# does hotmail read your email or something?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 27, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080 "2003-08-27T22:17:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/1 "2003-08-27T22:17:12Z")
i dont know if i’m just envisioning this but it seems whenever i send an email via hotmail, in the webpage where it says ‘your message to XXX was sent’ there is always an ad to the right that relates to the topic i was discussing. Has anyone else noticed it or is this a coincidence?
for example, i was just discussing college, education, etc. and the ad was for Uni. of phoenix online. i know that i was discussing a few other things in other emails and the ads were about the same topic but i can’t remember the examples. if another comes up i will post it.
it doesn’t bother me or anything, i am just curious.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/2 "2003-08-27T22:19:24Z")
If it does, I’m sure it’s an automatic process, and not a human reading it.
I just might send an email or two to see if it happens to me.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/3 "2003-08-27T22:23:07Z")
i figured it wasn’t a human, i assumed it was a machine that picked up on key words & repeated words then used a targeted ad.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/4 "2003-08-27T22:25:16Z")
I think it was a coincidence. I sent two emails with subjects that lent themselves to ads, but neither resulted in a related ad.
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### Author:  [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/5 "2003-08-28T00:43:32Z")
The real question is… what the hell are you all doing using Hotmail? There’s about a million other free web email providers that don’t expose you to all kinds of advertising, are quicker to load and aren’t a target for anywhere near as much spam. Hotmail is the McDonalds of email.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/6 "2003-08-28T01:22:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by vl\_mungo \*
> \*\* Hotmail is the McDonalds of email. \*\*
You want fries with that?
😃
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### Author:  [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/7 "2003-08-28T01:37:03Z")
I like my Hotmail account better than my fuckin ISP email. Of course some jackass took my email there and signed it up to every kiddie porn ring on the 'net.
At least Hotmail deletes 99 percent of the garbage automatically
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### Author:  [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/8 "2003-08-28T01:38:02Z")
I like Hotmail. It’s free, easy, I know it will be around for several years, I get almost no spam without having to use my filters. Don’t see the problem.
Back to the OP, it may just be a coincidence and you only notice it when the things line up, but pay no mind the other times.
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### Author:  [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/9 "2003-08-28T13:43:51Z")
I just sent a test email from my Hotmail account to my real email. I wrote the following words:
stereo
cd player
receiver
surround sound
recording
entetainment system
An advertisement for electronics came up after I sent it off. I may have to test this some more, using related and unrelated word lists, since it seems to work in the fashion described by the OP.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/10 "2003-08-28T14:29:19Z")
I did ery nearly the same test as **dwc1970** , with similar electronic words (DVD player, TV, etc) I got an ad for a university.
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2003, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/11 "2003-08-28T17:33:24Z")
I get ads for a university no matter what my emails are about.
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/12 "2003-08-28T18:31:06Z")
I get no spam in my Hotmail account. The only thing close to spam is the emails from Hotmail trying to convince me to spend money and get a bigger mail box.
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### Author:  [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/13 "2003-08-29T03:19:21Z")
Yah! I never even look at that stuff around my mailbox. Now I will…
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/14 "2003-08-29T04:05:41Z")
Somehow my Hotmail knows I’m in Australia, as I get ads that are Australian based. I imagine it’s an IP address thingummy, a reasonably simple thing to check.
I have conditioned myself to ignore most ads, so I don’t pay attention to the subject matter usually.
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### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [August 29, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-hotmail-read-your-email-or-something/198080/15 "2003-08-29T04:28:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by racinchikki \*
> \*\*I get ads for a university no matter what my emails are about. \*\*
Perhaps the scanning algorithm is detecting a certain, shall we say, lack of erudition in your epistles? 😃