I can't speak for the admins or the owners but it is their website. It they want political ads and no political discussion that is entirely their prerogative.
But, I bet those are browser ads. I've seen them too.....but only on Audiogon.
There have been politics inserted into a number of discussions but they have not taken a political turn so it has not bothered me. Folks seem to behave fairly well in this regard.
My preference would be to see no politics here at all and usually that's the way it is. That's part of why I like coming here....get away from all the political noise and blather everyone is constantly exposed to.
Interesting thread. I don't recall seeing any political ads here. The only banner ads at the top and bottom of the A'gon page appears to be from "wikibuy".
I continue to favor this as a no politics zone. Our discussions become contentious enough without politics!
Websites don’t necessarily control the ads that show up. There’s usually a service (like Google or Doubleclick) they sign up with that distributes the ads.
The way most advertising works on the internet is that you will will be served ads relating to interests you have shown through the websites you have visited in the past. Therefore you will see political ads if you have visited sites which have something to do with politics. This is not Audiogon who sell this advertising, virtually no websites sell their own advertising inventory.
Political posts, if they don’t take over the thread, are left alone quite often. Same with cloths, cars etc..., however once these off topic ramblings completely take over a thread they certainly can and has been removed.
Exactly Grannyring I can think of a couple of current popular threads that contain off topic elements including the ones mentioned but as of yet they have not been booted and I think as long as they get steered back on topic and it does not get to charged it does not hurt matters too much.
Of course there will always be those who think as this is an audio forum then absolutely NOTHING bar audio should ever be discussed!
Kinda boring not to have some other worldly injections at times imho.
uberwaltz, I agree that there is no harm in sidebars about other subjects, but politics in particular becomes so venomous that there is just no fun in it.
This may be the result of something called "retargeting." It's controlled by cookies from sites you visit and your browser settings. I used this process with a directory ad my company placed on a well-known non-profit professional trade organization's site. The way it works is say you visit a Ford dealer site and then navigate to AudiogoN. If the dealer is using retargeting and your browser settings allow it, you very well may see an ad for a Mustang or similar on the AgoN page. The effect can be very disconcerting. I noticed it when I'd double check the ads I was running and then pop over here later in the day only to see ads from my competition show up.
Something to keep in mind as you browse, no matter what you're looking at. There is no way to escape being tracked online.
Try Ghostery and Adblock. Both are free. I'm always reminded when I forget to re-engage Ghostery due to the ads that pop up all over the place. It's very annoying.
Ha! There was a guy on another forum who complained publicly of porn ads on the site only for it to be pointed out that they were ads fed based on his PC cookies.
I currently have two ads. One is for 4 central New Jersey apartment communities and the other is for underwear promising that my first pair is on them.
For no money in the world could I guess why they picked me for those two ads. Much less why it would be so enticing to buy underwear that is already on them.
I currently have two ads. One is for 4 central New Jersey apartment communities and the other is for underwear promising that my first pair is on them.
That sounds like a pretty sad reflection of YOUR browsing activities methinks Sir!
That is what I thought, too, but it baffles me. Underwear is very low on my list of things I ever look for. In fact, I am certain that I never looked for it. Well, maybe they want to tell me something? Should I start looking? Could they tell what I was missing?
Same goes for New Jersey.
"Why would they be wearing your underwear?"
I do not know but it is their marketing punchline. "Your first pair is on us". The ad service needs to be improved, they missed the target by a million miles.
Now I have an ad for GMC SUV. I have not looked up cars in a while and SUVs probably in years, if ever. If nothing else, it is less flammable than politics.
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