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
Well, thank goodness I signed up for the backer feature of no ads forever, because otherwise I'd have to use ad blockers despite all the guilt-arousals against them, since this site has long been in the group (along with Snopes, Examiner, and most newspaper sites) that is totally intolerable without them.
I've been getting pop-up banners at the bottom of the screen, don't know if that's intentional or not.
RJ Savoy
I have a constant problem with animated ads auto-playing, gobbling up bandwidth and processing power. I disabled Flash but it only stops half of them. Even telling Chrome to stop loading the page doesn't work, it keeps trying to download. Occasionally one of them starts playing audio. Very occasionally an ad fills up the screen, which feels to me like malware. It is a big nuisance (and not only on this site, though it has gotten much worse since the new design).
I don't want to block ads, only prevent animated ones.
A few things: Calling up "inspect element" seems to remove the ad as it gets covered up (along with the "Resources", "Display Options" and "Crucial Browsing" windows). I have AVG installed and working. Nearly all these ads are for films, showing behind the scenes footage. And some of these ads are hilariously misaimed, but that's a separate topic.
What is the best counter here? Also, I paid something into the kickstarter, but I don't know how to claim it.
Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.
I'm getting the same issue as Mr L 1193 and Yinyang107. I'm getting ads that scroll with the page on every page I visit. This started about 10 minutes ago for me.
The bottom-of-the-screen banner ads have suddenly become much more common for me today. I've seen ones for Fidelity (some investment guide) and Alli (a weight-loss supplement), among other things.
edited 18th May '15 4:29:40 PM by MrL1193
Parole Model
Yep, now it's "BestTV" and unnamed something with video ads on autoplay. Earlier I thought those don't play audio. Well, either I was wrong then, or these ones are different. These do play audio. It's just that they start at zero volume (Chrome tabs show icons for tabs playing audio) or at mute.
edited 18th May '15 5:17:04 PM by SetsunasaNiWa
hey i dunno, why don't you tell me
Screenhog banner just showed up for me, at the bottom of the screen. Takes up maybe a sixth of the page, and reappears on every page.
Can't be gone soon enough for my liking.
edited 19th May '15 12:55:00 AM by Knowlessman
i care but i'm restless, i'm here but i'm really gone, i'm wrong and i'm sorry, baby
Until further notice
Flash Ad leading to adult site. Link to screenshot.
Using Google Chrome from my PC.
Source: optimized-by.rubiconproject.com/a/8777/14415/279292-15.js?&cb=0.8151355646550655&tk_st=1
Which is the part of the script which I'm supposed to look at? (Sorry, I'm not programming-literate.)
edited 19th May '15 5:31:59 AM by Pyrite
Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.
These are the voyages...
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Whoa. Insert Angrish here. I thought the reason we had all the content rules was to keep the site family-friendly enough for our advertisers - who are now putting that crap on the site?
edited 19th May '15 6:38:29 AM by Ripsaw
Be careful what you wish for, 'cause you might just get it all...
http://lp.playerpage342.info/1432050682/player/LP5_1/?pid=7302&distid=24543&d1=18065&clickid=2918071119
Fake video player update.
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
Getting a hell of a lot of App Store redirects on my phone - it's making the site difficult to use.
What's precedent ever done for us?
Can you provide any more information? Device? OS? What ads are they? We work with several ad partners and sometimes it is very hard to track down who is serving the ad.
Browsing site on Safari on iOS 8. The site is pretty much unusable lately. Every new page click or followed link opens the app store to download an app - usually Gett (a taxi app) or a William Hill app. I don't mind banner ads or pictures or whatever to support the site but constantly redirecting me to the app store is unacceptable - and if I had kids I would certainly not want them downloading a gambling app. Please address this.
I've been getting these ad
◊ banners
◊ along with the number of ads being blocked skyrocketing by the minute until I click a link to another page, both of these things seem to only happen on startup using Chrome. It could be something on my end, but peculiarly it only happens on this site, and on certain, random pages.
edited 19th May '15 1:42:10 PM by Rynnec
These are the voyages...
OK. On the one had, I don't want to starve one of my favorite sites of ad revenue. On the other hand, I cannot stand the ads. So, I have a proposition for drewski (possibly with the assistance of some dedicated tropers): create a list of advertising domains that are "safe" (no autoplay video, autoplay audio, NSFW, etc) so those of us who are running Ad Block+ or similar can create a whitelist. At least until the ad issues are resolved.
After all, if malignant ads drive users from the site, it'll have the same negative effect on the ad revenue as Ad Block+/etc.
Be careful what you wish for, 'cause you might just get it all...
Exxolon
My Safari on my Iphone keeps jumping off to pages that trigger my app store and try to install Kongregate Adventure Capitalist without me clicking on any ad.
edited 20th May '15 4:19:06 PM by Exxolon
http://upflv.tsgwe.com/up/cd/fr.html?s1=xad357-defrauca-728-js-lm&s2=browser-fr-cd&id=221&q=95ce82f3-4b1f-4edf-8697-1abafca8e76b
http://lp.playerpage363.info/1432187426/player/LP5_1/?pid=7302&distid=24543&d1=18065&clickid=2918071119
The first turned into the second.
And another:
http://lp2.playerpage107.info/1432273717/player/LP5_1/?pid=7302&distid=24543&d1=18065&clickid=2918071119
Both fake video player updates.
edited 21st May '15 11:02:59 PM by Chabal2
I keep seeing advertisements pop out to the left of my screen on my iPad and on the bottom of the screen on my iPhone.
They don't show up all the time, but when they do, it's very annoying.
Really, where are these ads coming from?
hey i dunno, why don't you tell me
Lirodon, if you're reading this, what's the CSS doohickey for the horizontal scrolling banner ad? The one that at the moment seems to be stuck on a Covergirl advert?
i care but i'm restless, i'm here but i'm really gone, i'm wrong and i'm sorry, baby
The Shrouded Knight
I'm finding the bottom-page banners extremely annoying. Every single page on this site I've been to today had on. Every single one.
Edit: I clicked on the "I" symbol on one of them, and they're apparently "Ads by GumGum", if you need to know where they're coming from.
edited 23rd May '15 10:34:31 AM by Lightblade
The Living Guildpact rules that coffee is an acceptable substitution for rest as specified in subsection … whatever.
Ok, I spoke too soon elsewhere on the forums.
I am getting ads again at the bottom of the screen that take up almost a quarter of the page.
Nothing but Katy Perry Cover Girl ads; I clicked on the I and was told it was ads via "Gum Gum."
Exxolon
And The Unfair Sex is doing the same - taking me offsite through various pages then booting my App Store - I can't be more specific as I'm abroad but this is seriously uncool behaviour by a site - this kind of thing is likely to get your adserver suspended by google.
- Edit - it's the William Hill gambling app as mentioned on the post above from another troper on the 19th - this is NOT on - gambling apps are illegal in certain locales - is anyone even monitoring this thread?9
edited 25th May '15 10:59:55 AM by Exxolon
I'm getting this banner ad at the bottom of literally every TV Tropes page I go to, regardless of how many times I tell it to go away. It's really annoying.
That's the exact ad that I keep getting.
Recently, I've been getting ads at the bottom of the page that scroll with the page to stay on screen at all times until they're closed. Is this normal? (I really hope not; I've always hated that type of ad.)