WTF is up with the forums and advert redirection???!

[PuppetMaster]

This is ridiculous!! I can't browse the ypopsemail.com website without being automatically redirected to that sodding http://www.blinkx.com website.
If fcuking ridiculous - it makes ypops completely unuseable, which is a shame. It not like it even redirects you when you mouseover something, it just does it after a few seconds! Anyone else getting p1ssed of with it???

Admin, any chance of switching some forum setting off???

(Meanwhile I'll do a spyware scan etc of my PC, just to make sure it's not just me - if it is, please excuse my rant...)

[anujseth]

Thanks for pointing it out. I'll look into it...

[PuppetMaster]

Apologies for that outbreak Found that I could simply stop the redirection behaviour by disabling Javascript in Firefox - but now that means I have to go and turn it back on for other bits of funcationality like adding smilies

It's especially annoying because not only does the ad not open in a separate window, but it replaces the current thread URL you're looking at, so a "back" takes you back to the forum index. Grrr

Looking at the HTML,

<!-- Begin: AdBrite -->
<script type="text/javascript">
var AdBrite_Title_Color = '0000FF';
var AdBrite_Text_Color = '000000';
var AdBrite_Background_Color = 'FFFFFF';
var AdBrite_Border_Color = '003366';
</script>
<span style="white-space:nowrap;"><script src="http://ads.adbrite.com/mb/text_group.php?sid=198341&zs=3732385f3930" type="text/javascript"></script><!--
--><a target="_top" href="http://www.adbrite.com/mb/commerce/purchase_form.php?opid=198341&afsid=1"><img src="http://files.adbrite.com/mb/images/adbrite-your-ad-here-leaderboard-w.gif" style="background-color:#003366" alt="Your Ad Here" width="14" height="90" border="0" /></a></span>
<!-- End: AdBrite -->

looks pretty suspect.

Cheers!

[anujseth]

Adbrite calls it interstitial ads!!

How often do you see it? They claim it shouldn't come more than once per day per user. If its coming more often than that, I would need to get in touch with their Support to get this disabled.

[PuppetMaster]

Well that's the problem, it's happening every time I view any topic and every time the page is loaded. It doesn't matter if I see the ad for a thread, and go back and try to view it again - it's just an endless cycle. The only page unaffected is the "post a reply" screen.

It makes the forums completely unuseable, but it's a bit strange no one else has found this problem. I'm just using Firefox on a home LAN through a router. Fairly standard stuff...

[anujseth]

Thanks for the info. I'll pass it on to AdBrite Customer Support and hopefully we will have this fixed sooner than later.

[Mercury]

PuppetMaster... you should look into the NoScript add-on for firefox. You can selectively disable/enable javascript on websites by the URL calling the script. Right now i've got java for ypopsemail.com enabled so i can add smileys, but adbrite.com is disabled and I've never had a problem with redirects. Check it out.

Mercury

[neil_j]

... Right now i've got java for ypopsemail.com enabled..., but adbrite.com is disabled and I've never had a problem with redirects.

It's good to be able to disable Java for a troublesome domain. Better than turning it off entirely for everything.

I think yanking you away from your desired webpage and bringing you to another webpage qualifies as "SPYWARE," and should not be tolerated "only one time per day, maximum. We promise."

However, it never happened to me, ever. If everyone gets hit once per day, then I recommend SpyBlocker. I assume that's what's been saving me from that annoyance.

I'm just a satisfied customer, but Free 30-day trial, $20 for updates on present verion, or $40 for lifetime updates. (http://www.spyblocker-software.com/spyblocker) I ran the trial (back in 2000), and suddenly no more spyware found during my bi-weekly Ad-Aware scanning. I didn't wait for the trial to end before sending in my money. A few months later, I upgraded to Lifetime. Active, support forum similar to YPOPs!.

SpyBlocker will also make it unnecessary for you to de-activate Java for each undesirable spyware you run into. It’s loaded with a gazillion domains that it will protect you against -- proactively, before they cause you problems, big or little. Unlike antispyware scanners that can only remove spyware after it’s loaded into your computer, SpyBlocker runs in the background, keeping it from loading in the first place.

SpyBlocker will also keep spyware-installation programs from downloading into your computer.

However, if a spyware installation-program has already downloaded before SpyBlocker was installed, then installing SpyBlocker will keep the spyware-installation program from running, installing, and activating the spyware program.

However, if the spyware-installation program has already run, installed and activated the spyware program before SpyBlocker was installed, then installing SpyBlocker will keep the spyware program from communicating with its nefarious home-base, preserving your personal information, credit card, bank account and social security numbers, and otherwise ruining your electronic privacy. Can you say, “Identity theft?”

Occasionally, a tracking cookie will slip through, such as from Live365 or Newegg.com. But I never had a webpage redirect, or homepage highjack, or real spyware unknowingly installed (according to my Ad-Aware scans). Just a few tracking cookies over the years.

Occasionally, you'll try to go to a webpage, and you'll only get a browser page with a message, "SpyBlocker has blocked this webpage from loading because it's a security hazard," or something like that.

In that case you might be tempted to disable SpyBlocker to see the webpage you wanted. A better idea is to realize that the anti-spyware organizations have specific definitions of what is considered spyware, and you should take their advice. If you're looking for information on a website deemed hazardous, you really should try to find another website that can provide the desired information but less hazardously.

Webpage-graphics are notorious for being spyware. I don’t know exactly how it works, but the webpage has code for placing a graphic. But instead of the graphic being included in the webpage code, only a URL is included. When the html loads, the browser goes onto the web to get the graphic to place onto the webpage. In the process, the nefarious server gets your IP address. I think what happens next is that they start probing your computer’s ports (whatever a port is), looking for weaknesses by which they can access your computer, possibly gain control of it, but more probably they would be interested in probing around your hard drive to look for your credit card numbers, etc., and turning your computer into a zombie that will probe other computers and send information back to the nefarious head.

When SpyBlocker blocks a spyware-graphic, it will replace it with a patch of solid color that you may select. Alternately, the spyware-graphic may be replaced with a picture of a big, red, ugly ant-like bug. That’s my preference, since it is most obvious that spyware was blocked.

The spyware-domain can be in your browser, an email you’re displaying, or something coming into Realplayer’s display window. Wherever, the spyware graphics will be replaced by a big, red, bug.