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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
Whats with the ads??
- Thread starter zgod
- Start date
I did some template updates (not very happy with what was updated) and Google seems to have changed to auto placement. Will check tomorrow.
I've checked the settings and these ads should not be appearing, unless you are visiting sites and they are retargeting the ads back at you
If this actually happens can you DM me a screenshot?
Confirming that Google applied an auto-ad optimisation on the site, I've now disabled this... if the ads still pop up please let me know as it could another setting that could've reset when the template was updated.
On the topic of ads and ad personalisation via data sharing, Google and Facebook are always a concerning data presence, and each update gives them new permission to move their own goal posts at will.
I bring this up because it’s a concerning topic in general, and this morning I was prompted to relax my cookie preferences in order to continue posting on PRE.
It may have been an unrelated device quirk for all I know, but I felt like I was presented with an ultimatum: give more data or leave PRE.
Before and after conceding, my device shows PRE as storing more cookies than any other individual website I visit, excluding one from Amazon, but I’m too naive on the topic to know what it all means (like most of us, really).
Is it possible for us to be more aware of the kind of data Facebook and Google are harvesting from our PRE behaviour? (Is it pointless to care or know?)
Partly from information shared about us using PRE, would we then receive personalised ads on other platforms that also use various Facebook/Google services? (Is it pointless to care or know?)
Data gathering is unavoidable if we want to use the Internet, so this topic isn’t directed at Mr T specifically. But it might be interesting as a discussion for anyone with knowledge on the topic, as it’s rare for a website to have an open forum to do so.
I bring this up because it’s a concerning topic in general, and this morning I was prompted to relax my cookie preferences in order to continue posting on PRE.
It may have been an unrelated device quirk for all I know, but I felt like I was presented with an ultimatum: give more data or leave PRE.
Before and after conceding, my device shows PRE as storing more cookies than any other individual website I visit, excluding one from Amazon, but I’m too naive on the topic to know what it all means (like most of us, really).
Is it possible for us to be more aware of the kind of data Facebook and Google are harvesting from our PRE behaviour? (Is it pointless to care or know?)
Partly from information shared about us using PRE, would we then receive personalised ads on other platforms that also use various Facebook/Google services? (Is it pointless to care or know?)
Data gathering is unavoidable if we want to use the Internet, so this topic isn’t directed at Mr T specifically. But it might be interesting as a discussion for anyone with knowledge on the topic, as it’s rare for a website to have an open forum to do so.
I suppose I get less of this since I am not on Facebook and nor do I use Google.
However, there are things you can do.
I do have a Google account since I have an Android phone and an Android tablet. There is no way I can stop Android from tracking what I do on those devices I figure. Can't turn them on without being logged in to my Google account.
But it is not possible for Google to link that to my reading/posting on PRE, which I do on a laptop, unless I am using Chrome and logged in to my Google account. So, I sit here in Firefox, I don't use Google to search (I use Duck Duck Go) and if I do need Google to search, there is no way I am logging in. I also rarely check my gmail account, I simply don't use it and can barely remember the email address.
Plus, Duck Duck Go can install a privacy monitor in your browser which tells me what each site is doing - from this I can see PRE is a pretty good site, it has an encrypted connection and I have 2 trackers blocked (I think Duck Duck Go allows me to block trackers).
123Cups, I would suggest, at a minimum, that if you are looking at PRE using Chrome that you do not log in to your Google account while doing so. Then consider using a different browser (Firefox, Vivaldi are a couple that I use). You can use a privacy browser like Firefox Focus but that only makes it like a private window, records nothing on your computer but plenty on servers, so no protection from Google or Facebook there. The next step would be a private VPN, I have never used one so someone else can explain those.
If the large tech companies want my info to target ads then they can suffer as far as I am concerned.
DS
However, there are things you can do.
I do have a Google account since I have an Android phone and an Android tablet. There is no way I can stop Android from tracking what I do on those devices I figure. Can't turn them on without being logged in to my Google account.
But it is not possible for Google to link that to my reading/posting on PRE, which I do on a laptop, unless I am using Chrome and logged in to my Google account. So, I sit here in Firefox, I don't use Google to search (I use Duck Duck Go) and if I do need Google to search, there is no way I am logging in. I also rarely check my gmail account, I simply don't use it and can barely remember the email address.
Plus, Duck Duck Go can install a privacy monitor in your browser which tells me what each site is doing - from this I can see PRE is a pretty good site, it has an encrypted connection and I have 2 trackers blocked (I think Duck Duck Go allows me to block trackers).
123Cups, I would suggest, at a minimum, that if you are looking at PRE using Chrome that you do not log in to your Google account while doing so. Then consider using a different browser (Firefox, Vivaldi are a couple that I use). You can use a privacy browser like Firefox Focus but that only makes it like a private window, records nothing on your computer but plenty on servers, so no protection from Google or Facebook there. The next step would be a private VPN, I have never used one so someone else can explain those.
If the large tech companies want my info to target ads then they can suffer as far as I am concerned.
DS
