Comments

1. Jean Raber 09/03/2011 - 12:47 pm  subscriber

   Welcome to the wonderful world beyond narrowcasting where you have become a niche market of one.

   I recently looked on the Web to replace a pair of good fitting but expensive (for my blood, anyway) shoes that wore out beyond repair this spring.

   Darned if those cookie crumbs didn’t make those shoes pop up on almost every page I looked at. It became really annoying b/c everytime I clicked, the price didn’t apply to the color or size I needed. It was also really distracting because every time I tried to answer e-mails or look at something else, I was constantly importuned with the reminder that I needed new shoes.

2. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 09/03/2011 - 12:48 pm  subscriber  contributor

   Yes, yes, but did you get the shoes?

3. Bender 09/03/2011 - 1:52 pm

   Thank you for the prayers, and they are returned. So long as we endeavor always to love in truth in all things, we have that true hope, thanks to an ever-merciful God, who is Love and Truth in person, that both of our prayers will be answered.

   May we always be a light of love and truth to others in this dark world of ours.

4. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 09/03/2011 - 1:55 pm  subscriber  contributor

   Well said Bender. I will assume it’s sincere. What will Google send us on this score?

5. Jean Raber 09/03/2011 - 2:33 pm  subscriber

   No shoes for Jean; I originally got them for about 40 percent off, and I’m waiting for the price to dip again, but I just checked my e-mail and the ads are still popping up. I should have bought two or three pairs as I do with pants that fit right.

6. Nicholas Clifford 09/03/2011 - 3:14 pm  subscriber

   As for those ads and their benefit to Commonweal: see Lk; 16:9, “Make friends with the mammon of iniquity. . . .” (A passage I’ve never pretended to understand, by the way).

7. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 09/03/2011 - 4:37 pm  subscriber  contributor

   “Want to know more about Jewish Life” ad just sprang up again. It is for a magazine called “Red Threads.”

   Its “About Us” reports: “Red Thread is happy to welcome you home. We’re a Detroit-based publication serving a readership of young, Jewish engagers who are interested in the issues that relate to our generation.

   “Our team of clever writers work hard to offer up an endless, albeit virtual, Sunday brunch of community and economic news, reviews, events listings and perspectives that will make you plotz.

   “Red Thread is a sister publication of the Detroit Jewish News and owned by Jewish Renaissance Media. We are supported by advertising (and tacitly encouraged by He Who Has No Name).”
   http://www.redthreadmagazine.com/?gclid=COug_YvygasCFUHe4AodpjEC0w

   I wonder if that’s the same “He who Has No Name” that tacitly encourages Commonweal?

8. Claire 09/03/2011 - 5:40 pm

   Some of the ads I get: “Join priests and brothers” (no thanks). “Correct grammatical mistakes” (what can possibly have led Google to conclude that I needed that ad??)

   Methinks the art of ads still needs perfecting.

9. Jean Raber 09/03/2011 - 6:33 pm  subscriber

   Claire, and yet …

   I used to get “meet singles in your area” ads. Now I get “meet SENIOR singles.” Apparently, I neglected to add a “relationship status” somewhere.

   And, no, I have not been shopping for a trade-in, despite the fact that it’s 90 degrees here and Raber has made chili for supper.

10. Tom Halloran 09/03/2011 - 6:57 pm

    You might read this from NY Review ( http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/aug/18/how-google-dominates-us/) but beware as it will probably result in adding your cookie to yet another set of “preferences”

11. David Smith 09/03/2011 - 7:48 pm  subscriber

    Sometimes access to Commonweal seems slower than it should be. I assume that’s at least partly because of money-making linking going on. Is that really necessary? It would be so nice to be completely free of ads here.

12. Bender 09/03/2011 - 7:59 pm

    Everyone would do well to be cautious these days, utilizing anti-virus software and scanning often. Some web ads can be open windows to malware.

    No longer is it necessary to go to some Russian gambling site or some porn site to get infected with really nasty stuff that can hijack your system or steal personal info — now it is being attached to Internet ads that are automatically loaded into legitimate websites, reportedly including Facebook, WordPress blogs, and Yahoo. For instance, I’ve gotten malware after going to Catholic sites at patheos.com because of infected ads. Thus, I no longer go to places that have a lot of these sidebar and banner ads and other bells and whistles that are potentially open doors to bad stuff.

    So, be especially vigilant.

13. Bender 09/03/2011 - 8:10 pm

    To clarify — the malware infections from these ads can happen without you clicking on any links in the ad. It happens automatically from the webpage from the legitimate site loading into your browser.

    In addition to patheos.com, I got attacked when I went to a ad-supported Wiki site to get some information about the TV show “Stargate SG-1.” Here I am minding my own business reading a page to verify that gate travel is only one-way (it is), and suddenly the screen crashes and tries to trick me into clicking on a counterfeit Microsoft error box.

    Again be vigilant. There are a lot of malicious bad guys out there who want to do malicious bad things to your computer.

14. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 09/03/2011 - 8:27 pm  subscriber  contributor

    If we all made our contributions to the Commonweal Associates, perhaps the Google ads wouldn’t be necessary.

    Here you are! Go: http://commonwealmagazine.org/join-commonweal-associates

15. Abe Rosenzweig 09/03/2011 - 10:14 pm

    Adblock Plus. Get into it.

16. Claire 09/04/2011 - 12:21 am

    Commonweal is important because it’s not run by Jesuits, and therefore is not forced to obey injunctions from anyone. Its independence is precious, especially these days. Its combination of independence and orthodoxy is unique. Its discussion topics can sometimes seem obsolete to the French post-modern post-religious society, but even then, it’s a fascinating piece of history as it is happening. Its contributors are remarkable teachers. Thank you!

17. Cathleen Kaveny 09/04/2011 - 9:04 am  contributor

    I just signed up for Netlix streaming. They make you take a test. And then they set your preferences. Here is my suggestion- Don’t tell them that Ghostbusters and (ahem) Caddyshack are two of your favorite movies of all time.

18. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 09/04/2011 - 9:37 am  subscriber  contributor

    AR: Can you provide us a link to Adblock Plus?

19. Jean Raber 09/04/2011 - 11:46 am  subscriber

    I’m surprised that some of our conservative friends, scam ads aside, want to see a blog without advertising. Publications, even (and especially) nonprofs, need ad revenue. Advertising is part of our capitalist system. It creates desire for goods and services. It helps make jobs.

    Moreover, it keeps the publication independent.

    As for the Associate’s fund, that’s great for the mag, but I’m beginning to see a certain irony in some of us paying for the forum so that non subscribers can get on here and smack us around for free.

    It’s easier to take crap from those with whom you at least share a concern for the welfare of the Commonweal enterprise.

20. Abe Rosenzweig 09/04/2011 - 12:51 pm

    http://adblockplus.org/en/

21. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 09/04/2011 - 1:31 pm  subscriber  contributor

    Okay, you free riders. Jean Raber has put you on notice, Pay up…..or….s…
    http://commonwealmagazine.org/join-commonweal-associates

22. David Smith 09/05/2011 - 3:55 am  subscriber

    Margaret, I don’t think it’s fair to call subscribers “free riders”.

23. Cathleen Kaveny 09/05/2011 - 9:05 am  contributor

    And some of us although we are both subscribers and contributors, are listed only as contributors. Why is that?

24. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 09/05/2011 - 9:18 am  subscriber  contributor

    Free riders are not subscribers, David; they are what the words say: people who are along for the ride without paying the fare. Glad to see you are a subscriber…

25. Jean Raber 09/05/2011 - 10:09 am  subscriber

    Whoa! I never called for anybody to pay up or shut up, and I have no connection with the magazine nor influence over its policies in any case.

    I control only my own measley Associates program contribution, and I question the sanity of that contribution. Contributing to the blog is akin to setting up a shooting gallery and paying the cranks to take pot shots at you for free.

    It would be useful if, as on other networks, there were some way to flag comments that break the ground rules.

26. Jim Pauwels 09/07/2011 - 9:48 am  subscriber

    Claire, re: grammatical mistakes: if you hadn’t told us that you were from France, I never would have guessed it from your comments here, as your English usage always seems perfect to me.

27. Jim Pauwels 09/07/2011 - 9:52 am  subscriber

    The ads that come up for me at the moment include “Active senior living”, “Premier senior living”, “Find local senior housing”. Apparently Google thinks I’m an old fart.

28. Susan Gannon 09/08/2011 - 11:30 am  subscriber

    Interesting. Usually I get ads for online courses in theology or invitations to explore vocations to the priesthood or some such. This morning on the Commonweal home page I got some of those but also a very local Baptist Church in the town of Brewster near by billing itself as a church for imperfect people. (That was certainly a good call. I guess they knew what they were after.) But a few minutes ago, while looking at this thread, I noticed a new set of adds featuring a shop for Jewish religious goods, a pop-up blocker, and one for on-line advertising. There is something spooky about this. They seem to have picked up on so many of the subjects just discussed here.

    No shoes today, but I bet if I ventured to look at something from Zappos they would trot right after me.

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