Intrusive ads

[StefanAVFC]

Firstly let me preface this by saying I understand that you 100% need ads for revenue and I know I can donate to get them removed.

But. I disable ad-block as requested and I get these ads right in the middle of the page on both mobile (safari) and PC (Chrome)

I've cleared cache and they're still there. I don't mind ads but can they not be in the middle of the topic list?

Also, on mobile (can't get a screenshot right now) I get them in the middle of posts in topics.

Edited September 8, 2016 by StefanAVFC

[Enda]

32 minutes ago, limpid said:

How are you posting this?

Please try with another browser just so that we can rule that out. Whenever we've had this before it's only happened to people on mobile data. What wifi are you connecting to - just your regular home router?

I was posting from home on my laptop. In the pic above I was connecting to my regular home wifi; now I am out and about and the problem persists. So it appears it's not a connection issue 

My workaround to is to 'stop' the page loading before the redirect takes effect. There's a delay of 5 seconds or so before the ad kicks in. I don't know if that's a set time limit or just how long it takes for the ad to load.

I'm not going to download a new browser on mobile data, but will do so if I remember when I get home.

[limpid]

Cool. Hopefully if it's a wider problem someone else will say something. I'm afraid there isn't much I can do. The ad will get fixed before any action I can take will get to anyone that can help. If it's really bugging you, you can remove all the ads in the store. The charge for a month isn't much and it'll almost certainly be gone by then.

[villaglint]

Hello there,

just so you know Limpid this is the same thing that happened to me which I flagged in a private message to you.

As you said it was a mobile data thing for me and seems to have cleared up now. Just lasted a couple of days. Was weird but there you go.

[limpid]

Just now, villaglint said:

Hello there,

just so you know Limpid this is the same thing that happened to me which I flagged in a private message to you.

As you said it was a mobile data thing for me and seems to have cleared up now. Just lasted a couple of days. Was weird but there you go.

Thanks for confirming this. The perils of an ad funded site

The problems usually clear themselves but for less than the price of a cup of coffee, you can remove all the ads for a month  

[Enda]

I can get around it by blocking ads as well, which isn't necessarily the best approach for VT. Might be worth asking GoogleAds (or whoever is running them) to exclude these redirect companies. Midnightad.xyz is one of them, and other similarly named sites are coming up as well.

[Xela]

The same was happening to me on my iPhone 6S+, using Safari, Chrome and Opera Mini browsers and after clearing all my history/cookies/website data. On ios 9

Only way around it for me was to turn Javascript off in my advanced Safari settings, which seems to sort the issue

I don't post from my phone so not a massive issue personally, but i like to have a browse if i am on a train or bored in a meeting at work 

Edited October 22, 2016 by Xela

[limpid]

Weird that so far its only affecting a small number of iphone users. @Xela was it the same on wifi and mobile data?

Does anyone have time to do some testing?

[limpid]

In five hours no-one can help. I guess it's not that big a deal after all.

[Xela]

I'm back home now, so happy to do some testing 

Only happens on mobile data for me, using O2 4G (and 3G). No issues with wifi, which is strange. 

 

[limpid]

1 minute ago, Xela said:

I'm back home now, so happy to do some testing 

Only happens on mobile data for me, using O2 4G (and 3G). No issues with wifi, which is strange. 

That almost certainly means they are being injected by your mobile operator or by adware on your phone. How long has it been happening? In the past this has always cleared itself within a few days.

[limpid]

21 hours ago, Enda said:

Might be worth asking GoogleAds (or whoever is running them) to exclude these redirect companies. Midnightad.xyz is one of them, and other similarly named sites are coming up as well.

We use a variety of advertising networks so tracking these down is a pain. None of them even offer takeovers so this is someone supplying dodgy ads to those networks. They usually get found in a few days - quicker than their customer support deals with questions.

Any chance you can list the sites? I don't have any way to gather that data.

[Xela]

I'd say since Tuesday/Wednesday. 

Just tried it again, only happens on mobile data.

Can't seem to replicate it on any other site 

 

[Xela]

midnightad.xyz 

adsfoundation.xyz

These are the 2 I get redirected to

[limpid]

@Xela Could you try again now?

[Xela]

@limpid No problem

Got redirected to adnautic.xyz this time (first time I recall seeing that one)

Tried next time and it was midnight.xyz again

I then cleared my cookies/website history and data and tried again, and was redirected to adsfoundation.xyz

Always the same ad (the one that was posted earlier in this thread) 

 

[limpid]

@Xela can you try again please?

[Xela]

@limpid

Logged in, the problem has now gone 

Viewing while not logged in, it still redirects 

 

[limpid]

One last test please.

Can you try again when logged out?

[Xela]

Tried a few times, and still redirects when logged out. 

[limpid]

Thanks. It's the primary network. I can't remove that quickly (annoyingly), but at least I can escalate it to the right place.

I'll leave you ad free for a bit in return for helping