More sleazy malware from the Dope

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1

Except for this specific tab which has been open for a few days, every time I go to the SDMB on my iPad I get a browser hijack about how I’ve won $1000 gift card. Other than click the accept button, which I’m totally unwilling to do, the only solution is to close the tab or sometimes the entire browser and start again. The problem seems to be worst when following a llnk from another site.

Is this really the sort of thing you want new users to associate your brand/product with? Ads so sleazy that warez and porn sites would reject them. Browser hijacks that make you close your entire browser? Really? This is the best ad provider that a man who’s been fighting ignorance since 1973 can come up with? It kind of undermines your message when script kiddies with crappy anime torrent sites can find more reputable providers of ads then Cecil can. If Cecil is letting his brand be diluted with this shit then he ain’t as bright as he claims.

Seriously: you guys should be able to do this better.

2

Actually, anything that hijacks your browser isn’t acceptable here. If you give us more info to go on, I can report the ad and have it removed.

3

This is basically like offering to remove the water from a flooded hallway for the 50th time, whilst ignoring the gaping hole in the ceiling. (I now no longer leave SDMB windows I’m not actively reading open as I know something will hijack it eventually)

4

I have to agree with** Mr Shine** here. Saying something is unacceptable while accepting it again and again seems a bit disingenuous. You know you’ve gotten browsers hijackers many times in the past, and when the next one shows up you’ll eventually pull the plug on it, but you do nothing to prevent the next one from arriving.

5

I’m not sure what other info I can give you. Every time I try to follow a link to the dope last night or follow A link from one thread to another within the SDMB, I got that browser hijack. There is zero chance that I’m going to risk my iPad for the SDMB, so I won’t click on the link.

And while I very much appreciate you trying to help with the specific issue, the problem is the malware ad server you have. Even if this problem is resolved you’re just going to get another one soon enough. I know this is beyond your pay grade ECG, But I’m honestly curious why the SDMB wants to dilute/poison its brand by associating with an ad server that would’ve been rejected for being too sleazy by Russian warez sites.

6

Do you honestly think the owners care in the least ?

7

The SDMB/“Cecil Adams” have some brand value. Most of it was frittered away by what seem like stupid “Get Rich Quick” schemes (like “pay to post” to name one) but there’s at least a little value left. Wouldn’t it make sense to preserve (and hey, maybe grow) the brand, rather than putting a final stake through it’s heart by poisoning it’s only remaining outlet with malware?

That said, no. I don’t think the owners care.

9

There’s the Adblock Browser from the play store, works fine for me.

10

I’m using Rocket Browser. It’s an all-or-nothing approach, there’s no whitelist. You can turn ad blocking either completely on or completely off for all websites. But it totally suppresses all ads for me on the Dope. It’s also available in the Play Store.

11

Here’s the solution: pick a site like Slate, have someone who knows a little bit of html grab some pages there and see who their ad suppliers are.

Drop everybody not on that list and contract with everybody new on that list.

Simple.

This is one of a metric boatload of ways to greatly improve things.

They haven’t done anything remotely close to this in years. So hoping for a change is pointless.

The malware they are distributing is killing this thing of ours.

Continuing like this is not a strategy.

12

I use regular old Ad Block and I never get this.

13

I use an old version of Tapatalk and get no ads on my Android. I use some ad blocker on chrome on my Mac that works fine, too.

I routinely allow ads on sites that ask me to do so to support them. But there’s zero chance i will do that for this site, due to their sleazy ads.

14

There’s also a Ghostery browser for Android. Works great. It’s basically my “SDMB mobile browser.”

15

The sad fact is that the only sensible way to visit this board now is either to subscribe or to use some sort of adblocker. It’s just too much of a risk to come here unless you’re protected by one or the other of those options.

I’m not sure how it got to this, whether all malware has become so sophisticated now that it’s impossible to filter it all or whether the SDMB just got sloppy and careless in its choice of ad providers. The post of ftg above strongly suggests that it’s the latter.

16

Well, it’s even simpler: dont go with a sleazy cut rate ad supplier. Just go back to Google.

17

Which version do you use? I tried an older version that was supposed to be good, and it didn’t work.

My new (to me) tablet has a higher resolution, so the text here is smaller in Firefox. So I might make a go at using Tapatalk again.

18

I’m using 4.9.5. I think Tapatalk makes it hard to use old version on new hardware by not allowing you to find/bookmark new sites with it, though. I had an older version that I couldn’t use on this phone, and I couldn’t find stuff in this version on a new phone. :frowning:

19

I think the SDMB still uses Google although I could be wrong.

20

I tried to look up reputable ad purveyors, but got lost in a sea of advertising executives decrying ad-blockers.

21

What you suggest doesn’t make any sense, Fenris. Why would Little Ed want to shit on his customers like that? Right now, he only shits on his content provides, which is the industry standard practice. But his customers? His customers love him.

How can they not? Look at the product he has to sell!

“These guys,” he says. “These guys–you’ve never seen product like them before. I’m telling you, I’ve got 'em conditioned. They’ll put up with anything! Banners, animation, sound, keyword hacks, link hijacks. Hell…outright browser hijacks! They keep coming back to it no matter what you put in their way. They’ll even click on it! Not on purpose, of course, but if you put a deceptively placed close button on there, they’ll click over and over until they can close the thing. And then they’ll go to another page and do it again!”

“Wait a minute,” say the customers, “is this product pure? The rest of the Internet’s gone pay-per-click, but we’re old school. We pay for impressions. We don’t want to waste a lot of money on impressions on sophisticated computer users. We have to know that these people will actually click the button that downloads the virus.”

“Take a look at these threads. See all those people complaining about malware? Those people are still active! They come back day after day, year after year! Some of them have been coming here since 1999.”

“Holy shit, you mean these are prime demographic, like Foxnews.com users? You’re right, those guys will click on anything?”

“Ha ha ha! That’s the best part, my friends! These guys hate Fox News! They never go to that site. These are fresh eyeballs! Half of them don’t even have Facebook! Look at these browser histories. Nothing but email, porn, and boards.straightdope.com. And porn won’t let you do half the shit I will anymore! You want these browsers, you gotta come through me. Through me, dammit! I said ‘through me!’”

“Sorry, Mr. Zotti, I got excited. Here, have some more money!”

Ok, maybe that’s not how things work around here. But if Ed’s half as smart as he pretends to be (even when he’s not pretending to be Cecil) it sure ought to be! It’s the only rational explanation.