FIXED: Malware Warning for HubPages

1. 71

   That Grrlposted 11 years ago

   I don't have a link to anything malware that I know about. We can't even put HTML in our profiles any more. Where is this coming from? It's come up three times tonight when I clicked on older posts I have written here. I checked the links in my posts and found nothing from the malware domain.
   
   Is it a link put up by HubPages?
   
   

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   1. 80

      Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I ran into this just before bed last night as I was clicking in on one of my hubs from an email saying I had a pending comment.  It then happened a second time when I clicked in to view a comment from my notifications.
      
      I emailed HP about this prior to calling it a night.  Hopefully they will address this prior to the true holiday...like today, Monday.

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   2. 59

      shabarigirishposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Someone posted in another thread that HPs security certificate has repaired, this could be the reason for getting this notification. Also this could be the reason why many hubbers lost their traffic.

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      1. 70

         Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         The certificate and this warning are not related.

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         1. 65

            eHealerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Hello Mathew, I had a red skull on my  hub and removed all the links, the red skull has not disappeared but no longer warns me about about a dangerous link, what else can I do to clear the hub, or should I wait for it to be moderated by a human?
            Thanks
            Deb

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            1. 82

               poshcoffeecoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I have the same problem. Moderators should sort it as it will go into the hubs which have been amended pot.

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      2. 71

         That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         @shabarigirish  (Sorry if I mistyped that, the font is a bit small for me to read it easily).
         
         Traffic was down because people were out last minute shopping, attending Xmas events, etc.  Traffic is up again today because people are home and probably looking for last minute ideas for table setting, how to cook a huge turkey, etc.
         
         Don't blame everything on Google. There is life beyond the Internet.

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   3. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for reporting this.
      So far it looks like it might be a rogue ad.
      We are trying to track it down.
      
      I got a URL from @melbel and have sent this to our engineers.
      
      Here is the URL I reported to the engineers.
      http://simonesmith.hubpages.com/hub/Cha … and-Nerds/
      Anyone else have examples?

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      1. 71

         That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Really bad timing for it to pop up now with all the Xmas traffic coming in. I hope they find it soon. I haven't seen it yet today so maybe it has already been ironed out.

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      2. 88

         NateB11posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         How do we know whether to ignore the warning or not? I have the link warning on one Hub, and the diagnostic says the site doesn't usually have malware/phishing links, so it's likely a rogue thing (don't remember exactly what it said, or the terminology, but that was the gist of it). However, I googled the site, and even google has a warning on the search results page saying, This site may harm your computer.
         
         Edit: I went ahead and deleted the link: Which got rid of the warning when I go to the hub, but I still have the red skull next to the hub on my account page. If I remember right, that's stays for awhile then goes away.

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   4. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Okay folks.  Thanks to all the helpful reports, we have been able to track down some potential issues and have stopped some ads from running. Hopefully this will cut out most if not all of the issues.

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   5. 63

      Eranofuposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      All my hubs (50+) are marked as containing links to malware or phishing sites.... :S Some of them don't even have any links there.

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   6. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I would recommend NOT removing HubPages.com links that are showing as malware.  The issues should slowly be resolving without the need for user intervention.  This is especially the case for non-featured Hubs.

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   7. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for everyone's continued patience.
      We have identified the problematic content and made changes to eliminate it from the site.
      It may take some time for Google's malware system to update and perhaps longer for sites to see the updates, but the malware warning should go away.
      
      The most serious problem, the browser blocking access to pages, was fixed mid-day on 24th.
      If you are still seeing the warning from your browser, I would suggest restarting your browser.

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   8. 78

      Seafarer Mamaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      It seems that the fix is not universal, though, but I am trying to be patient.
      
      I was given a warning on one hub (about Ireland)  that there was a possibly a malicious link in it, so I deleted the link, and within 24 to 48 hours that insidious red skull next to it went away.
      
      Now I have 2 red skulls, and 1 of the malicious links was deleted because when I checked the internet independently of Hub Pages, there was a message that the web page was blocked for the same reason (the one about a charity).
      
      The third red skull is in my hub about making a flag for the children's room of my local library. I think that the general message that there is a bad link on a hub is rather unfair, because it doesn't list which link to be careful of, and it reflects badly on a conscientious hubber.  I reported an error to Google, and have not removed the link because I believe that the status of it possessing malware is in error. The page is related to a nonprofit,, and i know the people who have designed it and who maintain it. I will let them know that the site is being evaluated this way to see if it is something they need to investigate...but the page  has not been blocked by Google, and it is not a phishing site, nor does it inentionally use malware. I hope that the error of this status is investigated before the HP team presumes to unpublish that hub.  Grateful for the patience of the HP hub quality team for their patience in this matter, too.

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      1. 78

         Seafarer Mamaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you to the fellow hubber who suggested clicking on the violations update next to the red skull violation symbol at the bottom of the page that lists all the hubs you have published or initiated.
         
         One still persists, though. I deleted the link, reported the error to Google once again, and had the hub reassessed for violations and the warning and red skull are still there. When I did enter edit mode to delete the offending link, I was not allowed to exit that mode by clicking "done editing." Had to click one of the malware explanation links in the warning, then re-enter hub pages via my web  page browser.  It's one of my featured hubs, too! <:0(

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         1. 78

            Seafarer Mamaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Here is the link to the "offending" hub ~ http://seafarermama.hubpages.com/hub/Se … s-Roomfrom
            
            I have deleted the "offending" link.. I would like the warning and the violation tag (loittle red skull) removed, please. Thank you very  much and happy new year!

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            1. 71

               That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               It can take 24 hours for the warning tag to disappear from your hub - after you have fixed the problem.
               
               This post was not about links on your own hub posts. It was about a problem with the HubPages site over all. People don't quite seem to 'get' that.
               
               If you have one link which just seems to be unfixable go back to the site it came from and get a different link. Make sure you didn't grab the wrong link. Does the link end with .html Does the link have a # in it after the .html
               
               Removing extra text from the link may get rid of the problem. But, a warning like that usually comes from the site domain so the best thing is to just delete the link and move on from it.
               
               In time - if you want to check back, the link may be ok to use again. The webmaster of that domain needs to get Google to take them off the "naughty" list before the domain will show up as clean again. This isn't something you can do anything about - unless the site you have linked to is your own.

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         2. 78

            Seafarer Mamaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Again, here is a link to the "offending" hub
            
            .http://seafarermama.hubpages.com/hub/Sewing-a-Flag-for-our-Town-Librarys-Childrens-Room
            
            I have deleted the "offending" link, but still the warning and violation tag persist. I would love the tech team to remove them, please. Thank you very much, and have a very happy New Year throughout 2013! <:0)

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      2. 70

         Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         As other users have pointed out, the issues you are describing is related to the links in your Hub and not to the HubPages subdomain malware warnings.  We do not remove links nor edit Hubs, so your best bet is to remove link when you see such warnings.  I would suggest contacting us here if you have any further questions regarding your Hub content.
         http://hubpages.com/contact_us/

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2. 72

   brakel2posted 11 years ago

   Scary. I sure would report it as a bug pronto. Sorry you are dealing with this issue.   Good luck.

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3. 94

   melbelposted 11 years ago

   
   
   Full size:
   http://i.imgur.com/NH24u.png

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4. 87

   Will Apseposted 11 years ago

   This is starting to get on my nerves...

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5. 86

   Cardisaposted 11 years ago

   This is scary, I am almost scared to check my hubs! Not good for the future of hubpages or making money.

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6. 60

   Michelle Taylorposted 11 years ago

   I am having the same problem on one of my poetry hubs and I don't even have any links on it.  Hopefully HP will notice this bug quickly and fix it.

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   1. 71

      That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'm pretty sure it is an HP link. Likely something they are running as an ad which is cycling around. That's why it only comes up with the malware warning now and then rather than each time.
      
      Whatever it is. HP really needs to get it fixed. The search engines will be blocking the site if we show up as malware.

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      1. 67

         Pearldiverposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         + 1
         
         Got it in one I reckon.... I'm sure this is merely part of the 'site improvement' practice that has been occurring since all the sub-domain links got turned off, redirected and completely, uniquely SEO'd (you know.. Some Errors Occured!)..
         
         This could well be all as a result of the 'If it Don't Need Fixing - Fix It' stategy... Don't worry folks... I've met lots of so called 'experts' and KIA's in their field who never read manufacturers instructions!    

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7. 67

   Pearldiverposted 11 years ago

   Here's one of mine that sets off my malware notice:
   
   http://pearldiver.hubpages.com/hub/Knig … Flying-Ace
   
   Plus
   
   I've mentioned more than once that I and others, get an INSECURE page notice when signing into HP's https page Even Though you state the certs have been renewed... So, it's a bug, more than likely and it's over 5 weeks old! This allows 3rd party phishing to occur... it IS Equally as Important as the primary issue on this thread... so please check this...
   
   And Merry Christmas... hope you guys at least get lunch shouted 

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   1. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks!  It looks related to http://becauseilive.hubpages.com/hub/Ta … ds_Phrases
      
      There are other sub-domains affected as well.

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8. 67

   Pearldiverposted 11 years ago

   Cheers Matt.... I'm a bit concerned that due to the sign in issue that's been here for 5 weeks now... that it may be providing a gateway to more than my sub domain...  Thanks mate!  Have a good one

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   1. 70

      Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I don't know what you are referring to.  If you believe there is a sign in issue, please report it in a new forum thread.

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      1. 71

         Alastar Packerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the redirect Simone and and the info Matt.

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9. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

   Tired of this.

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10. 92

    vespawoolfposted 11 years ago

    Yes, I also received this warning on a hub that was linked to foodnetwork. I removed all the links and the warning disappeared.

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11. 0

    SirDentposted 11 years ago

    The following links may "phish" or host malware:
    
    http://simonesmith.hubpages.com/ diagnostic information
    Note: It is your responsibility to remove any links that match the description above. This list is provided as a courtesy; the classification of links is subject to change.
    __________________________________________
    
    Makes no real sense to me.  Simone is a Phisherman/woman?    A woman of many talents.

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    1. 80

       Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I also had two hubs with that problem. They both had links to Simonesmith.hubpages.com/  I removed the links and the warning disappeared. I'm assuming the skulls will disappear when the hubs are reviewed again.

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       1. 65

          eHealerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Hey Healthy Pursuits, my skulls disappeared in about 12 hours from the time that I removed all the links.

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       2. 81

          Becky Katzposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Down at the bottom of your statistics page, there is a link to have it scanned. That will take all skulls off if the problem is solved.

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          1. 80

             Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Thank you, Becky!

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    2. 91

       GoodLadyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Have a red skull on http://goodlady.hubpages.com/hub/Cartoo … r-Costumes which has  the same Simonesmith.hubpages.com/ link issue.   Have removed the link.  Shall wait a day or two to see the skull removed.

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12. 82

    poshcoffeecoposted 11 years ago

    I have an article which has this violation for phishing but doesn't say which link needs removing. The only thing I can do is remove all the links. Seems like it is getting harder and harder to write on this site. The goal posts keep moving.

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    1. 87

       IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       If you click on the warning in the hub, you get further details outlining the exact URL/s that is/are causing the problems.

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    2. 71

       That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Before you delete all the links just check them manually. If one site gives you a warning that's the one to delete. If none of them give you a warning ignore the phishing warning for a few days and see if it clears itself.

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13. 95

    j-u-i-c-eposted 11 years ago

    Yep. I got a warning about a link from one of my hubs to another one of my hubs.

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14. 61

    Froggy213posted 11 years ago

    I have two hubs showing they have links to phishing sites which are hubs:
    
    http://froggy213.hubpages.com/hub/Check … omic-Books
    
    http://froggy213.hubpages.com/hub/The-R … -Caribbean
    
    I took links off the first one and then I read this and left #2 alone. Hope this is fixed soon.

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15. 60

    paradigmsearchposted 11 years ago

    Here's what's going on. From another thread. http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/107695
    
    

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    1. 80

       Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I know if I were to hit that warning without knowing what is going on, I would simply never return to the site the warning came up on.  I wonder how much traffic we will end up losing long term over this?  It is not the first instance we have had issues with rogue ads...  remember those ones that included audio and video that simply started playing? 
       
       Hopefully all will work out soon.

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       1. 60

          paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Fortunately, I was/am on adsense. But there's still those pesky other hubber's hub  links...

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          1. 80

             Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Seems like it is always something, lol.  I pop in about once or twice a week to see if I have anything weird going on.  I got the warning about malware when I clicked a link in my email from HP taking me to the comment on a hub, twice.

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             1. 60

                paradigmsearchposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                I wonder how the search engines are digesting all this...

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                1. 80

                   Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                   They prpbably have a bad case of indigestion, lol.

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16. 60

    sleepylogposted 11 years ago

    For several weeks now I've had problems with HP on my laptop that is running on Win7. Every few minutes I get a pop-up asking me take part in a survey. It popped-up for the first time after I clicked on an email link to one of my hubs saying there was some sort of violation in my Hub. However my Hub was fine. I know now that it was Malware possibly sent by hubber who specialises in disguising his/her private messages as HP admin emails.
    
    The first time I saw it, I took the survey thinking it was a HP thing.  But afterwards I quickly realised it was malware/adware that installed itself on my laptop or browser. I know it has nothing to do with my hubs or any of the links in them because the ad has NEVER appeared when I access HP from my PC which runs on a Linux-based OS.
    
    I now only access HP from my PC, as Linux-based systems are so much more secure than Windows ones.
    
    I have run multiple scans on my laptop but so far none of them have picked up any malware or adware.
    
    I have no doubt though that some of the issues are caused by a hubber or hubbers sending fake emails or IMs disguised as emails from HP.

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17. 87

    IzzyMposted 11 years ago

    I'm not removing the links.
    
    The only two that are problematic are ones to hubs by StevenNix and Simone Smith.
    
    Removing the links will be harmful to both of these hubbers. While they may harm my account by staying there, it is unlikely as none of the hubs affected are high traffic anyway.
    
    I have no doubt HP engineers are working right now to track down the rogue files, and when they are gone, both of those hubbers will have lost potentially thousands of links if everybody manually removes them.
    
    There is no saying that I would remember to replace them after this is over, so they are staying.

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    1. 70

       Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       There are other Hubs affected.
       The moderators should be taking special care right now when seeing Hubs marked as malware due to this issue, so you hopefully the number of Hubs moderated due to this bug should be minimized.
       
       My understanding is that once we made changes to address the issues, it may take the malware alerts some time to work their way out of the notifications for Google, and then Chrome, Firefox, etc.
       Thanks to everyone for your helpful details and for your patience.
       Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

       report
       1. 71

          That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Merry Christmas to you also, Matthew.

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       2. 87

          IzzyMposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I read back my own post and realised it could be read to say that only those two hubbers were affected, but of course I meant my own links only showed them. I don't actually link out to a lot of hubbers as I choose which ones to link to carefully.
          
          Thanks for saying the moderators will be taking care here. I would not like to see my featured hubs unpublished through this, although I do think the best course of action for hubbers is to do nothing at this point.
          
          I had a great Christmas! I hope you and everyone else at Hubpages did too

          report
18. 53

    janderson99posted 11 years ago

    It appears that there may be broader issues. My violations arose from links to plus one journal for science articles.
    http://sciencenewstop.blogspot.com.au/2 … urnal.html

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    1. 71

       That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       This was about links inside HubPages, not outside sources.

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    2. 70

       Matthew Meyerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       @janderson99 As @That Grrl, the bug is only related to HubPages.com subdomains affected by rogue ads.
       We believe we have addressed the issue, but it may take some time for the changes to cascade outward.
       
       I am also not getting a malware warning for
       http://sciencenewstop.blogspot.com.au/2 … urnal.html

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       1. 61

          Froggy213posted 11 years agoin reply to this

          I had two malware warnings for science sites I had linked which I removed. My belief is Google is attacking Google on some of their own ads.
          
          One of them was to one of a distant cousin of mine--he has written many articles on scientific stuff--Kurt Boudonck

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19. 94

    melbelposted 11 years ago

    I'm not seeing any issues as of late. I'll let you know if I do see something, though. Sorry your engineers had to work on this over the holidays. Give 'em some hot cocoa and beercade tokens on me.

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20. 88

    jellygatorposted 11 years ago

    I had another one come up today on my hub on SWOT analysis. It claims the malware site is my SCORE link, which is a well-known, reputable organization.
    
    I removed the links on other hubs a few days ago, but I'm reluctant to remove this link because of the high value in contributes to the page.
    
    The violation notice just showed up, so I hope to get some quick advice!

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    1. 65

       eHealerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Hey Jelly, maybe you could remove it and then repost it. That may work for you, it worked on one of my links to the CDC.

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       1. 88

          jellygatorposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks, eHealer! It does seem to be resolved now.

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21. 78

    Seafarer Mamaposted 11 years ago

    I'll try that again. Here is a better link to the "offending" hub.
    
    http://seafarermama.hubpages.com/hub/Se … drens-Room
    
    Hope to see this problem resolved asap. Thank you very much! Happy New Year!

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    1. 78

       Seafarer Mamaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Good news for me. HP finally acknowledged that I deleted the "offending" link from the flagged hub and now there is no more little red skull. hooray! :0)

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       1. 71

          That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          It just takes time. Why did you get so focused on that one thing? I get them, fix them and then ignore then for a day or two. You should use your experience to write a Hub for others who are finding it hard to understand how the red skulls work. It would make a good tutorial post - especially with your personal experience and sympathy for anyone else in the same boat.

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22. 94

    melbelposted 11 years ago

    I'm not removing any links. My links are to good hubs and reputable sites.
    
    Another site, aside from HubPages, was affected and, in their case, they had an issue with a 'rogue ad' as well.
    
    I assume HubPages and this other site (and perhaps MANY other sites) get a similar pool of ads, so when the pool has a bad ad all the sites showing the ad gets a bad rep. It goes away once the ad gets removed from the network but sucks in the meantime... doesn't mean that the sites are bad (they're not), just the ad was bad. I've dealt with this in the past having worked with ad networks (and it sucks.) Unfortunately, not all ad networks vet ads as well as you would hope and, even when they do, they can't control what admins do to their sites.

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    1. 71

       That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       The danger with not removing these malware flagged links is that Google will decide HubPages (the entire network - all of us) are a site to use with caution. Google is a search engine and a web directory. They can and will filter out sites which they have seen as being detrimental -having malware being one reason they will block a site  (a whole domain like hubpages.com) from showing up AT ALL. In other words HubPages.com can end up being banned for malware. You should take the red skull links seriously. Delete them.
       
       Yes, sometimes the link was flagged incorrectly. Sometimes it hurts to delete a link to a site you really like, personally. I had one of those yesterday. But, you can try adding the link again, a month or so down the road. Do your own check on the link. Just visit it yourself in your web browser. Do you get a warning? If you do, then the link is still being investigated or banned. Wait another month to check it again. When you are able to visit the link yourself it should be safe again to add it to your HubPages post.
       
       This is not something HubPages is doing to personally annoy or aggravate any of us. This is something HubPages is doing to protect it's own domain from becoming listed as a dangerous site with possible malware links. We don't want that. So instead of getting annoyed just check the links and delete them - for now.
       
       I'm not a HubPages groupie or anything. But, I can see the common sense in keeping the HubPages network clean. Everyone puts so much concern into Google and Google rank and traffic from Google... well this is something that will stop all traffic from Google if it is left unchecked.

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    2. 71

       That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       When you get a red skull it will tell you which link is the malware problem. I started this thread because the link in the warning was not one I had used or knew anything about.
       
       HubPages has fixed that.
       
       If you have malware links from an actual link in your post that is not an ad from HubPages then.
       
       I imagine eBay must get hit with a lot of links they need to filter, like that. I wonder what kind of software they use. It must be fast and thorough.

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23. 94

    melbelposted 11 years ago

    Oh, no, I'm not talking about red skulls. I'm talking about the advertising issue that HubPages was having (the malware issue in which this thread was created to report.)
    
    I'm not removing links due to the fact that it's an ad issue which HubPages is (or was) working on although some hubbers either confused red skulls with the malware ad issue or went into hysteria removing links on hubs in order to hopefully disconnect themselves from the source of the problem (which had nothing to do with any single hub, but rather an ad that appeared on multiple hubs) and thus was an issue that HubPages staffers themselves had to work on. In addition to this, a staffer issued a statement asking hubbers to avoid removing internal links:
    
    
    
    
    On another note, if and when I get a red skull, I look into the site and exercise discretion as to whether or not to remove the link. If it's something that's unlikely to clear up soon, I'll remove it. If it's something due to a rogue ad (a site which I linked to in one of my hubs had the same rogue ad issue HubPages ad), I'll temporarily disable the capsule, but won't remove it completely unless the issue doesn't clear up.

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    1. 71

       That Grrlposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I thought you knew the difference but I know other people reading this don't understand the difference.
       
       I'm glad the problem was caught and fixed pretty quick here. I was really surprised when it popped up on my screen.

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    2. 88

       NateB11posted 11 years agoin reply to this

       How do you know if it has cleared up? I had a hub which had a warning about a link (with the red skull), and I googled the site and results page with the link to that site had a warning about the site too. I just googled it again and there's no warning. I'm guessing it was a temporary problem that's been fixed. It's a reputable site. But I don't want to put the link back in the hub if it's a bad link.

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       1. 94

          melbelposted 11 years agoin reply to this

          Bad links/red skulls are a different issue than the issue discussed in this thread. The issue was an ad and has been cleared up.
          
          However, it is possible that the site you linked to may have had a bad ad and, like HubPages, was giving malware warnings (and thus a red skull on your my account page.) I know that some other sites had an ad issue at the same time HubPages did.

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          1. 88

             NateB11posted 11 years agoin reply to this

             Yes, I think I'm unclear about the difference, I was still thinking it was connected. But yes, I was also thinking it was something they might have cleared up on the other site, it happened at the same time as the malware problem here; I guess that's why I connected the two things. I might have to leave that link alone until I learn more about the issues.

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