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Popups getting through Safari's blocker
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chabig
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Oct 11, 2004, 10:08 AM
 
Has anyone else noticed that some popups ads are now getting through Safari's blocker? I have seen this a few times this past week.

Chris
( Last edited by chabig; Oct 11, 2004 at 08:54 PM. )
     
ManOfSteal
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Oct 11, 2004, 10:14 AM
 
They (the spammers) are getting smarter!
     
Randman
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Oct 11, 2004, 10:32 AM
 
Which sites?

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F_Elz
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Oct 11, 2004, 08:52 PM
 
I know diesel.com gets through...
     
chabig  (op)
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Oct 11, 2004, 08:56 PM
 
I dismissed it before really paying attention, so I don't know which site it was. When it happens again, I'll post here. I am afraid the spammers are indeed getting smarter.

Chris
     
TETENAL
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Oct 11, 2004, 09:07 PM
 
There are now style sheet layer popups or something like that. They are not really in a separate window. I don't think there would be anything that could be done to block these.

One example can be found here:

http://www.telefonbuch.de/
     
gheff
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Oct 11, 2004, 09:32 PM
 
Originally posted by F_Elz:
I know diesel.com gets through...
Verrry interesting. Firefox won't block it either. Looks like they're calling a javascript function that opens a window, from inside of Flash. Odd that that gets through.

Checking bugzilla...

In the case of Firefox (and other Mozilla), there are several related bugzilla reports. This one in particular is interesting:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=176079

Looks like bathandbodyworks.com does it too.
     
gheff
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Oct 11, 2004, 09:35 PM
 
Originally posted by TETENAL:
There are now style sheet layer popups or something like that. They are not really in a separate window. I don't think there would be anything that could be done to block these.

One example can be found here:

http://www.telefonbuch.de/
How odd. Firefox DID block this one.
     
alphasubzero949
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Oct 12, 2004, 12:56 AM
 
     
demograph68
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Oct 12, 2004, 03:38 AM
 
I didn't get any popups from the sites listed above.
     
Twilly Spree
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Oct 12, 2004, 06:33 AM
 
Originally posted by demograph68:
I didn't get any popups from the sites listed above.
I get a popup in Safari when visiting www.diesel.com
     
P
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Oct 12, 2004, 07:36 AM
 
The one in diesel is done through flash - Flash is calling a Javascript function that shows a new window. I doubt a browser could block that - it would have to be done in Flash, or just block window.open completely.
     
Randman
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Oct 12, 2004, 07:40 AM
 
Originally posted by P:
The one in diesel is done through flash - Flash is calling a Javascript function that shows a new window. I doubt a browser could block that - it would have to be done in Flash, or just block window.open completely.
I'm at work, so can't try it, but could pithhelmet block it?

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drainyoo
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Oct 12, 2004, 10:15 AM
 
Originally posted by Randman:
I'm at work, so can't try it, but could pithhelmet block it?
Nope. I cant figure how to block it with Pith. This really sucks. Im a Flash developer and I cant think of a way to blocking this. Like everyone has stated, its a JS script being called up from flash.
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Parky
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Oct 12, 2004, 12:48 PM
 
I know they happened on MacNN for a few hours a couple of weeks back.

And have have seen them this week at www.macosrumors.com

It's always the same advertiser, the one where they claim you have won a holiday!
In fact I have just tried it again and got a pop up 'Congratulations' window.

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sideus
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Feb 1, 2005, 04:31 PM
 
First time this has happened to me. I opened a bunch of tabs at the same time, popup appeared and then quickly hid itself behind the main window. "Block Pop-up Windows" is on.
     
Buckaroo
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Feb 15, 2005, 08:55 PM
 
     
jasong
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Feb 15, 2005, 09:11 PM
 
How about dropping the web master of the site in question an email and state that you will no longer be visiting their site until they remove the popup ads.

When I was a web designer I was forced by the powers that be to do popup ads. All it took was 50 of those messages to change their mind.

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Macpilot
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Feb 15, 2005, 11:11 PM
 
I too have noticed that pop-ups are getting through Safari. Maybe it is due to an OS X update? I don't know.
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CaptainHaddock
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Feb 15, 2005, 11:45 PM
 
None of those sites produced pop-ups in Omniweb 5.1. I haven't tried any other browsers.
     
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Feb 16, 2005, 01:29 AM
 
     
CaptainHaddock
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Feb 16, 2005, 03:01 AM
 
Tried "http://www.agoraquest.com/forum.php" in all my browsers.

Omniweb allows no pop-ups.
Safari allows a pop-under.
Camino allows a pop-up.
Firefox allows a pop-under.
Opera allows no pop-ups.

Omniweb and Opera pass, the rest fail on that site. Omniweb definitely earns its reputation as the a very functional browser. I love how you can alter ad-blocking settings for individual sites.
     
Randman
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Feb 16, 2005, 03:15 AM
 
Originally posted by CaptainHaddock:
I love how you can alter ad-blocking settings for individual sites.
As does Safari with Pithhelmet.

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Thinine
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Feb 16, 2005, 07:52 AM
 
tvtome.com also seems to produce a pop-under. Annoying.
     
GENERAL_SMILEY
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Feb 16, 2005, 10:29 AM
 
Seems all of the above fail to create pop ups in Omniweb 5.1 if that helps anyone.
I have Mac
     
Randman
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Feb 16, 2005, 12:55 PM
 
I just tried every link given in this thread just now in Safari and got 0 pop-ups and/or pop-unders. The adserver page wouldn't load (pith) but that's it.

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macrophyllum
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Feb 16, 2005, 03:20 PM
 
I have been getting pop-ups every once in a while within the last few days. Before that I NEVER had any. I actually came to this site to see if others were noticing pop-ups sneaking through recently.
     
alphasubzero949
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Feb 16, 2005, 03:42 PM
 
www.netscape.com

This is something new....a sheet drops down...except on other sites, it's an ad. How can you stop THAT from happening? I have PithHelmet v.0.7.3 and it's getting around my rules.
     
:dragonflypro:
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Feb 16, 2005, 04:13 PM
 
Originally posted by alphasubzero949:
www.netscape.com

This is something new....a sheet drops down...except on other sites, it's an ad. How can you stop THAT from happening? I have PithHelmet v.0.7.3 and it's getting around my rules.
That is probably some pretty full on JS with maybe some DHTML doing a page element. A pop-blocker isn't gonna do it, if ever. While it servers the same purpose, it is really a popup.

But pretty annoying.

T
     
clarkgoble
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Feb 16, 2005, 05:27 PM
 
I tried most of the links on Firefox and couldn't get any popups either.
     
pendragon
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Feb 16, 2005, 05:29 PM
 
I no longer visit sites, like MacOSRumors that are now using these 'refined' pop up and pop unders.

As others have suggested, I email the webmaster explaining that until they cease their pop up/pop under practice, I'll not visit their site.

Maybe if enough folks do this, they'll catch on.
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markponcelet
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Feb 16, 2005, 06:35 PM
 
Macosrumors.com does indeed get a pop-under through my copy of Safari. I also have Privoxy (3.2) installed, with some pretty strict rules.

I agree with the rest of you: I'm dropping Macosrumors from my tab list. No point in visiting a site if I have to be irritated.
     
Chris Grande
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Feb 16, 2005, 08:38 PM
 
I seem to be getting pop-unders on www.appleinsider.com
     
nate_02
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Feb 17, 2005, 12:45 AM
 
This just started happening to me this past week also. I get it on www.drudgereport.com
-nate
     
nate_02
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Feb 17, 2005, 12:47 AM
 
Originally posted by nate_02:
This just started happening to me this past week also. I get it on www.drudgereport.com
Actually, I'm not sure if it's drudge report or some of the links on the site. I only get the popups when i click on one of the links to another site, and press the back button to go back to drudgereport.com
-nate
     
DigitalEl
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Feb 17, 2005, 03:52 PM
 
I just had my first one this week... On the GUI site InterfaceLIFT with both Safari and Firefox. Very disappointing.
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Randman
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Feb 17, 2005, 04:05 PM
 
Originally posted by DigitalEl:
I just had my first one this week... On the GUI site InterfaceLIFT with both Safari and Firefox. Very disappointing.
No pop-ups for me. What did you click on to get it?

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markponcelet
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Feb 17, 2005, 05:14 PM
 
Not twelve hours after my post that macosrumors.com was letting a pop-under through Safari, this was posted on their site:

A handful of readers have reported problems with our ad networks serving pop-unders which somehow get around Safari's pop-up blocker. This is *not* in keeping with our policies and we are working to disable the offending advertiser(s). We extend our sincere apologies to anyone affected by this; neither these breakthrough pop-unders nor any kind of audio ad are EVER intentionally or knowingly run on Mac OS Rumors.

Okay, fine. I guess I won't hate them then.
     
cambro
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Feb 17, 2005, 05:46 PM
 
I love it...

It's a little evolutionary arms race...defense, counter defense. A story played out for well over 500 million years persists yet into the digital world!

In all seriousness, these things ARE very annoying. But alas, as long as there is a motivation (i.e., money) all pop-up blocks will be overcome (unless the functionality is completely removed from browsers...in which case they'll find a new way to annoy us!).
     
canuck
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Feb 19, 2005, 11:38 PM
 
Originally posted by cambro:
I love it...

It's a little evolutionary arms race...defense, counter defense. A story played out for well over 500 million years persists yet into the digital world!

In all seriousness, these things ARE very annoying. But alas, as long as there is a motivation (i.e., money) all pop-up blocks will be overcome (unless the functionality is completely removed from browsers...in which case they'll find a new way to annoy us!).
One pretty effective option is to redirect all the links to the ad sites back to your local machine via your host file.

Mike's Ad Blocking Host file

I've done this and most of the popunders have disappeared, replaced with 'can't find page' kind of messages from my web server, which is ok with me.
     
Old Toad
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Feb 20, 2005, 12:04 AM
 
Originally posted by TETENAL:
One example can be found here:

http://www.telefonbuch.de/
Interesting. When i went there and went to the English page, I did get the popup you mentioned. But when i went to any of the other languages or back to English it did not come back. I then cleared Safari's cache and history and went back. I would see a very fleeting flash of that popup once but only once.

Wonder if Safari has a learning curve and it takes one visit to register it.
     
sixer
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Feb 21, 2005, 06:17 PM
 
I started using the Adblock extension to Firefox and love it--lets you block advertising servers so ads just aren't displayed. You can find instructions for setting up your filter and a good list of servers here.

I know this isn't the only way to get rid of ads, but it's a great improvement for me--I noticed this in a Slashdot discussion a couple days ago.
     
xtremekinetix
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Mar 2, 2005, 07:11 PM
 
Got a popup today from this site:

http://z1.adserver.com/w/cp.x;rid=1;...=3;ac=14;c=98;

...after I went to DrudgeReport.com.

So annoying....
     
xtremekinetix
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Mar 2, 2005, 07:17 PM
 
This seems to be the company...

http://adserver.com/advertisers.html

Another thing...in the browser URL field, this URL shows up for the pop-up ad:

http://z1.adserver.com/w/cp.x;rid=1;...=3;ac=14;c=98;

However, in my browser history a different URL is listed. Something like, "http://media33.fastclick.net...id=2;ev=1;dt=3;ac=14;c=98"

I hate people that do this stuff...
( Last edited by xtremekinetix; Mar 3, 2005 at 12:26 PM. )
     
Twilly Spree
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Mar 3, 2005, 07:38 AM
 
Originally posted by Old Toad:
Interesting. When i went there and went to the English page, I did get the popup you mentioned. But when i went to any of the other languages or back to English it did not come back. I then cleared Safari's cache and history and went back. I would see a very fleeting flash of that popup once but only once.

Wonder if Safari has a learning curve and it takes one visit to register it.
That's funny! I got the pop-up the first time I visited telefonbuch but now I don't get one. Then I visited the english version and WHAM a pop up window. Then I go back to the english version and NO pop up window.

Safari learns.
     
Krusty
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Mar 3, 2005, 11:48 AM
 
I found this code in the agoraquest page by viewing source:

Code:
<!-- FASTCLICK.COM POP-UNDER CODE v1.7e for agoraquest.com --> <script language="javascript"><!-- var doc=document; var url=escape(doc.location.href); var date_ob=new Date(); doc.cookie='h2=o; path=/;';var bust=date_ob.getSeconds(); if(doc.cookie.indexOf('e=llo') <= 0 && doc.cookie.indexOf('2=o') > 0){ doc.write('<scr'+'ipt language="javascript" src="http://media.fastclick.net'); doc.write('/w/pop.cgi?sid=6813&m=2&v=1.7e&u='+url+'&c='+bust+'"></scr'+'ipt>'); date_ob.setTime(date_ob.getTime()+43200000); doc.cookie='he=llo; path=/; expires='+ date_ob.toGMTString();} // --> </script> <!-- FASTCLICK.COM POP-UNDER CODE v1.7e for agoraquest.com -->
Anyone care to interpret what they are up to with this ??
     
Wiskedjak
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Mar 4, 2005, 08:35 PM
 
More and more popups are getting though. Starting to get annoying again ...
     
Truepop
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Mar 4, 2005, 08:58 PM
 
I think this all has to do with IE blocking pop ups now.
     
Wiskedjak
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Mar 4, 2005, 09:03 PM
 
Originally posted by Truepop:
I think this all has to do with IE blocking pop ups now.
That makes sense; with the most used browser blocking popups suddenly it becomes important to marketers to find a way around the blockers. Though, I hope you're not blaming M$ for popups getting through Safari.

The blame for popups are those sits with those who click them
     
CharlesS
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Mar 5, 2005, 01:47 AM
 
Originally posted by Krusty:
I found this code in the agoraquest page by viewing source:

Code:
<!-- FASTCLICK.COM POP-UNDER CODE v1.7e for agoraquest.com --> <script language="javascript"><!-- var doc=document; var url=escape(doc.location.href); var date_ob=new Date(); doc.cookie='h2=o; path=/;';var bust=date_ob.getSeconds(); if(doc.cookie.indexOf('e=llo') <= 0 && doc.cookie.indexOf('2=o') > 0){ doc.write('<scr'+'ipt language="javascript" src="http://media.fastclick.net'); doc.write('/w/pop.cgi?sid=6813&m=2&v=1.7e&u='+url+'&c='+bust+'"></scr'+'ipt>'); date_ob.setTime(date_ob.getTime()+43200000); doc.cookie='he=llo; path=/; expires='+ date_ob.toGMTString();} // --> </script> <!-- FASTCLICK.COM POP-UNDER CODE v1.7e for agoraquest.com -->
Anyone care to interpret what they are up to with this ??
Looks like they're using JavaScript code to assemble JavaScript code which runs a pop-up.

Looks like they're breaking up the <script> tag. The script tag must be one of the things that the pop-up blockers scan for. Should be easy enough to fix if that's all it is.

Disclaimer: I haven't worked on any pop-up blocking software, so I obviously don't know the ins and outs of it too well. I'm just commenting on what that code you posted looks like.

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