I am only asking this because I am curious about how advertising works in the computer world.

When I am seeing any given ad on my screen, is the same ad visible to all ATP members at the same time?

The reason I am asking is that I was placing an online order from Swanson (vitamins) and the next time I logged on to ATP there was a Swanson ad on the left side of the screen; was that just a coincidence? or is the Swanson ad only visible to me at this time?

Are 'They' watching what a person does and using that information to target potential customers on other sites used by that person because they may find like-minded people who may be interested in buying their products? (I realize that sounds a little paranoid, but it really is just a question about how this stuff works.)

You can bet they are watching you and each site you visit, if I look a boots, shoe adds appear for boots almost instantly, if I am looking at tools, then tools of that sort appear. The advertisers pay big bucks for such feed back and they target the buyer in any way they can, guess that is good marketing.

Good. That's a start. But if you are seeing the boot ad, do I see the boot ad at the same time? Like, are you seeing my Swanson ad now?

Or do 'They' have some way to separate us by regions?

And yes, I wish I were 18 years old now because I think I would go into internet advertising to make my fortune!

I am not seeing your ad, nor my boot ad at the moment(that was just an example), but I don't think they go by regions, it is my understanding they go by individuals ( if they are google ads). The only ad I am seeing at the present moment is for Knock Out Roses, odd being this is a gardening site.

I just went and looked at a pair of bright yellow gardening boots with chickens all over them, something I would of course never ever wear, but I just want to see if it shows up anytime soon in the advertising.

Bang, there already! I don't think you saw it, but try it on something and see how fast it is.

I think @dave is the one to ask with regard to this site.

Oh, just make sure you are not on the Home page, Dave had that set up to show photos now, just come back to this forum and you should see an add for what you looked at. Oh. let me make it clear I am not implying that ATP is watching your surfing on the net, that is google or some of the other big advertising selling internet companies.

So, am I understanding that while you are seeing the cute gardening boots (which I would so totally buy!) I am seeing the ad for the vitamin?

That is correct!
Here you can look at them then in a few seconds will probably an add from this company.
http://mikkisenkarik.wordpress...
wrong site:
Try this one
http://www.gardeners.com/Garde...

I shop at Swanson as well, and I'm seeing their ad too, greene.

Websites put cookies on your computer and can recognize your computer that way. If you get really sick of seeing a certain ad then delete your cookies and it should go away (until you do another search for that item or view a website page for that item.) Just remember, if you delete all the cookies then you'll need to log in again to all of your websites, like ATP, so make sure you remember the passwords.

Yes, it is definitely an individual thing. Heh, I keep seeing ads for the locks I just ordered for my new French doors. And they're a discontinued item. Had the devil of a time putting together a complete set!

I'm not opposed to ads at all; I enjoy most of them.

I was just wondering if we all were seeing the same ad at the same time.
Two weeks ago for some reason all the ads were for support stockings; I can't see all the ATP membership getting excited to buy those.

I realized I could opt out of lots of things, but that would make life too dull.

I'm gonna go look at @Seedfork's cute little chicken boots now, thanks for the answers.

Yes, the answer is....YES!!! "THEY" are watching 'everything' that you do! Anonymity is a thing of the past! "THEY" know...who you are, where you are, and what you do!!!!

Kind of scary, huh!?!??!??!!!???

It doesn't scare me at all; I admire advertisers and how inventive they are.
Advertising helps to pay for websites; we need them.

I'm getting bored looking at the Swanson ad; maybe in a few minutes the boots will show up.
I clicked on both links offered by Seedfork; the planters are a cute idea!

greene, post back when it shows, should just take looking at few post, just not on the home page, usually less than a minute on my computer.

Maybe I'm just old! Maybe I remember "1984"! Hell....Maybe I remember the era of Hoover...McCarthy...Yes, it does give me the 'creeps'! And NO! I don't like it!

Doesn't really bother me that much. And sometimes it's useful. I was looking at some DeWalt cordless tools a while back and got a nifty promotional offer that got me two batteries for free when I ordered an item I was planning on buying anyway. I have no problem ignoring the stuff I'm not interested in. But I AM getting really tired of seeing ads for bath tubs. Sigh.

@woofie, I like the way you shop! French door hardware and cordless drills - you sound like a 'get-it-done' kind of person.

@Seedfork, no boots yet. I logged off, shut down and came back online to see if that would trigger it. I'm still looking at the Swanson ad. Maybe I have my settings 'higher privacy' than yours? There are some 'opt out' choices which allow less ads to find you. (I'm learning very slowly, but I am learning.)

@terrafirma, you could start a thread all your own so like-minded people can join you while you rant.

Mainly I was wondering if we all saw the same ads or each saw our own ads. And I have my answer.
Thanks everyone.