Trains.com

Is It Just Me Or...

5353 views
97 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,566 posts
Is It Just Me Or...
Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 2:58 PM

Starting yesterday I've been getting pop-up ads that are covering the bottom of my display screen, sometimes as much as one-third, for various products and services not related to Kalmbach or railroading in general, model or real.

Now I don't mind pop-ups on the top of the screen, provided they don't cause a problem with what I'm looking at, and I don't mind the ads on the right side of the screen for various products up to and including womens wear and swimwear.  I know pop-ups are one way of paying the bills, but this is really getting annoying.

I'm not seeing the same on any other website I go to.

Anyone else having this issue?

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Guelph, Ontario
  • 4,786 posts
Posted by Ulrich on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:02 PM

I'm getting pop ups from banks and various financial services firms..would rather see the lady swimwear ads.. 

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,566 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:26 PM

Ulrich

I'm getting pop ups from banks and various financial services firms..would rather see the lady swimwear ads.. 

 

Yeah, as I said I really don't mind them, those models are HOT!  

Are those bank and financial services ads blocking as much of your screen as I said the pop-ups I'm getting do?

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 24,857 posts
Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:28 PM

I was getting them on the Windows 10 laptop, not getting them on the Vista desktop.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Blacksburg, Virginia
  • 43 posts
Posted by ShortCircuit on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:33 PM

AdBlocker Ultimate enabled for this sites seems to stop the adds for me.

  • Member since
    September 2013
  • 6,199 posts
Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:41 PM

Not getting anything like that on the iPad but I have seen them on my phone and both are Apple products. 

  • Member since
    September 2002
  • From: North Carolina
  • 1,904 posts
Posted by csxns on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:44 PM

Ulrich
would rather see the lady swimwear ads.. 

That is what i am getting.

Russell

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,321 posts
Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:46 PM

Flintlock76
Anyone else having this issue?

I have it SEVERELY on the ChromeBook I use as a 'road terminal', which of course runs the Chrome browser which I otherwise loathe.

The fun is that there is also an ad up at the head of the page that loads and pushes the content down.  To where the clever little expanding window blossoms to cover the available text window on this device as soon as you go to start typing ... surprise, surprise, resulting in a clickthrough, doubtless irrevocable modifications to everyone's tracked list of my "ad preferences" ... heaven knows what else.

Personally, I now announce that I will BOYCOTT any product or service that appears in one of these bottom ads, and I will work to the greatest of my influence to persuade others likewise.  Perhaps passing that along to the monitors that gauge our preferences by keywords or themes in our posts will get the clever little vixens progrmming the adware to straighten up and fly right.

I was prepared to be forgiving to continue the free content, but this bouncing expanding crapware has finally gone too far.

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,566 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 3:54 PM

Well-said Mod-man!  Count me IN on the boycott team!  

As I said earlier, I can deal with pop-ups in their place, but I draw the line when they start hogging up my screen to the exclusion of other things.  

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 24,857 posts
Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 4:00 PM

ShortCircuit

AdBlocker Ultimate enabled for this sites seems to stop the adds for me.

That may be why I'm not seeing them on the Vista machine - I don't have AdBlocker, but I do have a hosts file which blocks most "popular" ad sites.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,566 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 4:35 PM

I took your advice ShortCircuit and installed AdBlocker, why not?  It says it's free.

It worked.  No more ads, thank goodness, although I'm gonna miss those swimsuit ads.  

Thanks!  

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Maryland
  • 12,852 posts
Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 4:48 PM

I raised the question about these new ads yesterday on the Model Railroader forum........ by mid morning today the thread was gone..........

Sheldon

    

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 24,924 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 4:49 PM

They are not appearing on the Classic Trains forum - as of yet!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • 4,557 posts
Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 6:37 PM

Flintlock76
Anyone else having this issue?

I'm running Linux, and see no ads. I'm using the Chromium browser and using "Ublock" to keep the scripts in check. You can look at the following screenshot , which depicts my blocker listing the items it has blocked. I believe that mkt932.com and powerad.ai  are the worst offenders. Those with a red tab on the far left side of the list are the ones I'm blocking

https://i.imgur.com/lCh8pfj.jpg

  • Member since
    December 2017
  • From: I've been everywhere, man
  • 4,259 posts
Posted by SD70Dude on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 9:21 PM

I've been getting these annoying new ads in Chrome when using my Android phone. 

But I see nothing on the PC, on which I use Firefox.  And also have Ghostery installed.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, March 19, 2020 7:59 AM

I'm getting them, too. I just click on the "x"--and they fly away, until I to go to a new thread.

Johnny

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 24,857 posts
Posted by tree68 on Thursday, March 19, 2020 8:13 AM

Flintlock76

I took your advice ShortCircuit and installed AdBlocker, why not?  It says it's free.

It worked.  No more ads, thank goodness, although I'm gonna miss those swimsuit ads.  

Thanks!  

For those who are able, I do recommend installing a "hosts" file.  Instructions are available on the net.

The best thing is that it's passive - essentially a filter.  This eliminates the possibility that you might actually be installing malware when you install software that's supposed to block malware.  Some blocker programs are better than others.

I do run a program that looks for cookies, etc on a scan that I run once a week on my desktop computer.  Before I put on a hosts file, I was getting well over 1,000 hits each week.  This morning I had 140.  I could probably reduce that to near zero if I chose to dig into what the scan program file finds and modify the hosts file.

And I now see virtually no advertising.  I do get the occasional pop up requesting that I disable my ad blocker.  I just say "sure" and then ignore it.

 

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: Lombard (west of Chicago), Illinois
  • 13,681 posts
Posted by CShaveRR on Thursday, March 19, 2020 9:29 AM

Our tech guy installed Ghostery a few years back.  Every once in a while it blocks something that sounds interesting, but I've not had this problem with non-related ads.  

Just the occasional ad on the Newswire asking me to subscribe to Trains at this fantastic rate...annoying when it disrupts the news I'm reading, because (a) I'm a lifetime subscriber, and (b) you have to be a subscriber to access that site.

Carl

Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)

CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
  • 5,407 posts
Posted by York1 on Thursday, March 19, 2020 9:40 AM

CShaveRR
Just the occasional ad on the Newswire asking me to subscribe to Trains at this fantastic rate...annoying when it disrupts the news I'm reading, because (a) I'm a lifetime subscriber, and (b) you have to be a subscriber to access that site.

It may be that they are aiming at people like me.  I subscribe to Model Railroader, so they probably are trying to get MR readers to subscribe to Trains, also.  MR readers have access to all the Kalmbach forums.

York1 John       

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Guelph, Ontario
  • 4,786 posts
Posted by Ulrich on Thursday, March 19, 2020 9:51 AM

They're trying to get me to take on credit.. credit card offers.. loans.. etc.. and now an ad for something to do with the airport in Toronto. Splicing it all together I'mguessin the universe wants me to take a vacation on credit.. 

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,566 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, March 19, 2020 9:59 AM

You know, the thought hit me just now.

I didn't mind the ads as long as they kept their place and didn't interfere with anything else, but as soon as they did it pushed me over the edge to the point I killed 'em all.

I suppose the people responsible for the same never heard the story of "The Goose That Laid The Golden Eggs," or the tale of "The Fisherman's Wife" who didn't have the sense to quit while she was ahead, and asked for so much she lost it all.

A lot of wisdom in those old stories.  There must be, or they wouldn't have lived for so long.

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,550 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Thursday, March 19, 2020 2:53 PM

I'm getting these pop-ups too- when I try to click on the X on the upper right, the ad will move up and down like it's fighting me. If I don't click right on the x, the ad page opens up. Toyota, Scotiabank, other banking ads. I thought it was just me. Can someone point out to me how to load Adbusters? I would sure appreciate it. I would boycott Scotiabank, but that's my bank. For a while after every time I went to the bank, they would email me a survey form asking about the service. I told a teller to make it stop and it did. But these pop-ups are driving me nuts! 

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Central Iowa
  • 6,825 posts
Posted by jeffhergert on Thursday, March 19, 2020 3:05 PM

I started noticing them a couple of days ago too.  Both on my home PC and travelling lap-top, both use Edge.  I have a pop-up blocker, but the only pop-ups it seems to block are the ones I need to see on the UP employee's website.  And for that I can't disable it like I could before for those pop-ups.

I've also been getting pop-ups from Kalmbach when I switch magazine forums to subscribe.  Even to the ones I already subscribe to.  I checked out the adblocker for Edge, but it says I need to update my version of Edge.  I may try it out on my lap-top first.

Jeff 

  • Member since
    July 2009
  • From: San Francisco East Bay
  • 1,360 posts
Posted by MikeF90 on Thursday, March 19, 2020 3:19 PM

Overmod
The fun is that there is also an ad up at the head of the page that loads and pushes the content down. To where the clever little expanding window blossoms to cover the available text window on this device as soon as you go to start typing ... surprise, surprise, resulting in a clickthrough, doubtless irrevocable modifications to everyone's tracked list of my "ad preferences" ... heaven knows what else.

This exact behavior with bottom popups just started happening to me (Firefox on Linux). Surprisingly the window has just text and a link so it is hard to determine the sponsor to boycott. At any rate I had to turn Ublock back on for this site and others, will see if it works ....

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,566 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, March 19, 2020 4:26 PM

54light15

I'm getting these pop-ups too- when I try to click on the X on the upper right, the ad will move up and down like it's fighting me. If I don't click right on the x, the ad page opens up. Toyota, Scotiabank, other banking ads. I thought it was just me. Can someone point out to me how to load Adbusters? I would sure appreciate it. I would boycott Scotiabank, but that's my bank. For a while after every time I went to the bank, they would email me a survey form asking about the service. I told a teller to make it stop and it did. But these pop-ups are driving me nuts! 

 

That's exactly  what happened to me!  Chasing the "x's" all over the damn screen!

Loading AdBlocker is easy, just Google AdBlocker, I selected AdBlocker Ultimate Chrome (if you're using Chrome) the free one, and follow the directions.  Just takes a few seconds. 

I'm sure there's other applications depending on your situation.

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,550 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Thursday, March 19, 2020 5:32 PM

Thanks so much, Wayne- I just now did it and no more ads! I owe you one, that's for sure. 

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 24,924 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, March 19, 2020 5:40 PM

After loading a ad blocker, you will also get pop ups from some of the sites you visit that obscure their content and instruct you to turn off the ad blocker, and provide you the means to do it.

F em!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 24,857 posts
Posted by tree68 on Thursday, March 19, 2020 5:48 PM

BaltACD

After loading a ad blocker, you will also get pop ups from some of the sites you visit that obscure their content and instruct you to turn off the ad blocker, and provide you the means to do it.

F em!

I get that with the hosts file, too.  I click on their link, then click on the "I'm done" button without changing anything.  Haven't had an issue yet.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,566 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, March 19, 2020 6:44 PM

BaltACD

After loading a ad blocker, you will also get pop ups from some of the sites you visit that obscure their content and instruct you to turn off the ad blocker, and provide you the means to do it.

F em!

 

You bet Balt, I tried the websites of the local papers in the Fort Myers FL area where my parents live, just to get an idea of "what's goin' on" and sure enough the "turn off the ad blocker" message came up.  No damn way!

And you're welcome 54', but the guy you really need to thank is ShortCircuit, he's the one who brought AdBlocker to my attention.  Bless him!

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Allentown, PA
  • 9,810 posts
Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Thursday, March 19, 2020 8:44 PM

Running Chrome on Windows 10, the ads only cover about the bottom 10% of the screen, so not a big bother.

I still get the women's fashions, swimsuits, and lingerie ads in a little box on the right side.  Someday my wife's going to see them, and then I'll have some 'splainin' to do . . . Whistling 

- PDN.  

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy