Johnnydontgo wrote:
I don't know if this is already done (I doubt it), but it might be a good idea to only display these eBay and political ads to users over 13.. I'd say over 18, but that distinction isn't made on Neopets... Anyhow, I really think I wouldn't have anything to complain about if I knew that 10 year old kids weren't being offered a job in the Navy, or an account on eBay.
Edit: Speaking of adware.. is anyone else blocking (or finding) tracking cookies from a company called "Avenue A" on Neopets? I've been getting alot of them...
Hmm, I'm not getting Avenue A, but that's on my spybot list, so it may be being automatically blocked, same with tribalfusion - though that one does slow down or lock up my internet and I have to reboot. Weird, especially since the only ad that I'm getting a tribalfusion privacy report is a blank ad? The one that's bothering me is the servedby.advertising.com. That one keeps coming up - I have it in my security restricted and my privacy blocked cookies and it still keeps somehow getting through. I keep a shortcut to my Cookies folder on my desktop so I can check things if I even think there's anything going on.
Basically, all of these are ad tracking cookies. They, from my limited understanding of this stuff, work the way a click through banner doesn't ... with, for example, google banner a person has to click the banner for the site to get the hits and get paid. With what appears to be the type of network Neo's using, it's just a matter of seeing the ad - the cookie tracks us, but it also tracks page views and that is how the site's paid. That it looks to be a network would also explain some of the ads we're seeing. I don't know just how much say any site has over the ad content - except to say, maybe, nothing adult rated? I don't know, I'm just guessing.
The site does need to make money to pay their staff, pay for the servers, etc. I'm sure it costs alot to keep Neopets up and running. And I know they've had sponsors for a long time (Disney, McDonald's) and I'm super fine with that - along with the merchandise (I have enough of it to know - it's all taken over my apartment!). The Premium service, if it was separated down so you could choose to pay for 1 thing or choose a customized package would be nice, and it really should be somewhere on the site so more people are aware of it and maybe even try it out. That I think? could help. I would be willing to pay for the Portal to help support the site. But that's all I'd want - no toolbar, no email, no ISP.
The banner ads I have to say really do bother me - for more than one reason. The inside ads? Well, we're already there! The outside ads? I don't know, some of them almost "cheapen" such a great place. I also agree that there shouldn't be political, armed forces or auction site ads since we are not to discuss such things (mostly for good reason - though I still don't know why we can't type the word ebay).
I got to a page with an outside ad - refreshed the page, got another, refreshed, yet another...this happened 5 times in a row. So it may be 3% of the ads, but where and when they crop up is anyone's guess. You can go for pages at a time without any, then 3 or 4 pages in a row get an ad.
I still don't know if any of the banner ads actually are clickable or would take you anywhere - I haven't tried, just don't want to.
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