[Closed] Singletrack site issues : redirecting to iOS app store

I have the same issue recently. It happened before a while ago, and now it's back 🙁

There's a long thread on this already.....

.. been going on a while now.

*reported*

so someone gets to see it.

Nothing here

<Feels left out> 😐

I have another issue where my browser crashes because of the Singletrack adverts either side. Haven't said a lot as would expect the response to be 'Purchase a premier subscription' 🙂

[quote=somouk ]I have another issue where my browser crashes because of the Singletrack adverts either side. Haven't said a lot as would expect the response to be 'Purchase a premier subscription' Pfft!

Next you'll be suggesting that's deliberate!

[i]Haven't said a lot as would expect the response to be 'Purchase a premier subscription'[/i]

but you have a 'P' next to your name?

Hi Vincienup,

Are you saying you were first redirected to the App store after clicking a link on our Facebook page?

Cheers
Mark

I've had the same on the iPhone browser

open up the STW forum (bike, chat or for sale) and within a matter of seconds the App Store opens up (if you go back to the browser, the STW page has loaded)

doesnt just happen on STW either tho...same has happened on other internet pages. I think its embedded in an advert somewhere and the redirect doesnt always do it

Happened here on iPhone for first time today when browsing chat forum on phone. iPhone 4 on iOS7. Thought I'd escaped. 😐

If I highlight text in the posting box an release the mouse button it opens the app download link in a new window.

Hi All,
Firstly I want to make it clear that we are taking this matter very seriously. We really don't want this happening to our users and are doing everything we can to work out ways of stopping it.

Short of our site being hacked there are two ways that malicious code can get displayed on our site.

[list]
[*]Ad networks distributing malicious code[/*]
[*]Users posting embedded content from sites that are hacked or deliberately distribute malicious code[/*]
[/list]

The user embedded content issue appears less common and is easier to deal with as Google sends us instant reports if it finds any embedded code of compromised sites. We remove the content asap.

The ad networks issue poses a more complex problem.
We are trying to deal with it by working with the ad networks to identify malicious ads and passing on your reports. However, the source of malicious code can be difficult to track and even when one source is identified it does not prevent the problem from cropping up from another source.

Regarding the assertion that this is a Singletrack only problem, I'd have to disagree. A quick google will show that the exact same issues are appearing on a multitude of sites. The common factor is that all these sites use ad networks. What users may be seeing is a symptom of the bidding system that underpins ad networks.

If a user comes to our site for the first time or having not visited in the last 24 hours the will initially be shown high paying ads and our contracted bike industry ads. The more pages a user views the less valuable they become to the ad networks and the lower the bid drops. Malware distributors are not likely to pay large amounts to show their ads and they are likely to have more success hacking the networks of smaller advertisers. Therefore the more pages you view on one site, the more likely you are to see malicious code. Unfortunately, this means that our regular users are most affected.

With all of the networks that we work with, we have set a minimum price below which we will not accept ads. The exception to this is the Google Adsense network which does not allow us to set a minimum price. It is difficult to know how successful this policy is as we do not know how many malicious ads we have not displayed (if you follow my meaning).

Regarding Premier users with ads turned off seeing malicious code, there are two potential causes. It could be user generated embed content as mentioned above or it could be that their login cookie has expired and they've been logged out. I've yet to see any screenshots from a user with ads turned off experiencing malicious code issues. If It happen to you please do send details to tech@singletrackworld.com

somouk: Can you send me details of your browser and device so I can test.

We're continuing to research this problem and will implement anything we can to improve the situation. In the meantime I would recommend you install anti-virus software on your device to mitigate the problem.

cbike: What device are you using?

same here. Ipad with IOS7.04 with a safari browser, just scrolling through the overview page and it opened the App Store with a link to a crappy game. cant remember which one.

Just tried to get this problem on iPad 7.0.4 Safari, but I couldn't.
Tried not logged in initially, then logged in.
Browsed a few pages of home and forum.

Safari set to block pop-ups and Block Cookies "From third parties and advertisers"

been browsing for about half an hour no issues and its just done it again.

link to a app called gametwist slots

Happens on both my iPad 1 under iOS 5 and iPhone under iOS 7 - it's a pain in the bottom

Sounds like even the internet telling people they're spending too long on here, once you've been on here too long, you get served malware lol

Yup I've had it on my iPhone and iPad (thought it was my sausage fingers at 1st).

iPhone 4 and iOS7 and had the redirect to the app store earlier for the first time, dunno what game it was going to offer as I closed it.

For the safari browser crashing I get that now and again - it seems to be when I'm scrolling down a thread and an embedded youtube vid comes into view. I just assumed it was a hidden filter on the phone saving me from particular threads.

I'm fortunate enough so far not to have been effected by this but.... as a suggestion. The malicious code is coming from one place - the Ad Networks and pointing to another place - the marketplace - for a bit of crap software. Is it a worthwhile idea to report this both to the mighty guardians of STW towers, so they can pursue the errant ad-servers, and also to the market place (app store or whatever) where the code is sending us and point out to them whats going on. If they remove that product from the shelf theres no point in having code sending us there to try persuading us to buy it. Much as the mighty guardians seek to keep the SToWer clean and pure I expect the App Store would like to take steps to keep the integrity of their sites as well and won't be to happy about it being used as a landing page for scams and spam.

I use my iPad pretty much exclusively for web browsing, and very occasionally my iPhones, usually the iP4 because it's got unlimited data, (although the local 3 network is shonky as hell), and I haven't seen any of these App Store re-directs at all. Both devices are on iOS 7.
I have had Safari crash while scrolling down, which seems to coincide with embedded video, as bazookajoe suggests, though.

Chrome on an intel Mac, OS 10.6.8

It's not consistent, just tried it there and no effect. Its a minor issue for me but I thought I'd highlight when I saw other folk mentioning similar. About an hour ago I could repeat it everytime.

It takes me to here - http://singletrackworld.com/singletrack-on-your-tablet-or-phone/

Mark - Resident Grumpy
Hi Vincienup,
Are you saying you were first redirected to the App store after clicking a link on our Facebook page?
Cheers
Mark

Yep... I think.

The FB app on iOS is still a slightly is presentation at times, and I was scrolling down my newsfeed, spotted STW's mid week 'hump day' piece and clicked on it. Browser slid out to right and began loading the stw page - briefly - then dropped me in the App Store in front of whatever crappy game it was.

What really spooked me was that I went straight to Safari and came here off a clean tab to report and the same thing happened again just to a different game. At that point I was more concerned getting my phone shutdown and reset than capturing details although I guess they'd have been helpful... I just get concerned when browsers start doing stuff by themselves - this is why I habitually disable Flash, Silverlight, Java etc whenever I can.

No issues here with iOS 7.04 and Safari on iPhone 5

I'll try to test on an iPad mini iPad 2 if i can get a chance.

Happened to me for the first time today... I lost my [i]'P'[/i] a few days ago.

iPhone 4S, 7.0.2, Safari - Redirected to the App Store for 'Monster Legends Mobile'.

My ad issues are on Chrome on Windows 8.1, the P was from the free premier subscriptions for a month, not sure if that was meant to turn off the ads as well but it hasn't.

I suspect the issues are more so flash related than the ads themselves.

[quote=somouk ]My ad issues are on Chrome on Windows 8.1, the P was from the free premier subscriptions for a month, not sure if that was meant to turn off the ads as well but it hasn't.
I suspect the issues are more so flash related than the ads themselves.
You have to select "reduced ads" in your profile to make some of them go away. It's not automatic.

not sure if that was meant to turn off the ads as well but it hasn't.

It's not automatic. You have to select Reduce Ads in your Premier Account settings.

Same here, new 4s on the latest OS, when I click on a page/post i get redirected to the App Store and when I go back to the browser it's still on the STW page but I get a pop up thingy asking if I want to go to the App Store,
It's some shitty game on the App Store that it's going to
This is the address of the post
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/this-mornings-near-death-experience

I was just redirected to the App Store (Monster Legends) from the chat forum front page. iOS 7 on iPhone 5

Am I to understand that this will continue to happen unless I'm Premier?

After saying it hasn't happened to me, it just did, on my iP4, on 3's network, scrolling down the 'Someone grabbed my handlebar...' thread. It took me to a William Hill gambling app, then, just after, I got a dialogue box asking if I wanted to go to the App Store.

Had similar problems running chrome on android OS, since switching to Firefox with ABP the issue has gone away.

Not just a problem on here, had this earlier today while reading an article on Bikerumour linked through facebook (on iPad in FB app), first time i figured that I had accidentaly touched the add while scrolling, second time the add was already off the page. Funnily enough I got monster legends and William hill apps as above.

I get this happening with my iPhone 5s using Chrome. It is the only site that I use that this happens on.

Saying that, it hasn't happened for a few weeks, but I have probably had a dozen or so experiences.

I also use Chrome on my MacBook but I have AdBlock installed so it will (I assume) mitigate the issue.

Just had my first. I was starting to feel a bit left out. Now I can join the club.

iphone 4 / ios7 redirected from the circular saws thread

Landed on the Mobile Monster thingy in the App Store. Flagged it with Apple too and pointed them at this thread (wave everyone) and queried amongst other things whether they can track incoming traffic to the App Store. Presumably theres a kick back from the App publisher to whoever is serving the code, for referrals/traffic so they must be identifiable in some way

Just happened again. This time for 'Papa Pear Saga'.

It's been happening to me today as well. iPhone 4 on latest iOS. Thought my fat fingers were to blame 🙂

Me again too, just had App Store open at Papa Pear, which at the time was the big ad at the top on the right of the thread.

Not just on here then [url= https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5282687 ]Linky[/url]

Just happened again. This time for 'Papa Pear Saga'.

+1

Happens A LOT. At least 25% of the time I go to STW on my iPhone 5 with latest iOS.

Just happened to me. I didn't even press on any links.

Just happened to me twice in a row - first time by clicking on my name in top right (took me to a game). Clicked back onto Chrome to come back here and it immediately took me back to the store (William Hill app).

Me too. No links, straight to some crappy game in the App Store. iPhone 5/safari/latest iOS

Just had this again twice in the last hour, both on the site and off the sites' FB presence.

Based on a bit of digging, it's a well known and thorny issue - almost 100% with the ad networks. There are suggestions here about blocking categories of ad, like games - makes sense as these are all the redirects I've had yet...

http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/06/shady-app-install-ads-are-automatically-redirecting-mobile-users-to-app-store-google-play/

I've got so many categories blocked already it's crazy. The problem is that there's networks feeding ads into other networks who feed ads into other networks that it's impossible to track anything down. I'm going to start turning networks off one by one over the next few days. Starting with Google. Please keep reporting any of these popups so I know if I've found a source or not.

So is it just me or has anyone else been logged out?

Chalk me up as another "victim"; William Hill app is the most frequent destination for me.
(iOS 7 on iPhone)

Me too, it's been happening for over a week but thought I was pressing an ad by mistake.

I'm browsing on iphone 5 and redirected me to a dragon game.

Annoying!

It has also been happening to my ipad on here and on MTBR forums and that forum is so add heavy it slows to a crawl even on a fast cable broadband

I actually gave up surfing the site yesterday as it was so frequently opening the App Store. iPad running chrome.

2 in the last 30 minutes

1st was the pop up to open App Store, top ad on the right was Goodgame Empire or something
2nd was the force open of the App Store for Mecca Bingo, and it was Mecca bingo at the top ad position in the ads on the right

Yep, same, directed to whatever 'game' is current in the top right, fixed by logging in again. Everyone will just have to go premier...

Identifying the ads like that gives me something to hunt. So thanks for the info. All our network ad settings have apps, games, download categories blacklisted.
You guys are in the uk aren't you?

Yup; in U.K. & via wireless BT router, but not logged in. Had the William Hill app earlier today, and at the top on the RHS of the forum page was an advertisement for said bookmaker.

UIn UK using a HTC get redirected to an Amazon page when I click on a thread. This is the address http://www.amazon.co.uk/b?node=3012216031&tag=singletrackma-21&camp=1698&creative=25778&linkCode=ez&adid=03ZCRJ3CK8TP3HHG4KFA&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fsingletrackworld.com%2Fads%2Fiframes%2Fleaderboard.html

Yeah I'm UK

And whilst typing this had the force open on the App Store for Lovoo dating by K2G media, and then the pop up to open App Store too. Lovoo ad appears on the right, though not at top this time, second from bottom

Yup - just had the Lovoo one too

Me too. IOS7 and this is the only site it ever happens on. I've just been redirected to a William Hill app in the AppStore 3 times in the last ten minutes.

The obvious answer would be for STW to remove the offending adds or add stream but I guess that wouldn't please the bean counters :-/

[quote=RopeyReignRider ]
The obvious answer would be for STW to remove the offending adds or add stream but I guess that wouldn't please the bean counters :-/
They are already trying to do this but it seems to be difficult to identify and remove only the offending ads, hence the request for more info.

5 minutes ago, redirected to App Store direct from STW in safari on iOS 7.0.4.

Was redirected to Mecca bingo app, Mecca bingo ad was advertising app at top right of sidebar on site at the time.

Here's where I was: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cotic-soul-touch-up-paint

Happy to give more info if I can but it's a bit of a pain getting much out of Safari, unlike my lovely blockered up Firefox on the *nix laptop...

Yes I am trying to do this. It's a lot more complicated than you may think. If I pull the ads (all of them) we breach many contracts and lose lots of money - money that doesn't line our pockets by any stretch of the imagination but in a very real sense keeps the website running. Singletrack is not a company that makes lots of profit. Last year our profit margin was around the 5% mark. Since 30% of our revenue comes from networked ads simply stopping them from appearing is something that would be financially very damaging for us. We need to get to the root of the problem and with that in mind I've been working my way through the individual networks, adding filters, more category blocks. As far as I can see all of our settings in all of our network ad accounts with Criteo, AOL, Microsoft, Google, Lijit, SwitchAdhub are all set to block everything from gambling, adult, health, downloads, games, financial, apps etc. With our Google account I've reached the maximum categories I can actually block. For some reason they only let you block a total of 50 categories and I've hit that limit and I'm now unblocking one to block another. It's real needle/haystack stuff and I've been working on for several days now.
You should see a lot of Amazon ads at the moment. That's because I've verified that these are not the source of the issue and so I'm temporarily replacing the ads served from networks with these as well as our own house ads to try and narrow down my search. Those ads pay us nothing unless they are clicked and someone buys something from Amazon. They are our lowest yield ads on our system and I try not to run them if I can help it.
So, please bear with me while I try and solve this (We are not being targeted - it's a global ad network problem). I'm in touch with all our network providers and they are searching too. If it was easy to solve it would have been by now. This problem is a massive nightmare for everyone involved in advertising. Some arse out there is deliberately making this happen and it's helping absolutely no one.

I think I can rule out Google Adsense now and I've already ruled out Criteo. I'm going to switch them back on now and turn off one of the others. Microsoft next.

I'm really sorry for the PITA that this is. I'm determined to fix it but please don't give us a hard time because ads earn us money. That's how it all works.

Oh and this is definitely NOT a ploy to get more subscribers. We need the millions of visitors just as much as the thousands of subscribers.

It's a single ad that rotates through Empire: Game of Four, Mecca Bingo and William Hill. It rotates through them every few minutes and with each rotation it triggers a redirect to their app. I've managed to replicate that here. It's also targeting mobile users, which is why I can't get it to happen in a desktop browser. At least I know what I'm looking for now.

Sorry to add to the headache... Just had this happen with no attempt by me yo of anything other than scroll down a thread of pictures...

[img] http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq265/205tref/public/E02AE433-3770-4622-A08E-90A507D3C869_zpspd316hot.pn g" target="_blank">http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq265/205tref/public/E02AE433-3770-4622-A08E-90A507D3C869_zpspd316hot.pn g"/> [/img]

[URL= http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq265/205tref/public/E02AE433-3770-4622-A08E-90A507D3C869_zpspd316hot.pn g" target="_blank">http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq265/205tref/public/E02AE433-3770-4622-A08E-90A507D3C869_zpspd316hot.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

^^ the missing link ...

[quote=Mark ]It's a single ad that rotates through Empire: Game of Four, Mecca Bingo and William Hill. It rotates through them every few minutes and with each rotation it triggers a redirect to their app. I've managed to replicate that here. It's also targeting mobile users, which is why I can't get it to happen in a desktop browser. At least I know what I'm looking for now.
Sounds like you are making some decent progress in tracking it down. Perhaps if you beat everyone else to the solution you could sell it on to others 😉

No need to apologise. The more reports we get the better our chances of finding out where these ads are coming from. I've just disabled all ads from our SwitchAd network so I need the reports to keep coming so I can tell if its' their issue.

My fear is that it's not going to be that simple though. There are literally thousands of different ad networks out there and many of them take ads from each other so it is possible that the same ad is coming through many different networks.

If I am forced to turn off all the networks we will be in quite a bit of trouble.

+1 on it being a global issue.

It came up in a discussion on /. earlier that was 'based' on the ethics of ad blocking and how sites might try to shut down the blockers of their visitors. I say 'based' because /. tends to stay about as focused as STW does...

Hope you get to the bottom of it soon. The only real good thing is that the amount of interest this is getting from sites that can be arsed (IGN was getting hit with it back end of last year) it's likely that the guys at the network/s serving up these iffy ads will conclude it's not in their interests to run them if they get too much blocking. Interesting the ads that are cropping up here though. Previously it seems to have been low rent ads on the basis that malware authors didn't really want to spring teh big bucks...

Using Chrome on Android and there are certain threads that give a "too many redirects" error rather than opening. Haven't yet got into these threads once, so could these have some permenant content causing the same issue? I haven't been sent to the Google Play store but if it only targets iOS... Shall I try and find a couple and post them here?

[quote=Mark ]
If I am forced to turn off all the networks we will be in quite a bit of trouble.
Yes, I've suggested this before but.....would an ad-free, forum-only subscription make financial sense to you guys? By that, I mean would you make more from subscriptions than you would lose through having a smaller number of users being targeted - or does a subscription only make sense at the current price (and taking into account you then have magazine advertising space you can sell)?

I'd understand if supplying a full answer to that might be giving away too much 🙂

Supplying you an answer would give away too much 🙂

News of something new is coming in a few weeks.

Time it for about a week after the last "free monthly subscription offer" terminates. Let folk experience a little ad-pain first, then hit them!

Tracker,

Any info you think is useful, please do post it here or direct to us at tech@singletrackworld.com

Cheers
Mark

Scot! I'm checking our office for bugs!

😉

Well, in the absence of a functioning memory an extended read has found the first "too many redirects" thread... [url=] http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/strathpuffer-%e2%80%93-live-results-%e2%80%93-who-are-you-following [/url]

Will post any others that I stumble upon.

Edit, which now apparently redirects... To this thread whilst on my phone? Now I am confused!

Edit 2- presumably a copy/paste issue on the phone...

OK, trying again, from a laptop (where I can access the thread, finally get to read it as a bonus)
[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/strathpuffer-%E2%80%93-live-results-%E2%80%93-who-are-you-following ]Strathpuffer thread[/url]

Trackers link in the first (longer) post sent me back here on OSX Lion Safari on the laptop if that's any help.

Happening again - taking me to a link to 'four kingdoms' without clicking anything, whist on a thread about cancer diagnosis.

Just happened for the first time on my iPad using wifi, as I was scrolling the page up using my thumb on the left-hand side, so no obvious advert links down there. I got taken to this page:

[IMG] [/IMG]

which lead to this:

[IMG] [/IMG]

when I came straight back here. It's the fact that I was scrolling down the left side of the page that strikes me as odd, as there is no obvious advertising on that side, so I can't understand how it manages to re-direct.
But I'm an incompetent idiot when it comes to IT stuff anyway. 😀