Tech: Pop-up Ads

Subject: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: meself
Date: 29 Aug 26 - 11:10 PM

Lately, whenever I click on an entry on the list of user-names and times at the top of a thread, an ad will pop-up and take over the screen, and remain until I click "close", when the list will reappear, and I need to click again on the entry to go to comment I want. Is this annoyance happening to everybody or just me?

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: GUEST,.gargohld
Date: 30 Aug 26 - 12:24 AM

It is driving be crazy too ... all engines and any machine.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle
I am already a nuts job ... could this push me over top?

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 30 Aug 26 - 12:54 AM

I should also add ... the ads are for bizarre things:
Women handbags
Men underwear - European
Women shoes
Kitchen appliances
Drug trials

Sincerely,
Gargoyle
I am told ... that if I pay a fee ... I came get it for free?

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Aug 26 - 02:27 AM

Yeah, I've been getting them too. I realize the need to make money to pay for things, but the latest ads are really annoying.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: DaveRo
Date: 30 Aug 26 - 03:02 AM

If they're really annoying then they're probably misconfigured. A site owner's intention in using adverts is not usually to drive people away. So he may not know. That happened before on iPhones when the adverts covered the entire screen.

And closing an unwanted popup by clicking on it is how you get malware. Don't do it.

Why not block the adverts and send some money? Adverts mainly make money for advertisers.

Remarkably, it's 5 years since this was last discussed
Tech: I'm tempted to click

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: Johnny J
Date: 30 Aug 26 - 05:21 AM

Can users not use some form of "Ad blocker" as I do?
Am I missing something?

It doesn't work on every site, of course.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 30 Aug 26 - 06:13 AM

Johnny J wrote: Can users not use some form of "Ad blocker" as I do?

I am no more fond of ads than anyone, but you do know that ads pay for the Internet, don't you? If there are no ads, there are no free sites. There is an implicit contract here: Either permit ads, or make a contribution.

The latter is, of course, better, since even a small contribution is almost certainly more than the site gets from the advertising it shows to you.

Using an ad blocker is shifting one's one burden onto others. It's why many sites won't show you content if you use an ad blocker. And I can't bring myself to blame them.

C'mon, people: help keep the Internet alive, and either contribute to sites you use or disable your ad blocker.

Or both, of course.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: meself
Date: 30 Aug 26 - 11:57 AM

Hmmm - just looked at that thread from 2021 - but I've only been getting this annoyance in the past few weeks ... ?

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: DaveRo
Date: 30 Aug 26 - 01:26 PM

So either Mudcat, or Google - who provide the ads - has changed something to make the ads obtrusive.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 30 Aug 26 - 02:00 PM

DaveRo wrote: So either Mudcat, or Google - who provide the ads - has changed something to make the ads obtrusive.

Or possibly a cookie expired. For me, if ads get obtrusive, logging in again often causes them to back off.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 30 Aug 26 - 11:49 PM

What is MAX current address?

I only deal in cash - no credit cards.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

The markets are UP!

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: BobL
Date: 31 Aug 26 - 02:58 AM

Curiously, I didn't get any pop-ups intruding on this page, although I have a sneaking suspicion why not.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: DaveRo
Date: 31 Aug 26 - 05:29 AM

Robert B. Waltz wrote: Or possibly a cookie expired. For me, if ads get obtrusive, logging in again often causes them to back off.

That could be true if
- the ad formats Mudcat has specied depend in whether you are logged in. (I don't know whether they do.)
- you login to Google, to which you can specify what ads you want, or don't want, and which uses cookies (and other things) to track you on the internet.

I've never set up a website that uses Google adverts, and I don't see Google adverts because I run an ad-blocker, but AFAIK they work as follows. The website builder includes code that specifies what sort of adverts they want (in page, banners, pop-ups, ...), the acceptable content (musical instruments, lingerie, ...) and where on the pages they should be displayed. That could vary by user (signed in, contributor, visitor...). It's designed to be as easy as possible for the website builder and requires little maintenance: 'fit and forget'.

Google tracks users on the site and the adverts they see are optimised for the user - that is selected to be most likely to manipulate them. The actual adverts are generated by other companies who pay Google to display them. Their format will depend on the user's device (PC, tablet, phone, TV, ...) and the content will depend on the site's policies, and the user's location, age, gender, browsing habits, and anything else Google knows about them from other sources (medical history, financial status, ... ).

Google also runs the most popular search engine (I use it), owns the Android mobile system (I use use that too) and as a major AI operator has access to data from everywhere. There's a lot it knows about you and it sells that information to other businesses.

The companies who supply the adverts for Google to display (ad-brokers) get those adverts from advertising agencies. They not-infrequently serve 'poisoned' ads, usually as a result of infiltration (hacking) which can introduce malware to the user's device. Browsers usually require physical interaction with a pop-up or image (clicking, tapping) before they will run the scripts that install malware. Which is why you shouldn't click the 'X' close button on an ad. Even the existance of a close button should be viewed with suspicion. That was discussed further in the earlier thread I linked to.

So there are good reasons to block ads, beyond being irritated and distracted by them.

Mudcat has a prominent DONATE button.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 31 Aug 26 - 09:28 AM

No idea why but I get them on my iPad but not my iPhone.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 31 Aug 26 - 09:38 AM

I use Adblock - zero adverts on Mudcat for me on either my iPad or my Win 11 Laptop.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 26 - 10:48 AM

Those who use ad-blockers (I am one) should periodically use the DONATE button on the front page of Mudcat and send a few dollars to help support the cause.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: Max
Date: 31 Aug 26 - 06:21 PM

Sorry, they're a new feature Google is pushing. It auto-applied it to our account. I'll shut it down.

You know, if we got a few more modest monthly's, I could turn off all the ads.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 31 Aug 26 - 08:23 PM

Thanks - DaveRo - that explains a lot - you should publish an article in WIRED.

MAX ... 10 cents a day for three decades ...

THANK YOU !

Sincerely,
Gargoyle
Thanks again for the adventure.

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: Max
Date: 31 Aug 26 - 10:07 PM

Well, thanks to gargoyle, mudcat will have no ads for members and almost no ads for everyone else until at least spring.

cheers,
max

Subject: RE: Tech: Pop-up Ads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Sep 26 - 12:16 AM

Thank you, Garg! What a wonderful thing to do for Max and all of us! (Maybe one day you'll decide to log on and not always be a guest?)