4 ms·

'Facebook baby ads taunted me after stillborn'

43 points by NoB4Mouth 8y ago

eatbitseveryday 8y ago
> Facebook said it was caused by a bug in the system that has now been fixed. Funny how problems like these are attributed euphemistically to "bugs" that are "fixed" in reporting. I do not often see journalism incorporating detailed descriptions of computer-related mishaps other than "glitches" [1,2]. It does not help that reporting on these circumstances to journalists may also be mediocre. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/07/21/long-lines-for-southwest-airlines-passengers-at-area-airports/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/07/2... [2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/07/08/computer-glitches-are-basically-inevitable-but-for-big-companies-they-can-be-big-problems/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/07/08...
- bitforger 8y ago
  Would it really matter? The root cause would probably sound something like this: "The user's preferences were ignored because the advert system failed to invalidate the cache during the change, causing the user's previously cached settings to be used. This occurred only for a small set of users, who were in a similar geographic location and were assigned to an experimental cohort to test an updated component of the advert system." Would anyone understand this? Would anyone care?
  - dr_teh 8y ago
    I feel like turning this into a technical issue is sleight of hand
    - thedevindevops 8y ago
      Ah but you see, it isn't, here's what happened in the ticket system: Feature: Display most profitable ads to users without offending anyone. Bug: User was offended. Resolution: Add user to block list for offending advert. Status: resolved.
tarboreus 8y ago
This sucks. I thought "why not install an adblock," but not everyone thinks like that, and that's fair.
- paulie_a 8y ago
  That doesn't work on the Facebook app. And then they block you for reporting too many ads. Facebook ads are late 90s era quality. Not to mention fradulent.
  - yellowapple 8y ago
    "And then they block you for reporting too many ads." Glad to see Facebook has the customer's best interests at heart.
    - BobFromDown 8y ago
      To be fair if you try to block all ads you're not really a customer.
      - drofmij 8y ago
        Users are not the customer - advertisers are. We don’t pay facebook to use it advertisers do.
  - pritambaral 8y ago
    > That doesn't work on the Facebook app. Yet another reason to limit Facebook to the browser (a proper browser, too, not a Google Services Client masquerading as a browser that does not let you install adblockers on mobile).
ganeshkrishnan 8y ago
One of my acquaintances/facebook friend's daughter was murdered in Australia and she got ads about "surprising your daughter with this beautiful gift" It's heart breaking to even think about it.
010101010101 8y ago
My wife had a miscarriage last December; we’ve been getting mailers advertising baby formula for months - one of them was literally an entire box of samples. Turns out we’d both been trying to throw them away before the other one saw them, because it’s kind of soul crushing as a reminder. Thanks, future!
dplgk 8y ago
Surely, they also get snail mail related to babies. This is not a technology/Facebook problem.
- robjan 8y ago
  Not sure about elsewhere but in the UK we have a mechanism to prevent that: https://secure.dma.org.uk/bmpsr/ https://secure.dma.org.uk/bmpsr/
eco 8y ago
I don't know if this would have stopped this particular instance but "Parenting" is one of three ad categories you can hide completely in your Facebook ad settings (the other two being Alcohol and Pets) so at least you have the option to be creeped out by other types of ads instead.
sublupo 8y ago
If you get offended by ads then install an ad blocking service. When I recently got a new computer, I tried to support content creators by not blocking their ads. After a few days I gave up, there were too many semi pornographic ads that offended me. After installing ublock origin, all my problems went away.
- alex__c 8y ago
  That sounds easy until you realize you would need a special adblocker for Facebook. Ublock Origin doesn't handle those. And don't even get started on mobile adblocking, it's still widely uncharted territory. I had to use an altogether new browser on Android, because mobile Chrome doesn't allow ad-blocking plugins. Shocking, I know.
  - WalterSear 8y ago
    Social Fixer

43 points by NoB4Mouth 8y ago

> Facebook said it was caused by a bug in the system that has now been fixed. Funny how problems like these are attributed euphemistically to "bugs" that are "fixed" in reporting. I do not often see journalism incorporating detailed descriptions of computer-related mishaps other than "glitches" [1,2]. It does not help that reporting on these circumstances to journalists may also be mediocre. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/07/21/long-lines-for-southwest-airlines-passengers-at-area-airports/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/07/2... [2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/07/08/computer-glitches-are-basically-inevitable-but-for-big-companies-they-can-be-big-problems/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/07/08...

bitforger 8y ago
Would it really matter? The root cause would probably sound something like this: "The user's preferences were ignored because the advert system failed to invalidate the cache during the change, causing the user's previously cached settings to be used. This occurred only for a small set of users, who were in a similar geographic location and were assigned to an experimental cohort to test an updated component of the advert system." Would anyone understand this? Would anyone care?
- dr_teh 8y ago
  I feel like turning this into a technical issue is sleight of hand
  - thedevindevops 8y ago
    Ah but you see, it isn't, here's what happened in the ticket system: Feature: Display most profitable ads to users without offending anyone. Bug: User was offended. Resolution: Add user to block list for offending advert. Status: resolved.

tarboreus 8y ago

This sucks. I thought "why not install an adblock," but not everyone thinks like that, and that's fair.

paulie_a 8y ago
That doesn't work on the Facebook app. And then they block you for reporting too many ads. Facebook ads are late 90s era quality. Not to mention fradulent.
- yellowapple 8y ago
  "And then they block you for reporting too many ads." Glad to see Facebook has the customer's best interests at heart.
  - BobFromDown 8y ago
    To be fair if you try to block all ads you're not really a customer.
    - drofmij 8y ago
      Users are not the customer - advertisers are. We don’t pay facebook to use it advertisers do.
- pritambaral 8y ago
  > That doesn't work on the Facebook app. Yet another reason to limit Facebook to the browser (a proper browser, too, not a Google Services Client masquerading as a browser that does not let you install adblockers on mobile).

ganeshkrishnan 8y ago

One of my acquaintances/facebook friend's daughter was murdered in Australia and she got ads about "surprising your daughter with this beautiful gift" It's heart breaking to even think about it.

010101010101 8y ago

My wife had a miscarriage last December; we’ve been getting mailers advertising baby formula for months - one of them was literally an entire box of samples. Turns out we’d both been trying to throw them away before the other one saw them, because it’s kind of soul crushing as a reminder. Thanks, future!

dplgk 8y ago

Surely, they also get snail mail related to babies. This is not a technology/Facebook problem.

robjan 8y ago
Not sure about elsewhere but in the UK we have a mechanism to prevent that: https://secure.dma.org.uk/bmpsr/ https://secure.dma.org.uk/bmpsr/

eco 8y ago

I don't know if this would have stopped this particular instance but "Parenting" is one of three ad categories you can hide completely in your Facebook ad settings (the other two being Alcohol and Pets) so at least you have the option to be creeped out by other types of ads instead.

sublupo 8y ago

If you get offended by ads then install an ad blocking service. When I recently got a new computer, I tried to support content creators by not blocking their ads. After a few days I gave up, there were too many semi pornographic ads that offended me. After installing ublock origin, all my problems went away.

alex__c 8y ago
That sounds easy until you realize you would need a special adblocker for Facebook. Ublock Origin doesn't handle those. And don't even get started on mobile adblocking, it's still widely uncharted territory. I had to use an altogether new browser on Android, because mobile Chrome doesn't allow ad-blocking plugins. Shocking, I know.
- WalterSear 8y ago
  Social Fixer