New ad troubles ...

[RDC1]

Forum URL: www.tycodepot.com/post/63035/thread

This is new, but I suspect as the previous three of four times, it has something to do with the ads feed. This is not the first member that I've lost due to redirects and malicious ads. 

Aug 26, 2018 10:04:43 GMT -8 @methuen said:

Every time I try to access this site on my iPhone, I get pop up spam that will not let me get rid of it, even after shutting off the phone and restarting it. I'm typing this on a laptop, but 99% of the time, I use my phone. I'm done.

Jim

[Craig]

Hi

Could you ask if they have tried clearing the cookies and cache in the browser on the phone, as this kind of problem can sometime come from there. If that does not help, are they able to close the ad, and then use the 'Report Ad' link at the bottom of the forum. This will send a report of all the ads on the page to be reviewed and removed if found to have a problem.

[RDC1]

Hi Craig, thanks for attempting to help. I and my members are tired of performing these exercises repeatedly. Proboards is the only place that causes us these troubles. I'm so tired of it that I'm considering other providers for my message board, but that would be a HUGE hassle. There must be a way for Proboards to run ads without causing users to give up on my site. I just want Proboards to know that there are continuing issues with the ads. It's not our phones and it's not our computers. It's something with Proboards.

[Derek‽]

Have you considered an ad-free subscription?

I normally wouldn’t suggest it, lest a person feel as if they’re being subjected to a shakedown (“That’s a mighty fine forum you’ve got there, it’d be a shame if intolerable ads plagued it”), and no one should reach a state of complacency when it comes to an unacceptable user experience, but you mentioned in the thread you’ve linked to that you’re willing to pay for another hosting option if necessary.

If you like PB as a host and you’re willing to pay to move elsewhere to avoid insufferable ads, then it seems to me that you might as well stay where you are now and just get rid of the ads completely for a cost that’s not too terribly different from what you’d otherwise spend elsewhere.

ProBoards takes steps to eliminate bad-faith ads when they can, but they rely on third-party ad networks to supply most of the ads on forums. The nature of this model means they will always be reactive in weeding out the troublemakers and never truly proactive. It simply would not be sustainable for a service like this to handle ad sales entirely alone and filter out all offending ads before they get served to users. PB will no doubt continue to work with providers to improve the user experience regarding ads, but the situation is a game of whack-a-mole.

[saltin]

RDC1 I am afraid the malicious ads problem will not go away, it's intermittent but a permanent feature of free PB . The price we have to pay for having a free forum are ads, including ads that highjack and rerout your members. PB of course works hard at weeding out the bad apples but it's not going to stop it: it cant.

Note that your link shows members complaining about this and threatening to leave your forum but in general these are the "lucky" instances  because for each member that complains there are many more that never bother to post or complain about the problem: The first time they get highjacked by as malicious ad in the forum they simply quit coming back without saying a word. The problem is now made even worse by the unrelated fact that some browsers are now prominently displaying a warning on the http connection. 

I tell you, over the 2 years or so that I have been a member of PB I estimate the malicious ad problem has lost me about 10~20 percent of my total membership, I can't say I blame my ex-members for leaving,  I too used to permanently quit any site that highjack my browser.

[Scott]

RDC1, as an act of good faith I've given your forum 50,000 ad-free pageviews to use through the end of this month.


It is important to understand that we are just as frustrated about the bad ads as you are and do spend a lot of time and resources in our efforts to rid our forums of these types of ads.

[burlybear]

Are other forum admins allowed to contribute their own experiences to this thread?

[Brian]

We've blocked two different ads this morning based on automatic reports from iOS devices. One was hitting users in France and Italy exclusively while the other was US-based.

There should hopefully be less instances of this happening once the blocks go into full effect throughout today.

[Michael]

Aug 27, 2018 11:35:12 GMT -8 burlybear said:

Are other forum admins allowed to contribute their own experiences to this thread?

If you have something to contribute that follows the rules of this board, go for it. 

A lot of responses to these types of threads are just "I got a bad ad once too!" which contributes nothing to the conversation by itself.

[burlybear]

Yeah but no. This is happening in the uk too.

[burlybear]

Aug 27, 2018 11:43:29 GMT -8 Michael said:

Aug 27, 2018 11:35:12 GMT -8 burlybear said:

Are other forum admins allowed to contribute their own experiences to this thread?

If you have something to contribute that follows the rules of this board, go for it. 

A lot of responses to these types of threads are just "I got a bad ad once too!" which contributes nothing to the conversation by itself.

Thanks. We are experiencing this in the uk too and I find the “clear your cache” advice to be inadequate and extremely poor. 

[Michael]

Aug 27, 2018 11:47:10 GMT -8 burlybear said:

Aug 27, 2018 11:43:29 GMT -8 Michael said:

If you have something to contribute that follows the rules of this board, go for it. 

A lot of responses to these types of threads are just "I got a bad ad once too!" which contributes nothing to the conversation by itself.

Thanks. We are experiencing this in the uk too and I find the “clear your cache” advice to be inadequate and extremely poor. 

While you might think it won't have any affect up front, it may delay the next time you get targeted by a bad ad until the time our blocks take effect.

[RDC1]

Aug 27, 2018 6:23:11 GMT -8 Scott said:

RDC1, as an act of good faith I've given your forum 50,000 ad-free pageviews to use through the end of this month.


It is important to understand that we are just as frustrated about the bad ads as you are and do spend a lot of time and resources in our efforts to rid our forums of these types of ads.

Wow, thank you very much! I'm not very good at typing on my phone, so I will more properly respond when I get home from work.

[RDC1]

Again, I wanted to thank you all so much for your responses and thanks again Scott for the unexpected gift! I've been talking to the members and the large majority of them wish to stay, and so we will. We'll find ways to deal with the ads and I'll also be looking into the premium options.

[RDC1]

Here's a particularly nasty ad:

www.tycodepot.com/post/64492