We occasionally get reports of ads that trigger antivirus warnings or infect computers that are browsing the wiki. This FAQ is an attempt to consolidate all the information about such things into one thread. Please read the below before reporting any incidents.
This thread may also be used to report ads that violate our policies in other ways, such as being too "adult" or NSFW, automatically playing audio/video, etc.
REPORTING: try to get a screenshot of the console as well as this will help identify where it's coming from.
REDIRECTS: Its very tricky to get the first URL of a redirect trigger because they are designed to hide where it came from. So you need a redirect plug-in
active while the redirect happens so you can find the first URL, not the last. Where you were directed to doesn't help track down the source.
- TV Tropes, as a site, does not contain malware. We are a text-and-image wiki; viruses and malware cannot be uploaded to or embedded in the articles. As always, however, beware of any external link that you don't recognize, since we cannot automatically screen edits or posts for malicious links.
- 99.99% of the time, any suspected malware will be related to the wiki advertising.
- TV Tropes does not directly control the ads that are displayed. We use third-party ad providers and we determine things like the size and placement.
- We instruct our providers not to serve ads that redirect your browser, take control of the screen from you, forcibly scroll your screen, play audio without being clicked on, install malware, "pop up" or "pop over" your screen, or in any other way interfere with your browsing experience.
- We have custom software designed to detect ads that do these things and automatically block them.
- Malicious entities are constantly trying to sneak ads through the providers' networks in violation of these instructions. As providers have little incentive to proactively detect and block them, it's up to websites to report these sorts of problems.
- We rely on our users to report ads that get through these measures.
- Just because you see a particular ad doesn't mean everyone else sees it. Ads are customized by the ad providers to your location (by IP address), the content of the page you're viewing, and your browsing profile, which is tracking data accumulated by third parties over the course of all your internet browsing.
- Just because you get a malware warning or infection that seems related to an ad on TV Tropes does not necessarily mean that it is caused by one of our ads. Pre-existing malware on your computer can intercept ads and replace them with malicious ones.
- Ads containing malware, obviously.
- Misbehaving ads, such as ones that load a pop-up or pop-under, redirect your browser to another page, hijack your screen or automatically scroll it.
- "Adult" or NSFW ads. Scantily clad women alone may or may not qualify, depending on context, but we want this site to be work-safe.
- Ads that automatically play audio — that is, the audio starts without you clicking on the ad first. Video ads are acceptable.
- Note: Political content is not grounds for rejecting an ad. However, an ad that contains or implies hate speech, disinformation, or outright falsehoods may be objectionable enough to be blocked.
- First and foremost, maintain current, updated antivirus software, and keep your operating system and browser up to date with all patches offered by the software vendors. This includes Adobe Flash, Java, and other rich media plug-ins. Turn on your software's automatic updates if they are not already on and act immediately when prompted to install them.
- Never click on pop-ups purporting to have detected a virus, offering to "tune up" your PC, or otherwise inducing you to click on a link that you were not expecting. Any genuine message of this nature would come from your antivirus software and not from a web page.
- Be careful clicking on external links. These are identified with a small icon next to them. Example: Google. TV Tropes does not endorse or control the content of external links and you open them at your own risk.
- Never respond to any email or web page that asks for personal or financial information, including passwords, unless you have verified its identity. No reputable company will ever ask you for your password(s), other than to log in.
- You may choose to opt out of having tracking information collected by ad providers. This does not stop malware but helps you maintain your online privacy. See here for additional information.
- TV Tropes requests that you do not use ad blocking software while visiting us, as this site depends on advertising revenue to operate. If you do run an ad blocker, please add tvtropes.org to its exception list, or consider donating to the site to have certain ads removed.
- We (or the ad provider) place a "Report advertisement" link next to most advertising frames. Clicking on this will generate an automatic report and is the best way to do so. If you cannot click on this link or do not see it, continue for more advice.
- Try to identify the source URL of the suspect ad (see below). You can also use the target URL (if you are redirected), but note that this may be intentionally obfuscated by the ad provider to hide the source.
- Identify the ad provider. Some ads have a small area that links to the ad provider's page (like Google or AOL). In other cases, you can tell from the referral URL or you can look it up in a search.
- Go to the ad provider's contact/abuse page and fill out their form. Below are some links to common providers' abuse pages:
- Scan your computer for viruses. If your antivirus software will not operate (many malicious programs attempt to disable your antivirus software), you can download a scanning tool on a known clean system and run it on your infected machine from a read-only CD-R or flash drive.
- If you suspect that you've been tricked into divulging personal information to a phishing attempt or other fraud, change your passwords to affected sites immediately and contact your bank, credit card companies, and the credit bureaus to request a fraud alert.
- Please note that TV Tropes cannot assist you with the specifics of maintaining your computer. That's your responsibility. You may request general help in the appropriate forums, but please don't post new threads in the forums dedicated to wiki operation (Wiki Talk, Frequently Asked Questions, etc.).
- Sometimes, the wiki administration can get better results from the ad providers in dealing with malicious ads. If you can identify a malicious ad by referral URL, you can post the link in this thread, but please omit the "http" component so it doesn't create a hyperlink that someone might click on inadvertently.
- For image ads, right-clicking (or a long tap on mobile devices) should give you the option to view and copy the URL that clicking on it will send you to.
- For Flash, Java, or HTML 5.0 ads, it may be difficult to identify the source or the URL by right-clicking. In these cases, you need to view the page source to identify the ad so we can report it.
- In Internet Explorer, you can right-click in a blank or text area of any web page, and choose View Source from the context menu. Firefox also has this option. In Chrome, you can use the Inspect Element menu option, which interactively highlights the portion of the page whose code you are hovering over. You can use this to identify the ad frame and its source URL.
- For embedded ads, there will be a "frame" element with a "src" parameter. Drill down until you get to the lowest level. All we need to identify the ad is the "src" URL from that frame.
for more information or to discuss the service.
Edited by kory on Nov 15th 2023 at 10:36:27 AM
The Beta Male
I'm now getting constant redirects to iTunes, and I use an Android. Will try to grab a link if I get jumped again.
MY SOUL IS DARK BUT MY HAIR IS COLORFUL — Brahian Pokémon Alchemist
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Any idea how someone would go about reporting this to apple? The threads I found on the official apple forum had nothing from developers or admins.
Perpetually Confused
Every other pages I get pop ups "Your android is running too slow click here" these ads actually freeze the page. The pop up is labeled findjobsanywhere.com
hey i dunno, why don't you tell me
I got that same pop-up not one minute ago.
Autoplaying videos are showing up now and then, too; actually, a proper video doesn't even show up, but the controls thing for one does and keeps me from interacting with the page until I hit the phone's Back button.
i care but i'm restless, i'm here but i'm really gone, i'm wrong and i'm sorry, baby
Perpetually Confused
The fact that it as no cancel or f off button is annoying coz getting rid of it requires i go back and reload the page; you cant just dismiss it
hey i dunno, why don't you tell me
Huh. :/ On my phone, it has a cancel button.
i care but i'm restless, i'm here but i'm really gone, i'm wrong and i'm sorry, baby
Perpetually Confused
Mine only has a Ok which sends me offsite.
u wot m8
Like the person having the redirect to the apple store issue, I'm constantly being redirected to the Windows app store with a prompt to download some game. It's happened multiple times today and yesterday on my HTC 8x.
Just a heads up.
INCARNATION OF POWER
Is the exodus ad gone yet? Man, that thing was nasty.
Misanthrope Supreme
Same thing here. It's constantly popping up. Like, right now, as I wanted to type this message.
http://em.synthronads.com/index.html?dv1=w1_300
Fake flash site.
It appears to be something in the ads, ad-less places like Forum Topics seem immune. Only workaround I've found is to open every link in a new tab until you get one that doesn't immediately send you to the site.
that guy
i use Google chrome on an iphone, and the site constantly redirects me to the app store, and occasionally when i get back Google chromes download page (well, the page that tells me its downloading something) is there, thankfully, it says the download fails every time (presumably because theirs nowhere for it to go) but it does get annoying
this is my signature, there are many like it, but this one is a ripoff of something else
INCARNATION OF POWER
~Chabal2
Some browsers have a setting to block auto-redirects similar to pop up blocking settings. Try it out. It might help.
I'm getting the exact same pop up covering every single page I visit here—including this attempt at a forum post. It runs through a tracking server called celtra.com, and leads to an ad for some new diabetes drug. (At least it has a working X control.) This coming on an iPad.
^^ Okay, I'll try that. Thanks.
I'm having the same issue on my iPhone. Every time I load a page on this site, I get redirected to the app store. It's impossible to prevent unless I force stop the page from fully loading. It started a few days ago, but it's quickly become annoying as hell.
So any updates on the redirecting ads on mobile issue? I'm getting them every few hours at least.
hey i dunno, why don't you tell me
Try turning javascript off.
Javascript is needed to log in, use the search function, and a lot of other key features of the website. I can still use the website without it, but I lose a lot of my functionality.
hey i dunno, why don't you tell me
Knew it screwed a few things up, but wasn't sure exactly what all. :/ It doesn't get rid of the cookie, though, right?
i care but i'm restless, i'm here but i'm really gone, i'm wrong and i'm sorry, baby
Mikon :3
I'm getting redirect ads like every other page now. Getting to the point where it's almost impossible to navigate this site on my phone anymore. What's going on?
The Beta Male
The easiest way to prevent that, I've found, is to stop the page from loading before it finishes loading images and ads. The "refresh" function usually turns into a "stop" while a page is loading. Try that. It's a pain in the ass, but it usually works.
edited 16th Dec '14 9:30:38 AM by GameSpazzer
MY SOUL IS DARK BUT MY HAIR IS COLORFUL — Brahian Pokémon Alchemist
Now getting click through pop ups, redirects and a whole host of bad stuff when viewing the site on an iPhone.
Keeps redirecting here
As for me, luckily I haven't had any ad problems worth complaining about here on TV Tropes for a while, but other websites are sadly not so lucky. But good luck on tracking both this and the Exodus thing down, they both sound like major annoyances.
Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer. — Unknown