Why is it that IE9 blocks all pop-ups except those at Snopes.com?
In fact I’ve never used any version of IE or Firefox that blocks these. What’s different about snopes?
That’s because…
THE SNOPES POP-UPS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE YOUR HOUSE!!!
In most cases popups that bypass browser controls are caused by Flash vs. regular old HTML. (But there is a “new” type based on clicking in a form box. Aggh.)
However, I just checked and got no popups in Opera nor in Firefox. Neither has a Flash blocker on my setup. I don’t recall getting any popups on Snopes via Opera in years.
So I don’t think it’s Flash, but that you don’t have something set right in IE. Is there a site-preference setting for popups in IE that you’ve messed up for Snopes?
I only get a pop up on snopes when I click What’s new. All others are indeed blocked.
Just tested this in Opera and Firefox. Nada in either case.
Internet Explorer? Ew.
I agree! I ALWAYS have to see popups from snopes, no matter what. I have adblockers but they still get through. 
I use firefox with adblock and noscript. I never see popups on snopes. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw a popup anywhere.
I just see the pop-unders and usually only once per visit.
I agree too. I use Firefox and have adblocker installed but somehow both snopes and mlive (regional news) manage to vomit the occasional pop-up.
Thank you. I’ve used every version of IE and Firefox since '97 and though 99% of pop-up or pop-unders are eliminated, I still get them at snopes.
Then you need NoScript. It’s the only Firefox add-on I can’t browse without.
slow clap building to thunderous standing ovation
I have noscript installed as well. It helped but I still get the occasional popup or popunder.
Assuming you have also enabled blocking Flash with NoScript, that should not be possible.
And, anyways, Snopes is a jerk for insisting on using popups in this day and age. The excuse before was that they provided the best rates, but this is no longer true, as far as I know, because most people don’t see them.
Snopes has always been obnoxious with advertising. To me it has always dragged down their credibility as a reference site. Back in the early days of annoying pop-ups it was mostly porn sites, malware sites, and Snopes that were doing it. That’s not a good category to be lumped into.
It was one thing when they were a fledgeling site and were struggling to make enough money to keep the site going. Now though, given their popularity, there’s no reason for them to continue that sort of thing. It’s a shame that such a widely used reference site is run by a coupe of jerks, even more so when all of the other major reference sites (IMDB, TV tropes, wikipedia, etc) don’t do that sort of thing. It makes Snopes really stand out, and not in a good way. I realize it’s just two people hacking together a web site, but still, they could easily do better.
I used to think that too, but I was impressed by IE10. Not enough to switch but it’s gotten a lot and I mean a LOT better.
Agreed. And they’re still sporting an ugly design.
I just had a look around on Snopes, and did not see a single popup.
I use Firefox with Flashblock. I do not, however, use either Adblock or Noscript.
I get massive popups on Snopes when I’m browsing on my smartphone. Occasionally, they are vicious enough that I literally cannot search the website due to a popup popping every time I try to type a letter in the search box. It’s really obnoxious.