# PersonalityCafe Acquired by Crowdgather



## Unus

Taken from the CrowdGather blog:

What type of personality do you have?

by JSchneier on July 16, 2012

On July 11th 2012, CrowdGather acquired a very exciting property called, PersonalityCafe.com. Founded in 2008, they are a community that:

“Connects you with like-minded individuals.”

So if you know the ins and outs of being an INFJ or how annoying your ENTP sister is, then you have found your spot! (And don’t worry, if you don’t know what those things are you soon will be conversant and will be exploring the inner workings of your psyche in a positive and fun environment.)



What is an “Integrated Forum Ad Server”?

by JSchneier on June 27, 2012

Maybe you are not like us. Maybe when you hear the words “Integrated Forum Ad Server” you don’t go into a state of ecstasy. But this is really one of the greatest things since…well since forums.

So what is an integrated forum ad server? The Business Dictionary describes an ad server as:

Quote:
Computer system which stores, maintains and serves (uploads) advertising banners for one or more websites. Ad servers program, track, and report several statistics about website visitors which are used by advertisers to custom tailor ads and offers to suit different categories of visitors.

If that is not clear what it basically does is connects advertisers to web sites that want to host advertisements. The key function of an ad network is aggregation of ad space supply from publishers and matching it with advertiser demand.

What is unique about the CrowdGather forum ad server is that for the first time advertisers will have a safe, reliable means to reach people in the vertical interest markets of forums. Forums attract niche audiences and up until now it has been difficult to reach these audiences because the majority of forums are too small to show up on the radar of traditional ad networks.

But the value of marketing to forums is really huge. According to Zacks Research, forum users are generally 3.5x more likely to recommend a purchase, 4x more likely to post reviews online, and 3.5x more likely to share new products. Moreover, many forums target very specific niches that can even include specific products, such as Nintendo games and consoles on Nsider2.com.

So the forum ad network that we are developing is:

Quote:
Similar to self-service options available to advertisers on Google or Facebook Ads, marketers will be able to login and upload creative and run banners on specific forums. The result could be higher CPM rates and higher revenues for forum operators. Advertisers will get the benefit of targeted, niche communities filled with enthusiasts, but by connecting all these micro-communities together in vertical interest networks, CrowdGather’s ad server will also provide larger advertisers with much needed scale for their campaigns. In addition to display advertising options, CrowdGather will also offer advertisers the opportunity to market to users via content marketing through sponsored posts.

If that doesn’t get you going we don’t really know what will! This new product lets you reach a highly motivated, previously untapped audience through a flexible and scalable platform!

So stay tuned. We are in beta test now and plan on launching as early as Fall 2012.


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## Sanjay

good find!


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## emerald sea

Sanjay said:


> We do not use your PM's for marketing purposes, but Google adsense usually serves ads based upon the words on the page.


you seem to be making a distinction between what your company (Crowdgather) does and what Google Adsense does, if i'm understanding your post correctly.

i have some privacy-related questions that probably others are wondering about, as well:

1. in your above quoted post - "words on the page" - what do you mean by "the page"? do you mean:
a) the thread the user happens to be viewing? 
b) the private message the user is viewing? 
c) the data and visitor messages on the user's profile page? 
d) all of the above?
e) some combination of the above - please specify which ones

2. are private messages ever viewed, read, searched for terms, or culled for *any* data by your staff *or* by Google or your other advertisers? 

3. how are visitor messages used - by you, by Google, and by any of your advertisers? 

4. is any personal identification associated with the data that is gathered by your company, Google, or your advertisers (that is, who posted the data you gathered, any of their personal data posted on their profile such as birthdate/age, location, gender, relationship status, or IP addresses)? are users' IP addresses ever recorded? 

5. do you have a Google Adsense privacy disclosure statement that we may read? do you have a privacy disclosure statement for any of your other advertisers? and do you have a Crowdgather privacy disclosure statement? i would like to read all of these. (yes, i really do read that stuff before saying "i accept"!...lol)


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## Sanjay

1. All of the above. I just checked my PM's and did not see any Adsense units show up where the banner is located but this may occur if the impressions are served via Adsense.

2. No other than realtime scanning for ad serving by Adsense if that option is enabled. No personal information is shared, just realtime contextual ads if any. We do not sell PM access to anyone nor do we ever look at PM's unless we are asked for copies as per a legal warrant or subpoena.

3. We do not use visitor messages in any way. Adsense ads may be served based upon the content of the visitor messages if Adsense units are running on that view.

4. We track IP addresses as do most sites. These are recorded in the forum logs and can be provided to law enforcement. We also use IP addresses to ban people and to prevent spambots. We do not share any personal information with advertisers or anyone. Most people on forums use pseudonyms so this data is not valuable. We do sometimes serve ads that are geotargeted (based upon presumed location of users IP) or gender specific ads targeted at only males or only females. Of course both us and the advertiser are hoping that the gender and location information is valid, but there is really no telling on forums.

5. Here is our privacy policy and other terms as well as legal service instructions. http://www.crowdgather.com/site/legal/. Click on the privacy policy link to read all about the information that we share with advertisers. It is primarily based upon data from your browser cookies. I would also encourage you to review the privacy policies of any major site you visit and you will see that we are in line with most web publishers. Here is HuffPo's for example: Privacy Policy

I hope I have answered your many questions. We run many sites and have never had any issues with members regarding our policies. One of the best things about forums is that they are designed for privacy because pseudonyms are the norm unlike sites like Facebook where you are out in the open.


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## Unus

*Taken from Personality Cafe Privacy Policy:*

"DoubleClick DART Cookie

.:: Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on Personality Cafe.
.:: Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to your users based on their visit to Personality Cafe and other sites on the Internet.
.:: Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - Advertising privacy FAQ ? Policies & Principles ? Google

Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include .......
Google Adsense, Infolinks


These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on Personality Cafe send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.

Personality Cafe has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.

You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. www.personalitycafe.com's privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.

If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites. "

*From Google:*

"How do I opt out of interest-based advertising?

If you prefer not to receive interest-based advertising in web browsers, you can always click the “Opt out” button on the Ads Preferences Manager. When you are accessing the web through a web browser, Google also offers a number of options to permanently save your opt-out settings in your browser. After you opt out, Google will not collect interest category information and you will not receive interest-based ads via Google when accessing the web through a web browser. You will still see the same number of ads as before, and Google may still show relevant ads based on the content of a web page, or other non-personal information. For example, if you visit a gardening site, Google can determine the content of the site and may automatically show ads related to gardening to all visitors without using a cookie. Additionally, whenever we serve an ad on Google search or on the sites of our AdSense for search partners, the ads which are displayed may still be based on the search terms you enter.

If you prefer not to receive interest-based advertising in applications and other clients that use anonymous identifiers, you can always opt out using the appropriate preferences manager."


*You can download the Google Advertising Cookie Opt-out Plugin* here.


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## gestalt

So, you do pass on our personal information to third parties.


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## The King Of Dreams

I'm so slow.... I didn't even see this thread.... *facepalm*...... *palmface*


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## fihe

The King Of Dreams said:


> I'm so slow.... I didn't even see this thread.... *facepalm*...... *palmface*


neither did I. but that could have very well been because this thread was made before I even signed up for this forum. but I guess it figures that third-party advertisers would use our info. it seems that there's just no escaping from that nowadays


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## hauntology

Hello there new crowdsource people! :3 Hope you like it here!

(You probably can guess my type...  )


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## RobynC

What are the data-retention policies practiced by the Crowdgather compared to before...


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## Snoopy

Congratulations :crying::frustrating::happy:. Thank you for the original artwork :kitteh:


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## MonieJ

I don't believe I've seen any ads since I returned to PerC... but I also have an ad block plugin *shrugs*.

Long as I'm still able to do the sames things as before,we won't have issues.


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## Yardiff Bey

Right now I'm seeing a Jenny Craigs ad.

Apparantly I'm an overweight woman who needs to lose a few pounds.


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## ilphithra

Wait... there are ads on the forum? 

How I love my ad blockers...


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