Develop Bugs

Bad ad sites make this site look bad

ad4.netshelter.net
Takes forever to load, and no XDA content loads while waiting.
This is poor web design.
Please revise XDA so that site content loads BEFORE advertiser content.

MintJulep said:
ad4.netshelter.net
Takes forever to load, and no XDA content loads while waiting.
This is poor web design.
Please revise XDA so that site content loads BEFORE advertiser content.
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Click to collapse
Are there any ads in particular that are taking a particularly long time to load? Please provide a screenshot if so. We hate ads that slow down the site too!

Theres a lot more flash that usual. Small price to pay, I figure. Im not exactly on the top donations list. Quality versus quantity is the point, I think.

No specific ads
The XDA page header loads.
Then beige nothingness for about 30 seconds or so while "connecting to ad4.netshelter.net".
I assume something eventually times out, and the rest of the page loads.

MintJulep said:
The XDA page header loads.
Then beige nothingness for about 30 seconds or so while "connecting to ad4.netshelter.net".
I assume something eventually times out, and the rest of the page loads.
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Click to collapse
Thirty seconds is very long! Where are you located? Also, please benchmark your bandwidth at speedtest.net and paste the graphic result here.

I'm also experiencing this! I'm located in the Netherlands with Ziggo as provider. Sometimes about 30 seconds is correct. I'm also getting this a lot with media.xda-developers.com and pubads.g.doubleclick.net.
This is not always the case btw. Also it's not my internet connection because every other site loads just fine. Also the connection is 120/10 Mbit.

I'm using an Android tablet to access the forums and the Best Buy adds are making the site extremely annoying to use. I have to click on the add since I don't have flash automatically loading them, then I have to click on the "x" to close the add. It didn't use to be this bad but now it is happening on almost every page.

Yeah, Im getting tired of the ads all over the site. I am REEEEEAAALLLYY tired of the ones that are popping up from the bottom and block the forum until I click on the X to close. Now some dont even have that close option.
Right now its that stupid best buy buy back program ad.
As a donator I think they really need to go XDA.
You can disable the shockwave flash object in your internet settings, but then you still have this stupid box with a red X that floats around the middle of the page because it cant load.
If the mods need it, here is the (shortened) link for that ad....http://dcom.me/cD9wm

We hear you guys and are working on getting the annoying Best Buy ads disabled. It's a constant battle between paying the bills and not annoying users. We do our best to err on the side of not annoying the users, but sometimes we make mistakes. Thanks for understanding.

I don't mind ads, but the best buy ad at the bottom of the page is horrible. It actually keeps the area at the bottom of the screen from being "clickable", even when you close the ad.

skullvet said:
I don't mind ads, but the best buy ad at the bottom of the page is horrible. It actually keeps the area at the bottom of the screen from being "clickable", even when you close the ad.
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+1
I understand the ads, and I'll click on them every once and awhile to help out, but that best buy one is very aggravating.

i agree with this! i feel as if we could make the ads on this site load alot more conveniently.

I notice that the Best Buy ad at the bottom is gone, thank you!

I don't mind the ads but that Best Buy ad was seriously driving me insane! lol Thank you!

Best Buy ad should be officially removed. Let me know if it anyone sees it.
Thx!

svetius said:
Best Buy ad should be officially removed. Let me know if it anyone sees it.
Thx!
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Click to collapse
Thank you very much. I understand the adds, you have to make money. That add at the bottom made it to hard to use the site, and i actually installed an adblocker just for it today. Now i have disabled it.

svetius said:
Best Buy ad should be officially removed. Let me know if it anyone sees it.
Thx!
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Click to collapse
Thank you very much! All is well again.

A prime example of the damage that one bad ad and/or one slow ad delivery server can cause. I wonder how many people downloaded AdFree or AdBlock Plus or added a line into their hosts file tonight all because of a lousy Best Buy ad and a slow server halting progress on the page.
Is there any procedure in place for vetting new ads before they are served to this site? I get that the idea of an ad server is to exist in the background so that publishers can focus on the content, but is there any way to specify formats, types, and other parameters of the ads served here? If NetShelter was serving that Best Buy ad to all its tech publishers, there were probably a lot of pissed off users tonight across the network.

ZachPA said:
A prime example of the damage that one bad ad and/or one slow ad delivery server can cause. I wonder how many people downloaded AdFree or AdBlock Plus or added a line into their hosts file tonight all because of a lousy Best Buy ad and a slow server halting progress on the page.
Is there any procedure in place for vetting new ads before they are served to this site? I get that the idea of an ad server is to exist in the background so that publishers can focus on the content, but is there any way to specify formats, types, and other parameters of the ads served here? If NetShelter was serving that Best Buy ad to all its tech publishers, there were probably a lot of pissed off users tonight across the network.
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Often it's hard to control the adverts you see on a site.
I use ad blockers on a number of sites, but more for giving me a "stripped down" experience on slow loading sites...
There is usually little control over what adverts you show, since it is the ad agency that does the placement of the adverts, and you use code that "includes" whatever advert they choose.
When it comes down to it, if needed, the code can simply be removed, which is what I believe was done in this case.
I have only worked with ad solutions that give me fixed control over the parameters and appearance of the adverts, so I don't know how this one worked.

I use AdBlock Plus and ad blocker add on for Firefox. They work great and block 99% of pop ups.

autoplaying audio on ads

I know I can use adblock but I don't tend to bother blocking ads as the sites I visit either don't tend to have ads or have ads that aren't too intrusive. And Google ads can be quite good these days.
But recently on here there's one ad at the bottom of the page that autoplays and has sound which is really annoying (trying to watch the spurs game!).
Any way to disable the ads playing on page load? If not then at least auto mute audio on play.

You can use adblock without a filterlist and just point it to this single ad / adserver

Audio Ads when opening this site... stopped!
I did some searching on this site and found out (at least in CND) that the nasty adds were coming from a site called "well.ca". I blocked this site in windows firewall and the audio ads no longer play.
So far so good ...

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1596570
I know alot of members don't search before posting a new thread, but at least look at the first couple of pages. This thread has been on the first page now for a few days that I know of if not week(s).

Intrusive ADS WITH SOUNDS

Dear staff members,
do you know that XDA makes browsing a hellish experience? Thanks to you my browser talks, shouts, yells, quirts, moans, sings. its not possible to use it without shutting down sound. I want to listen to some music while surfing? Forget it, XDA is here to push its intrusive ads. Why in the world do you even allow that, this is the most awful ad supported site i have ever been to, no other page on the web tries so deliberately to **** with my nerves. There should be a law forbidding this, you are trashing my internet experience.

Of course, you could have just posted in the Sticky thread at the top of this forum
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1696660

i consider my report as intrusive as these ads and since they persist now for weeks they must have simply chosen to ignore your thread in which all the complaints are nicely contained so you wont have to see them. yet i see, hear and feel (cpu goes to a 100% when 10 flash ads are shouting at me through my browser) their ads.

*cough*ad block*cough*

sure man, i'll install ad blockers on all devices i work with. my girlfriends computer, my two laptops, my smartphone, tablet, office computer, friends devices when i visit them, public machines in library and internetcoffee. and then i have that silly flashblocker but i love flash and need to configure it for each and every page i visit.
on top of that, what youre saying hurts xda, using a flashblocker kills revenue - i want this site to prosper and i understand it needs ads and i click them gladly.

molesarecoming said:
Dear staff members,
do you know that XDA makes browsing a hellish experience? Thanks to you my browser talks, shouts, yells, quirts, moans, sings. its not possible to use it without shutting down sound. I want to listen to some music while surfing? Forget it, XDA is here to push its intrusive ads. Why in the world do you even allow that, this is the most awful ad supported site i have ever been to, no other page on the web tries so deliberately to **** with my nerves. There should be a law forbidding this, you are trashing my internet experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please note we hate this crap as much as you do. I yell at three people a day about ads with sounds, popups, etc.. but tracking them down is a nightmare. We don't just have the same resources some of the bigger guys do. But we try.

js1999 said:
Please note we hate this crap as much as you do. I yell at three people a day about ads with sounds, popups, etc.. but tracking them down is a nightmare. We don't just have the same resources some of the bigger guys do. But we try.
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Click to collapse
thanks, at least i understand now its not something you do deliberately. wish you all the good luck to track them down.

js1999 said:
Please note we hate this crap as much as you do. I yell at three people a day about ads with sounds, popups, etc.. but tracking them down is a nightmare. We don't just have the same resources some of the bigger guys do. But we try.
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Click to collapse
Whatever you are doing isn't working. So you need to either a) change ad format or b) change ad provider.
Thanks.

XDA and bad practice advertising..

XDA and bad practice advertising...
Hi XDA, I've been a member here for quite a while. Recently something has started happening more and more which is beyond annoying.
Auto playing video adverts with SOUND ..
I am not sure what ad provider you are using, but you need to change this. I will right click on a few links to read and have them open up in a new browser tab. All of a sudden one of them starts playing a bloody ad with sound. I then jave to spend the next few minutes scrolling up and down the entire length of each tab page to try and locate and stop the frikking ad that is blasting out of my speakers and competing with the music I have playing.
It used to be once in a while, its now 50% of the tabs I open on this site.
XDA is one of those sites that is the hight of hackery and intellegence. Can you use that intellegence you have to force all adverts to be muted??
I can load an ad blocker and make the problem go away, but that means no revenue for you guys. I would rather not do that.
Having ads that just sh!t people to tears by annoying them to the maximum of your ability is NOT a good or long term way to raise revenue.
Come on guys, I expect better. Either change your ad supplier, make the default silent or remove video ad's from your page.
Warmly, Marty

artymarty said:
XDA and bad practice advertising...
Hi XDA, I've been a member here for quite a while. Recently something has started happening more and more which is beyond annoying.
Auto playing video adverts with SOUND ..
I am not sure what ad provider you are using, but you need to change this. I will right click on a few links to read and have them open up in a new browser tab. All of a sudden one of them starts playing a bloody ad with sound. I then jave to spend the next few minutes scrolling up and down the entire length of each tab page to try and locate and stop the frikking ad that is blasting out of my speakers and competing with the music I have playing.
It used to be once in a while, its now 50% of the tabs I open on this site.
XDA is one of those sites that is the hight of hackery and intellegence. Can you use that intellegence you have to force all adverts to be muted??
I can load an ad blocker and make the problem go away, but that means no revenue for you guys. I would rather not do that.
Having ads that just sh!t people to tears by annoying them to the maximum of your ability is NOT a good or long term way to raise revenue.
Come on guys, I expect better. Either change your ad supplier, make the default silent or remove video ad's from your page.
Warmly, Marty
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Click to collapse
The ad company gets yelled at if they let through audio ads.
If there are specific ones, please let us know, and they will be yelled at by someone even more angry than usual.
Audio ads are not acceptable to us either!

Intrusive ads? Post here

awesome. Thanks for the fast feedback guys... I'll start taking notes... :good:

and right after this an audio ad for the milk drink "Milo" started playing.
I had 6 tabs open, all xda.
How is this for sneaky. The ad went for around 60 seconds. NONE of the ad screens had any visuals about Milo. so you have to listen and cant see where it is playing from.
I will say that ALL the audio ad's have been for Australian based stuff, products, stores and TV shows... at least the geo location is working...
Grrrrr

Stop this damn auto-play of the hidden Huawei developer video

Okay, this is getting out of hand. I get it, you want to promo the partnership with Huawei. But. Does the forum HAVE to automatically play the video - which is hidden on most pages - on every new page I open? First of all, most of your readers don't speak Chinese. Second, the video player is hidden, out of view - no way to pause it, short of refreshing the page (which, luckily, stops the playback, up until a new page is opened, in which case it just keeps going).
I'm an app developer. I have *zero* interest in publishing any apps on the Huawei app gallery. I have zero interest in their Play Services replacement. I don't speak Chinese. I don't want to listen to Chinese people talking about how "awesome" the Huawei app gallery is. I want to read the forum while listening to music. I don't want Chinese chatter over my music. And I don't think it's hard to understand user needs.
I get it, you have a big partnership, whoop-dee-doo. But pushing this content on users who simply don't want a single ****ing thing to do with it, will just alienate users. This "advertisement" has already made me consider leaving XDA, and it's only been happening since this morning! It also assured me that recommending people against buying Huawei devices was a good idea. Auto playing this video, without visible controls, is basically taking a massive dump on 99% of your users who couldn't give a flying **** about Huawei's developer conference. I've known a bunch of forums that adapted similarly aggressive advertisement tactics. You know what's common in them? All of them are gone, disappeared years ago, because they alienated their userbase with it.
So please, either remove this hidden video block, or disable autoplay, or at least give users an option to disable it on their end.

fonix232 said:
Okay, this is getting out of hand. I get it, you want to promo the partnership with Huawei. But. Does the forum HAVE to automatically play the video - which is hidden on most pages - on every new page I open? First of all, most of your readers don't speak Chinese. Second, the video player is hidden, out of view - no way to pause it, short of refreshing the page (which, luckily, stops the playback, up until a new page is opened, in which case it just keeps going).
I'm an app developer. I have *zero* interest in publishing any apps on the Huawei app gallery. I have zero interest in their Play Services replacement. I don't speak Chinese. I don't want to listen to Chinese people talking about how "awesome" the Huawei app gallery is. I want to read the forum while listening to music. I don't want Chinese chatter over my music. And I don't think it's hard to understand user needs.
I get it, you have a big partnership, whoop-dee-doo. But pushing this content on users who simply don't want a single ****ing thing to do with it, will just alienate users. This "advertisement" has already made me consider leaving XDA, and it's only been happening since this morning! It also assured me that recommending people against buying Huawei devices was a good idea. Auto playing this video, without visible controls, is basically taking a massive dump on 99% of your users who couldn't give a flying **** about Huawei's developer conference. I've known a bunch of forums that adapted similarly aggressive advertisement tactics. You know what's common in them? All of them are gone, disappeared years ago, because they alienated their userbase with it.
So please, either remove this hidden video block, or disable autoplay, or at least give users an option to disable it on their end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1696660

I've not seen these ads, but I'm rooted and using AdAway...