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Advertising bug


Scoobysrt

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Sorry to report but it seems the forum has a common advertising bug that means when viewed on an iPhone (I can only comment on this aspect, it may happen with other devices) when viewing, posting etc the bug suddenly opens the App Store.

 

A few weeks ago it was going to a gambling app and for the last week it goes to a game.

 

I've done a little research and it seems you need to turn off a certain advertiser in the advertising software but it changes depending on which one is using the bug to promote.

 

I know of other forums that have had to turn all advertising off then turn each advertiser on individually until the culprit is found, I appreciate this has potential to loose you revenue but it is quite a problem issue for the end user.

 

Somtimes it won't happen for an hour or so then you'll get hit by either an odd one here and there or you'll get 10 or so redirects in a row.

Most annoying.

 

Edit,

I need to make it clear that this is a known bug and not a user clicking on ads.

I also need to make it clear that it is not an apple thing nor is it the device, it's in the software used for the adverts.

The pop up blocker is turned on but it's not a pop up, it loads the App Store app.

There is nothing we can do on our end it is in the forum advertising client software.

 

Typing this out I've had the App Store open approximately 15 times.

 

.

Edited by Scoobysrt
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Thanks for your support. Having read that other thread I'm going to add a bit to my initial post.

Edited by Scoobysrt
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Thanks for your support. Having read that other thread I'm going to add a bit to my initial post.

Do you have the pop-ups option in settings turned off?

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Spider-Vice

There are websites that do the same on Android, to download "Mobogenie" and other ad softwares, but it's not the case in here, really. Never observed it.

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Thanks for your support. Having read that other thread I'm going to add a bit to my initial post.

Do you have the pop-ups option in settings turned off?

Did you read my post?

 

It is not a pop up so pop up blockers are pointless but yes it is turned on.

 

This is a known bug in the advertising software the site uses.

 

Was this not the right place to post it?

I assumed a bug report on the forum would get some admin attention.

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It's either an Apple problem or a GTAF problem because I've also had this happen repeatedly on different occasions on my phone. Several times today, but it also it sometimes doesn't do it for a while, so perhaps it's a specific advert?

 

Using an iPhone 4, Safari browser, mobile skin.

fib_ufo_small.png

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It doesn't happen to me. I use the mobile skin, iPod touch 4G and Chrome browser. Everyone who reported this was using the Safari browser.

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We're looking into it, if there's any more info anyone could provide, please do so.

 

 

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We're looking into it, if there's any more info anyone could provide, please do so.

I'm afraid the only further info I can provide is that I can't visit the site any longer.

Every half second the App Store loads up. I can't put up with it anymore, it's taken nearly 30 minutes to write this reply.

 

Google will tell you everything you need to know but right now the site is unuseable on an iPhone.

I would use the full site but it's quite graphic heavy and eats my bandwidth allowance up.

 

I hope you get it sorted soon.

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Any other users using an Iphone/Ipad to browse gtaforums that could share their experience?

 

 

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It doesn't happen to me. I use the mobile skin, iPod touch 4G and Chrome browser. Everyone who reported this was using the Safari browser.

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It does happen on chrome according to some posters in the issue on various forums.

 

I've found what I think is a temporary fix for now to make it useable.

 

Go yo settings,

Restrictions,

Turn restrictions on,

Flick the switch on the App Store installing apps,

 

What this does is to stop the App Store loading.

Since I've done this it's not happened.

It does however make the App Store icon invisable so if you want to use the App Store app you will need to go back and flick it on again.

 

 

As for the issue, I don't know the system used on the site for advertising but when I read up on this there were people saying that they had to turn each separate advertiser off until they found the culprit.

It's not the same culprit each time or it would be easy to say stop this one.

 

I'm sorry I can't be anymore help than this.

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  • 2 weeks later...
senormidget

Any other users using an Iphone/Ipad to browse gtaforums that could share their experience?

I'm on iPhone 5s, Safari browser with popup blocker switched ON, happens with the mobile skin & the 2014 skin.

 

It happens intermittently really, sometimes it'll do it five times during one "session" of browsing, sometimes it doesn't do it for ages.

 

It also happens before anything on the page has actually loaded sometimes, so I don't think it's a case of accidentally clicking the ads. Further to this, the app that it takes you to doesn't always match the banner shown onscreen.

 

Here is an example of one of the apps -

 

 

2v0j141.jpg

 

 

I personally believe this is a "feature" that certain advertisers are starting to abuse. After some googling it seems that it's just a javascript redirect that detects that you're on an iPhone/Pod/Pad and sends you to the app store.

 

There's a very good TechCrunch article here that talks about this issue, which isn't isolated to GTAF in the slightest, it's becoming quite a big problem apparently.

 

Looks like it does actually happen on Android in some cases too.

Edited by senormidget
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  • 3 weeks later...
senormidget

Bit of a bump.

 

This is still happening. It just happened while browsing on iPhone using Safari on the mobile skin.

 

Didn't click on anything, just got redirected to the following link as a thread was loading -

http://d.mobpartner.mobi/?s=1116805

 

This loaded a blank page which redirected me to the App Store on this app -

29lgpwy.jpg

 

If you click that link on iPhone it will do the same redirect for you, not sure what happens on PC or android.

 

This is becoming a real pain in the ass, it's happening roughly once every 4-5 threads I view.

Edited by senormidget
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