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Does anybody ever see relevant ads? I guess retargeting kinda works, if I look for info about mortages I see lots of ads from banks, but for anything else? We

Does anybody ever see relevant ads? I guess retargeting kinda works, if I look for info about mortages I see lots of ads from banks, but for anything else? We're all human, we're amazingly complex, everyone of us is unique, and nobody likes to be put in a drawer. But then you have the smartest programmers in the world, working for the richest companies in the world, and all they come up with is "if someone googles for baby show them ads for nappies"? It's remarkable how stupid these "smart" algorithms are, and I think the problem is a based on a simple fallacy: Everyone thinks of themselves as sophisticated, but believes others are simpletons. I'm not sure where to go from here.

soundwave106 8y ago
Based on a comment wesd linked to above (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18535748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18535748), and applying that comment to all the large corporations behind ad-tech (because IMHO large corporate political problems are fairly similar no matter where you go)... It seems like for these systems, there are often multiple teams developing the algorithms, with multiple algorithms in play behind the recommendation. Each algorithm has their own style of metrics system. Some of them are probably relatively simple with not very sophisticated AI/ML (or even no AI/ML at all) behind it. And, there is a lot of internal political conflict preventing better analysis of said algorithms to refine them. In other words, you're absolutely right.
ryanlol 8y ago
>Does anybody ever see relevant ads? Are you serious? Does anyone ever make sales from advertising? Yes they do, even without retargeting.
mynameishere 8y ago
They are astonishingly terrible. I'm especially amazed by the spam sent straight from amazon. Like...high-end fashion. Huh? Maybe I bought a pair of men's socks and they think I want pricey handbags? Or...ads for books I've already purchased. Like, umm... They have almost two decades of my buying habits and that's the best they can do?

soundwave106 8y ago

Based on a comment wesd linked to above (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18535748 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18535748), and applying that comment to all the large corporations behind ad-tech (because IMHO large corporate political problems are fairly similar no matter where you go)... It seems like for these systems, there are often multiple teams developing the algorithms, with multiple algorithms in play behind the recommendation. Each algorithm has their own style of metrics system. Some of them are probably relatively simple with not very sophisticated AI/ML (or even no AI/ML at all) behind it. And, there is a lot of internal political conflict preventing better analysis of said algorithms to refine them. In other words, you're absolutely right.

ryanlol 8y ago

>Does anybody ever see relevant ads? Are you serious? Does anyone ever make sales from advertising? Yes they do, even without retargeting.

mynameishere 8y ago

They are astonishingly terrible. I'm especially amazed by the spam sent straight from amazon. Like...high-end fashion. Huh? Maybe I bought a pair of men's socks and they think I want pricey handbags? Or...ads for books I've already purchased. Like, umm... They have almost two decades of my buying habits and that's the best they can do?