We’re back again with another installation of our roundup of reader photos from the Photography Bay Flickr Group.
Clicking on the photos will take you to its Flickr page where you can read more about the shot, leave a compliment or connect with the photographer.
As always, thanks for being a part of Photography Bay and sharing your work with the rest of us.
If you missed out on this round of reader photos, feel free to join in on the fun and add your photos to the Photography Bay Flickr Group and maybe we’ll get you next time.
*Note: You must allow image embedding from your Flickr account if you want your images to be selected for the weekly photo roundup. We only embed from Flickr so you have full control of if/when your images are displayed. You are welcome to contribute images to the group without them appearing on Photography Bay; however, embedding must be turned on to share them here.
I noticed while I was was waiting for today’s issue of images to load there was a notice that http://www.google.analytics.com was loading. This is probably a Google “spying” utility to see what I click on.
Can’t we go back to the days of privacy. Why is it someone else’s business what I look at?
Google Analytics is a site statistics program that most websites use. It tracks statistics for website owners. It does a number of things in particular for Photography Bay like tell me which types of posts are the most popular and how many people view various posts on Photography Bay. This information, in turn, helps me decide what to focus on and helps me communicate better with advertisers on what kind of reach Photography Bay has. Without understanding some of this basic statistical info, I would have a hard time keeping Photography Bay running.
You can always disable cookies for websites you visit based on your browser preferences. There is much more information being “tracked” in your browser than through Google Analytics. However, I believe you will have a much poorer experience around the web with irrelevant advertisements and login issues for virtually every online account you have.
Thakx for the explanation. But, I can tell you that I use FIREFOX as the browser in WINDOWS 7 PRO. I have the cookies shut off, and I still get tons of advertising, sometimes there’s so much advertising on some sites that it overrides the actual text or body of the site.
Furthermore, when I view your Reader Photos of the Week, and get about 1/2 way through the image collection, the screen turns dark, and I get a box that asks me to join PHOTOGRAPHY BAY. Actually, I guess I’ve been receiving your weekly blogs for close to 10 years, so I find this interesting & annoying, but I suppose it’s because I have the cookies turned off, so your site doesn’t know that I’m a member.
I still feel that there is too much personal data being unknowingly mined from internet users, and I don’t think it’s a good thing.
The “join Photography Bay” box should only show up once per month; however, because you have cookies turned off, the Photography Bay website thinks you are a new user every time you visit. Without cookies, Photography Bay can’t “remember” you. This is one of the things I was talking about when I mentioned turning cookies off would result in a poorer user experience. There are reasons websites use cookies to improve usability.
Turning cookies off doesn’t remove advertising, it just makes the ads you receive less relevant to you in addition to making the overall experience on many websites a poorer experience for both you and the website.
Again, THANK YOU for responding to my comments. I appreciate this interactivity. As far as the “Join notice” is concerned, I figured that it was because I had the Cookies disabled, so it’s no big deal. And, in this regard, I understand your point of view as a publisher …. your aim is to focus your blog’s items to specifically target each recipient. As a very technical person, I fully understand that. I guess that I’ve seen too much in my many decades, and now with all the news stories about GOOGLE, FACEBOOK, etc. being promiscuous with users’ data, it has made me somewhat paranoid also, and so I’d rather “err” on the side of privacy than to put any personal date at risk.
When I started out as a young professional, the BIGGEST concern we had was to ensure that the stacks & stacks of HOLLERITH cards with active date was securely shredded after their usable life had ended. Now, the bits & bytes seem to flow eternally without limitation.
No need to respond …..
No worries. Glad we can have a discussion.