Hi.
Regular lurker rare contributer here…
I use firefox, and have an adblocker plus a tracking blocker. I haven’t seen ads in a very long time. According to some, I may be one of those who eventually “break” the web, because I am not supporting the income producing advertising!
In response to this thread, I just disabled all add ons to see the ads, and I was immediately overwhelmed with all the flashing, and distracting ads. Still, someone mentioned that the ads are being controlled by google, which would mean they are linked to google searches.
First of all, nearly all of the ads I saw were obviously specifically placed by “heimish” vendors, or vendors who clearly know they are targeting an orthodox Jewish website.
Secondly, I would be surprised if this site uses google ads, because as mentioned, the type of ad displayed would be highly dependent on google’s tracking. In other words, other pages you’ve searched, opened, or even the content of your emails determines which ads you see. (In case that surprises you, welcome to the world of google, where you have given up all privacy when you agreed to the terms of opening your google account!).
As per my second point, this would mean that any ad, however inappropriate could show up while you are using theyeshivaworld website. That seems to defeat the purpose of having a website that is considered “kosher”, since theyeshivaworld has NO control over what you see when you are on their site. There are certainly many discussions here that can be misinterpreted as interest that is not appropriate. For example all the threads about tznius, include words that should be picked up by google. Threads about divorce should cause ads for divorce lawyers to be presented. Is this in fact true about this site?
I recently googled a significant amount of information regarding healthy eating, and a particular medical issue. I searched these topics for more than a month! I also accessed many sites on these topics. None of the ads that appeared when I unblocked ads had anything connected to that information.
That could be because I erase my firefox history and searches every few days, as well as use google searches without signing in. I also often do my searches using a search engine that logs nothing about my searches. Do most of you simply log in to google and stay logged in, and never clear your browser history?? Doesn’t that open you up to at least SOME ads that are objectionable??
I remember years ago, I did get an ad on this page that was a targeted ad for christian missionizing, or something like that. (That would make sense, since there’s much focus on biblical topics here). When I pointed this out to theyeshivaworld, their response was in fact that they had no control of the ads. I assumed that given their status now, they have no problem filling the page with privately funded ads, and no longer use a service that is not under their control.
Well, I’m back to blocking ads as well as tracking… so almost no ads ever show up for me anywhere!
Looking back at the ads some of you listed, you may be correct that google ads is in fact being used. The ads mentioned for
“Past Life Regression”
“Transformatology”
” ‘Shocking’ 2014 Horoscope”
“1 Free Psychic Reading”
“Free Meditation Audio”
May be related to those threads that were opened by someone who was looking for a mekubal?!
The others do appear to be rather random.