Has bullseye been hacked

First topic message reminder :

so I am getting ad banners over top of site pages. Just started a few days ago

knightimac wrote:I can't use my phone to view this site as amazon pop-ups take over.  I've deleted the shortcut on my phone to avoid problems.

Yep, this problem did not always exist. It find it interesting that the only suggestion is that we do something to fix it, but this is the only site that this problem happens for me. The user experience here took a significant hit at least a year ago when this type of stuff started. No way I should have to add spam blockers just to view just this site. If others would speak up that this is unacceptable then and only then will the admin look into changing something to prevent this invasion of the site. I believe it is a revenue generator because everytime I used to view this site on my phone a NRA ad would pop. This is not a random change.


Recommending that we add blockers is that last thing I expected as a response.

+1.  Not interested in having to use blockers for this site.

Sorry if the "last thing you expected as a response" was not what you expected, but buddy, it is all we got.  This site is not a freestanding site, coded up from scratch by a team of man bun wearing hackers.  It works on top of a hosting platform provided by the hosting service.  We have control over the outer appearance, physical formatting, and users, but not much else.  The hosting site builds a page from scratch every time you click a link using a mix of our formatting rules and user database, combined with their behind the scenes programming.  We do not control what they insert and have absolutely ZERO control over the advertising and the associated tracking programming.

I get paid just as much as you do to work here.  Unless you get paid more than $0.00/hr, which is what I make.  I have to do the same thing everyone else does by using blocking software.  I have access to as much as is possible behind the scenes and I cannot change this issue either. We did not change the past year, the Internet did.  The tracking technology is bigger stronger, faster, and more invasive than ever. We have no control over how the hosting service does their ads and we are in the same boat you are.

You want to run around the Internet without having blocking software on and then blame us because you have a popup on your phone, well that is about the equivalent of screwing every hooker in town without a condom and blaming the guys that laid the road because you got crabs. Many users did speak up, then installed blockers and carried on.  If you have a headache and the Dr. tells you to take an aspirin, do you tell the Dr. "No way Doc, I am supposed to live my entire life and never have one. This headache is YOUR fault! "  

If you still got beef and refuse to attempt the given solution, then you will have to take it up with the folks that actually control the ads at the hosting service at www.forumotion.com because we are not able to do anything about what they do.

@Robert and others, as one of the only public faces many folks are likely to encounter on this site, I take it personally that you are not happy and I want you to have a good experience here.  The only guy above me in the food chain is the owner and there are no other terribly active admins or moderators other than me and none of us is a paid employee.  I have never even met the owner in person and got the Admin job by complaining about one of the site features in a similar way you have!  I was offering up some advice via PM to fix it (I have familiarity with being a PHP forum owner/admin) and he just decided it would be easier to bring me on as an Admin to help fix it and then it kinda shifted to where I take care of some of the many "I lost my Userid" type things while Rob is managing the FB forum.  So for right now, this place is set up to run itself on semi-autopilot, because there are only 2-3 of us at all and mostly there is just me on the day to day basis.

So bring on the discussion, but take it easy on us, this site is not run by Mega-Corporate of America and there is no hidden conspiracy going on behind the scenes.  In this case, we have no control over some of the deeper operation of this site.  This site is not run as business for profit, but as a "cover the cost of having it" one and to keep it free of charge to end users such as yourself and me.

Again, this site and the contents of it are free of charge to you, but there is certainly an operating cost behind the scenes that has to be absorbed.  More so, it is run by a very few volunteers who are unpaid and seldom thanked, but often blamed for the slightest issue. As Dr. Don posted above, I too, am not interested in using blockers, but I am not going to cut off my nose to spite my face either.

Will

We should double your salary.

Keep up the fine work. 

I am just glad folks like Paul, Joe, Rob, David, Ross, etc have stepped up for the BE community

Hooker analogies and  rambling on about this somehow being my fault are just a result of you taking this personally and basically being a jacka$$ about this and is not going to improve discussion.  I FIXED THE PROBLEM MONTHS AGO. I AM NOT AT FAULT. I already told you I don't come here on my phone.  I guess to use your hooker analogy- I don't visit hookers or come to this site because I understand both are infected. 

I have donated money to this site when it was requested a few years ago and I would have again if it was an option available to keep the site as it used to be. I see that it is beyond your control, fine, I changed my viewing since this is the only site with the problem.

I don't see the issue, I get a tiny banner ad at the top on my LG android phone. Same goes on my PC. Is this a problem with Apple phones or something?

I'm the same Zane.. my Samsung Droid running Chrome has zero issues.. When I'm using my desktop I use Adblocker plus.. for a lot more than just this site.

sounds like more good reasons for my decision to not use Iphones...

I'm also with Zane and jglenn21, I have a tiny banner ad on top on my Droid phone. I also use Adblocker + on my desktop.... also for a lot more than just this site.

I generally come here on a laptop, and the ads are not a problem.  On my ipad the ads literally cover up the login blocks you need to fill in to log on.  That's a problem.  On other forum screens they cover up various buttons you want to click.  So I minimize my use of ipad on this site.

By the way Will, I do appreciate you, Rob, and anyone else who moderates.  It's a thankless job, but thank you.

Will,

No good deed goes unpunished. Nevertheless, I appreciate your work, and I feel your pain.

For (some of) the rest of you: No bullseye shooter is making money off of these stupid video game ads. Nobody we know is making money off of this site. Somebody, somewhere, is playing us, but it certainly isn't the volunteers who keep this forum going. (Wo)Man up and help. OS versions, browsers, date, time, URL. Step up. 

(FWIW: I don’t see our sponsors' ads anymore, on any of my devices. I like our sponsors, and I would like to support them. I also see the video game ads overlaying the login form fields. All of my devices are Apple, and that appears to be a common thread. Now that I've stepped into this, I probably should walk the walk.)

Firefox 59.0 on OS X 10.11.6 with NoScript and AdBlock Plus. No video game ads, but no sponsor ads either.

Logged in, iOS 11.2.5 on an iPhone 8:

Unauthenticated, iOS 11.2.5 on an iPhone 8 (this one is the real problem, as you can't even get to the username/password fields to log in):

(You all have no idea how many times I had to refresh my browser to get ads as innocuous as FLOR and Room & Board)

Something is 'not right'.  I just got a eyefull of anime porn.  Not that I'm a prude, or it damaged my sensibilities - but that is not acceptable on this site.  There are plenty of sites which cater to such interests.  I can deal with the smart phone game ad's, but no, no porn.

Also, based on IT security tech folks and training, these ad's may be malicious.  I would be much happier paying $10-$20 (anonymously, more or less) to support this site than have security issues to worry about.  Yes, there is a problem.

At least that explains the itch...

Admins - you are not alone!
When I owned & managed several websites eliminating spam was an ongoing fight.  It seemed the more traffic the sites generated the more aggressive the spammers got.  
- Dave

How do I stop these spammy ads on my website
This is NOT, and never will be a solvable problem. That’s a bold statement, but it was one that was recently made at Pubtelligence — a publishers-only event hosted at Google in August 2017.  Panelists from Ezoic and Google both harped on just how difficult it is to stop these bad actors…

“It [spammy ads] has been going on since ads first appeared online and is essentially an arms race between bad actors and the networks.  It’s important to understand this as a publisher because even if your able to eliminate these ads at the moment, they WILL pop-up again; regardless of what networks, exchanges, or partners you leverage.  We work with thousands of partners and exchanges, not a single one can claim that they don’t have this problem.” – Dwayne Lafleur, CEO, Ezoic

Wow did I start something. I was just pointing out an issue I was having that had just started occurring. I applied the fix recommended and now I have no issues and even my other sites are covered. Thank you admins for that I learned something.  Also if a donation button showed up I would be happy to give a little this site has been a great source of information and assistance.

KB2MBC wrote:At least that explains the itch...

This guy gets it.

Apologies Robert for offending.  I was just making an example case for fun, not as a personal reflection on you.  I take your concerns seriously, but the Internet makes it too easy for misunderstandings to occur.  
Sometimes the jokes fall flat.

Thanks John B for testing the site in various formats.  I have a lot going on right now off line and appreciate the help.

Anime porn ads?  Hmmm.  A few annoying banners are one thing, but there is no reason for that. 

Hey folks, don’t get the idea that we are doing nothing about this.  It is just where we are at right this moment. Rob is aware of this thread and may have something add here soon.  Some of this conversation is getting above my pay grade and into areas that I don’t want to make any assumptions about or inadvertently put forth incorrect info.

Just found out some info on Admin functions on Forumotion that only the site Founder (owner) can access, but not Admins.  Hence the reason I have not been able to access them or know what was within.  These functions are proprietary to the Forumotion hosting platform and I had no knowledge of them until a few minutes ago.

 Guess what these functions control?  If you guessed ads, you might be correct.

Please don’t jump on Rob’s (Founder/Owner) case if the cause of this is what I think it is.  This might have happened as a function of our growing membership and forum activity and is an automated “feature” of the forumotion platform that kicked in without anyone’s awareness.  This particular issue is not something that we have had to deal with before, but should be able to be take care of soon.

Rob has also let me know that there should be no ads, except our BE related ones.  Depending on certain settings, you may see ads if you are a guest, but members should not.

More info as it develops, but we may have a fix on the way.

Firefox 5 on android

This from my friendly computer doc's tip list

8. Use an ad blocker:

Ads and trackers can slip by your anti-virus scanner as they’re not (technically) being downloaded; an ad blocker, in addition to reducing those annoying online ads, can shut down hidden trackers by blocking the scripts that run them.

I installed Adblock Plus to Mozilla Firefox (my preferred browser).  There is still an ad (Wal-mart at this time for golf gloves I googled) but it doesn't change.  I can live with that.

I had an ad blocker on Firefox several months ago.  But, the browser got updated and I didn't update the add-on software.  All the adware and malware people need to do is just be vigilant for lapses in protection.

You know it's serious when I break out the "Founder" account....

Robert. You know how to get a hold of me....come on brother.

I think this may be a revenue generator for Rob & Co.

I'm disappointed in this. Come on.
The truth is that I paid out of my pocket to "buy" the ads away for the members of the forum. That's how this works.

If you have ever googled a problem with your car, and you find your symptom on a car forum, that thing is full of ads. Our forum is no different--except me and the previous administrators have been paying to keep the ads away for members of the forum.

The writers of the forum software make their money in 2 ways: they either charge the administrators to pay to eliminate the ads, or they sell ad space on the forum traffic that show all of the horrible popups that you have been seeing.

The forum is doing well. So well that I don't have time to monitor the posts anymore. I promoted Will Newton to administrator to maintain the decorum and for him to let me know if something has gone wrong. I think he's doing a nice job. Don't give him any static.

The ads will be blocked for 1 year at which time THIS SAME THING will happen. Just let me know. It's easy for me to see a message on Facebook. You can message me there.


Finally, I want to thank Will Newton for running things while I have been working on some of the ground game for bullseye shooters in Southern Wisconsin. We ARE making ground at growing the sport faster than my competitors are aging out of the system. It takes a lot of time and work.

I hope that my example of how thin I am spread is inspirational.

If you wonder to yourself "I'm not sure if I can host a match or start a league. I don't know how". Guess what. Wing it. That's NORMAL. Just do it. Build it and they WILL come.

Sorry the ad thing dragged on so long. It's fixed now.