Pop up ads?

[Ian]

As of a week ago, I’m starting to get redirected to something similar to this on a fairly regular basis when I click on a post.

I’m using an iOS device and running Safari.  Anyone else running into something similar?

[William Chilton]

Firefox on Windows 10 and Chrome on Android, based outside the U.S.: I haven’t come across it.

[Ryan Jordan]

That should definitely not be happening, and I’ve filed a report to have this advertiser blocked. Please update this thread if it continues, or if anyone else notices it. Thanks Ian.

[Greg Mihalik]

iOS 11.2.2 here, using Safari for a browser, on an iPod Touch/6.

I have not had that happen. I do have every option related to ads and tracking set to No, Minimum, Location Services Off, etc. so Safari is flying blind.

 

[Andy Berner]

I had it happening last night. iPhone safari here

[Kattt]

This happened to me a few months ago and I blocked that URL. Took me a while to figure out and I don’t remember it now but I googled “how to block a URL”.
Good luck.

[Ian]

Thanks Ryan and to the members who responded.

I cleared my cache without success.   I’ll change my iOS Safari settings to what Greg suggested.

Thanks again all.

[Ian]

Kat,

I’ll research that option and try it later once I figure it out on iOS Safari.

[JCH]

I recommend BlockBear as an iOS ad blocker/content filter.  Simple, fast, does a great job. I no longer see ads on any website I visit.

[Ian]

Thanks JCH I’ll check that out

[Ryan “Rudy” Oury]

FYI, I had this happen maybe 3-4 times as well. Hasn’t happened in 1-2 days though… using an iPhone6 version iOS 12.0.1

[Ian]

It’s fixed?  So far so good.

Here are my Safari settings.  I’d love to block cookies but that setting makes some websites unusable.

 

[Ian]

Spoke too soon.  It’s now back with a vengeance

[JCH]

Did BlockBear not work for you?

 

[Ian]

JCH I’m trying it out now and have it enabled in Safari.   So far so good

[Ian]

As of right now, assuming I set everything up right and that the pop up ads that redirect me to a different URL are gone, block Bear seems to be a workable solution for BPL and me.

I’m still seeing the normal ads but the pop ups are gone at the moment.   I’ll report back if that changes

[Ian]

24 hour experiment with Block Bear complete and I can report that it fixes the problem.

[Greg Mihalik]

This has been the classic example of platform advertisers screwing both the content providers and the end users.  If content providers exercised control over delivery abuse this would not be an issue.

Until then I too will be blocking.

 

Step away from the soapbox, step away …

[Roger Caffin]

uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger, applied hard.
If a web site does not like it, tough.

Cheers

[JCH]

For all MacOS Mojave and Safari 12 users –

Safari has been updated such that uBlock Origin (UBO) must be specifically re-enabled in the Safari > Preferences > Extensions dialog.  After doing so, Safari warns that the extension will “slow down your system”, in other words it consumes a lot of system resources. Also the security permissions for UBO (under Safari > Preferences > Extensions ) state “Can read sensitive information from webpages, including passwords, phone numbers, and credit cards on all webpages, and can see when you visit all pages.”  Hmmm…I didn’t like the sound of that!  Add to this that UBO has not been updated since April 2018, and I went looking for a better solution.

That (rather extensive) search led me to WIPR, and while it is a $1.99 download from the Mac App Store (MAS), I am happy to say that it works beautifully AND consumes far fewer system resources than UBO.  If anyone would like to read more about why this is, here is the WIPR developer’s explanation.  Note that the new native version referenced in that post is the one available in the MAS.

There is also an informative REDDIT you can check…in particular, scroll a short way down and read CurtisCee’s post concerning UBO.

Note that I am NOT saying UBO is bad, simply that I do not think it is the best choice for the Mac platform.  I have uninstalled UBO from all my Macs and am running WIPR exclusively, and suggest that anyone using UBO on the Mac platform at least consider this alternative.  Please do not let a tiny $1.99 purchase dissuade you…I have paid 4x that for beers so disgusting that I left them on the bar :)

Finally, I have NO CONNECTION to the WIPR developer, gain nothing from anyone using or not using WIPR, and post this information simply as a community service.  This was my analysis and these were my decisions, yours may be different.  HYOH.

[idester]

A WIPR user here as well, has worked for me for the past two months with no issues. I use it on iOS as well, also with no issues.

[Roger Caffin]

I haven’t noticed any degradation from running uBlock on W7.

Cheers

[JCH]

Roger – My statements are applicable to MacOS and Safari 12 only.  UBO was a good, perhaps the best, choice on the Mac platform for quite some time.  This has, IMO, changed, thus my post.

For UBO on the Windows platform, I have no information nor experience regarding performance or fit-for-purpose.  Those using Windows will need to gather their own data in determining the best ad blocking solution.

I have edited my original post minimally to emphasize that my statements apply only to the Mac platform.

[Roger Caffin]

It is interesting that some at least of the major web browsers are considering including ad-blocking as part of the browser. Chrome may not want to, as Google is driven by the advertising, but Firefox may do so.

Such a move would provoke a real crisis for Chrome, as not blocking ads might precipitate a steady loss of customers to the others. Fun stuff.

Cheers

[Ian]

I haven’t used Chrome in a few years but it was surprisingly easy to add some ad blocker plugins

[Author]

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