Anyone else getting the pop ups trying to download software on to their phone? Got 3 in quick succession on the forum.

Yes. I started a thread last week sometime. It’s annoying.

URLs and screenshots would be helpful.

Funnily enough I had one from the adblock thread. Websites a joke, glad a cancelled my P years ago.

Was viewing the forum earlier while waiting for some friends to turn up for lunch and a redirect crashed my phone! Wouldn’t reboot without giving me an error message and launching in a restricted mode. Currently doing a factory reset on it then reinstalling from a backup. The redirect was the one that warns your phone is infected then going to the Play store for an antivirus download when you exit out of it. This issue is a complete and utter joke now.

Was on a Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo while on wifi if that helps in any way.

Nope.

screenshot from just now

I had the same as Milky. Redirect to “virus” then playstore. I always kill the browser as quickly as possible.

Cheers. I’ve notified tech.

As as I understand it STW sign up to ad networks which then deliver their ads and these networks occasionally deliver this shit. It’s the job of the ad network to prevent this so I don’t understand why they don’t just drop that network as clearly there is as issue

Or is the problem that there is an ad company on top of that so STW don’t have any control of their networks :(. In any case it’s completely crap

Just had same thing on Moto 2 running Android 6 whilst browsing chat thread. Don’t have web pic hosting but warning and URL looks similar to above (edited so not posting full link to a viral pop up!)

http://us.czwx.date/tlp/0_index0.php?brand=Motorola&model=Moto%20G%204G%20(2nd%20Gen)&ip…

I’ve been getting loads like hatter posted. Use the forum less now because of it.

I’ve suggested this every time this subject pops up…
Has anyone tried using a different search engine in their browser? I don’t use Google, I use DuckDuckGo as my default, although that might go against the grain for anyone using Android, which is a Google product after all…

A different search engine wouldn’t have any effect on browser pop-ups once you’re on a sight though, Count.

If you do end up on the Play Store, scrolling to the bottom of the page reveals a “report this app for inappropriate content” link.

I keep getting the same as Hatter’s screenshot. Moto G5. Please sort it out.

Just had it again, please sort it out it’s flippin’ annoying.

Just had a similar experience to the above – scrolling through a page whilst it was loading, then the virus warning popped up, then Google Play appeared, offering an app. The url that appeared was http-clinkadtrackingDOTcom/tracking?camp=50947167&pubid=3673&sid=(then a load of session ID numbers). This was on an Android phone.
(Edited to break the URL!)

*waiting to be victim blamed*

My credit card for my subs has lapsed so I’m back to ads and just had that virus alert 3 times I the last 5 minutes. Now I can see what all the plebs are moaning about 😉
Sort it out please, starting with using ditching the offending ad network

Did I miss the bit where someone from STW apologised?

You might’ve missed the bit where it’s Christmas and New Year, and people have lives and families.

As as I understand it STW sign up to ad networks which then deliver their ads and these networks occasionally deliver this shit. It’s the job of the ad network to prevent this so I don’t understand why they don’t just drop that network as clearly there is as issue

Or is the problem that there is an ad company on top of that so STW don’t have any control of their networks :(. In any case it’s completely crap

It’s the former. Mark explained this at length on a previous thread (and I’ve seen it in action first-hand).

There are several ad networks, and there’s an algorithm which offers you the ‘premium’ adverts first. The ones which are specific advertising campaigns and such like. As you revisit the site, it rolls over to the secondary networks, and so on. It’s the lower-quality ads that can be problematic occasionally. And ad networks do get dropped and changed around.

So theoretically at least, the people most affected are potentially the heaviest users of the forum, or (I’m speculating now) people who are blocking advertising cookies so the site has no notion of what it’s already served. Deleting your cookies for the site might fix it for a while if you’re a heavy user.

No doubt everyone’s going to disagree with me that that’s not how it works for them, but that’s my understanding.

Just had it again, please sort it out it’s flippin’ annoying.

You’re a Premier user, you can opt out of the advertising. Click the Premier option on the menu bar and change your settings.

Does P stand for Premier or for Protection Racket?

Cougar I know you’re doing your best, but it would have taken hardly any more time at all to make a slightly less terse response than this:

URLs and screenshots would be helpful.

There are no other sites I use regularly where this keeps being a problem (hmm actually there might be one or two dodgy video streaming sites that are nearly as bad 😆 ) – I’ve been away from here for months and come back and it’s STILL happening. I’m not having a go at you, but it is pretty crap really.

There are several ad networks, and there’s an algorithm which offers you the ‘premium’ adverts first.

Yes, I remember that from last time. I didn’t know if the algorithm was STWs or if they just farm the thing out to a single company that does that (Acxiom Limited?)

It’s doing it again, crashed my phone. Please bring back the Russian brides ads, they were better than this virus shit. Jesus h christ ive never used a website with such spammy Shite-guff as this, it’s an embarrassment.

So why is it affecting some people and not everyone? It appears more prevalent for non-premier users but some premier users are affected.

Is it targeted at a particular device or version of the OS or similar?

Cougar: I don’t think blocking advertising/third party cookies has anything to do with it, it’s one of the first things I set up in a browser and I haven’t had a single popup/redirect on any device.

it would have taken hardly any more time at all to make a slightly less terse response than this:

What would you rather I said? “URLs and screenshots would be helpful, please“? (-:

There’s not much else I can say. There’s nothing we can do about it and posting a thread going “I’m getting a pop-up” tells us absolutely nothing. It’s like taking your car to a mechanic going “it’s got a fault.”

There are no other sites I use regularly where this keeps being a problem

I can assure you that any other commercial sites you use as heavily as STW which are supported by advertising to pay wages will have this problem.

it is pretty crap really.

I don’t disagree.

So why is it affecting some people and not everyone? It appears more prevalent for non-premier users but some premier users are affected.

Premier users have the option to opt-out of advertising, those who do so are unlikely to be affected by a rogue advert.

Cougar: I don’t think blocking advertising/third party cookies has anything to do with it, it’s one of the first things I set up in a browser and I haven’t had a single popup/redirect on any device.

Dunno then. As I said, I was speculating.

This website is the worst website I use for this problem and that includes porn sites. The fact that it is far worse than any other site makes me think that there is more that the owners could be doing to prevent it. I am considering sacking it off for good, if the forum wasnt so useful I would have done ages ago

Its quaint that any of you thinks anyone cares,the forums for advertising cash,they just put up with and laugh and you guys 🙂

Sure, that’s exactly how it works.

It appears more prevalent for non-premier users but some premier users are affected.

I don’t have a ‘P’, haven’t for years, and I do not have this problem.
I use an iPad, 10.5” Pro mostly, sometimes my iPhone 6+, both running the latest version of iOS, with DuckDuckGo as my default search engine.
I switched from Google when I used to get the stupid great Maserati and Tudor watch ads which rendered the site unusable, and I’ve not had any issues since.

I’ve had the one that hatter posted above 3x today….

Ive been getting this and also adverts for some kind of magnetic pants 😯

@countzero – I use Google as my search engine and don’t get the popups so it’s not entirely down to that. My iOS devices are fairly old so can’t run the latest versions of the OS. The only ad related problem I get on them is the occasional “Unable to complete the operation” popup which is probably an ad using a new feature in Javascript that the installed engine can’t cope with.

There’s not much else I can say. There’s nothing we can do about it and posting a thread going “I’m getting a pop-up” tells us absolutely nothing. It’s

I don’t have this problem on any other website. So leave off with the nothing can be done crap.

So do something useful and state what device and OS and browser you have the problems on.

Just saying it’s crap is, well, crap and about as much use in sorting it out as a chocolate fireguard or a fishnet condom.

Moto G5, chrome.

It’s taken me 4 attempts to open this thread due to the popups.

This
https://ibb.co/iBpVhG

Which leads to this
https://ibb.co/hoiO2G

I don’t have this problem on any other website.

You’re a premier user, you shouldn’t have it on this site either. You can opt out of advertising.

So leave off with the nothing can be done crap.

That’s not what I said. I said there’s nothing “we” – ie, the moderation team – can do.