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A random rant:
Amazon.com is one of the few sites that is not blocked on my computers at work. Therefore I make sure to not browse for any kind of women’s clothing items there. Since I am heavy into circuits and electronics, that is typically what shows as “recommended items” on the front page.Unfortunately, I just look at a one piece swimsuit ONE TIME while at home, now I see Speedo and TYR swimsuits (both male and female) as recommended items on the front page while I am at work. Seriously? I look at power tools and generators far more often, but don’t see those popping up on the front page of Amazon when I first navigate there.
I even cleared my search and browsing history within the site and started browsing circuits and tools quite frequently, but I still have a row of Speedo and TYR swimsuits showing on the front page. I put great effort into keeping my dressing a secret, and this does not help.
I would “guess” that Amazon doesn’t sell a lot of power tools or generators; but I KNOW they have their own line of women’s clothing, and do a lot of business with third-party vendors. They are very aggressive advertisers, and if they ever get your email address, you will also be swamped with “Amazon recommends” emails. Happens to me, too; but fortunately, I’m retired and nobody but me sees them.
I hate ebay and Amazon for thinking they can help me with my purchases and showing the world what I have looked at. I want to look at what ever I want and not have it pop up for employees and people to see. Plus they show recent purchases on the home page! WTF Amazon! I have to jump through all these hoops when I shouldn’t. The funny thing is it, it makes me want to spend less money with them because of it! Go figure!
eBay is not a big deal since I cant access it at work. It was only a big deal when my wife (now ex wife) saw my previous purchases. She is gone now, but I went ahead and created a second eBay account that I use for that. My main I use for purchases I don’t hide.
I could do the same with Amazon, but I really don’t want to create a second account with them too.
As far as my emails, I have multiple addresses and no one sees them but me.
K that sucks. You have my sympathies. At this point I would hesitate from allowing anyone from using my laptop or my cellphone. I’m not good at remembering to clear my history. Why isn’t there an opt out button ??? I am tired of corporate advertising being more important than privacy.
“Just click here to accept terms and conditions”. Sucks.
Hugs
Autumn
I already do not let others use my computers. I’ve assisted many people already where kids have access to their computers who would install crap software and games that cause them to slow down to an unusable state.
I even had to do so when I was with the wife because she would use my facebook account (even though she had her own) to look at random people’s profiles and even send them friend requests. I even had to explain to her that the logic behind her using MY account to send friend requests makes no sense and that I don’t want to be “friends” with people I don’t know.
There is somewhere you can remove items that amazon uses to create recommendations for you, but it isn’t easy to find. You can also hide items in your past orders so Amazon won’t use them to promote anything new, but there is a low limit on how many you can hide.
I did note that although the last 20 odd items I looked at had nothing to do with women’s fashion, the first thing it showed on my “recently viewed” picture was a frock. I’ve just removed my Amazon viewing history and hidden all recent femme products from my orders and it is currently showing (“inspired by your shopping trends”) some pretty handkerchiefs, flypaper(!) and a bracelet. No, I have never bought any of those items from Amazon.
I will only log into my Amazon account at home with nobody around now because of this. And for all the women’s Items I view or order, I clear them out of my browsing history, check “don’t use for recommendations,” or whatever its called, and even archive the orders, but for some reason women’s clothing items still pop up on my homepage. really annoying.
The first time I realized Amazon did this was at school a long time ago, I think I was just beginning to experiment with women’s things. I was in the computer lab. tons of people around. I went on Amazon to look for a textbook. Thought I’d log on, you know, so I could easily order it as soon as I found it. Because that’s exactly what Amazon is supposed to be good for and stuff. Except when I logged on, Amazon thought I wanted to order panties. There was a whole row of them right on my homepage. I was mortified. Luckily I don’t think anyone saw. I think I would have set up an alternate account with a different credit card if I knew it was going to be impossible to totally get rid of certain things from your suggestions.
Anyway, long story short. Amazon: definitely not closet CD friendly. sucks so many of us had to find out the hard way.
Hi k,
I know what you mean,
My Ebay and amazon keeps revealing all my searches.
I/m sure my 24 year old daughter is wondering whats up with dad.
She doesn’tuse my computer much but its in the living room so she sees things.
Patty
I created a separate eBay account after the wife left. It was through my eBay purchase history how she found out about it. Fortunately, that history only shows for 2 years and it has been longer than that since she left. And it is also possible to use the one single PayPal account for 2 eBay accounts. I am don’t really want to create a second Amazon account.
same here but with facebook.
i close browsers, have multiple email accounts, etc etc. take all sorts of precautions.
and yet, suddenly now, facebook is constantly recommending lingerie sites and pages for me.
and i do NOTHING that is “out” (nothing gay, nothing crossdresser related, NOTHING) on facebook.
I once had that problem as well with similar ads showing me what I looked at on eBay and Aliexpress. It is something called your “advertising ID” which is embedded in every web browser. It is basically how those companies are making money from you without you paying a cent….like Google making money off of me as I use their “free” Chrome.
A couple of months ago, I learned new ways to block that stuff. After applying that knowledge, I now have 2 DNS servers running on my home network that makes those types of ads just show as a blank spot on sites like facebook. It does require I.T. skills to set up, so I can’t really explain it all in a forum post.
Have to say I’m not overly surprised by this. I mean if anyone saw my eBay account or the emails for suggested purchases then they would either think it was a women’s account or they’d know for sure about me. All in all its not something I worry about too much. If it happens it happens.
Totally agree. I anybody went on my eBay or Amazon in the family their suspicions would be ignited.
wow, that is scary, i don’t let anyone else use my log in on my computer for reasons like this, i set up a guest account for anyone who needs to use my computer. not willing to take the chance on being outed
Hi K Swim!
- Log off Amazon when you’re done shopping…
- …and don’t log on when you use Amazon at work (until you’re ready to order, and then log off as soon as your order is placed)
- From the main screen go to Browsing History|Manage History and switch OFF “Turn Browsing History On/Off”
- Archive the past orders you don’t want anyone to see
- Edit your browsing history, removing items you’d rather keep to yourself
- When placing a swimsuit order, mark it as a gift, even if it’s for you
- Use an ad blocker on all sites you visit
Some embarrassing things will slip in, but these steps should reduce the risk a lot. Also, remember: Just because a ladies item pops up on your screen, it doesn’t mean a random person who happens to glimpse it will figure out your secret. Everyone knows the internet is an intrusive pain in the butt and who knows why Victoria’s Secret is advertising to you? As a crossdresser, I have to keep reminding myself that most people aren’t “studying” me, and won’t think twice.
Much appreciated for that advice, but I do occasionally buy stuff on Amazon while at work which is why I never browse women’s clothing there even while in the privacy of my home. In this case, I ended up clicking the link to a swimsuit that appeared on a Google search, but did not see that it was directing me to Amazon when I clicked it.
As far as blocking ads, I’ve taken that measure to an unusual level by installing two DNS servers on my home network that are configured to stop anything from known advertisement servers from appearing on my screen. So far, they have worked much better than any software based ad blocker that I have ever found.
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