My AW Is Different!

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juniper

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I can see those links, too. Pretty sure I haven't contracted malware (mac with antivirus software and I have to admin to install anything).

Yep, same set up for me. I usually browse AW using Safari. My other is Firefox, but I haven't checked for this over there.

They're coming from criteo.com -- when I allow javascript from criteo.com, suddenly the links appear. When I block it again, they disappear.

So - what do I do with this info? This driving dog is a total know-nothing re: virus software, malware, etc.
 

MacAllister

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Criteo is one of our advertising affiliates. I researched them pretty carefully before I installed the code, because I AM fussy and protective about you guys.

BUT...and it's a BIG but...these forums, bluntly stated, can't afford to be online without advertising revenue. I hugely appreciate everyone who donates/takes out a voluntary subscription -- but that revenue barely touches our hosting and bandwidth costs, let alone our software licence fees.
 

Reziac

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It would be really helpful if when you find a new ad partner, you'd announce their arrival, and tell us a bit about them and what we should expect to see.

I would rather have banner ads (polite banner ads, not the singing, dancing, floating, or popover/under kinds) than something which rewrites the page and inserts its own links to gods know where. I don't block polite banner ads.
 

Ken

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when I google absolute write to get to the site sometimes the site address for the forums comes up and sometimes the owner's blog comes up. the blog makes for fine reading and I am a regular patron, but it can be confusing at times when you click on the link and you find yourself there instead of here and you begin scrolling through the forums only to find there aren't any forums at which point you begin to panic until the truth dawns. may be a playful trick of the owner and administrator, hee hee :)
 
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atthebeach

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ETA: Bottom line- ads
help AW, but there are ways to get more directed response (but sometimes creepy)

So, using my devices, my google browsing is just me, private, but my point heeled is it really isn't.
From my limited surfing, using.iPad or iPhone, the ads are there but no problem.

They are obviously "smart", and some may find that troubling, but it is the same everywhere, unless you do something to your settings, as far as I know.

i browsed consumer cellular (we use it for our kids phone, and let me tell you the price of $15 is amazingly more appealing than $50+!). Then come here and one of the ad banners is consumer cellular. But then I realize that CNN does the same thing of me with ads. as well as a few other sites I visit).

so there is software to block history too, but I don't mind supporting AW by seeing the banner ads, and I rather like that they are more relevant to me (I even clicked on CC to browse a question). I have noticed this smart banner also after looking for items on Amazon.com, and not much else, just fyi.

So maybe I need to delete cookies (no, that is how they remember my login here) or block my browsing history (exactly how would I do that? Clear cache each each time?)

but either way,'even if just writing things to show up and visit. I still
think if is nothing to contribute to costs somehow, and sometimes it is based on clicking, while other times page views- whiich I'm probably good at, since I often click the wrong aW page using my fingers on a page, so I may be good for a few impressions extra by accident.
-that way my $.02

ETA: added top part in edit
 
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mirandashell

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I don't mind the banner ads at all. Sometimes it's interesting to see what is being advertised as it has no relevance to anything I've looked at ever but seems to come up all the time.

But I really really hate those embedded ads. They are an Abomination Unto Nuggan.
 

Reziac

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atthebeach, what you're describing is typical for a tracking cookie. Most advertisers use them.

Cookies are a tiny file sent to your computer by the webserver. When you visit a given site, its server queries your browser to see if you already have its cookie (or several as the case may be), and if it does, your browser responds by sending the cookie back to the server. It's kinda like a special-handshake ID. Aha, here's a cookie we recognise, atthebeach wants to log in. Welcome! (This is also why when you delete all your cookies, you have to log back in everywhere you go.)

Cookies are used for all sorts of things, such as automatic login here on AW. Cookies can contain just about anything and be short-lived or essentially permanent. (My old system still has my original New York Times login cookie -- from 1996! and it still works.)

Most cookies don't contain anything that identifies you personally. You're just a number in the cookie database.

Most ad servers partner with many different sites. Basically what a tracking cookie does is let the ad server look you up in its database:

User # 12345678 is here! what ads have we sent them lately? Oh yeah, on Site One we sent them X Y and Z. Here on Site Two, let's send them related ads A B and C. Wouldn't want them to get bored...

Webservers can query your browser's "history" for a list of everywhere you've visited in however-long your history is set for. If they find you've recently visited candy.com, and one of their advertisers sells chocolate, guess what you'll gets ads for -- even tho now you're on a site about shoes.

While this is often decried as a "violation of privacy", the fact is ad tracking cookies don't really do anything but follow you around the web, hoping they're sending you ads that you're more likely to actually look at. Yes, the aggregate information is often sold to advertisers, but they really don't care about you personally.

If you don't want tracking cookies or other forms of tracking (such as browser history parsing), you can disable browsing history (but I don't, because it's actually useful sometimes) and in your browser's preferences, set cookies to whatever looks most like "Allow cookies only from from the originating server" (or perhaps "Don't allow 3rd party cookies). Voila, once these ad cookies expire (or you delete them), advertising will stop following you around. Which on today's web, is mostly cosmetic. The real benefit of blocking 3rd party cookies is that they can have less savory uses (like password stealing, and profiling individuals, and could potentially be used by an oppressive government to track who associates with whom).

(Incidentally Facebook not only queries your browser history, it also matches your history to other Facebook users' histories ... that's one way it "knows" who "you might know" -- it can see which sites you and others have visited in common. This, IMO, does fall under "violation of privacy", because this can be used to personally identify individuals by way of their associations. If you're involved in a secret conspiracy, don't use Facebook. :greenie ETA: And t'other day I received proof positive that YouTube does the same.)

And remember, advertising is mostly about name recognition. They don't really expect you to buy something every time you see an ad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie
http://www.unc.edu/courses/2006spring/law/357c/001/projects/jhubbard/cookiesrisks.html

And, what mirandashell said!!
 
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atthebeach

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Reziac.

Thank you for such a detailed explanation! I rather like having the ads relevant to something I am interested in, and while a bit "creepy" seeing what I just searched for, at least I know why, and that I could clear the cookies. But cookies are so tasty, so I think I will keep them around. And I have clicked on a few from here knowing I would quickly return anyway since AW is so addicting. It is a great way to support them. And I especially love never having to login.

Also, sorry about my first few lines or so in my post- it reads almost incoherent. I am temporarily in the hospital and I think I was half asleep when I typed it. Glad you got what I meant in the end. :)
 
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Reziac

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Reziac.

Also, sorry about my first few lines or so in my post- it reads almost incoherent. I am temporarily in the hospital and I think I was half asleep when I typed it. Glad you got what I meant in the end. :)

That's all right, I was half-asleep yet when I wrote the reply. Between us we total one completely awake person. :greenie
 

SomethingOrOther

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One of the features I like on this new board is that when I'm lurking kuwisdelu, err... I mean, when I'm lurking a user's recent posts, I can see them directly from their profile instead of having to expend extra mouseclicks on the search function or "View More Posts" or whatever.
 
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aruna

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I haven't read this whole thread and sorry if this has been mentioned before -- but for the second time, I find the search function isn't working. A short time ago I posted about the difficulties in being paid by cheque and there was a discussion on payment options, wire transfer, etc. I tried everything -- cheque, check, wire transfer, bank, etc -- and got no results. Also tried it on google, no results. Either the thread has vanished, or -- something! It was in Roundtable I believe.


ETA: fixed it! I searched for "international cheque" and this post came up. That's the right one.
 
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SomethingOrOther

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Something Sometimes editing a post will gobble up my paragraph breaks. Not sure what that's about. Anyway, a heads up.
 
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MacAllister

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Since it's now been several months, we're going to let this thread sink. But if you find you're having technical difficulties, as always, PM me or AW Admin and we'll help as best we can!
 
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