Dodgy adverts - please report here

For the last few months I've been experiencing an intermittent problem with 'expanding' ads on my mobile (Safari on iPhone6, in the UK). If there are sufficient posts between the ad and the reply box the effect is minimal as the ad stays behind the posts, which can still be read:



If, however, the ad is close to the reply box, its expansion covers the reply box and makes it very difficult to type a reply:



As I said, the ad expansion is intermittent - I'd say it happens around 50% of the time - and quite often causes no problem as the reply box is still accessible. It is very frustrating, though, when the reply box does get covered.

Edited by Tony Mandara, 18 August 2017 - 06:23.

I'm getting popups again, iOS on iPhone 6S+

Redirects to http://www.google.co...G1hbm1hbi5jb20=

Happened twice in the last 5 minutes. Forum only, not on the main site.

Edited by Frood, 29 August 2017 - 19:04.

Yep...

It's BACK.

Got it on my I-pod

Same redirect as Frood

Jp

It's unfortunate, but that's just the nature of internet advertising these days; you sell the space to an external advert provider and this stuff just slips the net.

Our ad network are looking into this - we're hoping that this was a rogue bit of spam which slipped through their normal controls and that it's gone now. We intentionally chose to work with an ad network who are focussed on the quality of the adverts appearing on the so it's very frustrating that this keep happening.

Please could you let me know if you're seeing this again?

If anyone reports that they're seeing this (or any other dodgy ads) can I remind you to include the following info so that I can track down the problem:

- The country you're seeing this from

- Your device (computer/phone/operating system)

- Where possible, a screenshot of the dodgy ad on Autosport (I know that this is almost impossible with these ads which hijack your browser and send you to another page, but for other ads)

- The URL you are being sent to

it's gone as of this morning.

UK- Iphone6- IOS 10

Jp

For the first time a video ad with sound played automatically while I was watching the Halo thread. The ad was about Acura cars.

Here is the link of the ad: http://www.acuranorc...nt&utm_content=

Yep...
It's BACK.
Got it on my I-pod

Same redirect as Frood


Jp

I'm getting ads now that play videos that take the focus of the page repeatedly to the top of the page no matter how much I try to scroll down. Makes trying to read through a thread or reply nearly impossible.

Maddening. I think this also happened once a year or so ago. I haven't noticed what's being advertised. When I do I'll report back here.

OK, just clicked on one that took me here: http://austin.dignit...campaign=austin

OK, just clicked on one that took me here: http://austin.dignit...campaign=austin

Does your username come from the fact that you're based in Austin? I'm presuming that's a very locally targeted advert.

Can you also let me know what device (computer, phone, etc) and operating system you're on?

Yep. I'm in Austin. Right now I'm on Chrome at a work PC running Windows 7 Enterprise. Ad Blocker extension not allowed by admin. Doesn't seem to be an issue on my laptop that's running all the newest software and has an ad-block extension in Chrome. 

It took forever to get through this response because the ad kept hijacking focus to the top of the page.

In fact, now that I think about it, this problem was the very reason I installed the ad-block extension on Chrome on my laptop a week or so ago...

Oof. My apologies! Disregard the bit about the ad-blocker on Chrome on my laptop. I forgot that I updated Chrome and never reinstalled the ad-blocker. So Everything here is working fine on my laptop even without the ad-blocker.

I just got hit with a "claimed" Zeus virus which locked the keys and said I have to call microsoft..

it looked bogus and control alt delete closed it... 

and people still wonder why adblockers are so popular!

Oof. My apologies! Disregard the bit about the ad-blocker on Chrome on my laptop. I forgot that I updated Chrome and never reinstalled the ad-blocker. So Everything here is working fine on my laptop even without the ad-blocker.

So, after this last post last night, I never had the ad scrolling problem again on either my work PC or my laptop. Still no problem this afternoon.

However, today I took  my son to the dentist, and while I waited, I thought I'd peruse the forum a bit on Chrome on my Samsung S7. After about 30 seconds, the same problem popped up on that platform. Made it impossible to get through more than about a sentence at a time, so I quickly gave up.

So, after this last post last night, I never had the ad scrolling problem again on either my work PC or my laptop. Still no problem this afternoon.

 

However, today I took  my son to the dentist, and while I waited, I thought I'd peruse the forum a bit on Chrome on my Samsung S7. After about 30 seconds, the same problem popped up on that platform. Made it impossible to get through more than about a sentence at a time, so I quickly gave up.

I have this issue (auto-scrolling back to the top of the page) using Safari on MacOS. Last ad to do it was for Chase. Doesn't happen to me on every page, but when it happens it renders the page unusable.

So... No answer to the 'Google Rewards' nonsense?

Every time I visit the board now.

God only knows how many IPhones I'm owed now!! <raises eyebrow>

Can you let me know what device you're seeing this on? If you keep seeing it, could you take a screenshot and sent that to simon.grayson@autosport.com please?

The quality of ads coming through has definitely got worse in the past few days. Our ad network is looking into the problem...

every time the ad at the top of page refreshes it automatically returns to top of page..

I see I'm not alone with this issue..

un-usable is correct...

Can you let me know what device you're seeing this on? If you keep seeing it, could you take a screenshot and sent that to simon.grayson@autosport.com please?

The quality of ads coming through has definitely got worse in the past few days. Our ad network is looking into the problem...

Edited by Tony Mandara, 15 September 2017 - 07:51.

Thanks - it's useful to know that it's the same as the one which JP reported last month. I had been assured that this had gone away.

I want to apologise for the fact that the ads have been so much worse than usual for the past couple of months. I'm speaking to some of our ad partners face to face next week to see what we can do. We obviously want to stop short of switching all of these ad networks off entirely (as we still need to pay the bills) but ads which break the site or forcibly redirect you away from it are unacceptable.

So Windows 10 updated itself and decided to uninstall adblocker, which was nice. So I have ads on this site again. Just now there was a silent ad, but with video going. I clicked the X to close the Ad, and then the ad decided that it didn't want to be shut up, so sound started playing and it stopped me being able to scroll up or down from that point. I don't actually know what the Ads were for, as they were very cryptic. The original vision was footage of Tower Bridge, and the audio was some strange patriotic words, stirring music, but with a very odd choice of words. It was talking about bombs being made in Britain, in Racing Green and being dropped on strangers. It doesn't sound like the sort of Ad that you would accept on your site anyhow. 

But I thought that I would tell you. And can somebody please punch Bill Gates in the face for me please, if they happen to see him strolling around this morning. 

Edit, UK, desktop, IE for some stupid reason. 

Edit again. It's a Save The Children advert. Now it just plays sound and vision without me doing anything. I can deal with non intrusive video adverts, but as soon as they start playing sound without my permission, Adblocker comes into play. Sorry. 

Edit again. It seems that all of the video adverts are disrupting my time here. A go compare advert is constantly pulling the screen to the place where it is on the page, and is just repeating over and over, albeit without sound. But stopping me from posting. 

Edited by Tsarwash, 15 September 2017 - 12:06.

A "Go Compare" video advert is not only auto playing on an endless loop but whenever it starts it forces my Chrome on Mac OS to scroll all the way up to where the advert is. Pretty annoying.

Not sure if this is related, but if any of you who are seeing these dodgy ads have been using CCleaner 5.33, it turns out to have been compromised ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk...nology-41306387

The article is a bit confused as there are some contradictory statements in it though. On the one hand they're saying 'Piriform's owner, Avast, said it had managed to remove the compromised version before any harm had been done' and on the other 'relatively few people automatically updated the CCleaner software. Anyone who had downloaded the compromised version of CCleaner was now being moved to the latest uninfected version.'

Diesel banner ad is causing Safari on Mac to continuously scroll to top of page.

Yup.

"Full House" of auto play video, auto play audio ("Non, je ne regrette rien" by the wonderful Edith Piaf) and repeated auto scrolling up to where the advert is located.

Diesel banner ad is causing Safari on Mac to continuously scroll to top of page.

Yup.

 

 

"Full House" of auto play video, auto play audio ("Non, je ne regrette rien" by the wonderful Edith Piaf) and repeated auto scrolling up to where the advert is located.

The same on my laptop running Google Chrome (I think) via Windows 7

Diesel ad is absolutely unbearable for me on Chrome.  Has abominable auto-sound that I cant turn off and insists on messing up my scrolling every few seconds.  

Get this stuff under control, FFS.  Ads have been ridiculously terrible here for a long time now. 

Edited by Seanspeed, 01 October 2017 - 22:06.

Suddenly today I am getting adverts appearing at the top of the page mainly advertising spectacles in the USA. 

This looks like a dodgy advert to me.

It is also very annoying as it keeps dragging me back to the top of the page every couple of minutes (possibly when the advert changes or recycles).

If it isn't a dodgy advert then how do I stop it appearing?

If I can't stop it I will stop visiting the site it is extremely annoying and an intrusion into my personal space.

Could anyone who sees this spectacles ad today send me a screenshot and also the URL they get to when clicking on it, please?

Our ad network are looking into the Diesel ad, but it sounds like the two are related as they've got the behaviour of dragging your window back to the top of the page in common. It goes without saying that this behaviour is banned, so we want to try to identify and ban these advertisers...

Could anyone who sees this spectacles ad today send me a screenshot and also the URL they get to when clicking on it, please?

 

Our ad network are looking into the Diesel ad, but it sounds like the two are related as they've got the behaviour of dragging your window back to the top of the page in common. It goes without saying that this behaviour is banned, so we want to try to identify and ban these advertisers...

How do I send a screenshot when I cannot add an image to the message? There is no EMAIL address on your profile that I can see.

There is no EMAIL address on your profile that I can see.

It's in the opening post but for quicker reference it's:

simon.grayson@autosport.com

The Diesel [?] advert at the top of the page that continually drags the view up to it is making forums virtually unusable.

The Diesel ad should have been blocked - but you may still see it until you clear your cache if you've seen it before. If anyone clears their cache and then sees the offending ad (or anything at all which takes the focus of the window to an ad), please could you let me know?

I feel like I should point out that the ad didn't come from Diesel themselves - don't think that they're a disreputable company because some rogue malware has stolen their copy!

Twice today instantly after trying to read a post in the paddock - loud pop music, looked at the banner header to report here but was blacked out. Both times I closed autosport down and then reopened. Not happened in website feedback, and I'm now off to view racing comments.

eta same annoying pop music ad came on after I'd read about the Jap race build up thread in RC.

Edited by condor, 06 October 2017 - 09:20.

How do I send a screenshot when I cannot add an image to the message?

It works if you use the full editor, but you have to use the "post Image" button. Quite why it's not possible to just paste it like elsewhere within the forum is beyond me.

The Diesel ad should have been blocked - but you may still see it until you clear your cache if you've seen it before. If anyone clears their cache and then sees the offending ad (or anything at all which takes the focus of the window to an ad), please could you let me know?

 

I feel like I should point out that the ad didn't come from Diesel themselves - don't think that they're a disreputable company because some rogue malware has stolen their copy!

Grayson, this is ironic ... with all due respect, maybe consider taking a different approach?

The Diesel ad should have been blocked - but you may still see it until you clear your cache if you've seen it before. If anyone clears their cache and then sees the offending ad (or anything at all which takes the focus of the window to an ad), please could you let me know?

Just saw it in a PC thread. Cleared my saved images cache earlier today. 

Impossible to read threads on my mobile (Galaxy S7, Chrome browser, in the uk). Once I'm in a thread and read for a bit the page keeps jumping down to one of the embedded ads.

The ad I'm seeing most - when there's actually an ad displayed - is the one with green calculator on the left and a large blank sheet of paper in the middle. Guess it's meant to be a video but it's not playing. 

Browser auto scrolling is now happening twice on this very page. Diesel ad at the top, Diesel ad at the side. My browser is literally jumping between two locations whilst I try to wrestle control of it.