AAAH! The internet....luthierie on a budget

[blackalex1952]

Make of the internet what you will, admittedly I am also on Facebook. But the connection with any of these things I do online....?
When I was reading the Age newspaper on Mozilla Firefox today, and on numerous other occasions,
I RECEIVED AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR STEWMAC WITH PICTURES OF THEIR PRODUCTS
Is anyone else have similar experiences when browsing? If I go to close the window with the advertisement, which I don't do in order as to not give further information if I click, the mouse hover just next to the little "close the window X" says " Ads by Google"...what's coming next?
I rarely purchase from Stewmac or any of the larger companies...I save my limited funds for the purchase of tonewood from local suppliers or if unavailable I use the internet and my 'sleuthing' to find items which fit my budget...hint I recently purchased some high end products for a build via Canada as I discovered that the products were a great price due to almost parity in the $AU and the Canadian $. This supplier in Canada had purchased wholesale from the US company, added their markup etc..in short the item in question, a high quality acoustic pickup system manufactured in US, was $800AU and I had it, just prior to Christmas in time for the completion of the instrument, from Canada for $400 AU including postage...even the US postage was more! I even researched the Canadian postal system...Canada has a postal union, very powerful! But these unionists are only using rolling strikes in different areas to make a point to Government and not disturbing essential services including trade internationally...
Canada has a lot of spruce as well. Current exchange rate: $1CAD = $1.04AU and $1.09NZ.
$1AU=$0.96CAD
$1NZ=$0.9149CAD
Cheers, Ross

[Mark McLean]

Yes, I get StewMac ads showing up in my newspaper (Guardian Australia for me). The internet knows us too well!

[nkforster]

It is something called "remarketing" Google have been selling it for some time. You look at a site, Google makes a note of this, then sells this info by allowing advertisers to advertise to people who have already looked at their site. Its good for advertisers as the click-through rates are very high.

If you don't like it, install an ad blocker on your browser or stop using Google.

As I once read - "If the service is free - you are the product."

[blackalex1952]

Yes, I get StewMac ads showing up in my newspaper (Guardian Australia for me). The internet knows us too well!

I get them, it seems, via the Age newspaper...I rarely look at Stewmac website, only to check the occasional 'how to vid' or to compare prices with other suppliers. I'm on Stewmac email list. Last purchase from Stewmac was years ago! Has Stewmac bought into this 'Google game" because Google sent them a 'bait'?

If you don't like it, install an ad blocker on your browser or stop using Google.

Yep, got an ad blocker.

It is something called "remarketing" Google have been selling it for some time.

Well, they still haven't worked out that I rarely purchase from Stewmac!
What a waste of resources and such a misleading data mining concept...they will never find diamonds and gold or even precious water through me! It only serves to waste everybody's time!

"If the service is free - you are the product."

As my kids say "True dat!"
Now... to read the Age online!...or maybe not....the workshop beckons!
Have a graceful New Year and thanks for the info...Cheers! ross

[Steve.Toscano]

Keep in mind this (ads) was Google's only source of income for many years, and nowadays is about 99% of its income. So without ads google wouldn't exist, without google the internet would be very different to what it is today (in my opinion for the worse).
By the way - google nor stewmac dont care that you dont buy from them. Its about stewmac getting their brand in front of potential customers. The fact that you're a guitar maker means google has done its job in this regard. The mere fact you are talking about them here means their ~ 0.0001 cents it cost them for that ad has well and truly paid off.

[nkforster]

It only costs Stewmac if you click on the ad. Otherwise, it costs nothing.

The ad shows because you've looked at the site in the past, or because you came up in a data list for people similar to other Stewmac customers. If you use remarketing you can choose between remarketing to people who have looked at your site or ask google to find a specific type of customer or ask google to build a "lookalike" list of people like your existing customers. Either way, they're showing the ad on your browser.

If you're using an ad blocker and still getting ads, you need to try another ad blocker. They're not all the same.

[Crafty Fox]

I use AdBlock, it seems to work ok.

[Steve.Toscano]

It only costs Stewmac if you click on the ad. Otherwise, it costs nothing.

Depends if they are doing "pay per click" or "pay per impression".

I use AdBlock, it seems to work ok.

I second AdBlock.

[simonm]

You can't can't stop google or the others (1000's) from profiling you and buying and selling your profile, purchasing history, credit history etc ...

Adblockers help against the irritation. Ultra simple is to switch off javascript in your browser. Again, does nothing about profiling but stops a lot of the ads.

[Petecane]

I have read several times now that " Google " keep ALL data you have fed to them.
They scaringly know more about you than you can remember yourself.Right down to times and dates which you will never remember.
This data is held for life!!!!!
All your comments about you tubes.
Everything you have browsed. Etc etc etc ad in finitum.
It is quite scary but they are so big nobody can do any thing about it.
Pete

[simonm]

Turn off javascript in your browser.

Pretty much every browser will have a keyboard shortcut to get to "preferences/settings" (Mac = "cmd" + "," ). Some may even have direct kb shortcut for toggling js on and off. If you want to toggle js on and off, you will need to know the kb commands - using a mouse for that takes too much effort.

Apart from all the ad blockers another route is to use a firewall to blocks the ad sites or even the edit the hosts file on your computer.

[Petecane]

You have lost me!
I do not understand Java Script .
I do not know how to turn it off.
If I do turn it off ( after finding how to ) will I still be able to communicate with people?
What exactly is Java Script?
Is it an advertising medium ?
Do we need this to communicate?
Pete

[Petecane]

You have lost me!
I do not understand Java Script .
I do not know how to turn it off.
If I do turn it off ( after finding how to ) will I still be able to communicate with people?
What exactly is Java Script?
Is it an advertising medium ?
Do we need this to communicate?
Pete

[Cutty]

You have lost me!
I do not understand Java Script .
I do not know how to turn it off.
If I do turn it off ( after finding how to ) will I still be able to communicate with people?
What exactly is Java Script?
Is it an advertising medium ?
Do we need this to communicate?
Pete

Javascript is code that runs inside your internet browser, on your computer. It's called client-side code, as compared to the server-side code that runs on the web server "in the cloud". It's what makes things like field validation, clever graphics effects, text manipulation etc work on a page.

You could turn it off, but then the vast majority of websites would be completely useless these days without it, or would work but wouldn't look as nice or have a lot of the fancy features.

As others have mentioned, using an ad-blocker is a better way to block advertising. I use the AdGuard Chrome extension (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... fhikgbkllg), having previously used AdBlocker but found that it slowed down browsing considerably. One other benefit of it is that it blocks the adverts at the start of YouTube videos!

I've also stopped using Google for searching and instead use Duck-Duck Go (https://duckduckgo.com). They don't track your data or sell advertising and the results you get on searches are almost identical to Google.

Cheers,

Iain

[Petecane]

Iain,
Many thanks for clearing that one up for me.
Great tip on Duck Duck Go.
I will go there instead of Google.
I have nothing to hide believe me but I do not like my whole browsing experience being permanently logged.
The trouble is they are so big now that complaints will be binned as petty bickering.
They are too big to care less what its users think.
It borders on espionage.
People were shot for it!
Thanks
Pete