A big thank you to everyone who has pointed out the weird, spammy ad that’s somehow managed to sneak past the armed guards we have stationed around the Compaq Portable that runs our ad server. Unfortunately, as some of you have noticed, our game of whack-a-mole to knock it down has not been particularly successful. I want to share with you all our game plan for addressing it and some assistance that might be helpful.
We’re on track to have our biggest month ever, and with that increase in traffic comes new problems. There’s a whole host of ads, categories, and ad technologies we don’t allow on this site because, especially as a member-supported enterprise, we want to keep this place clear of Badvertising. I’m sorry these ads are sneaking through, as it means we’re not keeping up our end of the bargain.
The world of programmatic advertising, which is our single biggest source of income, is built partially on trust. For example, we don’t allow ads that reference sex; those advertisers, in theory, are required to accurately identify that their ads reference sex so that we don’t run them. We’re going to have more than 15 million ad impressions this month, and it would be impossible to approve all of those in advance.
When someone has cheated in the past, a reader has alerted us, and we’ve banned that advertiser. It’s clean, quick, and easy. It’s also usually infrequent. Unfortunately, an individual advertiser or cluster of advertisers has found a way to get around our protections. The usual tools have not worked, so we’re taking the following measures:
- We’ve gone in and removed any ads that have high click-through-rates that seem like they shouldn’t.
- We’ve banned any related URLs.
- At the highest level, we are implementing a new technology that’s supposed to weed out this kind of badvertising. It should be rolling out in a matter of minutes. It costs us $$, but that seems to be the cost of doing business.
Here’s where I could use your help. First and foremost, I’m not sure how instantaneous the new filter is, so if you’re still seeing crappy redirects by the time the sun goes down on the Hollywood Sign please let me know. Also, if you ever see a bad ad, please email me and let me know any URL associated with it and what it looks like.
Again, sorry about this. We take this very seriously and will continue to work behind the scenes until it’s resolved.
Top photo: Depositphotos.com
I’m not seeing objectionable ads. Maybe I’m good at ignoring or overlooking them?
Or my search history puts me in a different algorithm?
I access via browser only (Firefox on PC, Firefox Focus on the tablet), and have never seen an ad. The blockers work. Of course, subscribing helps me as well…..
What I see right now where any ads should be is plain text saying ‘advertisement’
Is this for people who read via phone?
Great to learn about this stuff behind the scenes Matt! Can you tell us what the offending ad was so that if we see something like it in the future we can report it?
Some of us might be actual potential customers, jk!
Is it secure to browse The Autopian on Windows XP?
Torch probably writes his blogs on something even older
I don’t know that I’ve seen any such ads here… well, at least not pop-up ads if that’s what’s being experienced. I’m not using any third-party extra plugins like AdBlock(er) Plus/Mega/Ultra/Etc… on my Windows browser, but the browser itself is Opera, which isn’t that popular (but works fine for me no matter where I go, even if my online bank site complains that it doesn’t recognize it).
My only complaint ad-wise here thus far regards that recurring embedded advertisement touting the Volvo EX30 EV at its fictional/initial/aspirational $35K MSRP. The reality of course is that the EX30 starts at $45K, so the ad rubs me the wrong way. I’ve complained about it once in a reply, but its not a jihad with me or anything.
Glad I have AdBlock on my laptop.
AdBlock logo
theautopian.com
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8 on this page
Glad I do not own a mobile phone. Less forced advertising.
Since you block ads are you/ have you considered becoming a member to support this fine website?
I made an exception for the Autopian on my adblocker, but the ads aren’t that bad. Worth it to support their work here.
The Internet is a harsh mistress. Thanks for keeping the fight.
As a marketing major who doesn’t use his degree I wonder why anyone pays a company who creates fake hits. Can you identify the real advertiser and inform them they are being scammed?
I hugely appreciate how you all prefer to inform, educate, and enlist the help of the readers on this type of things, cause I never would have imagined how any of that stuff works.
Glad you are working on it but I don’t feel it has gotten to a bad level. It is better than most sites I visit
I did get an obvious McAfee scam redirect on this site twice recently, I’m glad y’all are on top of it.
That’s why I’m getting AARP ads … right?
(Looks at driver’s license) Oh, never mind.
Ooh, a discount on a HurryCane!
It’s balls-out insane that people are basically at war with advertisers just to create and publish content. Advertisers who, of course, NEED that content in order to keep making all that money. Capitalism is fucking crazy, man.
I’m not 100% on this but I think there is a middleman that the advertiser pays to go get impressions. The advertiser is getting scammed too.
FFS. That’s even worse 🙁
Thanks for the update!
I’m just a lowly clothie member so this might not mean much but please if possible move away from those full page ads that require you to scroll through to continue the article. This only happens on mobile from my experience. They are super annoying.
Be careful of anything served by AppLovin. There’s a damning report by Muddy Waters Research showing they commit massive click fraud.
I’ve been getting random warnings on some articles the last week or so, paid subscriber.
I use a mobile browser that blocks all ads, but I’m also a paying member.
I’d much rather pay for something in $$$ than in stupid ads, but that’s just me.
so when I see cans of spam I dont think ads. I think of Slapshoes his love of the product, his Lake Speed Video and his April Fools Still great video on Spam the Brand itself. I usually take it motorcycle camping
I originally read the headline as “Weird Al Redirects” and was all in. Alas! It was not meant to be.
I didn’t even know he was a lawyer!
From Carbondale, Illinois?
Thanks for this. I try to keep my ad-blocker turned off for you guys, but there has been random annoying ads recently. I’ll try it again and see what happens.
Thanks for working to block these ads but more importantly, thanks for letting us know that you’re working to block these ads!
I think that a NeXT cube just like Tim Berners Lee invented the web on would be just the upgrade for the website to Otto to use.
It’s a shame that these programmatic advertising techniques are what’s required to make money, because this game of whack-a-mole will never end I’m sorry to say. The game is asymmetric – they only have to succeed once, while you have to succeed every time.
There will always be some scammer that’s the high bidder for the right to run arbitrary code in someone’s browser. Doesn’t mean it isn’t admirable to try your best and I certainly appreciate the transparency.
I keep seeing ads for vegan cheese. I must protest because vegan cheese is vile! Like when they tried to convince me mashed cauliflower was a good substitute for potatoes or black beans were a tasty healthy alternative to beef in a burger patty. Lies, damn lies!
I’m sorry, we’re in the gooey pocket of Vegan Cheese.
I sometimes get the Impossible Whopper with cheese cause I like them
Big tofu strikes again!
You just haven’t had my homemade veggie burgers yet!
This is a ‘trying to make things into other things’ problem. Black beans are wonderful. There’s a zillion different ways to make black beans delicious. Black beans are not, however, a burger. Trying to make them a burger is the mistake. Let black beans be black beans. “I’ve made this life choice and will no longer eat this thing” is fine, just accept that you aren’t going to eat the thing again and stop trying to make other things into the thing you can’t eat anymore.
Most plant-based food alternatives taste really bad because they refuse to season them (I think it’s so they can cheat on the nutrition labels and get less calories per gram). Plant-based bread doesn’t have the added sugar regular bread does, vegan tortilla chips don’t add enough salt, and plant-based sausage doesn’t add cumin or paprika. About the only thing that I’ve found that tastes okay are those plant-based chicken nuggets or strips, because the thing they’re emulating is already ninety percent breading to begin with, so the taste is no different.
Wait, what? Plant based bread and regular bread?
Same questions I now have.
Plant-based bread doesn’t use animal additives like milk, calcium derived from bone meal, or meat-based oils. It’s a very tiny distinction but still a distinction vegans care about. The commitment to no animal products whatsoever instead of just an avoidance to meat is what separates vegans from vegetarians.
Neither should any kind of bread, IMO; the bread I buy uses flour yeast water and salt. That’s it.
Neither should any kind of bread, honestly. But if you go buy hot dog buns or something, look at the ingredients list. There’s all sorts of stuff in there. Some even add the two B-vitamins niacin and riboflavin, and food colouring.
The ones I ate yesterday have that, thiamin, sugar, soy oil, honey, monocalcium phosphate (made from bone meal), datem, turmeric, monoglycerides (oils made from animal fat), potassium iodide (meant for iodine deficiencies in children), and a bunch of preservatives.
Plant-based bread and meatloaf? ????