Topic: Site Features & Issues

Hijack advertisements?

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Gregory
Gregory
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03.10.2018 | 5:48 PM ET

Hey everyone. Yesterday I was using the site on my phone and I started getting these terrible hijack advertisements where the screen would get taken over and it would say "Congratulations, you've won a $1,000 amazon gift card".  And then you pretty much couldn't stop it from bringing you to some scam website.

It happened to me again and again and again, so I temporarily disabled a lot of the advertising on the website. Today it seems okay and I haven't seen any of that garbage.

But if you get any of these on Tapology could you please let us know, either in this thread or via the contact tapology page?  I'd really appreciate it.  That kind of thing is not supposed to happen.

"I live, I die, I live again."

Responses

ImperatorFishrat
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03.10.2018 | 7:10 PM ET

Weird. I didn't get any browserjacking yesterday on the site. Are you positive that this wasn't something to do with the mobile platform you were on? Did you try logging in via PC while this was happening?
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Gregory
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03.10.2018 | 8:23 PM ET

@fishrat it's coming in via Google Adsense on mobile only. When Google loads ads on the website, they bring in a variety of other scripts and tags from other 3rd party advertisers. It's not clear how many people might be impacted by this.

"I live, I die, I live again."

Cheese32165
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03.11.2018 | 4:42 PM ET

Haven't had any issues. 

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Gregory
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03.11.2018 | 10:05 PM ET

Thanks@cheese

I am thinking these hijack ads are (a) triggered for U.S. IP addresses only, and (b) triggered for certain types of phones (e.g. safari on iphone).

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GreenHornet
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03.12.2018 | 2:39 PM ET

Sad to say that I haven't noticed because I use AdBlock for that specific reason.  I hate malware "ads" and they always get in the way as you use the internet.

"..."

queenboss
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03.13.2018 | 8:00 AM ET

It’s been happening to me yesterday and today as well! It’s like a spam ad that I have to close my internet and restart.  
I have an iPhone 6+ and I was using safari
Gregory
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03.13.2018 | 8:18 AM ET

Thanks for sharing  @queenboss I'm sorry about this. It's impacting other websites too apparently.

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AnAlias
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03.13.2018 | 2:41 PM ET

I started having some issues with this today. 
Gregory
Gregory
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03.13.2018 | 6:11 PM ET

Google finally got back to me and I've shared some data logs with them that they asked for to track this down.

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ImperatorFishrat
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03.13.2018 | 7:20 PM ET

A lot of this can be easily avoided bu using a decent mobile browser like opera or firefox. I cannot believe people actually user the native default browser on their devices....it's insane.

Here's how to avoid advertisements, browserjackers and 99% of all malware that you will encounter on the interweb:

Download either firefox or opera. Then, install the following addons:

untrackme
ublock origin
Https everywhere--this is crucial.
adblock plus.

Those four extensions will virtually eliminate every browsing issue you're ever likely to have. And it's free. And faster. And cleaner.

* Edited at 03.13.2018, 7:21 PM ET *

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GreenHornet
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03.13.2018 | 7:35 PM ET



The fact that browsers such as Firefox and browser plug ins like HTTPS Everywhere and AdBlock Plus still haven't become standard outside of computer savvy folks is beyond confusing to me.  That is like the bare minimum if you want to keep your PC safe while browsing.  Well that and running two antivirus/anti-malware programs (with the free edition Malwarebytes being one of the standard now).  The internet is still the wild west folks.  Better bring yourself some protection.

"..."

Gregory
Gregory
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03.14.2018 | 2:10 PM ET

Well, on the other hand if everyone installs these kinds of blockers, Tapology would potentially shut down... a lot of websites are funded from advertising.

We try to be careful here with how much advertising we run on the site, and you get 50% less advertising if you are signed into an account (as opposed to anonymously browsing).

"I live, I die, I live again."

GreenHornet
GreenHornet
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03.14.2018 | 8:04 PM ET

@Gregory

True. I always try to use this site with ad blocker off, but sometimes the kind of ads that can pop up on any site (not just this one) can be so irritating due to Goolag's AdSense and their loose rules on what adverts can be run (as opposed to their dumb rules on who actually gets ads) leads me to not want to take chances with a potential malware ad that wants to take my personal info.  Not only that, a lot of these intrusive ads can take up massive amounts of bandwidth on a modem.  Which if you live in a place like North America or Western Europe it's not a big headache, but in a place like Brazil or Colombia where dial up is still king in a lot of areas you're screwed.

Edit: I don't want to sound like a free loader by promoting AdBlock, because I totally understand that there is a business side to this that needs to be kept on the up and up for this site to still be around.  It's more of a dislike of Google and how it handles AdSense.

* Edited at 03.14.2018, 8:08 PM ET *

"..."

ImperatorFishrat
ImperatorFishrat
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03.14.2018 | 8:40 PM ET

A  paypal donate button wouldn't go astray. It's only reasonable to have one on a site like this which has lots of moving parts, and requires lots of upkeep. Most people wouldn't donate, but enough will to make it worthwhile. Bandwidth isn't free.
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Gregory
Gregory
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03.14.2018 | 9:33 PM ET

@hornet yep indeed I understand the challenges of it all

@fishrat actually i have considered putting something like that up on the site - you might see it soon!

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mikeyg
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03.14.2018 | 9:36 PM ET

Sorry if this is mean, but I'm glad I have adblock plus to block the 99% of ******** I will never buy or care about and I will never turn it off no matter how much I use a site, it is what it is.
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boredoms
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03.14.2018 | 11:04 PM ET

Tapology is adblock disable worthy.

"I am trained in gorilla warfare" - Stay Ready

Gregory
Gregory
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03.14.2018 | 11:07 PM ET

Well, the main point of the thread was to try and gauge how many other people might have been impacted by that hijack advertisements.  And I think it's been impacting primarily iPhone users in the U.S. 

"I live, I die, I live again."

ImperatorFishrat
ImperatorFishrat
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03.14.2018 | 11:19 PM ET

@ Greg I'm a member of a pretty decent sized gaming guild that hosts a bunch a of servers. The site has a system where everyone can see the costs of the overheads, there's a donate button, and a bar which shows how close or far away we are from meeting the financial targets which are the costs for running things at monthly intervals.

It does seem to work, and everybody gets to see where there money is going. If people can see what things cost they're more likely to donate. Most people know there's no such thing as a free lunch, and will be willing to help out in even a small way. 

* Edited at 03.14.2018, 11:27 PM ET *

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