Hi

Lately I have been hesitant to get onto SO Message Boards, although I love them.

I have no PC. Only iPhone 8. So….sometimes I will be here and do maybe some sort of swipe, and SO sends me to some oddball “.xyz”-suffix-like sites….either a possible virus, a possible porno site, or a site that might have me accidentally purchasing something I don’t want.

Doggone if I can, or will, give actual examples. I X-out the sites ASAP as they could be a danger.

Does anyone else have this problem here at SO?

cd

Someone had contacted me last week describing a similar issue. Maybe it's a problem specific to iPhones. I don't own one to test it out. I've not seen it happen on my PC.

"I think Sitcoms Online has been hacked. Sometimes when I visit this site, I get redirected to ads and spammy sites. I know it’s not my iPhone 15, because I’m not seeing this issue on any other sites. Please fix."

I know we haven't been hacked. The only ad code we are running is for Google AdSense. Maybe it's a third party ad that is redirecting to other sites. If you can copy any links, I can try to block them.

We run the vignette ads that appear between page loads. When you do some sort of swipe to dismiss it or X it out, maybe you are accidentally clicking on the ad.

"Vignette ads are full-screen ads that appear between page loads and can be skipped by users at any time. Vignettes are displayed when the user leaves a page or comes back to it, rather than when they arrive on one, so the user doesn't have to wait for them to load."

https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/9305577?hl=en

I had the issue again today.

Was able to grab a snapshot of one of the URL’s. So as to not make it a hyperlink, I will disguise it:

wow travel dot eye oh

A bunch of URL’s seem to show up in quick succession, so I could only see that one above.

cd

I will try to block the url.

Have you run any malware removal programs such as Malwarebytes? Maybe you have picked up some malware on your iPhone. It could be one reason why you are being redirected if you aren't actually clicking on the ad.

You could always install an ad blocker if the issue persists. I would want you to feel safe while browing the boards.

Thank you. I do have an ad blocker, but I guess stuff slips thru. (Adblock Plus)

cd

If you paid for Adblock Plus, maybe you can get a refund. That shouldn't be happening.

Let me know about any other nefarious urls. I have 494 blocks remaining.

It is free. Do U recommend another app? I do get a lotta sites telling me to undo the adblocker; nothing doing!

cd

I guess you get what you pay for sometimes. I don't use any myself.

The issue with ad blockers is that the code is still downloaded and viewed. The ads just don't display.

If a news site asked me to unblock them and I had no other options, I would probably whitelist them. I can live with a few ads for free content. Ads are better than paywalls.

Smaller sites like SO depend on advertising revenue to pay for their operating expenses. I would never block anyone using an ad blocker.

OK here is another one. I think I tapped something on the right side that sent me to it.

vbulletion validation dot com

^ that one really could have been troublesome. BTW it is spelled correctly.

EDIT: I need to start making video when I come here (iPhones have that good feature), so that I can snapshot while it’s going on my roll.

cd

You didn't spell it correctly. The forum software is called vBulletin.

vbulletinvalidation.com isn't an actual ad. It verifies that I'm using this paid licensed forum software and not a pirated copy. There's no way for me to remove it. It's built into the code. It would be nice if it didn't callback so often because it's possible it slows it down waiting for it to respond. I'm not sure if it checks it on every single page load or just the first time.

It might be helpful to see a video or screenshots of it. I would like to see this possible porno site you are claiming to see. That's one url I would like to block. I had to block some offensive giant butt ads (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=398562) a few years ago.

It sounds like you want a 100% ad-free experience on here. I'm sorry that I'm unable to provide that to you. I had to ask for donations just to keep the site afloat because the advertising was at historic lows last year. Thankfully some generous folks were able to help me out to keep it online.

It would appear that you either possibly have some malware on your iPhone or Adblock Plus is allowing a few ads to slip by. I'm in no way blocking your ability to use Adblock Plus or any other ad blocking software.

I've tested it on my PC. I see no ads. It even blocks the mini Paramount+ banner that I'm using to promote their Black Friday offer as an affiliate. It doesn't block the text link, however.

I can't recommend any other ad blocking apps because I don't use any. I don't want to take away publishers ability to pay their bills. I know they work hard to provide good free content.

I received the attachment you e-mailed me. It appears you are correct about the vbulletionvalidation.com link. I'm surprised they use that spelling. I guess I never noticed it. It's nothing to worry about. It loads in the background. It shouldn't take more than a second or two for it to respond.

I can see it blocks the mini Paramount+ banner above the text link. At least that works properly as intended.

I wish you well with your search for a more effective ad blocker. Hopefully I got paid for any ads you were showed.

It looks like you are using our default PC theme. You might want to use one of our responsive/mobile themes for a better browsing experience. This Site Feedback forum is using it. Some of the responsive themes might have less or even no ads on them. The ad code might not be on some of them.

You didn't spell it correctly. The forum software is called vBulletin.

vbulletinvalidation.com isn't an actual ad. It verifies that I'm using this paid licensed forum software and not a pirated copy. There's no way for me to remove it.Are ya sure buddy??

Have ya gone thru and tried to take it out and see what happens??

They do offer a branding free option for an extra $169. It still might check for the license status.

Can I remove the 'Powered by vBulletin' copyright text?

A 'branding free' license is available at a cost of USD$169.00 per license, in addition to the cost of the license itself. Once you have purchased this option, you will have the right to remove all references to vBulletin from the vBulletin design templates. Note this is for one license only and is in addition to the cost of the license. Otherwise, all copyright messages (both in the software code and templates) must be retained and visible. Also, please note that you must retain all copyright notices within the actual product programming code (these notices do not affect any visible vBulletin pages). Note also this does not allow you to rebrand the software with another name. It only allows you to remove the vBulletin copyright information.

The vBulletin branding-free license concerns the removal of visual branding. The branding-free package available from the members' area does not remove comments or variable names within the program code that mention vBulletin.

You may change the logo without purchasing this option.

I *think* what’s being described here is happening to me too. iPhone and iPad, not PC. It tends to drop me off at Etsy.

Maybe you can take a video or screenshot of when it happens. I guess there's no way to predict when it will happen. I haven't seen anything like what has been described on my PC.

It sounds like an ad that is auto redirecting and taking over a page if you aren't clicking on anything. It would be very easy to click an ad by mistake if you try to dismiss it with a swipe.

They must be pretty advanced if they are bypassing ad blockers. I'm not really complaining about it if I'm being paid for them. :shrug:

I don’t think it’s anything I can really screenshot. Basically I’ll be here and for whatever reason the tabs will suddenly start scrolling forward super quickly, takes like a second or two, and like I said, usually ends at Etsy.

Maybe I’ll find some homemade Valerie Bertinelli tea cozies, or some such and such.

I updated to iOS 17.1.1 about an hour ago and thought maybe that would have some type of positive effect. But no. It just happened again.

Your pretty Opus :) (I see your picture there)

Same experience here. In case it helps diagnostically, these are the behaviors I've noticed...this has been happening for maybe 4-6 weeks. Over the weekend, it was redirected/landed on etsy.com, but today it landed on sdhondadealers.com (San Diego Honda dealers) so it knows where I am apparently. I've noticed that it typically doesn't seem to happen twice in a row, such as, the second time I access SO after one of these redirects, it does not redirect. Also, it does not happen on the PC, just the iphone.

Also, it doesn't happen in any other circumstance other than SO. I'm not using any ad blocker other than whatever might be the iphone default.

One of the options Google AdSense recently changed was the frequency of the vignette ads. It's set at the default 10 minutes now. It can be changed to 1 minute, 2 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes or 1 hour. If you are seeing them more than once every 10 minutes, then the issue isn't with the code. Something else might be causing them to auto redirect.

Vignette ad frequency
Time before a new vignette ad is shown when users navigate to a page.

I don't see a setting to turn off the vignette ads just for mobile. They can only be turned off for desktop.

Turn off vignette ads on screens wider than 1000px, like desktop.

------------------------------------------------

As of 17/10/2023, we're changing the way the vignette ads format in Auto ads works to give you more control over how often vignettes are shown to your users. Learn how to choose the frequency of your vignette ads.

To use the new interface, sign in to your AdSense account, and visit the "Ad settings" panel.

What's changing?

� Vignettes are now displayed when the user leaves a page or comes back to it.

� After enabling vignette ads under Auto ads, you can adjust the frequency at which they’re displayed to your users.

� The default frequency is set to 10 minutes. You can choose your own frequency from 1 minute to 1 hour depending on how many vignettes you want to show your users.

Optimize for your Goals:

� For maximum earnings, choose the lowest frequency (1 minute).

� If you prefer fewer ads for your users, opt for a higher frequency (e.g. 10 minutes or more).

I've turned off the vignette ads as a test for the next 24 hours. It will take up to an hour for the change to happen.

This way we'll know if it's because of the vignettes or if one of the other ad formats is causing it.

It seems like these forced redirect ads are becoming more of a problem.

https://headerbidding.co/forced-ad-re-directs/

https://www.webmasterworld.com/google_adsense/4892554.htm

https://www.reddit.com/r/adops/comments/9d76nm/adsense_youve_won_redirects/

https://support.google.com/adsense/thread/9866650/adsense-constantly-redirecting-mobile-users-to-spam-websites?hl=en

Ya I would think a redirect would first go one place then try to take them somewhere else which would mess things up........

I think I can disable FRAMES .. Those are called FRAMES as it shows a different page in a window........

I have them enabled because DSLREPORTS uses frames regurally to display the threads so disabling it would not work well I dont think.....

Isnt DSLREPORTS beautiful? (Heres my list of threads I posted in)

cd sent me a video he uploaded to YouTube. It looks like it loads a bunch of urls in the background. The final url will be the one it automatically redirects to. This time it was safarisolver dot com. I've blocked this one also. It would be difficult to block so many urls.

It seems to only happen with iPhones and maybe mobile. He said it doesn't happen all the time. I don't know if happens in only certain browsers. He recently switched to Safari from Chrome. It has only started to happen to him in the last two weeks, so it could be an issue with Safari. I've never seen it happen on my PC.

These must be some rogue advertisers who are using some javascript code to force redirects to sites. They are essentially cheating the system and getting free redirected traffic without anyone actually clicking on the ads. This is something that Google needs to fix and prevent from happening.

I know Adblock Plus does allow some "acceptable" (https://adblockplus.org/acceptable-ads) non-intrusive ads to run. Some companies will pay their developers a fee to have their domain(s) whitelisted. These auto redirects would clearly not be marked as acceptable and allowed, so I don't know how they are bypassing the block.

Four of our mobile/responsive styles/themes don't contain any ad code.

Mobile/Responsive - Blue
Mobile/Responsive - Green
Mobile/Responsive - Red
Mobile/Responsive - Lightweight

I'm going to try to make some additional ad-free mobile/responsive styles/themes for the boards later tonight or tomorrow.

I tried pausing it to copy the urls. It goes by very quickly. I might have missed some. I would need to see it at a slowed down speed.

vbulletionvalidation.com - already mentioned
freevps dot io - this looks like some type of VPS (virtual private server) web hosting service - I will block it
ramac-dnn dot com - https://webparanoid.com/en/check-website/ramac-dnn.com - this one seems like a new site created within the last 10 days - it's probably some type of spam or scam site - I will block it
safarisolver dot com

Is everyone who is having the issue using Safari?

Its strange buddy..... It seems like people on those phones get more spam ads than desktop users...... I was at the library viewing a youtube video..... I had no ads in that video but in the car earlier on my friends phone thing,there were spam ads! (In the same vid)


I wonder if it goes by UA (If so then changing your UA might prove good in stopping them)

Youtube is inundated with ads--the library may pay for a really good ad blocker.

I pay $13.99 a month for YouTube Premium. They have an overwhelming amount of ads in their videos. They probably show more ads to people who are more likely to click on them on mobile. I watch it on my Roku.

If you need an update on the situation, still happening.

If you can post any screenshots or links, I can try adding them to the blocklist. I don't know what options are available. It doesn't seem to happen in any other browser besides Safari.

I still have the issue, but I just wait until it settles, then minimize and X-out. As long as my iPhone doesn’t crash 💥.

cd

I use Google Chrome on my iPhone and it's happened to me and happens to me.

I've been getting redirected on my phone (using Chrome) to "freevps.io" or something like that for several weeks now, including today. It's always immediately after first accessing the site.

I've been getting redirected on my phone (using Chrome) to "freevps.io" or something like that for several weeks now, including today. It's always immediately after first accessing the site.
The same is happening with me.

I just tried to goto that page (freevps.io) and all I got was a download box and nothing DLing....

Strange.......

I searched the code and found a link for http://www.vbulletionvalidation.com/ads.php in the footer.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this one line of javascript code was, but I removed it. I don't know if it was causing the redirects.

Please let me know if the redirects keep happening after I made this change.

I dont see what the point of spam ads are on diff sites,no one clicks on them anyway so why bother??

Im at the library now using Chrome and the site is slow as hell!!

I see spam from Chrome being injected into the page about "Get web privacy pro"

Many people who aren't using ad blockers do click on ads. We had 122 clicks yesterday.

Google is changing to an all CPM system (CPM stands for "cost per 1000 impressions") soon. They will no longer be paying by the click.

Wow thats amazing buddy!!!

On another VBB site I was on years ago the admin had mostly PAY PER CLICK ADS and he wanted us to setup throw away email accts and click on many and complete offers......

I know people did it for that reason.....

Todd:

Whatever you did, that seemed to do the trick! I have not had the issue for a few days now.

Happy New Year!

cd

Todd:

Whatever you did, that seemed to do the trick! I have not had the issue for a few days now.

Happy New Year!

cd

Same here.

Anyone using Chrome have it inject spam on the page?? (When I was at the library I saw some when using Chrome)