Anrdoezrs.net

[mcarp555]

I have an external link to a Yahoo Group site on my board. Today I noticed that when I click on the link, instead of being taken to the Yahoo site, I'm redirected to anrdoezrs.net (which I have blocked in my HOSTS file). If I click on the same link from my bookmarks, I go directly to the Yahoo site. My understanding is that this is some sort of 'intercept' site where I am checked out, then somehow given a healthy dose of unwanted ads, etc. before being sent on my to final destination.

Note that this is not malware, but I would like to know if this is something being done with the knowledge and cooperation of Proboards.

[Craig]

Hi,

Could you link to the page where you have that link please

[mcarp555]

ps5ug.proboards.com/index.cgi? - scroll down to the box at the bottom of the page where it says "This site and its sister Yahoo! site...". That's the link. Note that if you don't have anrdoezrs already blocked, you'll probably pass through it without even detecting it.

[mcarp555]

Any news on this?

[Kami]

just to add, that i didn't notice it at first but when i paid close attention to the 'loading' bar, the site showed for a split second. i'm not sure so much that you're going "through" the site, but that the yahoo page is loading something from the site, such as an advert.

[Craig]

Hi,

Apologies, i am still waiting for a response myself. Hopefully i'll get one when everyone gets into the office on Monday

Craig

[mcarp555]

So any word now? It is possible that it's on Yahoo, but as I mentioned in the original post, when I click on the same link from my bookmarks, I'm not running into the blocked site. So it makes me think that this may be something in ProBoards that is affecting outbound links. I'm just trying to narrow down the possibilities. If Patrick says it's not PB, then I can investigate Yahoo, and why one link is affected, but not the other.

[Craig]

Seems they missed my topic. I've moved it to the top. Apologies again for the wait.

Craig

[CheatAreZee]

Hi,

I got word that it is coming from us, sorry for the delay with the reply. You can remove the block from the hosts file

[mcarp555]

Well, I really don't want to do that. I don't mind having ads on my PB website, but I'm a little concerned about this sort of 'stealth' advertising or data collecting. I assume it's just started since I didn't have this problem two weeks ago. Can I ask how this fits in with the ProBoard TOS and what the purpose of this method is?

[mcarp555]

Hello? Can someone tell me the purpose of having outbound links pass through anrdoezrs.net? Was there a notice I missed explaining this?

[CheatAreZee]

Sorry, I didn't see the reply you made on the 30th. I'll get an explination on what the purpose is when I'm back in the office tomorrow

Edit: It's from a link re-writing script that we're currently running on our end.