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
I keep getting ads on the left (I should note that I'm using Classic View) that shove the entire page off to the right. Is that supposed to happen?
How sweet it is
Got an ad on my iPhone that redirects to facebook.com-dm.xyz, saying that my phone was randomly chosen for some prize.
Problem is that the pop-up appears AFTER the redirect occurs, and I cannot close out that individual page without hitting OK. To add to it, the redirect occured automatically, while I was casually browsing, and I never interact with ads except to close them if possible.
As for the Game of War thing I mentioned earlier, hitting the x or the close buttons do not close it. Also, it randomly appears when I browse, and it happens automatically.
she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
edited 3rd Dec '15 1:34:57 AM by SeptimusHeap
The Shrouded Knight
While on the Na No Wri Mo 2015 thread, I got automatically redirected here:
http://184.w0x52.aeshahealyourlife.net/4a2a2fbec7e8299eefa9d691e16efe14.html
I didn't leave it open long enough to see what the page actually was.
The Living Guildpact rules that coffee is an acceptable substitution for rest as specified in subsection … whatever.
Hello, I just wanted to let someone know about a potentially dangerous ad. Unfortunately, I don't know which it was since it was a flash pop-up. I was browsing the Puella Magi Madoka Magica and got a flash pop-up that told me about Trojans and that there was one on the site (scareware/fake viruses).
I unfortunately didn't read the details because I restarted my computer immediately (since I didn't want it to do anything), and the computer has been working fine. I also enabled a powerful ad blocker (Kaspersky Anti Banner) and nothing has appeared since. This is why I suspect it's a bad ad. If I somehow get this ad again, I will post an update. If anyone else encounters this, please update the thread.
Psshhh...
I was automatically redirected to this site while browsing:
Always 3:00am in the Filth
Am I the only one suffering from video ads that are absolutely devouring resources? Running Chrome and the flash/shockwave ads are causing massive slowdown. I just upgraded my PC and installed Win 10, so I'm not certain if there are problems on my end.
"But don't give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you." - O'Brien, 1984
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
We do our best to block these but they continue to evade our efforts. If you can send over the url they direct or a screenshot of the ad that would help.
Everybody's dead, Dave.
Bug: Your comment's going off the page.
Nah, an overly long link. I've folderized Chabal's post that was doing it.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
One on the right this time.
http://fra1.ib.adnxs.com/click?mzcQmjcQ-j92Yid2Yif2PwAAAAAAAPA_f8V9l89ABUCVJME59AAJQGY8BfgDjowLkU29PjP_hBx7tGBWAAAAABgMWQDHBAAAdAMAAAIAAAD84hoCXRQKAAAAAQBVU0QAVVNEAKAAWAKWSQAAmYwAAgUAAQAAAIIA6R_u2AAAAAA./cnd=%21PgdkRQjk57QFEPzF6xAY3agoIAA./referrer=http%3A%2F%2Ftvtropes.org%2Fpmwiki%2Fpmwiki.php%2FMain%2FEmptyPilesOfClothing/clickenc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.essaiminiclubman.fr%2F%3Futm_source%3DLocal-Media%26utm_medium%3Ddisplay%26utm_campaign%3Dauto%26utm_content%3Dpremium_network%26utm_term%3D160x600
Everybody's dead, Dave.
Well, it was going off the page, wasn't it?
H.B. Ward
And back on the left.
https://adclick.g.doubleclick.net/pcs/click?xai=AKAOjssLOBiW9H7JiWsW-
Oj Wfmf 1 Rc5v Xpi OOVJ V6o J Ro IY 4 XTN 753 FMO Vjj Tbv K Mgc90b H Mw_cDd51_ND0B1n0E7fgEZH5U_9DWUhCHhB77sdS42Db89eKi&sig=Cg 0 Ar KJS
zOd_i7RtywEa&urlfix=1&adurl=http://adclick.g.doubleclick.net/aclk%3Fsa%3DL%26ai%
3DCCLRud_VhVuasOtiabo6Dp1DdsOzrBN36q952wI23ARABIABg—G Eg5g Kgg EXY 2 Etc H Vi L Tk 1 N Tcw O Dk 1 MTA 0 MDU 0 Mj LIA Qmp Aht 6 J 4 E 2 Qr I-
4AIAqAMBqgS_AU_Q2_VAjH9s1TLw3WAoPZtIY-
Hk S Aa D_Mb7nSqpAwsdj1DoBRnjeh3EUrSkU3gQJbRMVY3yYAMWdYTXLoofUkDa3OdZZ5yThApKWNCMauvqm1o2xGLfTt9qpO1Oq-
ARKR Nf 98 Ov Q_sSrom9aFUlicjcxVjeMOuwFaCj-vbu2TgeIpJqpLw8Y7ssCAuXmqOvq-
hpkgFe8drFB3BvwTCNNILOM2C5O7sJH4ST9UP6KAYNkwRRat3ARg4sAt4uSndF4AQBgAaD4YzqvOezmpIBoAYh2AcA%26num%3D1%26sig%
3DAOD64_1wv2UAPPWBhccWnacm1snu9nVIlA%26client%3Dca-pub-9557089510405422%26adurl%
3Dhttps://d.agkn.com/pixel/2389/%253Fche%253D3360440508%2526col%
253D9168680,1352393,124601279,298735313,66015571%2526l0%253Dhttps://ad.atdmt.com/c/go%253Bp%253D11112201088972%
253Ba%253D11112201088983%253Bev.a%253D1%253Bidfa%253D%253Bidfa_lat%253D%253Baaid%253D%253Baaid_lat%253D%
253Bcache%253D%255BRANDOM%255D%253Fh%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.dacia.fr%25252Fgamme-dacia%25252Fsandero%
25252F%25253Futm_source%25253Daccuen%252526utm_medium%25253Dadexchange%252526utm_campaign%25253Ddacia-trafic-
novembre-decembre-2015%252526ORIGIN%25253DF6adexchange%252526CAMPAIGN%25253Ddacia-trafic-novembre-decembre-2015
I'm also getting autoplaying videos that slide in from the right, but they don't have a URL.
edited 5th Dec '15 1:16:45 AM by Chabal2
The Unknown
I keep getting an ad on mobile that's blank and hovers over the middle of the screen instead of the bottom.
If a tree falls in the forest and nobody remembers it, who else will you have ice cream with?
Want to ask again about the ads on the left side of the screen. They shove the rest of the page rightwards until I close the ad. Are we supposed to have those?
Psshhh...
A tab I had open was redirected to this page after idling the page: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zynga.wwf2.free&referrer=mat_click_id%3D4387f34186e894f32dfd47f87b6b79e0-20151206-881
Misanthrope Supreme
Are ads with problematic content to be reported as well ? Because for the past few days, I've been getting blatantly islamophobic ads when browsing the wiki. I'm describing one here, if you're wondering.
hey i dunno, why don't you tell me
edited 10th Dec '15 5:47:48 PM by Willbyr
i care but i'm restless, i'm here but i'm really gone, i'm wrong and i'm sorry, baby
Random pages will download a file onto my phone called container.html. I'm not sure what this is or which ad is triggering it if any, but it's making me nervous and I keep having to delete them. That's not you guys, right?
I just got redirected to [1] while browsing the Wiki Talk forums. It prompted me to download a "Firefox Patch.exe", which is more likely than not malware.
Tyrannoraptoran Reptiliomorph
I keep getting ads from cdn.adgear.com on both the wiki and the forums. I don't know if they're legit, but the problem is that they pop up on half the pages and threads I visit and the website in question isn't trusted by Safari. Which might mean a problem with it, but every time I load a page with a cdn.adgear.com ad, the non-trusted website notice pops up. I have to either click '"Cancel'" (which either removes the ads or takes me to another page) or "Details" (which shows non-trusted server but doesn't say why) and then "Cancel" (which does the same as the other "Cancel") making browsing the wiki and forums a doozy.
edited 11th Dec '15 3:10:02 PM by Lymantria
Join the Five-Man Band cleanup project!
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
Getting a whole lot of Panda Pop redirect ads on my iPhone. Makes the site difficult to navigate.
What's precedent ever done for us?
The Unknown
When I go into the edit window, advertisements (there's no specific ones, they appear to be random) sometimes show up on the left side of the screen, push the edit box to the right so it's no longer centered, and cause my browser to lag/freeze.
If a tree falls in the forest and nobody remembers it, who else will you have ice cream with?
"Report this ad" is a nice feature, but I was wondering if the notice could be moved to the left or right of the advertisement rather than directly beneath it? The adds stretch pages so much already.
edit: I didn't realize someone page stretching had been addressed already, sorry.
edited 14th Dec '15 4:06:18 PM by IndirectActiveTransport
Here's the URL for an autoplaying ad with autoplaying audio I just encountered on the Super Smash Bros. forum thread.
http://cdn.vidible.tv/prod/2014-10/14/51d2f9c3e4b0b6b217fa5539_300x168_v4.mp4
The Living Guildpact rules that coffee is an acceptable substitution for rest as specified in subsection … whatever.