FIXED: Two invasive ads

1. 93

   melbelposted 11 years ago

   I just receive two invasive ads (screenshots below.)
   
   They were both both size pages.. I clicked the skip thing and it took me to another ad. Well, the screenshots are really the whole story:
   
   http://i.imgur.com/sk2Ng.png
   http://i.imgur.com/s19AO.png

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      Cagsilposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I've seen those as well. It happened when I tweeted out my hubs using the "share" option at the bottom of the article.

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         Marina Lazarevicposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Cagsil, did you see the same Lexus RX ad or something else?

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            Cagsilposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, it was a Lexus ad.

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      Marina Lazarevicposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for reporting, melbel. This is not part of a known campaign, so I suspect one of the networks slipped it in. I'll need to see it myself to figure out which network it is, though. Could you provide a list of the Hubs you've seen it on? Judging from your first screenshot, it does not appear to be an AdSense ad - could you confirm?

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         melbelposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         It was not AdSense.
         
         The lexus one and the survey one (which appeared right after I clicked "skip") appeared on
         melbel.hubpages.com/hub/Types-of-Pre-Employment-Testing
         
         And then the other Lexus one appeared on
         missolive.hubpages.com/hub/Teaching-Methods-Randomization-Techniques-in-the-Classroom
         
         The ads appeared on the pre-employment hub just seconds/minutes before I opened this thread (if a time helps.) Also, in the screenshot, you can see the time in which I created the image. I'm on EST.
         
         I hope this helps.

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         Daughter Of Maatposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I actually just had the Lexus add pop up. It happened while I was going from a hub I just read back to the feed. Bizaar it wouldn't let me click the skip button.

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      Daughter Of Maatposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The second ad you posted, Melbel, I actually ran into yesterday while re-reading one of my hubs. I had no idea where it came from, but it parked itself right infront of all my text. It was quite weird actually.

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      moonlakeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I started seeing the lexus ads yesterday when I would try to work on my hubs. When I tried to click the skip it wouldn't work. They get in the way and really are a pain.

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2. 89

   Will Apseposted 11 years ago

   Another way of looking at it, is that someone in marketing is feeling very pleased with themselves over that Lexus account.
   
   I hope HP monitor for blowback.

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3. 93

   melbelposted 11 years ago

   It happened when I went to edit my hub and then again just now when I liked someone's hub on Facebook.

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      jenuboukaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You can block those ads by right clicking and coping the address and head into your Adsense account and place the address on your block ads page.  Of course now that i said this; it may have changed since I have blocked some.  Hope that helps Melbel.

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         sunforgedposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         that would work if it was an adsense ad and it was your impression.

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4. 81

   Mark Ewbieposted 11 years ago

   So.  I spend days, weeks maybe of effort, trying to make sure my hubs aren't spammy, aren't misleading, are Google and more importantly, search visitor friendly.
   
   I hope against hope that a search visitor will find them, and while they may be a bit crap, will not be too offended.
   
   Ah well.
   
   Let's just shove some great big advert in their face - it always says to me that this is a good site to visit... NOT.

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      Sally's Troveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      +1

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5. 79

   Sally's Troveposted 11 years ago

   How about "Why choose online public school?" This one pops up almost every time I access one of my own hubs. Invasive isn't the word for it. And it's been going on for days.

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      Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Oh I wish I got that one.  I get a succession of rather down market ladies who are apparently available on some dating site.  It's probably a fair reflection of my audience I suppose....

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         Sally's Troveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I think you might be right, in that ads delivered, supposedly, are reflections of your search preferences. So you get ladies and I get school.

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            Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Oh crap - if that's true, I'm in for an interesting summer.  Next week I start teaching a course called "Serial Killers as Heroes in Popular Culture."

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6. 79

   Sally's Troveposted 11 years ago

   Invasive ads like these used to be anathema to HP. When we reported them in the past, they were immediately removed.
   
   But something's happening, which I find interesting.
   
   These current invasive ads have been appearing for days, maybe weeks, but no Hubbers have been alerting the team to them (at least not in forums), or complaining about them, until now.
   
   I think there's a blind acceptance of the way the net and its advertising works. We're all getting used to it. Getting used to being assaulted by crap we didn't ask for. Getting used to closing an ad window or muting a speaker before we get onto the content we were looking for.
   
   Sheep, we're becoming.
   
   If this ambush style of advertising is going to be a part of HP's ad strategy, then my decision about whether to be here is clear to me.

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      melbelposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I think it's because HubPages has more ad partners than before and they deal with a larger number of outlets in which they receive these ads.
      
      It's like saying to someone, "Hey Joe, I bought this shirt at the mall and it doesn't fit me. Could you return it for me?"
      
      Joe doesn't know which store at the mall you got the shirt from, all he knows is the brand of the shirt. Hopefully that's enough for Joe to go on as he hunts through the mall to find the store that the shirt came from.
      
      And, of course, perhaps there is blind acceptance, I can't speak for that. I just report these ads when I see them, I don't know how other hubbers deal with them.
      
      If staffers don't come across these ads (perhaps a fairly low proc? --> WoW reference, but I don't know another word other than proc to describe it, sorry) and no-one complains, then it'll just pass under the radar.
      
      On the other hand, perhaps there is some blindness to ALL other types of ads. I see so many ads as a writer here on HubPages that I don't even notice them anymore. It's only when something strange happens that I take notice... and I immediately do. Maybe that's where the "it happens all the time" attitude comes in... because the only type of ads I notice are the bad guys.
      
      Or maybe, if you really hate, hate, hate advertising, you're more sensitive to picking up on negative aspects of it (I'm not saying you specifically, but rather those that might hate advertising.) Kind of like when you're learning something new... like about "endangered species" or something and then you start picking up on newsworthy items about endangered species or hear it in conversation and get to think, "what's up with everyone talking about endangered species lately?" They've always talked about it, you're just more tuned-in to it.

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         Marina Lazarevicposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Indeed! For a while, AdSense was the only network advertising on HubPages. So, if there was a faulty ad, we knew where to go. Now there are many players in the mix, and without documentation of the ad call itself (found in the page source), it's impossible to know which network served X Lexus ad when Lexus is likely advertising through (in many cases the same exact ad) several networks.
         
         Firebug is a web extension that can be used to trace an ad call as soon as the ad loads. Early next week we'll have a Learning Center guide on how to use it. A screenshot combined with a Firebug report are really all we need when we aren't able to see the ad ourselves at HP.

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            melbelposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I will definitely use Firebug next time I see those types of ads. Great idea. I was thinking about manually going through the Page Source to find it, but you're right, Firebug would do it. (Derp moment.)

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               Marina Lazarevicposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               If you already know how to use it, then yes yes yes! Inspect that element

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            Sally's Troveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            You've got to be kidding. You want me to investigate faulty ads for you, HP? You can't do that for yourself? I have to upload an extension to do your monitoring for you? This is nuts.
            
            I started to write here as a way to get my thoughts out in a venue that did the web-work for me. Hosting, promoting, community. Now you want me to police your site for faulty ads while I produce revenue for you? Please tell me I got this wrong.

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               melbelposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               They don't know which ad it is unless they see it.

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                  Sally's Troveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Well, there's something wrong with that, melbel. It's their site, and they don't know which ads are displaying on their site? That's absurd. What else don't they know?

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                     melbelposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     I liken it to, as a customer, seeing something spilled in a grocery store. You're not required to tell anyone, but it's a nice courtesy. And, if you're going to tell someone, you may as well tell them which aisle.
                     
                     It would be very difficult for them to track the ad, I know from experience in working in both programming and advertising. When working with different ad affiliates, several affiliates have the same exact ad. (Lexus may advertise with just one company or with a ton.)
                     
                     HubPages *could* make it so that their system logs every single ad that displays on every single page, but that would be a huge waste in programming and other resources (a whole new database would be needed for this) when so few ads cause these types of problems.
                     
                     We're in no way required to help HubPages out. They only say, "Hey, hop hubs if you want, comment on others' hubs if you want, report a bad ad if you want." We're in no way required to do anything on HubPages.
                     
                     But ya' know, if you know how to inspect an element and don't mind going a little bit out of your way to do something nice, then why not?

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                        Sally's Troveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        I really do admire your positive attitude. I do believe I'm feeling a bit cranky.

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               mistyhorizon2003posted 11 years agoin reply to this

               +1

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         Sally's Troveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Please explain this...I have no idea what you are talking about. Proc?

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   sunforgedposted 11 years ago

   of course, inspect element is already a core feature for chrome users so many Hubbers who would have no cause to ever install firebug may already be running chrome and could help you out with such things. So would be wise to add to any tutorial on debugging/discovering source addresses
   
   Firebug has a reputation and a past tendency of causing browser lag so many uninstall it, disable it or never use it if its not part of their daily workflow

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      Sally's Troveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That's great information, as you always offer, sunforged. But I have to ask, why should hubbers do HP's work for them?

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   Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

   I reported a problem a few days ago with ads that were taking up the entire bottom of the screen when you view a hub on the iPad. You could not get rid of them, either.  I haven't noticed it today - but it was happening regularly early this week.  I hope the tech staff made them go away.

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      Marina Lazarevicposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      This was detected and removed last week.

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9. 93

   melbelposted 11 years ago

   Marina,
   
   I saw the ad again, but I was in Chrome this time and didn't know how to use the Firebug-like thing in it. So, I saved the source of the page in a text file. Let me know if you still want it and I'll send it to you guys (not sure which email address to use.)
   
   Melanie

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      Marina Lazarevicposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Please email it to adops@hubpages.com and we'll take a look. Thanks, melbel!

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         Marina Lazarevicposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         We have identified the network and blocked the ads. Let us know if you see them or something similar again.

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10. 93

    peeplesposted 11 years ago

    I had the second one you posted twice yesterday!

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11. 93

    peeplesposted 11 years ago

    This one just popped up and would not let me get out of it. I had to go back.
    
    

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    RedElfposted 11 years ago

    I have been either lucky, or perhaps not popular enough these days, but the ads have so far missed me. Thanks for the heads up!

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    crazyhorsesghostposted 11 years ago

    If I am on one of my Hubs and try to go to the Hub Page front page or feed the ad pops up as a full page ad and it will not let you close it or get away. It is always a Lexus Full Page Ad.
    
    This is so annoying. It will stop people from visiting a site faster than anything.

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    peeplesposted 11 years ago

    Any update from hubpages about this??? Are they going to stop or are they around for a while?

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    Cagsilposted 11 years ago

    I clicked on the "share" button at the end of an article, it happen to be my own hub, but after the window popped up, the hub changed to a white screen with a video running about a Lexus. No sound, but the video was running. The picture below is a snapshot of it.
    
    
    
    
    
    

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16. 68

    Michael Willisposted 11 years ago

    I just has an Ad pop-up on screen while on a hub of mine. It was weatherblink.
    
    http: //a.tribalfusion.com/p.media/admNBGXGFnmarR3bnRVbnGWPf4QE35ScrpQH3NYt7xTPjO2cBYYbrZcT6Xq2P3hQAnC2WZbtXdrDndZao5AQ14GvfUGvaUcrjPPvoTWYVWrbP3baxVajpVaQaST3FSGfJPFimPt7dUVM54U6nodir0a2y3t3FPVbB4PJHNTEHh8Evok/2862406/pop.html
    
    I had moved my mouse across the page and, not sure, but passing over the top right ad may or may not have triggered the pop-up. The Ad I rolled over was ProActive on my latest hub.

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       Marina Lazarevicposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Has this been an issue today? The ads were removed yesterday, but due to latency some users may have continued to see the ads through the evening.

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          Michael Willisposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I have not seen them today. Thanks for responding to this issue.

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    Cagsilposted 11 years ago

    I haven't seen them today.

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