4/25/15 3:02 PM

Has anyone ever followed one those stupid "five foods to never/always eat" that show a spotty bannana, or "five exercises to never/always do" that show someone doing pushups or crunches?

What do they end up saying?

(I guess the analytical observation this time is they are stupid.)

If you have never clicked on one all they seem to do is serve sluggishly rendering teaser text. They don't seem to be malware. After a couple of minutes it's obviously a waste of time.

Granted, any of us here can think of 5 foods and exercises for any of those categories.

4/25/15 5:17 PM

I don't remember seeing those 5 foods/exercise ads. Are you sure it's not just you?

After all, the ads follow you around because ... you click on them!

(ok, maybe they did show up ONCE but certainly not repeat with enough frequency for me to notice them)

What I got lately, is Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center program ad's. Not that I minded them but how the heck did they figure THAT one out?

4/25/15 6:28 PM

Touche

Nah, you likely don't click the "promoted stories" in cyclingnews and similar websites. I haven't clicked on one of the ads I'm wondering about in probably a year and I know enough that they don't follow us around that long and when they do they're more persistent, not as limited to that kind of bottom dwelling website.

So you never, ever, see an ad that says something like "One Weird Trick" an the like?

4/25/15 6:37 PM

No. Seriously. I don't remember seeing those either.

Like I said, the ad's I'm seeing are quite obviously tailored for me. Some skiing related products/vendors, lately performing arts venues/events.

I don't follow much of (professional) cycling. Nor do I race myself. I don't even buy much cycling products the last couple of years (I got plenty of stuff from the buying spree a few years back) So I don't seem to get much of what you get.

Sorry, can't help you with what's in the bottom of those products.

4/26/15 12:13 AM

Yes, on top of adverts that are obviously tailored to me, I also see those stupid ads that you are talking about for 5 wonder foods, one weird trick etc etc. i have never clicked on any of those ads down the side of any website so don't know where they take you. i assume it is rubbish and treat it as such.

4/26/15 3:00 AM

These clickbait stories and ads are all tailored to simple people with short attention spans. I use adblocker and other extensions to not have to see many of them.

Stories that are "trending" I almost always write off as banal and a total waste of time.

4/26/15 3:05 AM

The 5 foods stuff I see on weather.com. Never clicked it, that and lots of similar crap are always just there. Even things on sites like that or cnn.com that look like links to credible stories, not ads, can lead you to malware infested crap.

4/26/15 7:04 AM

This is why things like AdBlock were invented...

4/26/15 12:39 PM

Agsain Ghostery, it blocks the 'tracking' I get no specific product pop ups. Just cycling ones on cycling sites that do it [not here]. but generic cycling product ads. Ebay pop ups for similar to searched for annoys me too. As does 90% of the wasted trees that wind up in my mailbox...


I also block ads and trackings because I have a metered connection and they don't get to use my bandwidth when I may be able to control that.

4/28/15 2:31 PM

Thanks everyone for your tips. Funny no one mentioned using a sandbox logon. Your appdata folder is secure in ways the browser is unable to circumvent without the user intervening. I recommend having such a logon for tasks where the outcome is unpredictable. You can take it levels higher with a VM or separate hardware but this kind of login combined with appropriate browser settings and extensions is the most time and cost effective to me. Does anyone disagree?

So months and months ago I took the clickbait and nothing happened, then or since.

I don't remember if it was "5 foods to never" "Bellyfat" "Diabetes Miracle" or whatever, it probably doesn't matter. The pages that followed were a series of ambiguously worded statements with small graphics that did not load very quickly. The wording was written like the author was someone who took the MMPI twice. After maybe a dozen of these panels I simply gave up. It confirmed what we, thought: it's a waste of time with potentially bad effects for someone with the poor judgement to be taken in by such a ruse.

People in this forum are historically not exposed to this kind of low-brow advertising because prior to the internet it was only found in publications we did not subscribe to.

4/28/15 5:07 PM

I can only assume that "some" people take the click bait (and emails promising pharmaceutical products, money from lost kingdoms, One millionth visitor to the website, extended appendages etc etc) to their conclusion and someone somewhere profits from it or it would not be worth anyones time to continually put that junk out there.

4/28/15 5:50 PM

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/07/how_one_weird_trick_conquered_the_internet_what_happens_when_you_click_on.single.html