Inappropriate advertising

[Nifty-Chicken]

Short answer:
There are kids under thirteen on here who will be seeing these ads, that's why it is worth reporting.

There shouldn't be (at least as registered members). If they are, we remove their access. It's in our registration requirement that someone agrees that they are 13 or over when joining BYC. If they lie about their age, that's on them (and their parents).

 

[Tankueray]

What? What emoji? I know this isn't reddit. I'm being dead serious, if I had a child nearby ask what the shirt meant, that is what I would say. It's what I thought those types of shirts meant for the longest time when I was younger

Then your parents did their jobs, but now as an adult, you can't play dumb (or sarcastic) when you've already stated that you're (probably) aware of the issue and dismissed someone's feelings.

I don't get what was so bad about the first ad that started this? Yes, I get what it (probably) means, but I've been told my mind isn't squeaky clean. It's just a shirt, scroll past if you don't like it.

That kind of dismissive attitude, which most of us can get away with in person but isn't appropriate in the context of the internet, is exactly what created the snowflake phenomenon in the first place. "Too bad, so sad" works in personal social and familial groups, but does not translate to the anonymity of the online world. All it does is try to reinforce a completely right or wrong perspective. I don't know anything about @jonalisa, but apparently your parents did a decent job raising you, and I doubt you would say, "It's just a shirt, scroll past if you don't like it." to her face unless you knew her. Always remember that even though your intention is to respond to an audience, you're also responding to a person; and that response not only told them that their feelings didn't matter, but also closed off any opportunity for discussion as to why they feel that way or why you disagree. Be the example, not the excrement.

Sure, we're all tired of the delicateness that some people demand to be treated with. But she did not demand anything with her post, she respectfully pointed out something that bothered her, and the appropriate response was that she was listened to, instructed how to report the ad, provided an explanation of why that ad may have appeared, and given other information to minimize future annoyances. Fix the problem, don't compound it.

I'm ordering the shirt just because of this thread. I have ad blocker so i never see them anyways.

I have a drunk Uncle Bob that would love it!

 

[Kiki]

Neo is correct, and then some. Ads are based on your search, browsing and all activity history, not just your shopping history. And depending on whether you're using a computer or a phone, it gets worse. (You're only slightly more protected on a computer.)

Example: I have a Samsung watch, one day I was talking to a colleague in his office about the impending birth of his second child. I was wearing my watch, but my phone was on my desk in my office. For days afterward, ads on my phone, facebook, and personal computer were offering up maternity and baby things. (Work computer was not affected because I do not access any of my personal accounts through it.)

Lesson: When you use portable devices, social media and other apps downloaded onto those devices ask for permissions. Most people ignore that and allow them to install as is. Those permissions allow an app like Facebook to see ALL the data passed through your phone and access your microphone and camera without you knowing. Lock down your privacy settings on all devices, on all social media and browsers, and any apps you may use, even something like a calculator app. (Ever wonder why someone you don't know at all is offered up as a "person you may know" on the desktop version of facebook? It's because someone you're very close to, based on your phone call and text records, is interacting with them often on facebook or messenger. cough...maybe cheating...cough.)

Windows 10 has "apps" as well as the traditional "computer applications", so say using a PDF reader "app" instead of the Adobe Acrobat "application" to read a PDF that you've opened from your hard drive (not something from online) gives that app access to the content of that PDF. @jonalisa So if you were innocently reading an old article or a novel that mentioned hawaiian shirts or how to sew a shirt, or your phone heard someone say "hawaiian shirt", guess what ads are going to pop up on you? @CHlCKEN (nice "L" there btw) You probably searched a phone number for something or typed in seven to ten digits that were interpreted as you looking up a phone number. Or you may have a spam blocker app installed that searches for phone numbers as you get a phone call.

For a less scary explanation see here: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/are-targeted-ads-stalking-you-heres-how-to-make-them-stop/

To understand how worried you really should be, watch these two films (both on Netflix):
https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/the-film/
https://www.thegreathack.com/#the-film

Note on The Great Hack: I used to develop apps for iPhone, Android, and FB. I'll tell you right now that Cambridge Analytica did not exploit or hack anything. That was part of the FB app developer agreement from day one. If I could get you to answer a survey or play my stupid game, I could access all the private data and posts of ALL of your friends. (That's since been changed, but not much.)

The bottom line is, if you're using a free service, how do you think they pay all their employees? YOU are the product, not the customer.

. Thank you.



If you don't like an advertisement showing up on your device...close the screen.

 

[DogAndCat36]

I don't understand why people are arguing with Op, they just want to browse BYC and they don't want to see lewd stuff. I don't want to see lewd stuff, my family doesn't want to see lewd stuff, and co-workers or that man on the bus peering over doesn't want to see lewd stuff either.
As they said they don't use the device for other than podcast and BYC and some people were lightly hinting lewd things.
Also, kids that are 13-17, are still kids. These ads are NOT okay to show to a kid.
Also if this ad is considered ok, where does it reach the point of someone actually taking action?
But in all, this is me just saying my side, I mean no hostility.

 

[Kiki]

I don't understand why people are arguing with Op, they just want to browse BYC and they don't want to see lewd stuff. I don't want to see lewd stuff, my family doesn't want to see lewd stuff, and co-workers or that man on the bus peering over doesn't want to see lewd stuff either.
As they said they don't use the device for other than podcast and BYC and some people were lightly hinting lewd things.
Also, kids that are 13-19, are still kids. These ads are NOT okay to show to a kid.
Also if this ad is considered ok, where does it reach the point of someone actually taking action?
But in all, this is me just saying my side, I mean no hostility.

It's an ad for a t-shirt.

Good God.

 

[Kiki]

I don't understand why people are arguing with Op, they just want to browse BYC and they don't want to see lewd stuff. I don't want to see lewd stuff, my family doesn't want to see lewd stuff, and co-workers or that man on the bus peering over doesn't want to see lewd stuff either.
As they said they don't use the device for other than podcast and BYC and some people were lightly hinting lewd things.
Also, kids that are 13-19, are still kids. These ads are NOT okay to show to a kid.
Also if this ad is considered ok, where does it reach the point of someone actually taking action?
But in all, this is me just saying my side, I mean no hostility.

Also let me remind you and everyone else what's already been said multiple times in this thread...
Advertisements are based on what YOU do on the internet.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

There is tremendous subjectivity around what is considered "lewd". Some parents will not allow their kids to watch any movies over PG rating because they contain content that they feel is inappropriate. Other parents are comfortable with their kids watching R rated movies. It's really hard to please everybody all the time.

In general, we try to keep BYC as "family friendly" as possible. When ads that are inappropriate for our audience make it through our filters, we want them to be reported so we can remove them.

Of course, the best way to ensure 100% that you (and your kids) don't see an ad that you don't like would be to support BYC with a PFM membership and have all ads removed

 

[Tankueray]

@Nifty-Chicken Wow, that ad worked! I've been feeling guilty about using an ad blocker and decided that I'll probably hang out here for a while, so I finally remembered to do PFM.


Also, which one of my posts was it that dragged two VIPs in here to survey the land?

 

[CHlCKEN]

There shouldn't be (at least as registered members). If they are, we remove their access. It's in our registration requirement that someone agrees that they are 13 or over when joining BYC. If they lie about their age, that's on them (and their parents).

I know there shouldn’t be but I’m sure it’s not hard to cheat it. Around the forums I’ve noticed several members who revealed their ages to be under the requirement, the youngest I’ve seen being only 10 years old!!

Adding to that, it’s a good thing we have the age restriction because those beneath it just aren’t mature enough to have their own account. I only wish it wasn’t so easy to get by it.

 

[cinnamoncockatiel]

I know there shouldn’t be but I’m sure it’s not hard to cheat it. Around the forums I’ve noticed several members who revealed their ages to be under the requirement, the youngest I’ve seen being only 10 years old!!

Adding to that, it’s a good thing we have the age restriction because those beneath it just aren’t mature enough to have their own account. I only wish it wasn’t so easy to get by it.

Agree. I have seen a few 9-year-olds on here too. 13+ seems fair to me!