QRZ.COM advert malware???

Is anyone else seeing these obnoxious adverts on the QRZ.COM home page for "Critical You need to update your security" or "you have private messages"? They appear advertising space links to malware.

 

I'm just sick of all the adverts popping up all over different pages (my home page on qrz especially). If you click on them it usually (not always) links to malware etc - if the administrators dont regulate or get rid of them, I'll just pack up using the site and close my account. If it isnt crap adverts, its corporate adverts - is any site immune to being wrecked by advertising and irritating pop-ups???? I know its advertising that helps fund sites but, I think the way the advertising is done is soul destroying - ITS JUST SO BLOODY IRRITATING !!!!

 

I get the private message thing but know there are none for me so I never click on them,

TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo

 

Tom,

In that case, it's over. Have a nice life.

Sincerely,
Vanna

 

I use Firefox with Adblock Edge, Flashblock, NoScript and RequestPolicy add-ons installed on it. Very powerfull combination. No ads, no pop-ups, absolutely nothing at all! Just the sites only!

 

I don't get any ads either. hmmm

 

You don't get any what? What are ads?

 

Epic!

+3...nothing but net!


Regards,
-Bruce
WE4AU

 

I am a paid subscriber no advertisement, as long as I sign in;
does not matter if I use Internet exploder or

Mozilla Firefox with Adblock Plus, {my preference usually} .

 

Yup...what Lee said. Subscription or not...it's all in the browser. Latest version of Firefox plus several add-ons and I'm not seeing any of that stuff. You can take your pick of several free add-ons, but I use Adblock Plus, Better Privacy, Disconnect, Dr. Web Link Checker, Ghostery, and Google Disconnect....all of which are free. The only snag with Google Disconnect is that you have to allow it to see the map when doing a call sign look up. And no, I don't consider all this stuff as being paranoid. I certainly don't see any extraneous crap anywhere on the site here though.

 

Blocking the ads is a great way to make sure that paid subscription is eventually required to view this site at all.

 

I hate that line of defense...

The primary reason adblockers came into use was due to malicious content being served via ads, or ads that controlled your computer (Full screen, pop ups). If content providers would focus on non-intrusive ads, that were relevant to the content, you wouldn't have seen the rise of ad blockers.

But, the annoying ads pay more to the content provider, and many can't see past their own nose: The more annoying ads are, the less people will see them (Since they will block them, somehow).

If QRZ (For example), stuck to AdSense textual ads, I would turn off my ad blocker. But, the site continues to serve obnoxious, flashing ads; and apparently, doesn't filter their ad providers much.

 

But unfortunately, it's true. The reason those ads are there is they bring in money. That's it. By blocking the ads, you remove that source of revenue, and it will eventually be missed.

It would be very difficult to convince Fred (or whoever in other cases) that if only he gets different, lower paying, ads, we promise we'll turn off our ad-blockers.

 

Wrong.

Ads bring in a pittance of revenue, especially obnoxious ads. I know this, because I work hand in hand with an ad operations team, whose only focus is figuring out how to generate ad revenue.

The more obnoxious the ads (Like what is present on the sidebar of this site), the less revenue they bring in, as users actively find ways to squelch them. Unobtrusive ads work the best, especially when they seem to be part of the content flow, and are relevant to the content.

Then, adding to the point the more ads you place on a page, the less valuable adspace becomes. Once ads become the predominant content present, the consumers start to tune out your source, also dropping ad revenue.

Additionally, when ads start dragging load time up above 350ms, you also start to lose consumers. Without adblock+, this site takes about 450ms to 650ms to render a page. With adblock+, it takes about 275-320ms.

So, if you would like to discuss ways to optimize ad revenue, without resorting to the nonsense argument of "Without ads, we'll need subscriptions to access content", because that just isn't true. If you care to look, Dead tree media who went to paid-gate for their content have seen web viewership drop off precipitously.

 

I'm thinking some of you have malware on your computer. I have ads turned on so I can see them, though I have the option to turn them off if I want (as does every paid subscriber). The *ONLY* time I have ever gotten a "popup" ad was when I had accidentally downloaded some malware, but that was years ago. There is an entire industry out there figuring ways to infect your computer with malware to offer up ads like these.

I would at least run the free version of Malwarebytes as a start to check for bad stuff on your computer.

Google controls most of the ads here and what you see is often based on cookies on your own computer, as google attempts to match the ads to your browsing habits. So before someone starts complaining about "sexy" ads, one best have a look at their cookies. I delete all mine on a regular basis.

...........Bob