Pop Up Ads again? Or was this reader mistaken

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   lobobrandonposted 4 years ago

   I just got this comment from a reader on one of my most popular hubs: "There may have been good information in this article but i had to stop reading because I'm on my phone and the mobile page had too much distracting crap blinking and popping up, and taking up half my screen space. I felt like i was on a busy street in Vegas, all these blinking signs trying to get my attention."
   
   Are there pop up ads showing up again? I didn't see any when I checked this Dengarden article. Since she says half the screen space, it could be regular ads that are gifs or some sort of media ads. But if they are pop-ups that's not good.

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      Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      The only way I've been able to catch these pop-ups is to clear all cookies, and make sure I'm logged out.
      
      I hate them, but I assume Maven/HP think the revenue they generate makes the annoyance worthwhile.

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         lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         I hate pop-ups too. I can't imagine them generating any income when people leave the site without clicking on any other ads. Even if they work, I'd rather not have them.

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      NateB11posted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I notice, often, on my articles, there will be a huge ad at the top that expands and takes up most of the page until you scroll down for a bit. It's obnoxious to say the least and surprised me because I know Google Adsense has a rule against it.

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         Beth Eaglescliffeposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Maven uses other ad networks as well as Google Adsense.

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            NateB11posted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Okay, that might explain it. And I was figuring they weren't just using Google. Maybe the big ads are on pages without Google ads. I've never really noticed, would be interesting to investigate, I might watch for it.

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               NateB11posted 4 years agoin reply to this

               Yeah, I just observed it, they have a lot of ads above the fold and they're Google ads. Doesn't matter to me as long as we all make money, to be honest, but discrepancies always get me. When I had my own sites, Adsense dinged me for having ads above the fold. Maybe they changed the rule or maybe they make exceptions. Like I said, doesn't matter to me a whole lot, but makes me exceedingly curious as to an answer.

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      Al Stineposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      If you cant see them, then they are definitely pop-up ads. I think the reader's issue goes beyond normal pop-up ads to adware. If the ads are taking up half the screen and popping up at regular intervals, it means the adware is geotagged to the user's device or browser. Whatever ads the reader might be seeing on the article will not be visible to the author or any other person.
      It is an issue of the reader's browser and device's privacy and security settings. As an author, there is pretty much nothing you can do about it.

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         lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Well, if it's malware, then that's definitely not something we can do. If this was the case the user would be getting them on other websites as well. The fact that they took the time to write a comment makes me think that they are not "used" to it and therefore it does not seem to be adware or malware causing the pop-ups? I get German ads here, I am sure the same ads do not sure to people in the US, and it is likely that the ads showing there (the US) have some instances of pop-ups as PD has pointed out that there were instances in the past where screenshots were shared on the forums.

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            Al Stineposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Makes sense, and the fact that it seems to be a recurring issue with other hubbers also validates your point.
            I hate adware, all pop-up ads I have ever had on my screen seemed to be tailor-made to embarrass me. I have found myself many times explaining to someone seated next to me on how much little influence I have on the pop-up ads on my screen.

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               lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               Yeah, I've had this happen to me once, it was not fun.

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      OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I was just reviewing a couple of my hubs on my own laptop and got the dreaded pop up ads.  Not just annoying, they also obscured part of the text.  Since when did HubPages become one of those awful sites that is all about the ads and doesn't care about the content?

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      1. 76

         lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         If you do happen to see them again, it would be worth the effort to take a screenshot and put it up on the "Technical Questions" forum. Matt has in the past taken action against these when PD and a few others have posted there.

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            OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks!  I'll do that.

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               lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               It would be a favour to all of us, so I should say thanks to you if you do it

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   paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

   It's happened before on my hubs. I kept visiting the hub until I caught them in the act; took a screenshot; posted it in the forums. Problem got solved.

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      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Yup, I've seen you post about this, more than once if I am not mistaken. That's why I chose to leave a comment. I'll try spotting it when I have the time later.

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3. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

   As we speak, I just unsubscribed from an email/website that shoved a video popup in my face and in front of text I was trying to read. It didn't even have the upper-right "x" to get rid of it. I had subscribed to them for years, but finally decided enough was enough. And so it goes...

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      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Damn. Some times the escape key works on those. If you are on the phone though, nothing much you can do about some of them.
      
      I give you permission to use the comment I got if you want to copy and send it to the website owner xD. Please do capitalize the I's if you choose to do this.

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         paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the escape key tip! That hadn't occurred to me. Thanks for the comment offer. Unfortunately, this (and worse) have been going on for some time and I'm pretty sure they have become a lost cause.

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Haha. Too bad, for them.

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4. 93

   EricDockettposted 4 years ago

   I've gotten reader comments like that too. Sign out clear cookies and check out the niche sites with ad blocker off. It's a mess.  It actually crashed my graphics driver on several instances. Can't imagine most readers are happy about it

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   1. 76

      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe the pop up ads are few and far between and they are geo targetted to the US? I cannot seem to get any, I have tried opening many different hubs on Dengarden, mine and those by others too.

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5. 74

   Wesman Todd Shawposted 4 years ago

   I recently shared a thing in a Facebook group. The thing was on the home website. Still is. Anyway, I got complaints about pop up ads.
   
   I didn't know that was happening. I think at points in the past I was told those things were evidence of malware?
   
   Or they could be the ads paying us. I've no idea. As I've no control over the situation, I simply said something like, "that should not be happening," and tried to forget about it.

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      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      As I said in another reply if it is malware, shouldn't it be showing everywhere and not just on the HP network? But, as you say I am not worrying too much about it as there's nothing I can do about it, just thought I'd bring it to the attention of the staff by posting in the technical forum.

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6. 91

   Kosmoposted 4 years ago

   Some of my hubs have pop-up ads, particularly ones on network sites; and others have video ads, which I don't like a bit. And some times an ad such as Grammarly will set up as soon as I enter an article and be hard to get rid of, which annoys me as well. Is this crap happening because of management policies or the network sites? Please advise!...

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      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Video ads are the worst, especially if they play with sound automatically. Most do not.

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7. 94

   Glenn Stokposted 4 years ago

   I ran into a few of these pop up ads too, on my hubs. This is a great concern to me, as it should be for all of us, since it can have a detrimental impact on our ranking.
   
   HubPages and Maven use many ad agencies now, in addition to AdSense. They discussed that at the Maven conference in 2018. I had the opportunity to chat with a rep from one of the agencies on the way back to the airport, and learned a few things about their plans. I imagine they are testing additional ones now.
   
   The problem I envision with the pop up ads is that it makes people leave early. They click away as soon as they get disturbed by something unrelated to the content they are trying to read. Google will detect the large number of short durations, and thereby reduce our ranking.

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      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Was this recent? The pop-up ads?

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         Glenn Stokposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         I believe it was last week. It’s been rare, only two or three times.

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            lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Okay, thanks for the information.

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8. 97

   RonElFranposted 4 years ago

   I get a video pop-up on my own hubs, in a window that persists as you scroll. It blocks text. Hugely annoying. What's worse, I'm sure it's from Maven since it's a Sports Illustrated video, and Maven now owns SI.
   
   BTW, this happens on my Kindle. I've actually been driven away from reading my own hubs by this.

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      paradigmsearchposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah. Maven buys SI, then Covid comes along and decimates the entire sports industry. They're probably not very happy campers over there.

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      lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Driven away from your own hubs, that must have been a really annoying experience(s).

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9. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 4 years ago

   This thread finally induced me to check my 6 remaining, awesome hubs. Other than the usual 6,547 ads per hub and the 2 hours each that it took them to load, all was well.

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10. 94

    Glenn Stokposted 4 years ago

    I just got one of those pop up ads on one of my hubs. When I clicked the X in the top right corner, it went to that advertiser's site instead of removing the ad. If those X's are fake, the advertiser will end up paying for unintentional clicks. What purpose does that serve?

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       lobobrandonposted 4 years agoin reply to this

       I would guess it is a pay per view. It could also be someone looking to work with retargeting where they place a cookie on your PC that follows you around on FB, etc. But again, I do not see the point in chasing after people who were not interested in what you had to offer.

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11. 92

    satomkoposted 4 years ago

    The pop-up ads persist and are beyond annoying.  They cover the content and frequently cannot be closed by hitting the "X"

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