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Advertising and Computer Security Issues on TV Tropes

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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.


    open/close all folders 
    The basics 
  • 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.

    What can be reported to our provider 
  • 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.

    How to protect yourself 
  • 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.

    What to do if you suspect a malicious ad 
  • 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.

    Identifying the source of an ad 
  • 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.

    Ad-free subscription 
As of May 21, 2019, users have the option of purchasing a subscription to use TV Tropes without third-party ads (ads that we create and serve ourselves may still appear). Please see this thread for more information or to discuss the service.

Edited by kory on Nov 15th 2023 at 10:36:27 AM

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#2651: Feb 23rd 2020 at 4:43:27 PM

Sounds like what I have, except on the bottom.

Chabal2 Since: Jan, 2010
#2652: Feb 24th 2020 at 12:32:09 AM

I've been getting a bottom one, but only on mobile.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#2653: Feb 24th 2020 at 4:21:25 AM

It used to be mobile-only (and easier to deal with then) but now it's affecting my browser as well.

AgProv Curmudgeon from too south for Oop North and too north for Midland (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Curmudgeon
#2654: Feb 24th 2020 at 5:07:23 AM

As of today, there's a banner advert popping up at the bottom of the page that wasn't there yesterday - this is new. Seems to be organised by something called "PROPER<>" and however often you hit the X to whack it down and get rid, it keeps coming back and appears every time you switch to a new page. Click on whatever's being advertised, you get "ad closed by Google". Is this new to tvtropes, and how do you get rid of it completely, as it's annoying and intrusive? I mean - ad at the top of the page, ad on the right hand side, no problem, tvt has to get revenue - but ads spilling over into the actual content of the page itself - not acceptible.

Elderly curmudgeon and awkward person. Professional old fart.
AgProv Curmudgeon from too south for Oop North and too north for Midland (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Curmudgeon
#2655: Feb 25th 2020 at 7:13:31 AM

And... that intrusive bloody advertising bar at the bottom of the page is coming up at the same time as a banner advert at the TOP of the page - which says "tvtropes - support TV Tropes by going AD-FREE today! CLICK HERE".

so... is this a cunning plan to get us to pay to go ad-free by putting a bloody annoying advertising banner on the page?

Elderly curmudgeon and awkward person. Professional old fart.
AgProv Curmudgeon from too south for Oop North and too north for Midland (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Curmudgeon
#2656: Feb 26th 2020 at 3:42:27 AM

And as of today (Weds 26/02) the header advert, the banner at the top of the page, is now twice as deep as it was yesterday and covers more of the actual content. This is starting to take the piss.

Elderly curmudgeon and awkward person. Professional old fart.
Yinyang107 from the True North (Decatroper) Relationship Status: Tongue-tied
#2657: Feb 27th 2020 at 6:34:52 PM

I'm getting pop-up ads on the right side of my screen on every forum page I visit, obscuring actual content. Please fix this.

Crossover-Enthusiast from an abaondoned mall (Lucky 7) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#2658: Feb 29th 2020 at 10:19:20 AM

I'm getting those "Proper" pop-ups at the bottom of pages despite most certainly being logged in. Not hard to deal with, but incredibly annoying.

Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢
Ozbourne Part-Time Omen of Death from if it fits, I sits (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
Part-Time Omen of Death
#2659: Mar 4th 2020 at 3:48:14 PM

I get the “proper” ads on my work computer (running Chrome browser) and they are quite intrusive especially when there are ads at the top and side as well. Weirdly I do not get these at home (also using Chrome) or on my iPad (using mobile edition of Safari) which are the other devices I use most often for checking the site. On my phone (mobile version of Chrome) it is 50/50. I feel the “ proper” popover ads at the bottom are unneeded and intrusive when the sidebar and header ads are present.

Edit: They’re showing on the iPad now too.

Edited by Ozbourne on Mar 5th 2020 at 8:27:20 AM

Stupid doomed timeline...
Crossover-Enthusiast from an abaondoned mall (Lucky 7) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#2660: Mar 5th 2020 at 9:50:42 PM

So are the "proper" ads just there permanently, now? I thought it might've just been my tablet, but they're showing up on my laptop as well.

Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#2661: Mar 13th 2020 at 7:06:20 PM

I just got an autoplay Soundcloud ad that was shockingly loud.

AgProv Curmudgeon from too south for Oop North and too north for Midland (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Curmudgeon
#2662: Mar 14th 2020 at 5:59:49 AM

Sometimes after running Spy Bot I get days free of this shite. Then it comes back. one annoying thing - the OBTRUSIVE, UNWANTED and ANNOYING new banner advertising isn't even relevant to me. It has been giving me "local" restaurants in places like Long Island and Hobunken. That's an interesting interpretation of the word "local" as I'm 3500 miles and an ocean away in a completely different country. It might be amusing to email them, ask if they deliver, and then say I saw their advert via the tvtropes website... Recently I've been getting adverts for a dog kennel in New Jersey offering to sell me the products of their puppy farm. Where do we stand on that legally, as I'm almost sure distributing adverts for puppy farms are illegal under British law. Interesting point - is tvt possibly co-commiting an actual criminal offence here (allowing advertising materials which contravene the law in a host country to be seen in that nation on the website for which they have responsibility). Something legal under American jurisdiction, but illegal under British, transmitted to Britain from a site hosted in the USA. Worth checking!

Edited by AgProv on Mar 14th 2020 at 1:04:11 PM

Elderly curmudgeon and awkward person. Professional old fart.
AgProv Curmudgeon from too south for Oop North and too north for Midland (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Curmudgeon
#2663: Mar 14th 2020 at 6:35:11 AM

also, trying to find out more about this and what it implies:

https://www.crunchbase.com/acquisition/proper-media-acquires-tv-tropes-foundation--c13ba80d#section-overview

a company called "Proper Media" which has apparently "acquired" tvtropes. Proper is the name on that bloody advertising banner. not much additional info, though.

Elderly curmudgeon and awkward person. Professional old fart.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Yinyang107 from the True North (Decatroper) Relationship Status: Tongue-tied
#2665: Mar 14th 2020 at 7:41:08 AM

Never realised the new owners were an ad company... Would explain why so many changes here have geared the site more towards feeling like an excuse to show ads than a community that loves fiction.

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#2666: Mar 14th 2020 at 10:27:10 AM

I've been ad free for a while now, but I know when the subscription runs out I'll be back to seeing these awful ads, so even I can agree that something bigger needs to be done than just allowing a paid, ad-free experience. TVT is meant to be a free site, but yet the only reason it's usable for me is because I sank money into it, as it seems like lately the ads are just getting worse than ever- and that's saying something...

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#2667: Mar 14th 2020 at 12:44:39 PM

"TVT is meant to be a free site"... you do know that it's not really free, right? The server and bandwidth costs don't just pay for themselves because we're that awesome. That was true when we were owned by Eddie and Janitor; it's true now that we're owned by a real business. No ad revenue = no TV Tropes.

Proper Media is a company that both owns websites and contracts for ad services. One promise is the offer of an acceptable user experience for advertising, and as such it employs significant measures to detect and block ads that do bad things. Of course, this is a game of defense, since ad creators are constantly finding new ways to slip malicious and undesirable content through the system.

When you see such an ad, it is as much a problem for the provider as it is for the user. Providers (such as Google Adsense, Proper Media, etc.) do not want to serve these ads, but they keep getting through anyway.

The best thing you can do when you see an ad that interrupts your browsing experience, redirects or hijacks your browser, or attempts to serve malicious content to you, is report it. Follow the guidelines in the header post when doing so.

Or, if you want to support the site directly, you may purchase a subscription that lets you browse ad-free while you are logged in.

Edited by Fighteer on Mar 14th 2020 at 3:46:12 PM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#2668: Mar 14th 2020 at 12:48:38 PM

[up] Like I said, I'm currently using that ad-free subscription. I'm just concerned that using this subscription is the only thing making the website usable.

By free, I meant mostly that users don't have to pay to see the content; the issue I have is that with how bad the ads are getting, paying for the subscription may be the only way to enjoy the site without fearing malware or annoying popups. I think it's a valid concern to have. From what I can tell with these posts, the ads have only gotten worse since I've gotten the subscription, which is a problem for TVT as a whole and not a personal concern as, again, I don't actually see ads at all.

I just feel that if the only way to get a decent experience on the site is to spend money when you'd otherwise not have to, something is wrong with that site or at least the site has something it needs to fix.

Edit: I say this because before I had the subscription, the ads did make the site much worse for me to use. IMO, subscriptions like this shouldn't feel almost mandatory to have a good experience; they should make a good experience even better, not bump the site up to "usable" status.

Edited by WarJay77 on Mar 14th 2020 at 4:23:25 AM

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Brainulator9 Short-Term Projects herald from US Since: Aug, 2018 Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
Short-Term Projects herald
#2669: Mar 14th 2020 at 5:51:05 PM

IMO, they are getting better as far as intrusive or malicious ads are concerned from what I've seen. I've even seen fewer ads for porn comics.

Contains 20% less fat than the leading value brand!
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#2670: Mar 14th 2020 at 6:13:18 PM

Maybe my perception is just skewed from reading this thread, then; but full-screen popups certainly weren't there before...

Well, if it's getting better, that's awesome; but it would be ideal for the ads to get even better so that I wouldn't keep having to hide behind a subscription...

Edited by WarJay77 on Mar 14th 2020 at 9:16:57 AM

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
AgProv Curmudgeon from too south for Oop North and too north for Midland (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Curmudgeon
#2671: Mar 15th 2020 at 3:40:57 AM

Still getting adverts for local eateries on the East Coast of the USA and for North American puppy mills. As I live in Manchester, GB, can't see the relevance and the puppy farm ones are probably illegal under British law. OK, if Proper bought TVT in 2014 - why are we only now getting this ratcheting up of advertising?

What I'm getting is that twice-the-size-it-used-to-be advertising bar at the top of the page. The old-style advertising, unchanged, down the right hand margin.

And that irksome, new, pop-up advertising banner along the bottom. I am now looking at a page which is getting on for 70% advertising and only 30% worthwhile content. The proportions are all wrong and somebody is getting greedy and unreasonable here. And it isn't me.

Elderly curmudgeon and awkward person. Professional old fart.
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#2672: Mar 15th 2020 at 4:28:04 AM

Sometimes the pagetopper advertisement shows up, sometimes it doesn't. But when it does it's often enormous and requires me to scroll down an entire page before I can see what I need to. And the Soundcloud ad with autoplay has popped up twice since my previous post, and blaring loud both times.

AgProv Curmudgeon from too south for Oop North and too north for Midland (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Curmudgeon
#2673: Mar 17th 2020 at 9:42:09 AM

Spending a lot of time with the advertising banner on the bottom of the page, the one that wasn't here a week or two ago and which, and this cannot be said loudly enough, I DO NOT WANT AT ALL - TVT got along perfectly fine without it and I was OK with the advertising content elsewhere, which ws not excessive or intrusive. This, however IS. hitting the cross to "Ad closed by Google" and then "Stop seeing this ad" and then "Ad covered content" to "Ad closed by Google" in the hope that if I do this often enough it'll fuck up their stats. Half the time I'm not even looking at whatever's being advertised, so this is feeling like an enormous waste of effort and goodwill all round - wonder if the advertisers realise, ultimately, it's their money that's being wasted?

Elderly curmudgeon and awkward person. Professional old fart.
Yinyang107 from the True North (Decatroper) Relationship Status: Tongue-tied
#2674: Mar 18th 2020 at 9:28:24 PM

I am continuing to get ads on the right side of the screen that pop up and obscure the page's actual content.

AgProv Curmudgeon from too south for Oop North and too north for Midland (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Curmudgeon
#2675: Mar 19th 2020 at 12:02:40 PM

Damn, after some jiggling about with settings, at the moment I'm blocking ALL adverts on the page, which is NOT my intention. I just want to get rid of the banner advert that appears across the bottom of the screen every time I change pages - for the record, I am perfectly OK about the banner advert at the top that has always been there and about the advertising on the right hand side. Not a problem, fine about that, I accept you have a right to do this and this is how you have always done it.

I do NOT want the additional one at the bottom of the page - this is a step too far. So how do I return to the position I was in two of three weeks ago? The onscreen advertising being what it was, which I was OK about, which was a good balance between your needing to put adverts up to get revenue to run the site, and my ability to use the site and contribute to it, without being pissed about by an extra dollop of intrusive advertising.

Your current message reads, until I snoozed it

"This is page #4 you have viewed this month without ads

We get it, ads aren't what you're here for, but they do pay for the hosting and maintenance of TV Tropes. Please whitelist us or purchase a ad-free pass to support TV Tropes."

Elderly curmudgeon and awkward person. Professional old fart.

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