How well does YouTube screen its adverts?

[CrankyBoomer]

I realise that YouTube needs adverts to function with cheapskates like me who don't want to pay for premium. I've been looking at some of the channels that mention online opportunities - some of them obviously watch each other and post what other people are saying which is a bit 'iffy' without actually being a scam. I find I'm really being annoyed by some of the advertisements the algorithm is sending my way. There's a shouty woman who comes on about "Do NOT advertise on social media", then there's the bloke who drones on about the best way to earn on Amazon isn't selling on Amazon* (who said I want to work for Amazon anyway) and then there is the advertisement about the course on how to write a course (who said I wantd to write a course!). Of course, these things may be on the fine line between being scams and not being illegal. They are mightily annoying. I thought the advert for the 'bra free bra' was irritating enough but these adverts for courses to help you find jobs allegedly are even worse. If there is already a thread covering dodgy ads for courses do please let me know and I'll vent over there!

*There is an Amazon warehouse in one of the neighbouring towns to me though I have no idea about there work conditions.

[wserra]

I moved this topic here from the "Open Forum for New Posts". That forum is generally for people who are not members, the only one on the board to which non-members can post. The forum's description does seem to be misleading.

[AnOwlCalledSage]

*There is an Amazon warehouse in one of the neighbouring towns to me though I have no idea about there work conditions.

I've worked in an Amazon distribution centre as a grunt. Most of the stories you read in the press relate to US operations.

There's a 1 hour period where you really need to be running around like a loon and it's best not to go AWOL or the deliveries won't make it out on time, but there is no ban on going to the toilet. They provide free tea and coffee which you can have at any time. The staff lounge had a pool table in it. Pay is slightly above minimum wage. It's theoretically a zero hours contract, but I never had a day that I wasn't required. There are mandatory random drug tests and you can't drink between shifts, but you are moving large pallets about which can seriously injure people, so I never had a problem with that.

However, one of my colleagues was sacked for writing "I am not a robot" on the report warehouse issues white
board.

[CrankyBoomer]

Thanks for the info, Sage and all. I used a 'there' instead of a 'their' upthread, sorry.

[JamesVincent]

Maybe you should look at different things online. I get a lot of ads for dodge trucks.

[eric]

Mostly I have figured out how to game facebook's algorithms so I get ads and items in the "suggested for you" category that may be relevant to my interests. Sometimes they are even vaguely amusing. That being said I get lots of stuff about rescue elephants, juvenile hippopotamus (hippopotami?), and revealing lingerie for overweight women. I'm not quite sure what I have clicked on that makes the algorithms determine that I should be interested in this.

[JohnPCapitalist]

That being said I get lots of stuff about rescue elephants, juvenile hippopotamus (hippopotami?), and revealing lingerie for overweight women. I'm not quite sure what I have clicked on that makes the algorithms determine that I should be interested in this.

I suspect that some percentage of Facebook ads are intentionally garbage, shown to audiences that are unlikely to be viable prospects for the services. This is done to enable FB to make its quarterly numbers to placate Wall Street. I saw a massive wave of this right after Facebook went public, where they narrowly made the numbers to keep their astronomical stock price high.

I got ads for barber shops in central NJ, a 2 1/2 hour drive from me... I can't imagine anyone taking a 250 mile road trip to get a hair cut. More bizarrely, I was getting ads for a chain of burrito stands in Reykjavik, in Icelandic. For that one, I took screen shots and wrote the owner an e-mail letting him know that FB was screwing him. I also get a non-zero percentage of ads in Spanish, which is a language I do happen to speak, but I have never identified myself as a Spanish speaker on FB or on any other site, and there are no comments on my page in Spanish.

I think FB is basically a fraud, with a substantial revenue stream coming from ads served to customers outside the parameters of what the advertiser is paying for, not just for subjects that don't match but in geographies or languages that don't matter either.

[Pottapaug1938]

Let FB blast out irrelevant ads, if it so desires. I have a firm policy of ignoring every FB ad.

[AnOwlCalledSage]

I got ads for barber shops in central NJ, a 2 1/2 hour drive from me... I can't imagine anyone taking a 250 mile road trip to get a hair cut.

You shouldn't judge everyone by your own standards. A friend of mine would drive 100 miles and back (which is 2 hours each way) to get her hair cut every month.

[wserra]

I have a firm policy of ignoring every FB ad.

Other than when I'm investigating someone - usually an opposing party or witness - I have a firm policy of ignoring FB.

[CrankyBoomer]

I still get ads for the bloke who wants to teach me how to trade with the money I haven't got, the lady who will teach how to do kindle self-publishing if I pay over £1,000 (in yer dreams, Mrs) and sundry grifters plugging their courses...and Hello Fresh adverts. Hello Fresh are a legitimate company but they have annoying adverts. I really don't care if Tracey Solomon's* kids get to the box before she does. I've watched some job-hunting videos though I only have about three channels I trust. If someone says I can get 100s of pounds daily doing transcription I know they are lying. I have experience in that field though it's taken a hit since ChatGPT etc came on the scene. Lately I've been watching crochet videos. I know how to crochet, been doing it on and off since I was 19, but I want to try a few different techniques. I can't see how crochet videos cause the algorithm to show ads about get rich quick schemes.

*Nothing against Tracey Solomon personally - she seems a nice lady. Just can't stand the advert.