Disturbing Ad Behavior Here at GDIY

[Phrazemaster]

I was reading a post last night and the page kept scrolling to the bottom to a long skinny ad at the bottom. I thought it an anomaly, but it happened over and over.

Today reading a thread, again the same behavior, but this time the ad also started loudly with audio.

Is there some new issue happening here? It's quite disturbing and I don't like it. It makes it hard to read a thread because the page keeps scrolling to the bottom and you can't stay put on a post to read it - not to mention the initiation of audio, which I did not click on.

 

[Matador]

+1.  Had to disable javascript on gdiy to get it to stop.

 

[Tubetec]

Never experienced it on here ,but those pages that auto play are a headf**k

 

[Phrazemaster]

Thanks for sharing guys.

I wonder if this is something Ethan can control?

 

[JohnRoberts]

yes it can be irritating but hopefully a source of revenue that defrays the cost to run this forum.

On my browser there are options showing on the ads (a small X in the upper right corner) that allow me to shut off a particularly annoying one.

JR 
[edit I also recall some spurious sounds when SSL  lock wasn't working... do you see the secure https icon? /edit]

 

[Phrazemaster]

yes it can be irritating but hopefully a source of revenue that defrays the cost to run this forum.

On my browser there are options showing on the ads (a small X in the upper right corner) that allow me to shut off a particularly annoying one.

JR 
[edit I also recall some spurious sounds when SSL  lock wasn't working... do you see the secure https icon? /edit]

Well in my browser I can either enable, or disable JavaScript. Not on a site-by-site basis. If the pages keep jumping around I just can't read threads, unless totally disabling JavaScript. That's a non-starter.

Is this a new thing that Ethan has implemented, or are these just upgraded "stalker ads" that have nothing to do with the site settings?

Ethan?

 

[Matador]

Well in my browser I can either enable, or disable JavaScript. Not on a site-by-site basis. If the pages keep jumping around I just can't read threads, unless totally disabling JavaScript. That's a non-starter.

Is this a new thing that Ethan has implemented, or are these just upgraded "stalker ads" that have nothing to do with the site settings?

Ethan?

What browser are you using?  Almost all of the newest ones can disable JS on a site-by-site basis.

This likely isn't Ethan's fault, it is the ads being sent to the site from AdChoice or wherever.  SMF tries to display each post in order as the page is displayed, causing the browser to jump down to the bottom as each new bit of information is displayed.  However the offending ad is trying to steal focus, so it causes the browser to jump back up.  This ends up causing the page to rapidly jump between the ad and the bottom of the page until everything is loaded, and greatly slows down the page itself.

We would need to figure out exactly which ad is causing it, then perhaps it can be blocked individually.  I'll re-enable JS and see if I can trigger it, let the page load completely, then scan for the ads.

 

[Phrazemaster]

Hi Matador, I'm using a Mac with Safari.

If it's nothing about the site then I'll just have to disable JS.

Thanks a lot.

Mike

 

[PRR]

Ethan runs the forum, on small change from our DONATE button (bottom of page) and those ads.

Another forum I read has been cleaning up its ads. Apparently the page owner gets a check-list of what kind of ads are acceptable. They suddenly had several "soft sex" ads. The forum admin checked his ad-choice settings and they were all wrong. He fixed it, and a week later they were wrong again. The ad service had no explanation, so he switched ad services. Right now it is streaming pretty on-topic ads: Tectronix, similar electronic toys, Toyota/Honda, Home Depot, a few small vendors.

> keeps scrolling to the bottom

I have not seen exactly that. However on that other forum, links and Back button often go wrong; but if I block all ads, it is fine. I believe these ads DO grab browser focus, in ways which may not be fully compliant/debugged on all browsers.

I'm not advocating an ad blocker. I know how slim money is. But I will resort to it if ads make forum participation annoying.

 

[[silent:arts]]

I'm using a Mac with Safari

Me too, and JavaScript enabled, no problems here.
Run EtreCheck to find some possible adware on your system.
Great tool.

 

[Phrazemaster]

Me too, and JavaScript enabled, no problems here.
Run EtreCheck to find some possible adware on your system.
Great tool.

Thanks for tip; I’ll check it out. 

It happened on an iPad too. Over and over the page jumped to the bottom and at one point audio loudly started with no click by me.

I have no problem with anything like this elsewhere. I did find if I click the "X" for an ad, it disappears. But not all ads have an "X". But again, this is HIGHLY annoying and absolutely new behavior for my experience on the site of over 10 years.

As I watch the page right now it is jumping up and down, up and down, up and down. This is absolutely disgusting.

EDIT: I just disabled JavaScript and the ads are gone as well as the jumping. I'm sure this is not OK for the site revenues. And it's not OK with me to have JS disabled for all sites. I'm sorry. This needs attention.

 

[Ethan]

Nothing has changed on the groupdiy side of things. Can anyone describe the specific ad that caused that behavior? If anyone can provide specific details about the ad, I can block that specific ad.  Page scrolling definitely not be hijacked by an ad.
Another possibility is that there could have been a bug that has since been fixed (?) on the ad delivery server side. Is it still happening?

 

[Phrazemaster]

I’m traveling today but next time I see this behavior I’ll screen shot the ad and post it.

Thanks for being so responsive.

Mike