atdmt Ad Server Floods Browser History So Back Button Doesn't Work - About xda-developers.com

This has been bugging me for a while.
Occasionally when viewing the forums, I will press the "Back" button on my browser (currently IE9), and nothing happens. I'll hold click the Back button so my history appears, and it's completely overflowing with "atdmt" sites relating to the banner ads at the top of the forums.
I *LOVE* xda and want to support you guys in every way possible, and part of that is through the allowing of advertising that appears on this site. However, when it affects something so basic as flooding my history so that I can't navigate the forums properly, I have no choice but to add "atdmt" to my Block list in my router. While it solved the problem for me, it also takes money away from xda, which I'm not really thrilled about.
I've had the same problem on other sites which use atdmt.
So.....to xda admins......I recommend that you either put pressure on atdmt to fix this or choose a different advertising company to use on your forums.

I was about to post the link to the Intrusive Ads thread, but I see you found it.

mf2112 said:
I was about to post the link to the Intrusive Ads thread, but I see you found it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wasn't really sure if it was appropriate to that thread or not.....the ads aren't really intrusive were it not for the fact that it makes the Back button not work.
At least I searched for similar threads prior to posting!

Related

(Requests/Suggestions) A Mobile Site for XDA plus some other improvements

I tried to surf this website on my browser on the mytouch 3g and realized that it is a pain the the @$$ to surf. I was wondering if there can be a mobile site.
- You can easily log into your account to access User CP and check your messages.
-Search for Threads and/or Add New Threads feature
-You can pick between Mobile or Desktop View
Also there are some other things that I feel could be better.
-When someone quotes you, you can get an email notification telling you. This way people don't have to subscribe to every thread they put a post to see if people respond to your post.
-A Google Chrome Plug-In like you can see your Account Status easier or search for forums from the URL Bar.
If anyone else has any issues that they want to be fixed please post them I'm pretty sure a Mod or Admin is going to see this thread.
I'm not sure if this has been proposed before but if it has please direct me to the thread and/or lock this thread. I really don't want to be banned or suspended. I searched but could find anything.
This probably would have been best to post in the sticky called (requests) From the Users to the Mods & Admins. However, I at least have an answer one of your questions, the mobile site one. Somebody on the boards (ktemkin) made a mobile site for XDA-Developers, which is can be accessed by going to http://xda-developers.mobi. It's not the prettiest site and it doesn't have full functionality, but it gets the job done better than any other solution out there at the moment. Hope that helps
Did not know about this. Like u said it's not pretty, but it's the best we have right now.
But vBulletin comes with built-in pda display -- no one ever sees this because it's obscure in the top-left menu on the homepage:
PDA layout
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/
DaveTheTytnIIGuy said:
This probably would have been best to post in the sticky called (requests) From the Users to the Mods & Admins. However, I at least have an answer one of your questions, the mobile site one. Somebody on the boards (ktemkin) made a mobile site for XDA-Developers, which is can be accessed by going to http://xda-developers.mobi. It's not the prettiest site and it doesn't have full functionality, but it gets the job done better than any other solution out there at the moment. Hope that helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
quicksite said:
But vBulletin comes with built-in pda display -- no one ever sees this because it's obscure in the top-left menu on the homepage:
PDA layout
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
meh, that's just the standard Vbulletin Archive View, branded as a PDA layout. It's better than the standard view when on a mobile browser, but xda-developers.mobi renders things much better IMO. View the forum with your Hero's browser using each one, and I'm pretty sure you'll prefer xda-developers.mobi over the archive view. As I said, neither are perfect solutions, and a dedicated client (like the now halted XDApp) would be best, but both can get the job done to a degree.
Neither
http://xda-developers.mobi/
nor
https://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/
Work
Any other ideas?
Don't want to use the app
20GT said:
Neither
http://xda-developers.mobi/
nor
https://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/
Work
Any other ideas?
Don't want to use the app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The forums are dynamic. They adjust to the size of device you are using. Just browse to the regular URL and it will adjust accordingly.
forum.xda-developers.com
the_scotsman said:
The forums are dynamic. They adjust to the size of device you are using. Just browse to the regular URL and it will adjust accordingly.
forum.xda-developers.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I swear last week I click view full site and it went from a mobile view to this.
Oh well, it is what it is
Que Sera, Sera
Thanks

Easy way to foster searching!!!

- New user comes on here and does a search, but gets no results or not what they're looking for.
- They do another search.
- "Sorry. You must wait 25 seconds."
What do you think will happen?
They go and create yet another redundant pointless thread.
Reducing this time limit by at least 15 seconds would go a LONG ways to helping people search more. I know personally I always get extremely frustrated when I search for something and then have to wait. If we want people to search more, why make it so frustrating?
Welcome to the ADHD generation. Is it hard for people to search using Google with an XDA modifier or doesn't it occur to people to try?
Genuinely interested!
DirkGently1 said:
Welcome to the ADHD generation. Is it hard for people to search using Google with an XDA modifier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. Most people have no idea what that is.
Is it even possible to look through all of the returned search results in 25 seconds? You'd have to be a record breaking speed reader
I suppose if someone enters the search term with a typo and then tries again it might be within the 25 second window.
Regularly when I make a search I click on the wrong option (display thread/post or else) and I'm stuck with that 30 seconds limit and this is really annoying. What's the reason for this limit? Avoid overwhelming servers?
DirkGently1 said:
Is it even possible to look through all of the returned search results in 25 seconds? You'd have to be a record breaking speed reader
I suppose if someone enters the search term with a typo and then tries again it might be within the 25 second window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, exactly. Typo, or my search term was too specific, so I get 0 results.
missparker76 said:
Regularly when I make a search I click on the wrong option (display thread/post or else) and I'm stuck with that 30 seconds limit and this is really annoying. What's the reason for this limit? Avoid overwhelming servers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EXACTLY!! I HATE that.
I click one option; it returns 0 results, so I want to broaden my search and... I can't.
I see now why this hasn't been a problem for me. I always start with one or two keywords and, if necessary, get more specific in following searches.
Kinda the other way round
DirkGently1 said:
I see now why this hasn't been a problem for me. I always start with one or two keywords and, if necessary, get more specific in following searches.
Kinda the other way round
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I think most of us do like you. This has nothing to do with the fact that we are stuck by the 30 sec limit.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
With all due respect to seasoned members and searchers, really, it isn't that simple to someone who is new to all of this and seeking knowledge. I really don't understand why there's any time limit on searching whatsoever, that seems very counter-intuitive - and it will absolutely result in needless first posts, as Paul220000 pointed out, especially when you've got an issue on your hands you just don't understand how to fix.
reinbeau said:
With all due respect to seasoned members and searchers, really, it isn't that simple to someone who is new to all of this and seeking knowledge. I really don't understand why there's any time limit on searching whatsoever, that seems very counter-intuitive - and it will absolutely result in needless first posts, as Paul220000 pointed out, especially when you've got an issue on your hands you just don't understand how to fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search is very resource intensive, and to make sure the site remains fast, it is necessary to have some restrictions on it.
pulser_g2 said:
Search is very resource intensive, and to make sure the site remains fast, it is necessary to have some restrictions on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course. But 30 seconds is just too long. It results in a lot of useless threads.
Another thing that would help tremendously is to default the search to the "Search this forum" link. I.E. whatever forum you're in, clicking search will default the "Search in Forum(s)" box to the forum or device you're in, since usually you're looking for device specific information anyway.
Compare these two links to see what I mean:
General search: http://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php
"Search this forum": http://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php?f=556
Notice the second link searches only the Nexus One forums.
For a new person looking for info, it would probably be more beneficial to search for device-specific information rather than the default of searching all 700+ forums.
If the resource drain on xda is really that big a deal on searches, maybe adding that Google Search bar that searches with the xda modifier that a lot of other sites and blogs use would be a workable solution.
Yep but would it still allow to search only in specific forums and threads and not in the whole site?
i went to search something yesterday and it took me over 30seconds to find the search box... frustration had already begun to creep on me... finally i located the 'search this forum' button... using it was easy enough... i typed into the box the words 'recalibrate battery'... i then carefully proofread my search criteria before putting it through, which took about 30seconds by the way... at this point i was getting excited... then it returned just about every thread those words were mentioned in.... more frustration...
i agree the search may or may not be confusing to some people, be too slow, have wait periods, or give you the entire forum just in a different order... but it's not XDA's fault... go to any forum that uses vbulletin and you will have the same issues...
distortedloop said:
If the resource drain on xda is really that big a deal on searches, maybe adding that Google Search bar that searches with the xda modifier that a lot of other sites and blogs use would be a workable solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We are planning on improving the google search for the site.
As others have said at the moment the google search only works on a Site basis, we're looking into getting it on a per-forum basis.
Dave

[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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, for non members I think it's slightly different. That doesn't really help us in this situation. Those ads are normal.

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?
Click to expand...
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those without adblocks are doing xda a favour i guess.
roofrider said:
Those without adblocks are doing xda a favour i guess.
Click to expand...
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
Click to expand...
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...
Click to expand...
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.).

Infinite ads - no back button

I have written this on the main interface page and received no answers.
On some pages I get to a point where no matter how many times I click on the back button, the page goes nowhere. When I long click on the back button it shows a list and there are pages of the same link that has the word ads in it. If I click on the bottom item in the list and long click on the back button again, the same list comes up. If I do this several times, I finally get to where I was to navigate to the page.
While I haven't actually taken the time to count, I am sure that there are over 40-50 page listings that come up from one page with only a few messages.
I am using IE9 and I want to know what I can do to stop this overtly evil behavior. I fully understand the need for ads but I don't see any good reasoning to hijack my page. If I click on a link in the page, I can then go back to normal. It doesn't happen on every page, just sometimes.
Since my bookmark to this site is on IE9 and not Chrome or Firefox and since I navigate to this site only on my desktop, I don't get the problem elsewhere. This behavior is only on this site. Some sites open pop under windows (also evil) and pop up windows (annoying) but this one really gets me angry.
Again, how does one get this bad beharior to stop???!!!
Please help:crying:
I just went back to the offending page and several times it only had two instances of the ads link. I then went to Chrome and it didn't happen at all. I know there is evil here because it is related to advertising. Is someone posting hiding something here? Is the site doing this to me? Is it an attack on IE because of the anti microsoft sentiment?
Why Why Why???
I'm done. I'm hoping for some answers now.
Sorry about the rant. I have to use IE because it is what my non technical wife is used to and the always there bookmarks on the left are important. We also have land line becasue she won't give it up.
Ummm. Don't think your in the right place dude. You'd be better off searchin ms support or at least using a windows forum. This is Android!
But to try to help, sounds like a browser hijacker, or malware. You need to run scans with malwarebytes, spybot, hijack this, anti-virus....you get the idea.
Sorry I can't help you more than that. Good luck
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
I've run my AV software MS Security Essentials. It only happens on this site. I first wrote to the website forum and received zero answers. Since this site is populated with very tech aware people, and I visit this forum (I now own a S3) almost exclusively, I thought I would try here.
I know that it is off topic, but since it only happens here I thought I would try here next. I also have a request in the Chrome forum as to how to get the left side bar bookmarks there.
Thanks, I hope it doesn't get deleted until I at least get some answer. I won't post here on this subject until someone asks me to qualify my question.
If you haven't already, download and run malwarebytes. Its one of the best and can find tons of stuff that regular AV can't.
As for bookmarks, if it comes to it there are utilities you can use to back them up. Then uninstall/reinstall IE.
You can also import bookmarks from/to chrome.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Dude, this is an Android forum not a PC forum, what's wrong with you?
You have a virus or some serious malware.
Do a fresh install of windows, problem solved, stop being such cry baby.
Yikes this is a forum for mobile android phones not windows.
Like everyone has suggested use malwarebytes, it is free!
Antivirus software rarely pick up malware.
Use spybot search and destroy
Install spyware blaster to avoid future such problems
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Lol android android
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
sandiegoan said:
I have written this on the main interface page and received no answers.
On some pages I get to a point where no matter how many times I click on the back button, the page goes nowhere. When I long click on the back button it shows a list and there are pages of the same link that has the word ads in it. If I click on the bottom item in the list and long click on the back button again, the same list comes up. If I do this several times, I finally get to where I was to navigate to the page.
While I haven't actually taken the time to count, I am sure that there are over 40-50 page listings that come up from one page with only a few messages.
I am using IE9 and I want to know what I can do to stop this overtly evil behavior. I fully understand the need for ads but I don't see any good reasoning to hijack my page. If I click on a link in the page, I can then go back to normal. It doesn't happen on every page, just sometimes.
Since my bookmark to this site is on IE9 and not Chrome or Firefox and since I navigate to this site only on my desktop, I don't get the problem elsewhere. This behavior is only on this site. Some sites open pop under windows (also evil) and pop up windows (annoying) but this one really gets me angry.
Again, how does one get this bad beharior to stop???!!!
Please help:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While looking for another solution (to another problem) I found your post. The same thing happened to me today on this site.
The problem is not your PC, nor your browser and is not a malware issue either. In fact, it's from a script that is specifically designed to disable the browsers' back button. You see, the back button does not generate any revenue towards pay-per-click and/or similar schemes. Click-throughs, however, will...
Chances are that one of the page ads loaded the script (usually java) and set a cookie as well (to prevent one from replicating the problem).
Closing the browser window is about the only way to get around it. Holding the pull-down for the back-button only shows numerous versions of the same page.
Other browsers have plugins that can prevent the script from running in the first place and/or block the ads entirely.
If it keeps happening then you should contact one of the Forum Mods.
Hope this helps.
sandiegoan said:
I've run my AV software MS Security Essentials. It only happens on this site. I first wrote to the website forum and received zero answers. Since this site is populated with very tech aware people, and I visit this forum (I now own a S3) almost exclusively, I thought I would try here.
I know that it is off topic, but since it only happens here I thought I would try here next. I also have a request in the Chrome forum as to how to get the left side bar bookmarks there.
Thanks, I hope it doesn't get deleted until I at least get some answer. I won't post here on this subject until someone asks me to qualify my question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ipaq_101 said:
Dude, this is an Android forum not a PC forum, what's wrong with you?
You have a virus or some serious malware.
Do a fresh install of windows, problem solved, stop being such cry baby.
Yikes this is a forum for mobile android phones not windows.
Like everyone has suggested use malwarebytes, it is free!
Antivirus software rarely pick up malware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you should've read a bit closer on this one. It is only happening to him on this site.
thechocowarrior said:
this thread should be moved or deleted lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't delete or move unless we happen upon it (like I just did) or you report it. Not like we have filters that send us PMs whenever someone types Delete or Move. Doesn't work that way, fellas. Sorry
**************
At OP, if you are still having problems with the site, got to the main XDA page and flag an admin to check out your issues. Plus you could search there and if no results pop up or no one else is having the issue, there error could be between the chair and keyboard. If you want this to remain open, it is your choice but you will have better luck in the main XDA section, rather than the SGS3 section.
Shoot me a PM if you want it closed. If no PM by morning my time, then it is gone.

Categories

Resources