[IMPORTANT] All XDA Mods, Read - Ad Hijack - About xda-developers.com

I couldn't get a chance to see which ad it was as they are dynamic, but an ad for AVScan hijacked my browsing when on XDA.
To me, this is a big deal and if it happened on my website, I'd be charging after someone - an on a decent website, I would personally be looking for compensation from the advertising provider or the advertising client who hijacked my site.
Sorry for posting here, I want this to be heard and not sure where to post!

I had the same problem. I was browsing XDA like normal yesterday and I got redirected to some page. I wish I saved the URL. Chrome gave me the malicious site warning thankfully.

Thank you for reporting this, Im notifying the proper people.

We're looking into this.

We take this very very seriously. Unfortunately, it's also very very difficult to pinpoint the cause of it. We pretty much only use two or three different ad networks (the largest, by far, of which is AdSense). I've yelled at several people about this, and I'm hoping it's taken care of. If it keeps happening, try to send me a screenshot of the ad that you think is causing the issue (or just PM me the domain it's linking to).
We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience. We do everythign we can to avoid these issues of course!

Related

Ban "Sent from my XXX using App" garbage

I can't be the only one who is getting bored of every second post (at least in the i9000 forum) containing:
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
Something should be done about it, because it's getting out of hand.
1) It makes quoting posts frustrating. It actually punishes us, because we need to manually remove the crap, which is ironically MUCH more difficult on mobile webbrowsers, than PC.
2) It makes posts more difficult to read. Most of them add a few blank lines and itself, making less fit on a screen without scrolling
3) It's totally unnecessary.
4) It is spam by the apps themselves.
5) Users who need an XDA app, can just type "XDA" into their app stores. So it can't even be argued that it is difficult to find such apps otherwise.
My Proposal:
1) Automatically filter the comment out of posts. They are lame, and unneccessary. Get rid of them automatically (simple string substitution).
2) Give a 3 month warning that users utilising clients which post such garbage, will be given 3 warnings, and will be temp banned if they use them. It is fair.
3) Start a shame list of poorly designed XDA clients.
I agree it isn't the end of the world, but its a lot of wasted productivity, and it's unnecessary. It's bad enough that I have noticed that some people here have massively long/intrusive signatures. Some of those people also have these annoying tags, so they have 3x more "crap", than they do actual post.
I agree with this, but it's up to the admins, will flag this to them.
TheDeadCpu said:
I agree with this, but it's up to the admins, will flag this to them.
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It's been flagged!
The thing with the signature is that it serves the same purpose as the default signature of your mobile phone in the email client (for example: "Sent from my Verizon Droid X"). It helps to inform people that your message was written while mobile, and so the text might contain errors, or might not be as well thought out as it would have been if you were in front of your computer. The signature is activated by default on our Android apps (and, actually our Windows Phone 7 app).
That said, if there is huge support for turning off the default signature in the application, we'll do it, but this is the first time we're hearing about it being a problem. As mentioned, it serves a practical purpose.
Thanks for the feedback.
svetius said:
It's been flagged!
The thing with the signature is that it serves the same purpose as the default signature of your mobile phone in the email client (for example: "Sent from my Verizon Droid X"). It helps to inform people that your message was written while mobile, and so the text might contain errors, or might not be as well thought out as it would have been if you were in front of your computer. The signature is activated by default on our Android apps (and, actually our Windows Phone 7 app).
That said, if there is huge support for turning off the default signature in the application, we'll do it, but this is the first time we're hearing about it being a problem. As mentioned, it serves a practical purpose.
Thanks for the feedback.
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Edit: deleted..
I can respect that, but surely, there must be better means of doing so, or at least filter them when using Quoting capabilities.. I recall seeing people get in trouble because they included the comments in their quotes (but I might be imagining it)
Auzy said:
I recall seeing people get in trouble because they included the comments in their quotes (but I might be imagining it)
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Huh? I agree it's useful ... more so than not, at least, as an identifier and a screaming 'hello I'm on my mobile so if this doesn't make sense you know why' kinda thing. I don't see how this is a big deal ... at all. LOL ... ? I also fail to see how it gets in the way of anything, like quoting especially, as it is essentially another single line that still precedes the quote tags.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
conqu1stador said:
Huh? I agree it's useful ... more so than not, at least, as an identifier and a screaming 'hello I'm on my mobile so if this doesn't make sense you know why' kinda thing. I don't see how this is a big deal ... at all. LOL ... ? I also fail to see how it gets in the way of anything, like quoting especially, as it is essentially another single line that still precedes the quote tags.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
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It's useful IMHO and I am not aware of any issues in including the signature in quotes- it's a single line... who cares? I imagine someone quoted an entire, incredibly long OP, to say "thanks"...
I don't know if it is possible, but how about making the signature from the tapatalk app's just smaller than average text? That way, people can still be informed it was written while mobile, and it would be less obtrusive for the ones who don't like it.... And I'm sorry, I know my normal signature is long
Sent from my Computer using Mozilla Firefox App
RANT
You have to post one way or another - we don't need to know how or what you used to post. It is getting easier to post so more people are posting. Teens are no longer getting flip phones and now populating this forum with more and more silly questions looking for answers you can easily find using google. People have the EVO 4g and think they can post anything they want in the EVO General forum because you have an evo and you are posting in the general section. I want to see general information about the EVO and not other phones on other networks and other random things you find interesting. There are other forums for that.
We all have to start somewhere I know that and when I joined in 2006 the first 4 years I probably posted 100 times and now I am posting like crazy trying to help these people find answers hoping people learn something. People are here 1-2 years with over 1,000 posts.
Yeah, it helps to know that is was posted on a phone but with keyboards and big screens take a couple extra seconds to make sure everything is typed right. I do it why can't other people.
But what if you could have the benefits of knowing which client it was posted with, without having that crap in posts too? Surely that would be better, correct?
svetius said:
It's been flagged!
The thing with the signature is that it serves the same purpose as the default signature of your mobile phone in the email client (for example: "Sent from my Verizon Droid X"). It helps to inform people that your message was written while mobile, and so the text might contain errors, or might not be as well thought out as it would have been if you were in front of your computer. The signature is activated by default on our Android apps (and, actually our Windows Phone 7 app).
That said, if there is huge support for turning off the default signature in the application, we'll do it, but this is the first time we're hearing about it being a problem. As mentioned, it serves a practical purpose.
Thanks for the feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, please, don't turn off signatures in the app. Can't they be stripped, however, the way they're stripped when quoting and responding on the desktop app? I agree, they're difficult to remove if you're responding on the app, but as you said, they're useful to indicate the poster is swyping, or whatever may account for little errors in their post.
rushco said:
RANT
You have to post one way or another - we don't need to know how or what you used to post. It is getting easier to post so more people are posting. Teens are no longer getting flip phones and now populating this forum with more and more silly questions looking for answers you can easily find using google. People have the EVO 4g and think they can post anything they want in the EVO General forum because you have an evo and you are posting in the general section. I want to see general information about the EVO and not other phones on other networks and other random things you find interesting. There are other forums for that.
We all have to start somewhere I know that and when I joined in 2006 the first 4 years I probably posted 100 times and now I am posting like crazy trying to help these people find answers hoping people learn something. People are here 1-2 years with over 1,000 posts.
Yeah, it helps to know that is was posted on a phone but with keyboards and big screens take a couple extra seconds to make sure everything is typed right. I do it why can't other people.
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I fail to see how this post is even for or against the 'signature' argument.
Its a single line.
Like me finishing off my post with this single line.
Or this one, or below.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

[XDA] quit being an ad hog for gods sake.

Who else has randomly heard "Women everywhere have bla bla bla hands and knees..." come blasting out your speakers while simply viewing on the forum and had to stop reading, scroll down all the way to the bottom just to silence a dumb ad? It is very trashy and rude IMO to just start an ad WITH SOUND while your just viewing a thread. And this is the third time in a row that this has happened.
How cheap is this site? I honestly don't care about ads sitting on the side or ads that say "click to play" or videos that don't have the sound enabled. These videos come with the sound enabled and it's REALLY pissing me off.
STOP BEING SO DAM CHEAP AND ACTUALLY THINK ABOUT YOUR USERS ON THE SITE. Can someone please agree with me? I want this auto sound playing sh*t OFF.
adblock plus?
When XDA introduced the Like button I used WidgetBlocker to disable it; it slowed down the site significantly and getting rid of the button sped it up.
I agree with you, but registration and use is free and there are so many people using XDA that they need a way to pay for server maintenance, etc..
i see this thread being deleted in the near future
If you have such a big problem with it them donate the money in place of the ad companies....It takes money to manage the servers/forum, perhaps you want to give more out of your pockets instead. I have noscript and adblock on firefox, and never see any of what you're describing.
Ace42 said:
If you have such a big problem with it them donate the money in place of the ad companies....It takes money to manage the servers/forum, perhaps you want to give more out of your pockets instead. I have noscript and adblock on firefox, and never see any of what you're describing.
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Do you think they get extra money for playing them out loud through my speakers? Wakes everyone in the whole house up. It's the sound that's bugging me the most. It should be set to auto mute.
Sorry to hear that you've had those loud ads shown while browsing xda.
I know the admin does not like these ads and they certainly dont choose to put them there, they just sometimes sneak in.
Instead of having a sook, it would be a little more mature if you had just stated you had this ad on your computer and wondered if it was possible to have them removed?
xda is funded purely by donations and ad revenue. Without these, there would probably be no xda. And as some people will know, ad revenue from forum based websites is NOT good.
I'll flag the forum admin to this thread.
I don't mind leaving ads to run so the sites I use make some profit but when they start playing audio automatically it gets really annoying. Have to say ABP this one.
Please post screenshots of any annoying ads that pop up/pop over/have sound, etc...and we'll kill them. Thanks in advance.
It's easy to find offending adds on this site, simply log out and start browsing the forum. There's a ton of pop-over "brought to you by XDA", videos and what not...
AdamOutler said:
It's easy to find offending adds on this site, simply log out and start browsing the forum. There's a ton of pop-over "brought to you by XDA", videos and what not...
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Yes, for non members I think it's slightly different. That doesn't really help us in this situation. Those ads are normal.

XDA Forums Site - Video Adverts

Hi There!
I am not sure if this the right area, but I am writing to find out how I can get rid of the video ads that have start popping up over the last few weeks/months.
They are incredibly intrusive and even though the topics are benign (Soap advertisements) it's often embarrasing if I am on the phone with a client to have them start randomly and loudly.
I do understand that on a site provided for free adverts are a reality, I would just ask the choice of video adverts be reviewed.
Is there a paid subscription that I can use to avoid them or a way to just block those ads (I understand an Ad Blocker would not be fair).
Thanks.
Next time you see one, can you please take a screenshot of it and send it via PM to "svetius". He looks after all the ads and stuff. We don't deliberately put these ads on the forum, as we know how annoying they can be
Hi, any news on this? Lately I've been getting strange popups (or rather, redirections) when loading XDA-Dev (and only on XDA-Dev) on my Galaxy Nexus - almost always NSFW.
I'll PM a screenshot next time it happens (it's only once it a blue moon)...
bemymonkey said:
Hi, any news on this? Lately I've been getting strange popups (or rather, redirections) when loading XDA-Dev (and only on XDA-Dev) on my Galaxy Nexus - almost always NSFW.
I'll PM a screenshot next time it happens (it's only once it a blue moon)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm there should definitely not be any of these. Do you have any details of the advert? We need to try and be sure it is coming from xda, as it could be an app or another tab...
But if you know details of it we can have a look at this. PM anything to svetius
It was just some porn advert or other. No other tabs were open, and no porn apps or anything similar is installed...
It only happens when I open an XDA link directly from GMail (i.e. topic reply notifications)...
I'll make sure to take a screenshot next time.
Starting to think it might be a Germany thing. What ISP is your WiFi connected to? I'm on 1&1...

Intrusive ads? Post here!

The internet is full of advertisments and let's face it, almost every site that has an ounce of traffic uses ad revenue. The intention of xda is not to burden its members with ads that distract from the user experience. With that being said, if you have a problematic ad, please take a screenshot of the ad and post here so admin can take care of it. right now, that is the solution in place.
Thanks for your help in keeping XDA "intrusive ad free".
XDA:DevDB Information
Intrusive ads? Post here!, ROM for the General Discussion
Contributors
TheRomMistress
ROM OS Version: 2.3.x Gingerbread
Version Information
Status: Testing
Created 2016-03-03
Last Updated 2016-03-03
It doesn't happen all the time but I have this "mobprizes" redirect when visiting XDA.
Happened to me a few times so far, not sure if others are experiencing it.
Same as chazam ^^^^
First instance of it today. Web URL is mobprizes.com and the site header says 'Android Rewards'. Tried to browse XDA via Dolphin browser on Android and was auto-redirected to this spam page; you cannot press 'Back' or 'Exit' in the browser and have to click 'OK', whereupon another window opens asking you to enter your mob number (supposedly so they can contact you to sort out sending you your prize - which if you do a quick search on Google means you will receive plenty of premium rate text messages and no prize!).
Not sure what you folks can do but thought would mention it.
Incidentally, when performing a search re: this, one of the replies was on Yahoo Answers - when I clicked on this I was redirected to the same damn Android Rewards page!
I also noticed another forum in the search results is experiencing the same thing. Seems to be spreading.
Attached.
That ad at the bottom left corner just popped up from nowhere. I may not have captured it completely sry...
Edit: it's an IE rollover to view ad.
Hey everyone,
I have also created a forum where people (including myself) are experiencing similar problems.
Perhaps it would be a great idea to share our knowledge between the two forums and see what we can do to get rid of these annoying ads.
would of if i didnt have ad block
chazam said:
It doesn't happen all the time but I have this "mobprizes" redirect when visiting XDA.
Happened to me a few times so far, not sure if others are experiencing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same.
ok, as i got no response in the other thread, here's a repost of an intrusive ad i got the other day:
as you can see they were even trying to impersonate XDA's theme to trick you into thinking it was a legitimate XDA page?
omniwolf said:
as you can see they were even trying to impersonate XDA's theme to trick you into thinking it was a legitimate XDA page?
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Click to collapse
The JS alert window looks like that, since FF4.0. Type javascript:alert('test message') into the address bar.
Please remove this
I'm not really bothered by the ads so i dont need an ad blocker but this 'IE rollover to view' ad is being a pain in the rear.
Pls get rid of it.
Thanks.
Edit: started using ad blocker
i clicked a reply notification from an email sent by the forum
this is the page it took me to
i blanked out my location to stop aliens tracking me
No offence meant to anyone here, but I'm quite surprised at all of this. Adblocks for Chrome and Firefox are available easily, nobody uses IE anymore and if you're on XDA you probably have a rooted phone and should logically therefore have an adblock app. If you really dislike ads, there's no need to put up with them
Nigeldg said:
No offence meant to anyone here, but I'm quite surprised at all of this. Adblocks for Chrome and Firefox are available easily, nobody uses IE anymore and if you're on XDA you probably have a rooted phone and should logically therefore have an adblock app. If you really dislike ads, there's no need to put up with them
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Those without adblocks are doing xda a favour i guess.
roofrider said:
Those without adblocks are doing xda a favour i guess.
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Click to collapse
Don't the ads only work if you click on them? As fas as I know nobody actually clicks on the ads unless it's by accident to disabling them doesn't really have a negative effect on the site
Nigeldg said:
Don't the ads only work if you click on them? As fas as I know nobody actually clicks on the ads unless it's by accident to disabling them doesn't really have a negative effect on the site
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Click to collapse
I dont click on them, but there are a few which act weird when the mouse hovers over them accidentally. Like this one.
New Avast is too annoying, will be migrating our thousands of customers off it
I'm going to haveto agree with the OP in this one.
The advertising is becoming annoying and the re-registering method has been made to be difficult to see where the free option is...
Quickfix I disagree with you, this product is the most popular free Antivirus not because of bull**** advertising, but because of word of mouth!
Now instead of here's a great free AV the word is here is a great free AV with intrusive ads...
nvm
trm, please delete this post
+1
Intrusive pop-ups "mobprizes" visiting XDA with my mobile phone...
there were a lot of problems when you tried to access the page from your phone from germany the porn ads were awful
abel06 said:
+1
Intrusive pop-ups "mobprizes" visiting XDA with my mobile phone...
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Click to collapse
I just had the same thing. I click on 'OK' or whatever it said when i should probably have just used the back button. It took me to the mobprizes thing which is clearly a scam. Hopefully just being taken to the site but not clicking anything wont have installed any malicious (i've literally no idea about android malware/viruses etc.).

Constant Notification E-Mails

I'm fairly sure it used to be, once I left the site I would get one e-mail if a thread was replied to that I was subscribed to, until I came back to the site. Now I seem to get mutiple e-mail. Over night I deleted 4 e-mails from the same thread, I've not been on XDA since yesterday afternoon.
Is anyone else getting this? Could it be Tapatalk on my phone giving the site the impression I'm always on it?
As far as I know it doesn't take into account when you've last seen the post - it will send the email instantly on reply, daily, weekly or not at all; depending on your choice.
Hmm, kind of annoying then. Not how mist forums work and I'm fairly sure its not how this one used to work either
Sounds like you subscribed to a thread and asked to be sent notifications when others posted/replied. If you don't want them anymore, just go to your User CP and unsubscribe from the thread.
But I do want to know when there's a new post. If I've not been to the forum though, I do t need go know there's another new post, and another, and another...
Most send you one email, then no more until you've visited the site again. So everyone gets and email every time there's a post in a subscribed thread? What a massive waste of emails...
AndyCr15 said:
But I do want to know when there's a new post. If I've not been to the forum though, I do t need go know there's another new post, and another, and another...
Most send you one email, then no more until you've visited the site again. So everyone gets and email every time there's a post in a subscribed thread? What a massive waste of emails...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is done to make sure you always keep up on Development. Remember this is not most sites. This is a Development site and one missed post could mean the diff between fixing a java code issue or not. This has always been the way it works. Keeping up on threads is a huge thing for alot of people.
Okay, I can see a point for devs having that option, it seems odd to force it on everyone though as it will stop users from following development
AndyCr15 said:
Okay, I can see a point for devs having that option, it seems odd to force it on everyone though as it will stop users from following development
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Click to collapse
Yours is the first complaint I've seen about it, so maybe it doesn't bother most people?
Maybe it doesn't. I've not bothered saying anything for a month or two, there may be others who have just not bothered to say anything
This and I think maybe Rootzwiki are the only two forums from many that do it this way, Seems odd not to have an option to do it the 'normal' way is all I'm saying.
So, this constant email notification is actually a 'feature' on XDA as per these admins. Or has this been reconsidered as POV of a general user who doesn't want his phone beeping every minute in the office?
n00b_dr0id said:
So, this constant email notification is actually a 'feature' on XDA as per these admins. Or has this been reconsidered as POV of a general user who doesn't want his phone beeping every minute in the office?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's an option that can be changed in the Control Panel

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