The Ad That Must Not Be Named...

[ABSpareEditor]

As we are all well aware we have had an incredibly irritating issue with a particularly clever ad that seemed determined to interrupt specific people on our lovely site.

We have been working hard over the weekend to get to the root of this. And our techie gnomes have discovered it likes to be named, so any threads naming this ad (beginning with a 'g', and ending with an 's') were triggering the ad to show.

For this reason we have deleted all threads, both old and new, that mention this terrible ad by name. It's not that we're deleting your threads because we don't care - quite the opposite!

The advice of 'please clear your cache' still stands true, if you have seen the ad, please clear your cache (comment below if you need any help on your specific browser, but a quick google should help you). And let's never talk of this terrible ad again! Doing so will cause it to rear it's ugly head!

[shoota]

I still maintain we should send a gunboat...

[Jahulaye]

Very strange that no other site mentions this attack and that this site sends an adware virus to whoever mentions their name” whose only victim is ab.

Are any technological steps going to be taken to improve the defenses here or find out the reason why users were attacked as the “ostrich” manoeuvre isn’t going to help if a new user mentions the name of the g site.

[ToraToraTora]

I'm still getting it without naming it and I did not name it in the first place when it popped up.

[ToraToraTora]

gromit, how is this working and how can I fix it?

[Jahulaye]

It can’t be an attack on this site or it’s users as the g site is a retail outlet so wouldn’t have any reasons to.

I’m not a tech head and this is baffling me.

[ToraToraTora]

sorry but I cannot see why only AB seems to be affected. How is it invoked to scan only AB and nothing else? Anyway what do I have to do get shot of it?

[Jahulaye]

I think that’s only a question the mastercoder of ab can answer ttt as sitting and “speaking no evil” doesn’t seem a logical response to a cyber attack if that is what it is but probably isn’t.

[jim360]

I don't think it's only AB being affected -- or, at least, a quick search suggested that other people have complained about it in the last year and I doubt they are exclusively AB users.

[Jahulaye]

Jim360, can you say what you googled a I googled g****s virus and came up with zilch

[jim360]

Oddly when I googled your exact search term the first hit is a warning about the site in question from onlinethreatalerts.com. I am not sure why you aren't seeing that link.

At any rate this isn't an AB-specific conspiracy. A site might be vulnerable if it doesn't have a dedicated Tech Support team working round the clock.

As has been established before there are potential fixes, even if ABEd wants to discourage them for obvious reasons. One suggestion if all else fails would be to install the appropriate add-on but only until the troublesome ad is dealt with, and then revert to normal after that.

[Jahulaye]

I think you misunderstood my search Jim.

When I typed in *the ad that shall not be named* virus I was specifically looking for an adware virus attack on other sites/ users.

I seen that site which said

“The website *Ad that shall not be named* located at www.*Ad which shall not be named*.com is an untrustworthy eCommerce store or website. Online users are advised to stay away from the untrustworthy website, and those who have shopped from it, run the risk of receiving counterfeit goods, poor quality goods that look nothing like what was advertised, or nothing at all. Therefore, we do not recommend purchasing from *Ad which shall not be named*.”

“We were unable to find out where *Ad which shall not be named* or where the owners are located. The information is not on their website, and they are hiding their domain name information by using a third-party service. We do not recommend purchasing from websites that hide their locations. But, that doesn't necessarily mean the websites are fraudulent, it just make them suspicious. And, when you are operating an e-commerce website where online users enter their personal and financial information, it is important that the website discloses all possible information about itself.”

Which hasn’t much relevance to what I was searching for so forgive me for not making myself clearer.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah - - no
I still got it a few minutes ago ( second time ever)

[cassa333]

I don't know what the unmentionable add is so I might mention in inadvertently!!

I don't think I have been interrupted by adds at any rate so perhaps I don't use it!!

[Gromit]

Tora,
Sorry to hear that you are still having problems with the pesky ad. I am not on a Windows PC, so I haven’t experienced the intrusion.

I found this which explains how to block the a website on Windows. Hopefully it will stop it launching.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/249077/web-apps/how-to-block-websites.html

[ToraToraTora]

Thanks Gromit, I do know about that method but sadly my employer won’t allow us to do “admin” functions. I have the unmentionable download at home but at work I am hopelessly plagued by this. Only on AB, I just cannot see how this can be anything other than related to AB but the site does not seem able to block this irritant. This basically means that I have to type all my responses into notepad or similar and paste them in during the occasional gaps afforded me by the unmentionable site. Is there nothing that can be done? Surely advertisers cannot be happy that users of the site are being put off.

[Gromit]

Tora,
When searching for a solution I did find people complaining about it taking over their browser, that had no connection to AB and were in the US.

The idea that it is scrapping script data and targeting any where it gets a mention, is just a working theory. Unfortunately, some users are still mentioning it by name. Someone on this thread did it, so this thread is probably now a trigger.

While it is a great inconevenience to you, it will be affecting page views, and it will be losing AB Corp. money.

I cannot see an instant solution to your situation. Are you able to take a Tablet into work ?

[Jahulaye]

Ttt, if you need to use ab whilst at work that bad have you considered using your own phone, tablet, laptop?” There?