Ads - About & Problem Reports

As you've probably noticed, we've got advertisements up on Circle of Eight. This isn't because we'd particularly like to irritate anyone with them, but because they're a necessary evil that helps to pay the server bills that Co8 generates every month, as well as other related costs (domain renewal, message board software licence, etc.).

While the majority of the ads that you will see on Co8 are decent enough, occasionally an ad will show up that will not meet the minimum acceptance criteria for displaying on this site, and in such a case I will remove it during my regular inspection of the ads in the system.

HOWEVER, as there are quite literally hundreds of different ads that show on the site (and new ones are being added by our advertising providers on a daily basis), a very annoying and/or malicious ad can enter the system from time to time. In such a case it's best to remove the offending ad right away, as I might not spot it during my regular check of the ads.

While the annoying ads are merely an inconvenience, any malicious ads (i.e. any browser session hijackers, auto-installers, trojan/spyware-carriers and the like) can turn out to be much more than a mere inconvenience. Our advertising providers for the most part do a good job of making sure that no such malicious ads enter the system, but every now and then such an ad appears in every provider's system. Given the huge number of ads in the system and the fact that they are geographically targeted (this means that you see different ads depending on your geographical location), tracking down a single problematic ad can be hard even when the ad is properly identified, and next to impossible unless certain vital information about the ad can be acquired.

This is where all of you can help me out, but first, let's take a look at what is actually considered to be an ad bad enough that it warrants reporting to me:

• Malicious ads. This includes browser session hijackers, auto-installers, trojan/spyware-carriers and the rest of the crap that won't be tolerated here.
• Non-user-initiated audio ads. This means any ads that make any sound on their own, without any action on your part. (This does not include the infamous "Hellooooo!!!" smiley ads which only make a sound if you move your mouse cursor over them. Such ads are annoying, but their sound can be avoided.)
• Adult ads. This means any ads with nudity and the majority of suggestive ads.
• Excessively flashing ads. Any ads that flash ridiculously fast and/or with colours hard on the eyes are bad.
• Pop-ups that make closing them difficult. Any pop ads that don't want to immediately close after clicking the [X] in their window's top right corner are considered bad.
• Pop-ups that spawn another (or more) pop-ups. Each pop-up should be unique and a single ad. For example, a pop-up that spawns another pop-up once you close the first one is bad.

So, now that you know what to be on the lookout for, how do you report it?

Here's the holy trinity of good reports about problematic ads:

1. Take a screenshot of it.
2. See where the ad points to (target url; you'll usually need to click on the ad to see where it leads to), and copy the url.
3. Describe what the ad is doing that is problematic.

Then send me an e-mail with all of the above (screenshot, target url of the ad, description of why it's a problem) to sorcerer -AT- sorcerers.net and I'll look into it. Alternatively, you can PM me and link me to the screenshot if you've uploaded it somewhere.

If there are any other ad-related problems anyone is having, feel free to discuss them here. Feel free to also ask any other ad-related questions either here or via PM. Thank you!

 

If you're ticking the Remember Me box next to the login, then your cookies are most likely turned off, so you'll need to enable them for co8.org.

 

Sorry about that but I don't really have any influence as far as their content goes... we could disable ads for the site supporters though but when I suggested it to Gear initially he didn't like the idea.

 

The last few days it's been much worse than usual because the server's been heavily overloaded, but it's a bit better now and should get better still. The ads have minimal impact on the page loading times though (unless you're on dial-up). What kind of a connection do you have?

 

Are they audio ads? I thought we weren't tolerating those.

sirchet, please check your PMs.

 

We've got a 'talker' here. It's an American Express ad, I think, that starts playing a video of it's own accord.

URL: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericanExpress/MembershipDoes/?x=b1

Something to do with the 'Passion Project.'

I didn't grab a screen sadly, but it appears on the bottom right of the screen in one of the box ads.

[edit]

Actually I see now that it starts playing if you hover the mouse over it. Anywhere over it, which is a fairly large area, given the box size. I've done it three times now accidentally.

And here's a screen now after all.



It's not just this chick above; there are a few varieties.

 

User-initiated doesn't count as malicious, sorry... there are hundreds of such ads in the system. I agree that they're annoying, but their sound can be avoided.