacy to “tailor” your ads to your needs.

What is your stance on ads? Do you just ignore them or do they piss you off?

What ads??

[Strawberry]

Can't tell, most of my ads are blocked.

I use stuff like uBlock Origin, Autoplay Stopper (nothing more frustrating than those videos that automatically start to play) and I don't care about cookies.
I used to root my phone to install Adblocker, but then I found out that you can just go into settings, Private DNS and enter dns.adguard.com under provider hostname and boom, no more ads on websites or in apps. It was that simple, lol.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

I can accept banners / box ads within websites as long as the content at least equals to or is greater the ads. But if it is a block of ads with a sentence or two and another block of ads I will never visit that site again even with an adblocker. Also, if they pop up or force themselves to the forefront of the content the ads will be blocked on that site. If they want to earn money from me viewing ads I will accept it if it is does within reason and not forcefully. I will white list sites that do it right. I want those sites to make money as long as it is responsibly done.

Sadly most of them just throw so many at you it just isn't worth it. So that white list is awfully short and the fault lays totally on websites doing it the way they do it.

[Kraenen]

The "internet" would switch to different business model more likely.

I'm not sure either would be the case given how much OS stuff and self-made content was coming around the early days. The monetization came much later, and we had enough good content in the net before it.