(Light-Hearted) Worst-Targetted Ads on This Forum & Elsewhere

[Typhoon]

I've got an advert at the top of this very thread telling me that "Police Scotland is recruiting now".
As a retired person living in southern England, I don't think I'll be following this one up.

I can beat that, I get stupid ads at the top of my Outlook in-box. I was intrigued by today's, 'San Dieg [Ad] - We are hiring....'. I expected it to be some new fast-food restaurant but it is:



I too am retired and living in the South (UK). The only gun I have ever owned is a cap-gun and somehow, the commute ...

 

[GusB]

I spotted an advert for GCHQ recruitment yesterday. Today I mentioned "tin-foil-hattery" in a post and the next one I saw was for MI5 and GCHQ.

Then, in the Food Prices thread, I posted about a particular experience when working in a supermarket and they're now trying to recruit me into the Co-op!

 

[Ken X]

I had several for Award Winning Divorce Lawyers. Checked with OC Domestic and apparently I am not quite past my sell by date.

 

[Cowley]

I dared to look at house prices in Northern Ireland the other day…

 

[Purple Train]

I now have an advert for "increasing your eBay sales"...
My opinion of eBay is probably not suitable for repeating on a family-friendly Forum, however!

 

[Dai Corner]

Currently, property in Istanbul and women's clothing. Er, nope

 

[Techniquest]

I'm currently getting a LOT of ads for Pure Earth all over the place. Not just at the top/bottom of pages, but buried in people's posts as well. Aggressive marketing for sure!

 

[Sprinter156]

I'm currently getting a LOT of ads for Pure Earth all over the place. Not just at the top/bottom of pages, but buried in people's posts as well. Aggressive marketing for sure!

I see 2 ads at the bottom of your post, one about amazon rainforest and one about "directrelief". Additionally a lot of icons are showing as crossed rectangles, is the website broken?

edit: and the site keeps asking me to accept or reject cookies, which is very annoying

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I'm currently getting a LOT of ads for Pure Earth all over the place. Not just at the top/bottom of pages, but buried in people's posts as well. Aggressive marketing for sure!

Yep, I've had them also. Anything to do with the forum outage earlier this evening?

 

[RuddA]

I had to sign in again 30 minutes ago, and I've seen more ads in posts since then than I have for the past year.

 

[GusB]

There is post here, which explains things:

Design changes

The forum team will be testing some changes to the design and layout of the site over the coming few weeks. You may notice in particular banners of a different size (this will primarily affect users on a laptop or desktop computer) or some appearing in different places to usual. Please bear...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[RuddA]

There is post here, which explains things:

Design changes

The forum team will be testing some changes to the design and layout of the site over the coming few weeks. You may notice in particular banners of a different size (this will primarily affect users on a laptop or desktop computer) or some appearing in different places to usual. Please bear...

www.railforums.co.uk

Thank you.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Back in May I bought a new sink off-line. I then got a mixer tap for it and also a towel radiator from Screwfix or Toolstation. Since then I get plenty f adverts for EXACTLY the same tap and also similar/same towel radiators. How many bathrooms do they think I have ?.

I am good at ignoring adverts until they screw up the screen layout.

I now always reject all cookies I can.

I want to find a way of completely sodding up the algorithms that work out what I "might" be interested in.

On the other hand if it pays for the site then let the mugs carry on trying to interest me in things I might never need again !.

I am happy to pay a TV licence fee if it means I get less/no adverts, just a pity that only works for so few channels - BBC.

 

[Techniquest]

The frustrating adverts yesterday seem to have got sorted. The Google 'ad' surveys asking me questions about what sort of person I am seem to have gone too. Which is good news, I have to say I was a bit concerned the admins had gone nuts and got desperate for revenue! I was prepared to abandon ship and stop visiting the forum, quite honestly!

 

[Peter Sarf]

The frustrating adverts yesterday seem to have got sorted. The Google 'ad' surveys asking me questions about what sort of person I am seem to have gone too. Which is good news, I have to say I was a bit concerned the admins had gone nuts and got desperate for revenue! I was prepared to abandon ship and stop visiting the forum, quite honestly!

Yea,,, but, what about FOMO. You would never know what bargains and stuff you are missing .

I just checked below and apparently my Lavazza Coffee Machine is £1 away from me. But hang on the kettle is just down stairs and fridge is in same room.

 

[Techniquest]

I know what you mean, I might be missing a whole ton of stuff, but I don't really care about that

I spoke too soon earlier with the ads in the middle of people's posts. Clearly revenue needs are more important than content at the moment

 

[Peter Sarf]

I know what you mean, I might be missing a whole ton of stuff, but I don't really care about that

I spoke too soon earlier with the ads in the middle of people's posts. Clearly revenue needs are more important than content at the moment

I have had a few clunky bits recently but not prolific adverts. Must be my creaky Windows 7 laptop not being able to pass on these unwanted features !. Mind you some web sites have pages that take an age to load seemingly because of all the unwanted "media" files that seem to be associated with the page.

Thermal underwear down their now. Damn - they have figured my age !.

 

[Techniquest]

I got 'insane sports photos (18+)' just now, and earlier was that Lavazza coffee machine. The latter I am definitely interested in, I should have looked more closely

 

[Peter Sarf]

I got 'insane sports photos (18+)' just now, and earlier was that Lavazza coffee machine. The latter I am definitely interested in, I should have looked more closely

Ha ha. Makes me think though - could do with a way of triggering ads in something WHEN you are knowingly interested in it.

No wait - that will be Google then ?.

 

[philthetube]

Not on line but I get a leaflet through the post, included in a bundle, at least monthly, trying to persuade me to have a Stanna stair lift in my ground floor flat.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Many years ago one of my friends gave in to a cold caller selling conservatories. Kept the caller going for quite a long time before it became obvious my friend lived in a second floor flat.

 

[DelayRepay]

I had an email a few days ago promoting the Next (clothes shop) sale. I clicked through because I want some new t-shirts.

Now, every other ad on this forum seems to be for clothing and shoes. Several different websites rotating offering me their wares. I guess well targeted but the Google Analytics have clearly not worked out that I never buy clothes online (I buy all sorts online, but clothes are something I prefer to see and try on in person before buying).

I also have ads for glasses, probably because I booked an opticians appointment online a few weeks ago.

But I also have an ad for Vintage Bus Hire in the Cotswolds. Given I don't live in the Cotswolds and have never searched for Vintage Buses, I've no idea why it's appearing. The only bus related things in my search history are occasionally reading the Bus forum here, and checking the timetable on Arriva's website.

 

[GusB]

Today's highlight has to be the ad that I've just seen for Ray-Ban.

On the penultimate day in September, served up to someone who lives in the north of Scotland!

 

[najaB]

On the penultimate day in September, served up to someone who lives in the north of Scotland!

They're good to prevent snow-blindness too.

 

[Techniquest]

Bizarrely, I just got one for Ripe Insurance, letting me know I can get up to 50% off my caravan insurance. I don't know where it got that from, it can't have come from any searches as my most recent Google search was for the Glos-Warks Steam Railway, and I don't think I've ever expressed an interest in caravanning! Before that search, it was for cycle shops in Evesham!

 

[Peter Sarf]

Bizarrely, I just got one for Ripe Insurance, letting me know I can get up to 50% off my caravan insurance. I don't know where it got that from, it can't have come from any searches as my most recent Google search was for the Glos-Warks Steam Railway, and I don't think I've ever expressed an interest in caravanning! Before that search, it was for cycle shops in Evesham!

I wonder if Glos-Warks could be a miss spelling for a Caravan manufacturer. The phrase "coach works" springs to mind also.

At the moment I am seeing a Tesco ad down below. Nothing intriguing there !.

At the top is an ad for GCHQ. Sort of interesting. Seems they want a Mathematical background. Failed Nuclear Physicist here !. Not really commuting distance from my home though.

On another note. I do sometimes accidentally click the wrong thing (a lot). In Outlook the adverts on the RHS seem to attract my mouse pointer. That has probably given me a whole new random profile.

 

[Dai Corner]

I'm currently getting a Principality Building Society ad. Some logic in that as I've recently posted about savings and live in Wales.

But also Chemistry textbooks. I haven't studied that since my A Levels in 1978!

 

[ABB125]

Before that search, it was for cycle shops in Evesham!

If it's still open, there's an independent one on Port Street. It's where I got my first (and only!) new bike from*, around about 2013, it was a very exciting (for 11 year-old me!) off-road bike, the man in the shop had to chop a bit of the end of the stick the saddle is attached to off so that it went low enough for me...
Cost £200 I believe. Worked perfectly fine all the time, subject to the occasional bit of "teenage DIY bodging", right up until it was stolen shortly after I moved to university...

*As opposed to cheap second-hand stuff my dad bought off eBay

But I digress...
I currently have this at the top of the page:

I have no idea what an MQTT gateway is, though it doesn't take too much imagination to infer that it helps you to "convert and communicate"!

 

[Dai Corner]

If it's still open, there's an independent one on Port Street. It's where I got my first (and only!) new bike from*, around about 2013, it was a very exciting (for 11 year-old me!) off-road bike, the man in the shop had to chop a bit of the end of the stick the saddle is attached to off so that it went low enough for me...
Cost £200 I believe. Worked perfectly fine all the time, subject to the occasional bit of "teenage DIY bodging", right up until it was stolen shortly after I moved to university...

*As opposed to cheap second-hand stuff my dad bought off eBay

But I digress...
I currently have this at the top of the page:
View attachment 121479
I have no idea what an MQTT gateway is, though it doesn't take too much imagination to infer that it helps you to "convert and communicate"!

Lo and behold, I now have one for

Atherton Bikes

 

[RuddA]

Off to my aunt's funeral today.
Funeral planning ads are now appearing at the bottom of the page!