OT: What is with the ads?

[coastal_nuck]

Recently Hfboards has shown a ton of ads that are getting past ad block. Anybody also seeing the same?

Click to read more...

 

[valkynax]

I am, not sure what's going on.

 

[Ryp37]

Works fine for me, what browser are you using?

 

[coastal_nuck]

Works fine for me, what browser are you using?

Chrome. Some are really obnoxious large videos that play automatically too :/

 

[Josepho]

They stopped appearing for me a few days ago.

If it sticks around for you, just click mobile version.

 

[Intoewsables]

Is your page constantly refreshing as well? And are you getting logged out randomly? It stopped happening to me yesterday, but yeah ... the boards were pretty much unusable the last few days.

 

[elitepete]

It's annoying as ****.

The page first gets loaded without any ads to trick ad block, then loads the ads afterwards. Even if you try to manually choose an ad to block, it doesn't work.

I am sure ad block will fix it but if the ads weren't so obnoxiously large, have popups, follow you as you scroll up and down, etc, people wouldn't use ad block in the first place.

Edit: And on top of all that, the ads are constantly loading for some reason... it makes chrome really glitchy and you can't do anything.

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

Firefox has no ads still.

 

[JA]

You can use more than one ad-blocking extension at a time, which is what I have been doing for quite a while.

uBlock Origin is more effective than ad block Plus.

However, I use uBlock Origin, ad block Plus, Adguard, the Bluhell Firewall extension, and No Script. All of these are Firefox extensions. This combination is impenetrable for ad services. I would recommend quickly running through the settings on all of these extensions to enable all of the filters.

While the first four extensions do mostly the same things, No Script blocks all scripts and gives the user total control to enable individual scripts on websites; in fact, it identifies all of the domains that are trying to run scripts on the site and lets you choose which to enable via a drop-down menu.

On this site, everything from Scorecard Research to Gorilla Nation to Chartbeat to PageFair to IntelliTXT are running their scripts. These are all ad and market research services. Once you have No Script, it becomes clear just how many third-party scripts are trying to run on every website; some are designed to track browsing activity, while others are designed to deliver content. Many sites are littered with them because they make additional revenue from such partnerships.

My usual strategy to identify which scripts are necessary when a website doesn't fully load is to google the domains individually. Many of them will be linked to ad distribution services and activity-tracking companies. You can avoid those altogether. A website that loads video might need a CDN script to be enabled for the video to function, but the control over all of the scripts is well worth the small bit of extra time to configure each site.

All it takes to make this site operable is to enable the top-level domain, which is hockeysfuture.com. Other sites might require a few other scripts to run. You can effectively browse without loading the unnecessary scripts. You can also just disable No Script when you need a website to be fully operational.

I haven't seen an ad on HF in years.

 

[BrianE]

Chrome. Some are really obnoxious large videos that play automatically too :/

This....frustrating.

 

[Rotting Corpse*]

It is especially annoying as a sponsor; they are supposed to be disabled.

 

[y2kcanucks]

I haven't seen any ads.

 

[jftam]

Whatever they did to load those videos caused me to use 1.5 Gb of my cell data in 10 days. So I'm out of data for 1/2 this month.... pissed me off

 

[rypper]

I noticed one and then noticed i was logged out. I logged back in and haven't had an ad since.

 

[ihaveyuidonttouchme]

Glad I wasnt the only one experiencing more ads...seeing that purple ad was crindgw worthy

 

[thefeebster]

I've had huge ads in mobile view on Chrome too. It auto plays too.

So i started using firefox mobile so i could install ublock origin. But i really prefer using chrome :/

On PC tho, UO+******* is working fine.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Two days ago was the worst. It's calmed down a bit, but I'm noticing a few other of my usual online haunts are suffering the same thing.

Some annoying new script is running around out there.

 

[JA]

Have a look at all of the scripts that are running in the background without your consent when you browse without a script blocker.

Chartbeat is a web analytics company. Gorilla Nation is an Evolve Media advertising subsidiary. PageFair is an anti-adblocking solutions company. Scorecard Research is another web analytics company. Doubleclick is an advertising subsidiary of Google. IntelliTXT is an advertising product that turns keywords into clickable ads.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IntelliTXT

IntelliTXT

IntelliTXT, an "intrusive-text" advertisement spamming platform developed by Vibrant Media, is an example of keyword advertising. Web page publishers insert a script into their pages which calls the IntelliTXT platform when a viewer views the page. This script then finds keywords on the page and double underlines them. When holding the mouse over the double underlined link, an advertisement associated with that word will pop up. Advertisers pay to have their particular words associated to their advertisements.

IntelliTXT may make pages more difficult to read, also delaying page navigation while advertisements load and flash onto the screen. Some publishers offer a help link inside the IntelliTXT ad' box that leads to a page that lets users turn off IntelliTXT.

http://www.businessinsider.com/pagefair-2017-ad-blocking-report-2017-1

Ad blocker usage is up 30% — and a popular method publishers use to thwart it isn't working
Lara O'Reilly
Jan. 31, 2017, 7:10 PM 12,292

Ad blocker usage surged 30% in 2016, according to a new report from PageFair, a company that helps publishers regain revenue lost to the software.

...

The failure of ad block walls

The study also looked into how publishers are tacking the growing use of ad blocking software.

PageFair noted that 90% of ad blocker users surveyed have encountered an "ad block wall" that blocked them from viewing content unless they disabled their ad blocker.

...

PageFair has skin in the game here: It makes its money by helping publishers use technology to recoup money lost to ad blockers and find different ways to make revenue from those users. Often that's by using the Facebook method of serving ads — or an ad-light experience (77% of ad blocker users it surveyed said they found some ad formats permissible) — to ad blocker users. But Ryan made clear that if a publisher asks PageFair to help it set up an ad block wall, PageFair would oblige too.

...

The web page you are currently viewing is laced with intrusive scripts.

EvolveMedia rakes in over $100 million per year in revenue across over 40 properties.

https://adexchanger.com/the-sell-sider/evolve-medias-president-on-the-future-of-digital-media-facebook-will-own-you/

Evolve Media’s President On The Future Of Digital Media: Facebook Will ‘Own’ You
by Sarah Sluis // Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016 – 12:30 pm

Evolve Media co-founder and President Brian Fitzgerald has been in digital media since the dot-com era. He’s bought and sold companies and lived through boom and bust cycles.

As the industry continues to evolve – with waves of investment in digital media companies and ad tech consolidation – Fitzgerald is taking action.

In the past year or so, he’s made six acquisitions: Martini Media, TotalBeauty.com, Dogtime Media, AfterEllen.com and Australian media properties Urban Geek and Volt.

The acquisitions follow Evolve’s strategy of focusing on publishers with a strong niche. According to Evolve, its business generates $100 million in revenue per year, with 85 million unique visitors per month across its 40 properties.

Besides Evolve’s acquisitions, Fitzgerald advises or invests in numerous tech and media companies. A decade ago, he flipped Quizilla to Viacom. He was an adviser to Vidible, which sold a few years ago to AOL. And he still runs Gorilla Nation, the ad network that first got him into the digital media business back in 2000.

...

Evolve generates a ton of revenue through its intrusive advertising partnerships, and it pressures its users to subscribe by bombarding them with ads. Even if one is a sponsor, Evolve may still be monetizing your online behavior. Not only are the ads bad; just as bad are the companies that spy on you and collect information about your browsing activity.

 

[NeoCanuck]

I had to re-up my Sponsorship because the ads were so insanely bad. Absolutely ruined the site for me.

 

[yvrtojfk]

Definitely worth the sponsorship. Can't picture myself without it anymore.

 

[JumpierPegasus]

I wouldn't use ******* on hfboards to support them if it wasn't for the fact that they are so intrusive. Most places use banner ads but these ads take up my entire page or mess up my navigating of the site...

So I block them, but haven't had this happen to me

 

[KeninsFan]

I noticed one and then noticed i was logged out. I logged back in and haven't had an ad since.

The ads disappear when you're logged in.

--

The ads are based on a script running in the background, I recommend 'noscript' as an add-on for Chrome. The ads are getting past uBlock.

Extremely intrusive and laggy af. HF will probably lose more visitors than make money off the move.

 

[Chubros]

It's awful... It has the site running soooo slow.

And extra annoying are the random words that get turned into hyperlink ads that pop up if hovered over.

 

[JA]

It's awful... It has the site running soooo slow.

And extra annoying are the random words that get turned into hyperlink ads that pop up if hovered over.

That is the work of IntelliTXT.

 

[Uhmkay]

I haven't seen an ad on HFBoards in YEARS....

I don't even see Y2K's annoying GIF avatar either.