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'm Sad Frogerson.
I was recently redirected to this URL:
http://apps8828.funteam28.life/6804324144/?u=gg4p605&o=5ffwrnh&f=1
Was scrolling through my followed threads page when the tab got redirected to this: http://www.ldfkadfdflkp.top/applp.php?action=xcldoweoils&s1=c2133c4c103043b26758372563dbf9bb
When then lead to this: http://www.ldfkadfdflkp.top/applp.php?action=xcldoweoils&s1=c2133c4c103043b26758372563dbf9bb#
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
http://www.ldfkadfdflkp.top/applp.php?action=xcldoweoils&s1=a4b595654e95d83a387f59664e8f3de6#
Getting with a spontaneous redirect to:
and then:
http://competition9171.drumteam17.life/0000000000/?u=gg4p605&o=5ffwrnh&f=1
while typing a post, no less. Of course I lost the post text.
Join my forum game!
On my phone, got two congratulations redirects on the Bartimeous Trilogy funny moments.
Moved to awesome moments, three more redirects opened up on a separate window.
Most were Amazon and Google ads.
Johto Champion
On mobile, keep getting multiple ads served by Proper. Makes it difficult to navigate the site when there's multiples of the same animated lottery ad AND the ads that pop-up from the bottom of the screen. Android, Chrome.
Believe in yourself!
Been getting ads for the past few weeks from Bose. Constantly pop-up and pop under pages I am reading on the mobile site. And recently Subway is using the same ad format as Bose.
Still getting periodic redirects to malware sites via 'cpafireboost.com'.
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
It asked to send me notifications.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
I'm Sad Frogerson.
Another cpafireboost redirect URL.
http://prize6003.ourtime17.live/8875554604/?u=gg4p605&o=5ffwrnh&f=1
How sweet it is
When browsing the forums I came across an ad that failed to load properly, so it's just text. Problem is, this text ended up blocking links on mobile.
One of the urls it listed was, I think, for imrworldwide.
she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
Multiple times redirected
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
...
Since last afternoon I've noticed a white run-on gap to the side of my screen that makes the page larger than normal. It's only on Tvtropes, so it might be a large ad that isn't loading.
Summoner. Or something.
Exclusively on this site, I get redirects to this URL:
which then auto redirects here:
This ends up redirecting to fake warnings which range from "Windows is infected" to "Your xxx is out of date"
Edited by EclipseMT on Jan 12th 2019 at 9:38:05 AM
EclipseMT/MendicantECT/729MT. Steam gamer, summoner, and outright everything else
he/him | Image Pickin' regular
I keep getting linked to http://gifts-for-you.cf/vol-warmart/index.html when trying to edit on mobile, even when I didn't click on an ad.
Edited by rjd1922 on Jan 18th 2019 at 10:40:39 AM
Keet cleanup
I'm Sad Frogerson.
I keep getting a popup that says this:
We and our partners use technology such as cookies on our site to personalise content and ads and analyse our traffic. Click I ACCEPT below to consent to the use of this technology across the web. You can change your mind and change your consent choices at anytime by returning to this site's privacy policy. If you choose I DO NOT ACCEPT we will continue to use cookies for features of this site and non-personalized ads. You can find out more about how google uses cookies here Google Cookie Policy. You can find a list of additional advertising partners and how they use your data here Additional Vendor Policies.
Powered by Quantcast
It sends me to the main page after I click "no".
I got a redirecting ad. It seems the first step of the redirection was this (http changed to hxxp for safety):
hxxps://advertisingfeed.com/click?node=19&time=1548270960&id=142&pid=25&fid=25&sid=12570&ext=1&rank=0&ad=eyJ0aXRsZSI6Ikxvc3AtRlIiLCJ1cmwiOiJMb3NwLUZSIn0%3D
hxxps://advertisingfeed.com/click?node=19&time=1548270960&id=144&pid=25&fid=25&sid=12570&ext=1&rank=0&ad=eyJ0aXRsZSI6Ikxvc3AtRlIiLCJ1cmwiOiJMb3NwLUZSIn0%3D
Note: I'm on a desktop here, using Firefox.
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Redirect to a $1000 Wal-Mart gift card scam (https://untransportedpylos.club/?swim=phelps&brand=Apple&model=iPhone&td=track.magneticfriends.com&cep=_kGVfm6swXVail_q8MJU03b0QDTjv8pzLxnreFUKr6qK_-_2t86duLFQ6JykX7Wqj7XMP9_kN_1_eUXuleuaJAC3of3HGYQl-jiXdtyU_PYyTGW2fUK5mUS92yVI6fVCSPEwOdtheqC50QXDY4P6Dy6u-n13FMNnkSN7Jk9SQss_OQypAlE-F4CW5mMmb7yEGp6a8BoFwI6u-4x8v3kwe_lKpW3GgbeBUh4UwGzVMG9kQArmiUb65HRp7d_UJvyc_5K3CuGY9ZxIjAtQdqeLOg&companyid=d10epv46tvtropes-org&pubid=d10epv46tvtropes-org&pixel=1548463958mb56766973915#) on The Heart.
Blapper of Water
On mobile the folowing ad keeps popping up no matter what you're doing. Even if you aren't tapping on anything or touching the screen.
Look at all that shiny stuff ain't they pretty
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
http://ad.t78.net/20180910/index.php?s1=g2mobi_US&pubid=a&bid=764031bed2e28bc3f6df03181e03ed2f#
Mobile...always mobile. Android, specifically
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Repeated redirects to this malware/adware branch trying to convince me to download something. It doesn't trick me or the majority of users but eventually someone won't know any better.
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
Every single add on my page... is an ad for This Very Wiki. That doesn't seem normal...
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
https://woahluckyyou.securepath.online/costcospecialpromo/3/index42.php?brand=LG&model=K425&city=Stamford&lpkey=150b4441968739f392&uclick=ci1nb48p#
And then, barely a minute later...
http://congratulations.usual-reward.mobi/click/20137289/index.html?syn=257&ver=224&cc=US&td=open.trustclick.pro&ep2=1&sr=1&model=K10&brand=LG&city=New%20York&salt=gEo399N&cep=3YpdmQ-P3k4R2cb71cVOOA5_f3XTHkY553UEApttwC11qR3cxv5-X62fqM_-ZxzYjsnDdnAr5Y3f8EhvPctjxy09aPqZRIloRCR7ujKygU9QgoJIby9ApDLdMqclKJePVaVF8t8svEdoUV0fvSoX5Lgu2DnCo2AJ9EnoEzkNxl_ggS4zbYRFWsaRclR3VO-71FaxLTReo9yrZowHLOy3a17_4g3HrFr8Svu46pqWPImAiUFW054VdAfMggmomLfl3xDA2bi_PUR-QIp08Ft3BLMWKtWDAZSRJYhmxEZxybU&site=d10epv46tvtropes-org&clickid=1544963794mb32478504793&n=10&tb=1#
Edited by WarJay77 on Dec 16th 2018 at 7:37:40 AM
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness