META - Offensive Advertising
I know this has been discussed before, and I know it's basically autogenerated from search history and Brian & Co. don't have much they can do, but come on. Russian brides and underwear ads is one thing, but this trash? There HAS to be something we can do about it.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:00 PM ^
I've gotten a lot of Notre Dame ads too.
September 26th, 2018 at 5:47 PM ^
Me, too. I try to click on them every time. I mean, I always like to support Brian and MGoBlog, but if I can take money from Notre Dame’s pocket and out it in Brian’s, that’s just a bonus.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:03 PM ^
Do people still live in a world where they don't use adblocker?
September 26th, 2018 at 4:18 PM ^
Do dense people still use adblocker on free sites that have quality content that have minimal advertising which pays for the free content that they enjoy?
September 26th, 2018 at 4:32 PM ^
Beveled Guilt.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:38 PM ^
Well, considering that a lot of folks got a pretty nasty virus from ads on this here site several years ago I think it's understandable.
September 26th, 2018 at 5:09 PM ^
That's legitimate. But, it happened once, quite a while ago now, and Brian & Co took care of it. Has it happened again? Not that I've heard of, not to mention even standard Windows Defender will catch 99% of stuff nowadays, so the risk seems extremely minimal to not block ads to help pay for more stuff for the best free sports blog on the net.
September 26th, 2018 at 5:21 PM ^
It's happened multiple times over the years.
September 26th, 2018 at 5:54 PM ^
Cool! Never happened to me in the 11+ years I've been reading the site ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Your choice to use adblocker, but I think it's kind of messed up if you're not doing something else. Other people below have rightfully pointed out there are other ways to help, and that's great. But how many people using adblock actually do that? If it's anything like other donation-based organizations I've been a part of it's a very small percentage.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:57 PM ^
You realize there is other ways to support this site right?
September 27th, 2018 at 12:44 AM ^
No but I realize that there are other ways to support this site.
You know nothing Tom Snow.
September 26th, 2018 at 5:01 PM ^
I buy the season preview and then give a donation at least once a year.
September 26th, 2018 at 7:09 PM ^
My adblocker doesn’t discriminate on free or paid sites...but prevents me from getting annoying pop-ups or accidentally clicking on a site I don’t want to.
I also don’t watch TV commercials...even though that ad revenue helps support programs I enjoy.
September 26th, 2018 at 6:03 PM ^
Are you allowed to use an ad blocker if you don't read any of the quality content, meaning you only read the board?
September 27th, 2018 at 10:47 AM ^
You get everything with an adblocker here. Some sights now require you to remove adblocker or create an exception for the site. I usually no longer visit those sights...but would make an exception for this one.
September 26th, 2018 at 7:04 PM ^
Adblockers are evil. Support the Internet or it will all be paywalled soon
September 26th, 2018 at 7:39 PM ^
Adblockers exist because of shitty ads, pop-up ads, more ads than website, etc. There is a good reason for them.
September 26th, 2018 at 11:25 PM ^
A paywall isn't the worst thing. Imagine if it was twenty years ago you got all your news from the Penny Saver because you only read ad supported free content?
September 27th, 2018 at 8:33 AM ^
Pay for what you value. If it is free, you are the product.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:06 PM ^
You are missing the clear interconnected marketing strategy being deployed in this advertising. First, you get yourself a Russian or Asian mail-order bride (based on your "consumer preference" in this area). Then, before she arrives, you buy new underwear; you don't want your new bride seeing your old, "held-together-by-four-threads" tightly-whities. Finally, once she arrives, you find out she expects to live like "all Americans she has seen on TV." This requires you to get a better job with a bigger salary, which requires education (at OSU or ND, because no one expects you to get in to Michigan)...
September 26th, 2018 at 4:21 PM ^
Except Mail order Brides these days come with surgery...i.e.: They are a man and have had conversion surgery down there and now look like a sort of woman on top and a Ken doll on the bottom. That's the kind of stuff you need to worry about these days about a mail (or male) order bride.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:24 PM ^
And suddenly, the "way too much info on that topic" guy shows up
September 26th, 2018 at 4:27 PM ^
With a user name that matches the comment
September 26th, 2018 at 4:32 PM ^
At least his? User name checks out.
September 26th, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
When they come in for a CT scan, that's how you find out accidentally.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:36 PM ^
I actually know a guy who married a mail order bride. He did get to fly over and meet her first. She was pretty hot, he was a fat dork.
10 years and a child later she leaves him, gets custody of the kid, and they fight so much in court that he ends up selling his rental complex and snap-on franchise to pay the legal costs and settlement.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:57 PM ^
How do you get a mail order bride and not have a prenup?
September 26th, 2018 at 5:27 PM ^
You can't get a prenup that says you can keep all your money, assets and kids 10yrs after your marriage.
September 26th, 2018 at 5:51 PM ^
You can definitely get one that covers the first two.
September 26th, 2018 at 9:08 PM ^
If only my ad-blocker worked to keep me from wondering what the hell is a rental complex and snap-on franchise.
Yeah, those ads... I figure divorce lawyers are the ones running all those mail-order bride sites. No other way it makes sense.
September 26th, 2018 at 9:15 PM ^
I’d rather have a strap-on dealership
September 26th, 2018 at 9:20 PM ^
You seem on the fence about trying this yourself.
September 26th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
+1 Informative.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:06 PM ^
isn't the ads based on one's web surfing history and search queries?
September 26th, 2018 at 4:10 PM ^
Not necessarily. It's mostly based on demographics.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:11 PM ^
Exactly. That's why you keep getting ads for weird porn...
September 26th, 2018 at 9:53 PM ^
Define weird...
September 26th, 2018 at 6:57 PM ^
No it is mostly based on your tracking history, which Google and FB sell--to anyone. Along with reading your emails (Google) and selling your information to shady outfits (FB). Ad tech literally knows everything about you. I'm amazed that people (I'm guilty too) willingly trade their privacy in exchange for ads--it is ALL driven by ads.
September 27th, 2018 at 1:14 AM ^
This is really incorrect regarding Google. They don’t sell your info, they keep it and then sell the ability for Google to deliver ads to specific groups. They make this very clear in their privacy notice by the way if you read it: https://safety.google/privacy/ads-and-data/ as well as their statement on how their ads work: https://howwemakemoney.withgoogle.com/
GMail also doesn’t read your inbox to deliver ad content: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6603?hl=en
This is not to say there aren’t valid privacy concerns about what Google uses your data for, or why you consent to allow people to use that data for (third party apps), and you certainly should scrutinize that, but please try to get more information on this before making these type of statements.
I’d encourage everyone who uses Google to check out their privacy settings and their ad settings.
September 27th, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
To be clear, though, Gmail did use the content of emails for advertising purposes up until about a year ago.
September 27th, 2018 at 9:04 AM ^
I'm guessing IP address is also a factor. Anything I search for online miraculously pops up in my wife's FB. She is becoming quite knowledgeable about router bits.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:07 PM ^
I hate the ads that are a combo of OSU alums from Russia in underwear. Those dudes are a sight you can't unsee....
September 26th, 2018 at 4:08 PM ^
See that little blue triangle in the corner of the ad? That means it's an ad served by Google AdSense. They calculate what ad to show you based off of your search history and your interests. If you have been researching pooping in coolers deleting emails or how to protect your abusive bro-tastic employee that is probably why you were getting this ad. Freak.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:20 PM ^
Yep. I saw this same ad the other day, and almost said something, but then I remembered that I had searched OSU's schedule on my phone, which is clearly how that originated.
So yeah.
September 26th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^
Yeah, I was looking at their schedule and stats for Reverse Sheep picks recently, I assumed that was what triggered the ad.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:32 PM ^
Next fight I'm in, I'm bringing Seth with. Dang.
September 26th, 2018 at 4:35 PM ^
Joking aside, it doesn't seem like this is consistently true for the ads? Because I currently have two MGoBlog windows open, and of the eight total ads showing up, I have ads for Butler University, rugs, coats, motorcycles, and coats again - and I haven't searched for any of those items. Not even close to any of them, really.
On the other side of the coin, the other three ads are for a football streaming service, an airline, and a resort - these do make sense, as I come here all the time, and I was browsing flights recently.
But anyway, I would say that a good chunk of the ads, probably a majority of them, seem completely unrelated to my browsing history.
EDIT: for not-quite-as-small-sample, I reloaded a couple of times. Nessus, Triplebyte, airline, Shapermint, OYO phone protector, T-Shirts with animal faces, T-Shirts with guns & ammo belts drawn on, and Tecovas. Aside from the airline repeat, there is nothing even close to my search history, or even in my wheelhouse for things I'm interested in. Browsing from work, if that matters.
September 26th, 2018 at 5:40 PM ^
There are all types of ads. Some ads are driven by browser search/history. Some by site visit. Some by demographics being delivered on a platform through an ad serving company.
For all of the ads which seem to have nothing to do with anything you have searched, those are mostly being run by a company trying to reach a specific demographic and are being distributed on a variety of websites based on site usage demographics. I.e. you have a strong likelihood of seeing those same ads if you were on ESPN, CBS Sports, craft beer, etc websites because those sites have been identified as sites people all fitting a certain demographic would visit.
September 26th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
I can only imagine what the people who get mail-order brides and and numerous ads for underwear which has no hope of being flattering on them have been searching. Actually, I can imagine it, and I can only hope it is NOT on their work computer.