Why am I getting so many pop up ads now

Dave Thayer · Oct 31, 2019

First off - I dont want to do the premium subscription. I do not do any of the items provided in the Premium.

Your website has been pretty good up till today. I am now getting pop up ads every 30 secs to a minute. and some I cant delete till it is done. This is crazy. I dont mind ads, but you are going to far with them. Please reduce the amount of pop up ads.

Please Stop This · Oct 31, 2019

-removed-

BrightCandle · Oct 31, 2019

-removed-

Bram Hengeveld · Oct 31, 2019

Can you make a screenshot of such popups as we don't serve them. At least we shouldn't. If there are any provided by our advertising partners we will do everything to correct that on the fly.

And can we please lower the tone a bit guys. Whatever we are doing on RD we do it with the user in mind so please avoid weird sentences like "you are going too far". Come on please, we are here to assist, not to piss people off. A bug can sometimes be annoying but then at least report it properly with information so we can do something about it.

Also without ads or a premium subscription there is no RaceDepartment as the bills of this site are paid with real money. It's either one or the other. Blocking ads we don't support for obvious reasons, neither are we going to facilitate the discussion around it.

Mitja Bonca · Oct 31, 2019

Go premium guys, and ads will be gone

And you will support this great forum with that.
I`m sure none of you will miss 15€ that much

Mine has just ended yesterday, so need to re-new it.

Please Stop This · Oct 31, 2019

online advertisements and backing stuff up with it is a lie

Bram Hengeveld · Oct 31, 2019

Please Stop This said:
online advertisements and backing stuff up with it is a lie

If you want me to help please provide me the needed information or screenshots. I can really do without unfunded remarks.

Dave Thayer · Nov 1, 2019

Bram Hengeveld said:
Can you make a screenshot of such popups as we don't serve them. At least we shouldn't. If there are any provided by our advertising partners we will do everything to correct that on the fly.

And can we please lower the tone a bit guys. Whatever we are doing on RD we do it with the user in mind so please avoid weird sentences like "you are going too far". Come on please, we are here to assist, not to piss people off. A bug can sometimes be annoying but then at least report it properly with information so we can do something about it.

Also without ads or a premium subscription there is no RaceDepartment as the bills of this site are paid with real money. It's either one or the other. Blocking ads we don't support for obvious reasons.

Hi Bram,
Not complaining on my original post, just was surprised to see more ads. May I ask how much is the premium? I clicked on Premium Tab above, it tells me all about it-features, but couldnt find pricing mentioned or i missed seeing it. Bram, I will look again to find more info. I dont do any online racing at the moment, but I do download Assetto Corsa items and view the forums and News.

thank you and take care,
Dave

PS: Ah I see where your rates are for membership, ignore my question above. I will join up this weekend.
Take care.

Raf Nix · Nov 1, 2019

Well, it's the nerve killing 'Read The Article' pop up here which is not served by Racedepartment? Who else is interested than?

Bram Hengeveld · Nov 1, 2019

Raf Nix said:
Well, it's the nerve killing 'Read The Article' pop up here which is not served by Racedepartment? Who else is interested than?

That's not a popup but a video player and it should not show to registered users or premium members. Please confirm that you don't see this when you are logged in?

aphidgod · Nov 4, 2019

I used to be premium, but management has seen to it that I won't give them my money ever again.

Can definitely confirm popups and redirects on mobile. I've had 2 just while making this post. This is some bush-league stuff, RD. Disappointing if not entirely surprising.

Bram Hengeveld · Nov 4, 2019

Please make a screenshot or click on the report this ad button under each ad to report the ad, it's there for a reason so ad supplier can do something about it.

We don't control every ad on this site just like every other website with google ads. .

aphidgod said:
but management has seen to it

Well, I am the owner / management and as far as I recall we have never had the honor to meet before. Happy to hear what I did wrong so I can improve it.

thepharcyde · Nov 4, 2019

-removed- already outlined here why we are not going to facilitate that discussion

Ho3n3r · Nov 4, 2019

My premium sub expired last week, now I know what he's talking about - it's not the banner ads, they're fine.

Ignored it the first few times, but now it's annoying me:

Screenshot_20191104-160922_Chrome Dev.jpg

And this is the only site I visit that I've ever gotten these on.

Shovas · Nov 4, 2019

I have some experience with advertising. Those are either from poor Google Ads quality control or simply malicious ads that get through Google Ads screening. There's an outside chance there's some third party script or malicious code somewhere on the site but probably not since paid users aren't seeing this.

Super unfortunate for bad actors to ruin ads for everybody like this but it's not RD doing it these types of popups and redirects are common around the internet.

It's not a great answer to some people but I will echo that a subscription to RD is well worth if you begin to get into mod downloads.

Shovas · Nov 4, 2019

Bram, have you considered alternative revenue streams through users visiting with the Brave browser (users tip you with BAT crypto tokens) or perhaps accepting tips/donations in crypto like Bitcoin?

Bram Hengeveld · Nov 4, 2019

Shovas said:
Bram, have you considered alternative revenue streams through users visiting with the Brave browser (users tip you with BAT crypto tokens) or perhaps accepting tips/donations in crypto like Bitcoin?

Unfortunately the larger a site grows the less committed people are with donating. Unfortunately that will not pay our bills which are substantial.

@Ho3n3r Finally a screenshot that helps. Thanks mate, this looks indeed like a bad ad from Google as @Shovas outlined. Did this ad also has a small link under it to report it? That way the provider can take direct action to have it removed. This is not something we can control unfortunately. But, i will forward this directly. Which OS and browser did this happen on?

Ho3n3r · Nov 4, 2019

Bram Hengeveld said:
@Ho3n3r Finally a screenshot that helps. Thanks mate, this looks indeed like a bad ad from Google as @Shovas outlined. Did this ad also has a small link under it to report it? That way the provider can take direct action to have it removed. This is not something we can control unfortunately. But, i will forward this directly. Which OS and browser did this happen on?

No worries. Happy to help. I don't remember seeing a link - that is the entire screenshot, so I doubt it. I'm too wary to click on the OK as I clicked on something similar before and it subscribed me to one of those $1/day things and it took me days to get it cancelled. This is the direct link:

Code:

https://luckyusers.site/?u=550411170967#

This was on Android 9 with Chrome.

Bram Hengeveld · Nov 4, 2019

Thanks man! Ill forward it with the provided details. Much appreciated!

aphidgod · Nov 5, 2019

@Bram Hengeveld Cheers... you and I have never had any personal interaction as best I can recall, so it's not personal. But it is what it is.

As far as the ads go... as others have said above, it's not the banner ads I have an issue with. You have bills to pay and ads generate revenue. I get that, and I consider those ads perfectly fair. No beef.

My issue is with the redirects. I get a "congratulations Walmart shopper, you've won!" redirect page that I imagine is similar to the one @Ho3n3r linked above. I can probably sort out taking screenshots on my phone if necessary.