"Pop-Up" Ads?

[theophania]

rickypb, I've posted on the support board with information from others who have PM'd me with the issue.

[NariaDreaming]

Apr 28, 2015 12:05:53 GMT -5 rickypb said:

Sorry for the further inconvenience for those that are still experiencing the redirects

Judging by the timestamps of the recent posts, we're just not checking early enough in the day as they seem to fizzle off by the time we get to the office for testing. I'll work something out so we can get some testing in the early AM in hopes that we'll be able to find the source once and for all.

Sounds like it will be a late night/early morning for the PB team. I'd give you all coffee if I could

[rickypb]

Thanks theophania!

[cl8badb]

Thanks guys!

[theophania]

May 11, 2015 5:04:00 GMT -5 @Lemonpielover said:

Just wondering if anyone is still working on this. I've been getting multiple redirects per log-in for a couple days now.

I've put in another request to find out what's happening with this.

[somerandomchick]

May 11, 2015 5:04:00 GMT -5 @Lemonpielover said:

Just wondering if anyone is still working on this. I've been getting multiple redirects per log-in for a couple days now.

I'm still having this issue too. Just trying to get to this post was nearly impossible. Sometimes to get out of being stuck redirecting I have to close my browser tab and come back to GBCB again in a new tab

It seems like this is getting worse and it's making it nearly impossible to use proboards sometimes

Also I'm in Seattle so it's not just east coast people

[hedgehog]

I've been getting a ton this morning, between 8-8:30 am eastern, browsing mobile (iPhone/safari). It opened the AppStore for Hearthstone & Game of War.

I got a pop up window for mobilanes, then got a slew of back-to-back windows that opened. I can screenshot my history if the pop-up url's are helpful.

[hedgehog]

For me, it happens when the LendingTree ad ($225,000 for $934/mo. No Fees. No Points.) is displayed and I click to open a new page (thread or board). The ad alternates between orange & white background/foreground a couple times, then stays static, and the redirect happens only when I click. It doesn't happen every time though.

[mrsrodgersaz]

This has been really bad for me in the past few days. Just this morning I got redirected seven different times within the matter of minutes. Each time it was a different app in the App Store, or a random webpage telling me the app I was trying to download was unavailable. I also got redirected to a page telling me I was the Facebook winner of the day and to click the popup that appeared to claim my prize. I'm using an iPhone and Safari. I'm on the tapatalk app now because it was impossible to use safari to do anything.

[rickypb]

Sorry to hear that you guys are still experiencing the re-directs. We've been doing a lot of scanning, including over night scans, but still have yet to come across the issue (and to hedgehog, I've seen that ad a few times but haven't been re-directed with it on the page. It might be the second ad that loads at the bottom of the page that you might not be seeing?).

I'm going to pick the brains of those still experiencing the re-directs, if you don't mind, as it would seem the ads are getting triggered by something more than just location. For those still experiencing the issue, can you let me know the answers to the following please?

---

What iPhone model do you have (ie. iPhone 6, iPhone 4S, etc.):

What version of iOS is your device running (you can find this by visiting the Settings app, navigate to General, press "About" and the version should be listed there):

Who is your mobile data provider (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.):

Do you ever encounter the re-directs when your iPhone is connected to a wifi connection, or do they only seem to happen when connected to your mobile data provider mentioned above?

Lastly, if you visit the Settings app on your iPhone, press into "Safari" on the list of apps in the settings pane, what do you have set for "Block Pop-ups", "Do Not Track", and "Block Cookies"? 



Thanks! 




Edit to add: We did some scanning on Android as well as iOS and managed to get a re-direct when using an Android phone. We have removed the ad network in question from the rotation, and could be related to the ones that iOS users have been getting. Let us know if you happen to receive any re-directs tonight / tomorrow morning around the time that you would normally see them crop up! 

[hedgehog]

May 13, 2015 11:41:34 GMT -5 rickypb said:

What iPhone model do you have (ie. iPhone 6, iPhone 4S, etc.):

What version of iOS is your device running (you can find this by visiting the Settings app, navigate to General, press "About" and the version should be listed there):

Who is your mobile data provider (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.):

Do you ever encounter the re-directs when your iPhone is connected to a wifi connection, or do they only seem to happen when connected to your mobile data provider mentioned above?

Lastly, if you visit the Settings app on your iPhone, press into "Safari" on the list of apps in the settings pane, what do you have set for "Block Pop-ups", "Do Not Track", and "Block Cookies"? 

iPhone 6

Version 8.3 (12F70)

Carrier: AT&T (19.1)

I've been on Wifi exclusively today

Safari settings:
   Block Pop-ups: ON
   Do Not Track:  OFF
   Block Cookies: Allow from websites I Visit

[rickypb]

For those that were experiencing the re-directs before, just wanted to check up on it to see if things have been good for you this morning? While we weren't able to track down an iOS re-direct, we did find one that was affecting Android users yesterday and we blocked that entire ad network. It's possible the ad network that was blocked was the one that was also serving ads that re-directed iOS users as well, and we had one person that was posting on our support forum note that they haven't been re-directed since that block was put in place.

I'm hoping the same will be said here as well, so please do keep us updated when you have the chance. Thanks!

[theophania]

May 14, 2015 11:10:36 GMT -5 rickypb said:

For those that were experiencing the re-directs before, just wanted to check up on it to see if things have been good for you this morning? While we weren't able to track down an iOS re-direct, we did find one that was affecting Android users yesterday and we blocked that entire ad network. It's possible the ad network that was blocked was the one that was also serving ads that re-directed iOS users as well, and we had one person that was posting on our support forum note that they haven't been re-directed since that block was put in place.

I'm hoping the same will be said here as well, so please do keep us updated when you have the chance. Thanks!

Thank you so much for all of the work you guys have put into fixing this. I'll let you know if I get any additional reports.

[mom2boxers]

Not sure if this is where it goes but I was just re-directed to the App Store to the Pandora Radio app when I clicked on a thread to read it.

I'm on an iPad with IOS 8.3.

ETA: I'm accessing the site on my web browser.

[theophania]

Ah crap. Okay. NariaDreaming That makes two redirects in the past week.

mom2boxers if it happens again tag me because Proboards will want to know if it's happening repeatedly.

[mom2boxers]

Jun 13, 2015 8:12:25 GMT -5 theophania said:

Ah crap. Okay. NariaDreaming That makes two redirects in the past week.

mom2boxers if it happens again tag me because Proboards will want to know if it's happening repeatedly.

theophania

I just had another redirect to Pandora in the App Store on my IPad when I clicked on a thread.

[theophania]

Jun 17, 2015 20:32:27 GMT -5 mom2boxers said:

Jun 13, 2015 8:12:25 GMT -5 theophania said:

Ah crap. Okay. NariaDreaming That makes two redirects in the past week.

mom2boxers if it happens again tag me because Proboards will want to know if it's happening repeatedly.

theophania

I just had another redirect to Pandora in the App Store on my IPad when I clicked on a thread.

Most of the time if it's an isolated incident Proboards ad program catches the redirects and then it won't happen again until they manage to get another ad through the system. I will keep watch on this one.