There’s been a rash of pop-up ads among the webcomic sites that has the community in a bit of a tizzy (rightfully so, I can’t stand those things). Brad Guigar did a really helpful report about how to handle it over at webcomics.com, so I’ve gone through my ad settings and put up every block I know about, but these parasites can get pretty sneaky so please watch out for the following:
Facebinks.com is delivering a malicious, pop-over ad to Web sites, offering readers a chance to win a free iPad — and implying that the deal is an exclusive offer from that site — even including a deceptive trademark identifier (®) after the site’s URL at the bottom left-hand corner of the ad.
When the user tries to close the ad, another pop-up appears, with one of those “do you really want to leave this site — Yes or No” messages that make you wonder what you’re really answering “Yes or No” to if you click it.
If this happens to you, please alert me as soon as possible. If you can, please include:
- A screen grab of your browser window
- A page script (fiddler / firebug) of the ad appearing
- Any logistical information (time the ad appeared, browser type, page URL, etc).
Advertising is a bit of a necessary evil, but I do not support any kind of browser hijacker and will never re-direct you to another url without your choosing to do so (ie. blog links you have to click yourself). Thanks in advance for your patience and do keep me informed if you happen to encounter any of this nastiness here.
I’m a subscriber to the Dances With Fat newsletter. I absolutely adore Ragen Chastain, she’s a brilliant and really funny writer, speaker and advocate for the Health At Any Size movement. I’m not a health care professional so I can’t adequately debate the any-size issue, (which is a surprisingly hot-button) but I am very pro-self-esteem, which is the primary message I’ve always take away from Ragen’s blog.
Whatever your subject, anyone who speaks their mind is bound to encounter some disagreement. Unfortunately, the internet has a special gift for prompting negative people to share their unkind (and frequently ignorant) opinions. (Penny Arcade summed it up perfectly with the Greater Internet F#@!wad Theory.) But, Ragen found a way to make lemon-aid out of this bitterness and opted to collect up all of the hate-mail and nasty comments that she didn’t want sitting on her main page then put them on their own “monetize the hate” page, loaded with advertising. So now, the haters are funding her Dances With Fat World Tour AND she gets to add in her own two cents.
I laughed and laughed and laughed!
