Pop-up, ultra-annoying, video ads?

[MoodyBlues]

I understand that the site is being worked on/overhauled/updated/etc., and maybe this is just temporary, but I'm CONTINUOUSLY getting pop-up video ads in the bottom right corner of my screen. I've never used [or needed, as a VIP member] any kind of ad-blocker on AF, and don't want to start now, but I literally cannot stand this.

It's not only that I dislike ads about as much as I dislike black licorice--and that's a LOT--but they're making me dizzy. Some of you old-timers may recall that a brain tumor and its subsequent surgical removal left me with some problems I'd never had before--I was on anti-seizure medication for a year post-op, and sternly warned that from here on out flashing lights, fast-moving things (like scenes going by really fast on TV), and other visual stimuli could cause dizziness and/or seizures.

Seeing these automatically-playing videos while trying to concentrate on reading or writing a post just isn't going to cut it. Like I'll have to stop visiting if they can't be removed. (Or controlled with an ad-blocker?) What's the story, @Rob?

 

[Rob]

What's the story, @Rob?

We got the site software updated but the dev who did the migration is now unavailable. Trying my best to pick up the pieces but I'm not a dev so very... stuck.

It's the same ad network. Same ad code. It was displaying for ALL users but I just hid all placements for VIP members so I don't *think* you'll see ads any more. If you do, let me know.

Staff, Registered, and Registered Plus will all stil see 100% of ads for now. This isn't permanent.... will scale back as I sort things out.

 

[Windroid]

sternly warned that from here on out flashing lights, fast-moving things (like scenes going by really fast on TV), and other visual stimuli could cause dizziness and/or seizures.

You, of all people, need an ad-blocker! Whatever moral reasons you may have for not using one, they're not worth risking a seizure over.

 

[nickdalzell]

How anyone can stand the internet without adblock on is beyond me. Keep in mind that many 'ads' are injecting trojans without you knowing about it.

Also, if you're the type who never turns on ad personalization the ads you get are....interesting....

 

[Milo Williamson]

What is a pop up ad on here, I have never got anything away from my cell though, it is almost strange to see it on my moto plus, at least I can sneak peak on what is going on, without logging into it..

 

[Windroid]

Keep in mind that many 'ads' are injecting trojans without you knowing about it.

That too. In my book: A computer without an ad-blocker is not secure.

 

[mikedt]

I'm seeing nasty video ads with flashing, if don't use my ad-blocker on AF now. .

 

[Dannydet]

Honestly I just run an ad blocker on all my devices and never ever see any ads on any site.
BTW I use Adguard, which Google removed from the play store since it disables Google ads!

AdGuard — The world’s most advanced ad blocker! Get the best ad-free experience

AdGuard is the best way to get rid of annoying ads and online tracking and protect your computer from malware. Make your web surfing fast, safe and ad-free

adguard.com

 

[Fox Mulder]

On the PC's, uBlock and Malwarebytes. On the phone, Blokada and uBlock. No ads to be seen.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I just hid all placements for VIP members so I don't *think* you'll see ads any more. If you do, let me know.

Thanks, @Rob. That seems to have taken care of it. I'll let you know if they reappear.

Everyone, regarding ad-blockers: I used to use Adblock Plus (or whatever it was called). But at some point support for it was dropped for my default--and beloved--browser, SeaMonkey. Rather than try something new, I just thought I'd see what the web was like now without blocking any ads. And I found that, for the most part, it's really not that bad. I've trained myself to automatically ignore anything that's an ad unless something in it catches my eye, like a new vegan restaurant in my area or vegan dog chews [on Amazon] I'm almost out of. Very, very few are flashing/blinking/rapidly moving so they don't trigger dizziness or anything. The problem with the AF ads yesterday was a combination of things--their placement (bottom right) conflicted with where my eyes were focusing (mid-screen), and this conflict was causing dizziness, plus they were automatically and continuously playing.

As for malware...38 years on UNIX (now Linux) and I have yet to see any such thing! And even if something managed to sneak in, I have my computers and network so locked down it couldn't do any real damage. Without root access, the only thing it could possibly do would involve regular user files--and, trust me, those are backed up both on- and off-site, as has been my habit for decades. Unlike window$ users, this is not something I need to worry about.

 

[Unforgiven]

@Rob,
The ad at the bottom is interfering with the bottom bar where the themes are.

 

[nickdalzell]

The internet is awful for me without adblock (especially YouTube) and makes sites take ten times longer to load. That probably has more to do with my aging laptops but still. I want speed. I also want no more fake download buttons, or padding to make space for ads, or take chances of JS trojan injecting.

It became a dealbreaker when just using a deer avatar on some forums made the ads assume I wanted to buy Team Realtree gear or Mossy Oak camo. Then when I turned off ad personalization I got 'grossout' ads showing stomach parasites, toenail fungi, and rotten teeth with supposed 'products' designed to combat them all, or wording such as '99% of doctors miss this disease'

No thanks. uBlock origin FTW. "Ad Block Plus" not only stopped working for YouTube but added the 'acceptable ads feature' which lost me.

Oh, the irony of looking at an Earthling Ed video on Youtube to have an ad for Arby's precede the video (Earthling Ed is a vegan advocate)

 

[Windroid]

The internet is awful for me without adblock (especially YouTube) and makes sites take ten times longer to load. That probably has more to do with my aging laptops but still. I want speed. I also want no more fake download buttons, or padding to make space for ads, or take chances of JS trojan injecting.

It became a dealbreaker when just using a deer avatar on some forums made the ads assume I wanted to buy Team Realtree gear or Mossy Oak camo. Then when I turned off ad personalization I got 'grossout' ads showing stomach parasites, toenail fungi, and rotten teeth with supposed 'products' designed to combat them all, or wording such as '99% of doctors miss this disease'

No thanks. uBlock origin FTW. "Ad Block Plus" not only stopped working for YouTube but added the 'acceptable ads feature' which lost me.

Oh, the irony of looking at an Earthling Ed video on Youtube to have an ad for Arby's precede the video (Earthling Ed is a vegan advocate)

Yeah! If the big ad companies don't want us blocking their ads: Why do they allow malware and gross images, and worse, JS trojan injecting in their ads? They brought this upon themselves! Ad-distribution networks must now be treated as malware-distribution sites.

 

[nickdalzell]

Back in the late 1990s when it was just a single banner ad on the top of a website? I was happy. But it got nuts and just trying to read a review online is full of a TON of clutter and makes sites slow and hard to read.

Not to mention the telemetry behind them all. Most ads also get all your computer's data and location details as well. Worst offender of all of them are Google AdSense. Google by now should be plenty aware that I am a deer LOVER, not a deer hunter, yet that's most of what they send me are hunting ads. That was the last straw back in 2012. Facebook at the time was showing pro-hunting ads from AdSense on the news feed, and no amount of feedback to them was changing it. Apparently they don't believe people like me exist. Not surprising, at one time I was told 'you mean you people exist?!' when revealing to someone in 2012 that I was vegan when they asked about the items in my cart at the Kroger Self Checkout.

 

[Windroid]

And the sad part is: Ads could be useful and helpful. For example, Wikipedia (a site which currently doesn't have ads) could have a "Sponsored external links" section on an article about a TV show, which shows streaming services where you could buy the TV show. That would make Wikipedia money, while at the same time, enhancing the quality of the article.

But nope! Even if the ad's not a virus, even if it's not a gross picture of rotted teeth, even if it's not slowing down the computer or getting in the way of using the website: The ads just aren't useful. They don't give useful information about what they're selling, so why would I click on them? I'm probably doing the ad-distribution networks by blocking this ads, because they're not wasting their server's resources on someone who's not going to click anyway.

 

[Dannydet]

Newpipe is a YouTube alternative with no ads, and you can download the videos

 

[nickdalzell]

How often must one keep that app up to date? and does it work with Windows?

I remember YouTube Vanced needing constant updates and it died in the end. I prefer to have confidence that I don't have to deal with broken in the future and can just use and enjoy.

You think ads are annoying @Windroid? Try back-button-trapping. When you try to go back to the page you were previously on only to have the site just reload itself. I can't stand that and actually have a large blacklist of sites that I made sure my browser can't reload again in the future that tried to pull that on me. Can't stand anything that disables a vital browser function for no real reason.

Also have CloudFlare blacklisted as not only do I NOT approve of their policies but I also won't support a company who's mission in life is blocking me from accessing sites because I don't use Google Chrome instead of Firefox (or Pale Moon). FYI the worst policy of CloudFlare is banning or severely limiting access to sites when people use privacy browsers (such as Tor or Brave) or set their browser privacy via extensions to high. CloudFlare is behind all those ridiculous ReCaptcha 'games' of 'click all the buses' crap. Cloudflare's also the one behind a lot of data going through my router that was wasted bandwidth. I had 1 Mib/sec of bandwidth somehow going to cdn.cloudflare.com until I blacklisted their site. People allow this crap but dare make the claim that me using Windows 7 is the thing that's unsecure. People need to look deeper into the kind of data they let escape their fancy Windows 10 systems before accusing me of 'creating botnets'

 

[treb1797]

The ads are getting completely ridiculous. I literally just had 3 ads on my screen at once. Totally ridiculous guys.

 

[treb1797]

How anyone can stand the internet without adblock on is beyond me. Keep in mind that many 'ads' are injecting trojans without you knowing about it.

Also, if you're the type who never turns on ad personalization the ads you get are....interesting....

Injecting Trojans?? I thought that's what you're supposed to do when you wear one of those things

 

[Deleted member 2157292]

Ask me anything!
Like I said on another thread, I don't get any adverts with Android Forums on Chrome for mobile.

I'm in the UK.
No VPN. Standard membership now.

I would start to feel jealous and missing out on all the wonderful product placements and fascinating video pop all you special people are seeing (sigh!), except I get enough of that from a lot of tech / auto websites and Discovery feeds, so I'm good!

 

[mikedt]

Forum functionality is being seriously impaired by the ads, when navigation buttons can't be used because of Google ads.

 

[nickdalzell]

Injecting Trojans?? I thought that's what you're supposed to do when you wear one of those things

Wait until I tell you that there's a battery company called Trojan. I wear a T-shirt at work (we're an authorized dealer) and I get constant remarks or questions about whether or not I'm working for that Trojan.

 

[puppykickr]

I use Midori browser with the built in ad-block.
I set the home page to my link for AF, and allow cookies.

No ads, no logging in.