I just tried to upload an image onto Tinypic and my captcha was an advertisement. I mean come on, this has gone too far.
I'm tired of invasive ads and shit telling us to BUY BUY BUY

lets hear your opinions on this.

Consumerism is on the rise. I was listening to a radio the other day and they said on black friday, a big shopping day for christmas that about 60% of people were buying stuff for themselves primarily and about 40% were buying primarily for others.

I can handle ads in order to use a free for me service.

I don't mind the ads so much, we are a capitalist society and that's just a small price to pay, but what I don't like is when they start putting spyware in your computer tracking anything you look at. I kind of feel it's an invasion of privacy. I also hate ads that pop up and then you can't minimize them and you have to reload the page just to get rid of the ad or this; the ad pops up and crashes all of your other windows and some are so severe that you have to restart your computer just to get it to work right. I think some malware can also come from ads. They really tick me off... especially since they do know what you look at and spam you with completely irrelevant ads that you absolutely, positively have no interest in whatsoever. Their spying on you so they should have some clue after all.

Not to mention when you fill out those "store cards" they track everything you spend there. and then they can send specialized ads to your doorstep.

Originally Posted by dessertdesiert

Not to mention when you fill out those "store cards" they track everything you spend there. and then they can send specialized ads to your doorstep.

I don't mind paper ads as long as it is a good deal and is relevant to me... I'm sure the government sells our information to corporations as the corporate leaders have so much pull. I'm sure the government makes a small added sum of money doing such things.

@ Kole: LOL! You make a great point with the spyware. Like srsly, if you're already stalking me and looking at all my information you'd know I have no interest in buying Viagra or buddy icon apps.

We never get adware for legit things that we actually need. ;_;

Originally Posted by Risque

@ Kole: LOL! You make a great point with the spyware. Like srsly, if you're already stalking me and looking at all my information you'd know I have no interest in buying Viagra or buddy icon apps.

We never get adware for legit things that we actually need. ;_;

The internet has turned our lives into open books. We are being watched by big brother... if you really think about it businesses support the economy and the candidates who run for office. Our country is more of a corporate fascist type than we all would like to admit. All of these figure heads like the President ... are mainly puppets and scapegoats for the most part-- I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that each of these companies have a special interest groups with all kinds of promises for the senators/mayors etc.

It's kind of scary really... just how much influence these companies have and the power to influence on our lives in such mundane ways.

I hate paper ads. Every week I get a ton in my mail box and I just throw them away. It's such a waste of paper.

I agree that consumerism is on the to much side. You know what I think it is? I think that because it's on the newer side humanity isn't used to it. So, buy, buy, buy. Think of it like this. Someone who doesn't ever have money suddenly gets a large sum. So they buy things that they've always wanted and never got to have. Not saying that everybody is like this, but for the most part. Also I know needed things would be bought. In any case with all these new technologies coming out every month it's difficult not to get because it's never been around before. It's so convenient compared to the old thing! I hope that we will reach a point where it smooths out and slows down. Hopefully like the Industrial revolution. It did go up afterwards but it did smooth out and increase slowly. I just hope that it is like this for humans again. Once things are up and they start to smooth out we'll be a lot better about it.

Someone has to pay for Tinypic to work, and if you aren't paying for it, then advertisers have to. Sites can't exist without money. So considering that it's a tiny little ad for a free service, I'd say that's no big deal. Especially considering that we've gotten much larger, more intrusive ads in things we pay for for ages (magazines, newspapers, television, movies, etc.)

@ blizzard: You make a great point, but I don't know if corporations will ever try to stop pushing things onto us, there will always be more money to be made from more advertising. I really hope things will smooth out over time! :3

@ Kole: It's also kind of disturbing to note how with the internet age, more people want to plug their life experiences and all their hobbies and interests but most of these social media outlets do it for the advertising revenue. I'm looking at you Facebook.

Part of the reason why I like Mene is that I don't feel like they do that here. (yay Menewsha)

@ Cherry: Yeah, advertisements aren't a big deal at all since they give people without money the access to valuable resources. But look at that BS with Microsoft's Xbox live Gold.. you pay to use the services and you still see ads. Come on..
I'd much rather pay directly for whatever I need cause I'm not much of a consumer and it feels better to pay directly into someone's pocket, without having to go through the big bad advertisers~

Is this some thinly veiled thread to try to get me to donate some money to Menewsha? Cause it sure is working.

Yeah, advertisements wouldn't work well on Menewsha since we have such a small userbase.
Not to mention I'm sure plenty of people would loathe it.

That website wouldn't be able to exist without advertising. Maybe they could exist on donations, but would their operating costs be covered each month? Sure, maybe they could charge people subscription fees, but wouldn't those users go to some other website? I think for what you get its definitely a worthwhile trade.

Some websites can run on donations, some can run on subscriptions, and some can run on advertisements. It's the way of the wild world. Nothing is free, somewhere along the line someone has to pay for it. For me, those advertisements are the least intrusive way.

Originally Posted by Kole_Locke

The internet has turned our lives into open books. We are being watched by big brother... if you really think about it businesses support the economy and the candidates who run for office. Our country is more of a corporate fascist type than we all would like to admit. All of these figure heads like the President ... are mainly puppets and scapegoats for the most part-- I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that each of these companies have a special interest groups with all kinds of promises for the senators/mayors etc.

It's kind of scary really... just how much influence these companies have and the power to influence on our lives in such mundane ways.

did someone say conspiracy? quick, put on your tinfoil hats everyone!
all seriousness aside though, what on earth does the president have to do with websites putting up ads to earn revenue? like im honestly not trying to be mean or anything but how do you make that connection? xD

Originally Posted by Risque

@ blizzard: You make a great point, but I don't know if corporations will ever try to stop pushing things onto us, there will always be more money to be made from more advertising. I really hope things will smooth out over time! :3

I agree with you on that part. What I was more thinking of is people becoming satisfied with what we got. I will admit I end up buying all the new things myself. But to be fair I do not let the old things go to waste. I always end up super cheaply selling it or giving it to a friend who doesn't have anything like that. Yet at the same time I almost never buy anything that isn't used on a daily or weekly basis.

Originally Posted by Risque

@ blizzard: You make a great point, but I don't know if corporations will ever try to stop pushing things onto us, there will always be more money to be made from more advertising. I really hope things will smooth out over time! :3

@ Kole: It's also kind of disturbing to note how with the internet age, more people want to plug their life experiences and all their hobbies and interests but most of these social media outlets do it for the advertising revenue. I'm looking at you Facebook.

Part of the reason why I like Mene is that I don't feel like they do that here. (yay Menewsha)

@ Cherry: Yeah, advertisements aren't a big deal at all since they give people without money the access to valuable resources. But look at that BS with Microsoft's Xbox live Gold.. you pay to use the services and you still see ads. Come on..
I'd much rather pay directly for whatever I need cause I'm not much of a consumer and it feels better to pay directly into someone's pocket, without having to go through the big bad advertisers~

Is this some thinly veiled thread to try to get me to donate some money to Menewsha? Cause it sure is working.

I deactivated my facebook on the whole account of that. I don't do too much social media these days... I keep a limit on how much information on those sites particularly I release.