spooky 'tailored' Secret Leeds Adverts (left hand)

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Wed 22 May, 2013 11:37 pm

Just logged in and to my immediate left as i view now it says Cyprus Paradise Holiday deal - same below.But when I first logged in it was Amazon (which I use) and it's suggested buys were1. Beiderbecke Trilogy 21st Anniversary edition2. Likely Lads (Bolam again) and 3. A Very Peculiar Practice (Barbara Flynn of Beiderbecke as Foxy nurse).dscohow does it do this? expect it is because earlier Amazon searches ( I often shop there) pop up.interested to know.

Caron · Post by **Caron** » Thu 23 May, 2013 12:06 am

Hi Jogon. I shall be interested to find out also as my adverts are for Leeds and Dorset and after reading through Philld's Grass Cutting Thread I had an advert for Lawns etc! Sort of makes me feel I'm being watched!

kango · Post by **kango** » Thu 23 May, 2013 12:18 am

Possibly a tracking cookie following Your browsing activity and throwing up adverts related to web sites previously visited.A quote from wiki whatsit..."Advertising companies use third-party cookies to track a user across multiple sites. In particular, an advertising company can track a user across all pages where it has placed advertising images or web bugs. Knowledge of the pages visited by a user allows the advertising company to target advertisements to the user's presumed preferences..."

Caron · Post by **Caron** » Thu 23 May, 2013 12:40 am

Thanks for that, kango. I'm not at all educated when it comes to computers but understand the above.

Post by **mhoulden** » Thu 23 May, 2013 2:13 am

You can "untailor" the adverts by going to http://www.youradchoices.com/ and following the instructions. There are ad blockers available, but I'm not going to give instructions on how to use those because I know the adverts help to pay for the site.

Hats Off · Post by **Hats Off** » Thu 23 May, 2013 1:17 pm

Better still, install an AD-Blocker type software such as Adblock Plus and you wont be bothered by ads at all. psYou can tailor the Ad blocker to allow ads on this site only (if you want to help the site) and keep the rest of your browsing experience ad free.

Post by **dsco** » Thu 23 May, 2013 4:31 pm

Hi folks, the ads are supplied by Google and they use various means to target the adverts that are shown to the site user.Part of it is based on the site content, so if there are keywords on a page like 'grass cutting', it is likely to show adverts for lawnmowers etc, believing that people reading about grass cutting are probably interested in such things.They also target individual ads based on your personal profile if you have allowed them to do so. It's not related to this site or any cookies stored by us - it's the info saved by Google, based on your search history, Google+ profile if you have one, stuff like that.Personally I don't mind being served relevant ads rather than irrelevant ones, and often stuff pops up that is quite useful. However I understand that's not everyone's feeling on the matter.So, as folk have pointed out you can control it closely and/or block it entirely through the website listed above, and it's also worth pointing out that if you don't like a particular advert, just click the cross in the top right corner and it won't appear again. I find that useful when being swamped by ads for alternatives to something I've just bought, which seem to happen quite often!If you want to go down the ad blocker route that's totally fair enough. Bear in mind though that adverts are what pays for the servers that run websites like this one and will also be entirely funding (ooh, spoiler alert!) the development work that will be done on Secret Leeds next week. No pressure or anything though

Caron · Post by **Caron** » Thu 23 May, 2013 7:52 pm

Nah, I wont be blocking them and thanks for the detailed explanation, dsco