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Ad Investigations, Inc.
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andi*pandi
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Jun 26, 2016, 12:06 PM
 
Moving this out of the saga of forum existence, so we can focus on ads. I've turned off adblocker for the revenue stream, but some of the ads either break the space, cause jumping, or maybe the site needs tweaks to be more accommodating of bigger ads.

An admin made a tweak to enlarge the banner ad space, but there are some non-standard banners happening.

Standard banner: 728x90px
Billboard: 970x250px

and then there's this newfangled digital rising star, weighing in at 970x415px.
Digital Video Rising Stars Ad Units


The biggest issue with this one, is that it should be a rollover (only becoming huge if clicked) but the opposite is happening. If you close the video layer, you get this:


We should be able to make the ad container conform to any ad it happens to hold, without jumping as the ad loads. Making the ad container permanently 415px to hold this video monster will waste a lot of space. I'll keep looking.
     
Ham Sandwich
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Jun 26, 2016, 12:10 PM
 
Seriously yeah that is annoying. Makes me scroll more.
     
Thorzdad
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Jun 26, 2016, 02:16 PM
 
Oddly, even with ABP on, the top ad container height is still ridiculously extended, even though it's blank. That doesn't normally happen.
     
reader50
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Jun 26, 2016, 02:28 PM
 
Side effect of the change. I forced the space to allocate 300px height. The page jumps because we don't know the banner size until after the page loads. So I gave it enough space for most of the big ones to fit.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Jun 26, 2016, 03:10 PM
 
what happens with height: auto? I think the page knows, it's just slooooow.
     
reader50
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Jun 26, 2016, 04:16 PM
 
Just tried it now. 'auto' is the same as not specifying height. Our page renders. Then the iframe or js loads the remote ad, and the page reflows. Page jump again.
     
ghporter
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Jun 26, 2016, 06:31 PM
 
And Activia (in Spanish for me, for some reason) still takes 125% of the allotted space...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
reader50
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Jun 26, 2016, 07:20 PM
 
I sized it against the Sling ads. They have the added benefit of being comprehensible, and ripping the cable companies. Must be OK guys.
     
subego
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Jun 26, 2016, 09:51 PM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
And Activia (in Spanish for me, for some reason) still takes 125% of the allotted space...
Make Glenn's gut flora great again!
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Jun 27, 2016, 11:39 AM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
Just tried it now. 'auto' is the same as not specifying height. Our page renders. Then the iframe or js loads the remote ad, and the page reflows. Page jump again.
Looking at the code, you've got a static height element on the td... I was thinking more of using CSS. But if the ad loads slowly, then we're back to page jump again.

Code:
<tr> <td width="20" height="300" id="ldbLft"> &nbsp; </td> <td id="ldbCtr"> <div id="ldbAd" style="height: auto;"> ...etc
Also the background graphics were only created at 240px tall, so they'd need to be created larger or there's a gap at top of page. I can do that.
     
reader50
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Jun 27, 2016, 05:00 PM
 
If you come up with a few changes, I'm happy to try them. The height tag was a quick fix. I've been juggling several problems, and they're not all getting enough attention.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Jun 28, 2016, 09:53 AM
 
     
subego
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Jun 29, 2016, 12:33 PM
 
Not sure how it happened, but I'm actually getting properly sized Lysol banners.
     
ghporter
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Jun 29, 2016, 07:59 PM
 
I'm getting zero banners now. Did Activia give up?

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Jun 29, 2016, 08:11 PM
 
Do you have flash installed/blocked? I get no banners sometimes, assumed they were flash, but lysol must be using html5 video.
     
ghporter
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Jul 1, 2016, 06:41 PM
 
This is on my iPad without any sort of ad blocking. But today I'm getting Home Depot paint ads again - and they're still expanding beyond the space allotted to them.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Jul 22, 2016, 11:27 AM
 
I would like some Home Depot ads. All these Land o Lake recipes are making me hungry.
     
reader50
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Jul 22, 2016, 04:15 PM
 
Yesterday, I went grocery shopping. Among other things, bought some margarine. Paid with CC. Then loaded the forums last night, and got a Land o Lakes ad.

Your post here was a pleasant relief.
     
subego
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Jul 23, 2016, 09:27 AM
 
I have to say... the paint ads are nicely done. They coordinate well with the site.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Aug 21, 2016, 09:44 PM
 
Fricking Mackeeper ad in the Pol/War lounge.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Nov 9, 2016, 10:54 PM
 
There are still repeated Mackeeper/cleaner/etc malware text ads top right of the page.
     
Laminar
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Nov 14, 2016, 12:31 PM
 


As punishment, Adblock has been re-enabled for the week.
     
Laminar
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Dec 9, 2016, 04:30 PM
 
I have Adblock disabled for two days and this shit happens.

     
reader50
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Dec 9, 2016, 11:18 PM
 
I haven't been forwarding ad complaints since we lost the News, as I don't know our safety margin. But that one breaks the page.

I haven't run into that - can you latch some ad code, or the URL it points to?
     
Laminar
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Dec 12, 2016, 04:52 PM
 
The same ad is showing up now, but in proper landscape format. Here are the links:

https://www.googleadservices.com/pag...7C%7Cpmt%7C%7C

https://www.googleadservices.com/pag...7C%7Cpmt%7C%7C

What code would be helpful? Something pulled from the source code?
     
reader50
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Dec 12, 2016, 07:43 PM
 
Usually they need either the target URL and/or the URL the image (or iframe) came from. One or both will let them ID the ad network, followed by the exact ad. I suspect the source URL is the more useful one, requiring less legwork to trace the ad.

The target URL can be a pain if they use JS or Flash with multiple redirects. So I'd get the first target from browser history.

For the source url, it's easy with an image. An iframe can be a bit harder. Sometimes your browser can right-click to "open iframe in a separate tab" then copy from the address bar. Other times I'd have to sleuth the page code for the include statement.

If it's behaving properly now, I don't dare forward it. But if you can catch it screwing up again, it's open season.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Jan 27, 2017, 12:51 PM
 
I am going to put adblocker back on for a bit, until the spate of Thai dating google text ads is over.

I miss the margarine ads.
     
reader50
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Jan 27, 2017, 04:12 PM
 
I'm getting steady MacKeeper ads (on YouTube too - thanks google tracking). Must have missed the Thai dating scene.

Why can't we ever get those ads for mail-order machine guns and rocket launchers? Something interesting and different.
     
Laminar
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Feb 13, 2017, 12:21 PM
 
Tried to click on this page:

http://forums.macnn.com/95/political...-apparently/5/

But got forwarded to a blank white page with this ad:



image address:
Code:
https://jivoxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/files/31954/ShowTime/Q4/Wave1/728x90/DBlue/DB2_DBlue_Episodic_AffairBillHome/DB2_DBlue_Episodic_AffairBillHome_Constant.png
     
reader50
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Feb 13, 2017, 01:57 PM
 
It's an image-return script. It shouldn't be able to halt page load - the URL bar and title shows you're still here. But our page header should be visible if it were a regular banner, which suggests you have indeed been sent somewhere else. Also, it isn't centered, again suggesting it is on a page of its' own.

Can you check your page history, see if it really is a new address? Chrome -> History -> Show Full History
     
Laminar
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Feb 13, 2017, 03:27 PM
 
History doesn't show a separate page view.
     
Laminar
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Mar 20, 2017, 02:33 PM
 


link:
Code:
https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=CMhq9qxrQWJGkAsKKBczlrLABt6OB0kiYlNPHigWbqpfnPBABIIfN9AFgyfbsh-ijoBWgAaqQ4J8DyAEBqAMByAPDBKoEmwFP0ODhofc284fnKaEPge1ofMdsISC2sAZR1ct7NsPMaddHxz7CK1Y1AQo7YHL-XGkKSXm9KOWZDRGyssbgic69_nsCoa2QrecVUkgJHQUqie0lIWeElYLnORMJsiYN4EPCx_1JJX_rAENTLUl7OUeNYMJMxKfRbOCeUNUttF1_XQa06e1AVSLvub3XXH0VpQLklaQ70o_tWkvENKAGUYAHvu-fYKgHpr4b2AcB0ggFCIBhEAHYEww&num=1&cid=CAASEuRowRLm1YGNhCSehBGYQcxA9A&sig=AOD64_3T2z2UPckiye-fF4UsMQutRATAsA&client=ca-pub-4839832545381049&nm=23&mb=2&bg=!ERKlEgpEu8SlKUnZ1ssCAAAAqlIAAAAKCgAFROrVEjqZASRc18TXC6MTS1bHRl96y64dWeTJM8m6yGifKOmV_LtVWlCum9-86v4EtytQsIrMMTbfZN4RabnM6kYOewonC71jOs4kXU42353ufxVarSVIVkaCNqSJ6X5QjTfw0vJUEzLX8sNhpVexbvObsdjTsejK9RFDgnx04fSpuG_HhTdaOoWmlQdKGP27RQ-D6pAQVMIWpBr8zbebyIwgqCgCmeTAgwDtgJyQyke_i8wyFP2kbGMGGLLHEImiKuJrY4CKuuDl3T4td-ns2oQIOoa4NuLQQ9KlqqMLXgaEI--CmVkw11rXBi2eDoMq8g9BT0gXz3O9vruWwrsheqTjgPH8NRQTdYs9WIR6QfGzM87cbQPS8OztyioTHPL4y59V-xGpwYjhU44L&adurl=https://pro1.naturalhealthresponse.com/626347
     
reader50
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Mar 20, 2017, 11:41 PM
 
I've seen that too now, though it's infrequent. It's a googleads insert each time, with different subjects. I've tried to figure out what it's doing to the page, but it hasn't hit yet when I had free time to dig through the source.
     
   
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