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
Whenever I visit any page even tangentially related to Five Nights at Freddy's on this website, I get this obviously scummy ad promising a free download of Security Breach (complete with a shitty model of Freddy) that is very clearly aimed at digitally illiterate kids.
Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Feb 20th 2022 at 12:17:14 PM
The ads are breaching my Adblock now! I'm now getting ads on the sidebar even with Adblock!
Edited by CookingCat on Feb 22nd 2022 at 4:18:55 AM
A procrastination in of itself
As Fighteer has made clear in the past, the site management have no interest in helping people more effectively Adblock, so I wouldn’t expect any support.
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
We still need to get the malicious ads under control.
Also I'm using uBlock Origin (until they get rid of the malicious ads) and I'm not getting anything.
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
I'm paying to not have ads specifically because the ones we have are so obnoxious and intrusive.
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I could pay for it but right now I am unable to for personal reasons.
- "The ads are breaching my Adblock now! I'm now getting ads on the sidebar even with Adblock!"
You're better off turning Adblock (or any other ad-blocking software like Ublock Origin) off anyway. They're technically considered taboo because they block ad revenue that's keeping the site alive. If the ads bother you, please pay for an ad-free subscription.
Now I admit I used Adblock in the past to block malicious ads that infected my computer, so I'm not one to talk myself, but I decided to give a benefit of a doubt this time and turn my Adblock off for good.
The viruses are exactly why I have it on here. I powerwashed my computer and fiddled with my adblock settings and it seems like things are back to normal here and on several other websites, so it seems like something had gotten into and messed with my settings, which is concerning.
Edited by CookingCat on Feb 22nd 2022 at 5:15:09 AM
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
I used to keep AdBlock off to help the site stay alive.
I am not risking the security of my computer for that. My adblocker goes back off when, and only when, the ads get safer.
Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Feb 22nd 2022 at 8:37:12 AM
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
There's definitely an ad overload going on at the moment.
I was on this site and left for about a half hour, but when I came back, I was up to 348 blocked ads while on the same exact page, and it was still rising. I don't care how you try to justify it. That's really messed up, and just makes me want to continue using Ad Blocker.
Edited by Retloclive on Feb 27th 2022 at 10:01:00 AM
RLL
I am dealing with an obnoxious ad that makes a lot of noise whenever I go to the bottom of a page. How do I get rid of it?
Local Egregious Plant
Yup, ad overload for sure. They refresh every minute or so, and to make things more egregious, they keep showing the same ad... that I have X'ed out multiple times. How particularly egregious.
Edited by ARandomPage on Mar 2nd 2022 at 10:29:20 PM
Troper Wall, sandbox, and I'm trying to kill typos.
I keep getting ads for what appears to be a historical (MMO?)RPG, but what is worrying is that what appears to be a princess wears a dress with a lotta cleavage, and I have at least once seen an ad for the game that had a girl in a swimsuit.
"Listen up, Marina, because this is SUPER important. Whatever you do, don't eat th“ “DON'T EAT WHAT?! Your text box ran out of space!”
Veteran Editor IV
From what I can tell, it's nothing terrific. If you had seen what was advertised in the Evony days and a few years later, or what's sometimes on Youtube right now, I'd say it'd feel normal.
Sadly, I don't know how to get rid of the noisy ad. Maybe disable audio for TV Tropes, though you probably won't get anything out of most Video Examples then.
Edited by Piterpicher on Mar 3rd 2022 at 3:28:42 PM
Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)
I wanna be a cowboy, baby
So uh… a late night wiki rabbit hole dive lead me to Catholic School Girls Rule, which currently features a long “scroll past to see content” ad. Which is… fine, in and of itself, I guess. However, hitting the “open/close all folders” button on the page causes the page to act weird and eventually pops up what I can assume is a video ad using my device’s media player. Unfortunately the ad (and subsequently the page problem) disappeared when I went back to screenshot it for evidence, so…
ETA: Caught the ad again (this time on KidAnova), it’s an ad for season 2 of Upload. Screenshot evidence is here, since for some reason I’m unable to copy a link to the ad.
ETA 2: And it hijacks my music too. How nice.
Edited by worldwidewoomy on Mar 5th 2022 at 11:58:22 AM
Stan GaruKaru for clear skin
Lucas the Dreamer
Veteran Editor IV
I hate them and have not partaken in any, but they're not inherently illegal or listed on what is forbidden here, so I don't think they'll go away (good if they do, though).
Edited by Piterpicher on Mar 17th 2022 at 11:04:36 AM
Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)
A procrastination in of itself
I’m getting a lot of lag inducing ads, they’re generally ones with motion/changing text but not actual video.
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
I got this full-screen pop-up while browsing the forums:
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
I don't know if this counts as a security issue but some of the search results are generating (possible) spam, like this:
Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Apr 4th 2022 at 1:04:02 PM
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Veteran Editor IV
I've also seen this happen with "crowdfunding", "entrepreneur", and "crypto". Some of these words are used in trope/work names.
Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)
Lost in Space
What search mechanism are you using to get those results? I don't get any ads or sponsored hits when I use the Google site search, although I am ad-free as a moderator.
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 4th 2022 at 3:34:50 PM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
If it’s annoying you could always turn Adblock off.
Edited by Silasw on Feb 18th 2022 at 3:20:45 PM
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran