Spam (or phishing)

[rlohmann]

Why is there, at the top of the Civ IV home page, a bouncing graphic telling me that I'm the 99,999th visitor, and that I've won a fantastic prize?

Who is responsible for this, and who is not being removed from management of the forum for permitting it?

 

[Fadan80]

Maybe you were the 99,999th visitor... who knows!!!

 

[SwordofStriker]

That's a common ad gimmick that lies to you in order to get you to go to their web page for whatever reason. Usually they want you to fill out a form with all kinds of info and spend $250 on products and then you can register to win the prize they already promised you. This is why I never buy anything advertised on web pages like that, because they already lied to me once.

 

[rlohmann]

That's a common ad gimmick that lies to you in order to get you to go to their web page for whatever reason. Usually they won't you to fill out a form with all kinds of infor and spend $250 on products and then you can register to win the prize they already promised you. This is why I never buy anything advertised on web pages like that, because they already lied to me once.

I know that.

That's why I'm troubled by the possibility that someone from the administration of this forum permitted that junk to appear on the website.

I'm still waiting for someone to admit accountability for it.

 

[Ginger_Ale]

The administration of this forum does not hand-pick the ads. They are handled by a third party, but if you feel that one ad crosses the line, you are free to report it in the Site Feedback forum. It's probably best to just ignore that one, though...

 

[rlohmann]

Maybe you were the 99,999th visitor... who knows!!!

Are you associated with the generators of that particular item? If so, you might want to explain its appearance here.

 

[Bigfoot3814]

Why not just let it go?

 

[rlohmann]

The administration of this forum does not hand-pick the ads. They are handled by a third party, but if you feel that one ad crosses the line, you are free to report it in the Site Feedback forum. It's probably best to just ignore that one, though...

An interesting response.

Does the administration of this forum guarantee the veracity and validity of the ads that it permits, or not? Does it recommend its advertisers, or not?

Looked at another way, do you recommend that we click on the bouncing rectangle?

Please give reasons for your answer. Your credibility is, given your initial response, in serious question.

You may wish to consult your legal counsel before responding.

 

[Bigfoot3814]

Please give reasons for your answer. Your credibility is, at this point, in serious question.

You may wish to consult your legal counsel before responding.

What are you going to do, sue CFC? Go play lawyer somewhere else. Ginger_Ale is a . .. .. .. .ing mod. A damn good one at that. If it bothers you this much don't visit the site for christs sake.

 

[rlohmann]

Why not just let it go?

Because spam annoys me and it shouldn't contaminate this forum.

Am I the only one here who finds it offensive?

So far, in what appears to be an active discussion, I've heard nothing from the forum managers.

Ladies and Gentlemen...?

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Because spam annoys me and it shouldn't contaminate this forum.

Am I the only one here who finds it offensive?

So far, in what appears to be an active discussion, I've heard nothing from the forum managers.

Ladies and Gentlemen...?

This site doesn't pay for itself. I think we can live with a few advertisements in order to help keep the site running. If you have suggestions to improve the ad process, please share them...

 

[Padma]

I'll chime in with Ginger_Ale, here.

This site is not free to run. Thunderfall gets a tiny bit back by allowing the host to put ads on the site. We recently "upgraded" to a better quality of ad. The ones we get now are much better than the ones you used to see. But, again, even the host doesn't hand-pick the ads. They are supplied by a 3rd party (Ugo). We *can* and *do* report offensive ads, and our host makes the appropriate noises to Ugo, who then pulls the ad in question.

FWIW, even though clicking on the ads is a way of getting some slight revenue for the site, even Thunderfall usually uses Firefox when here, so you can be pretty sure he doesn't (always) bother with the ads.

 

[rlohmann]

This site doesn't pay for itself. I think we can live with a few advertisements in order to help keep the site running. If you have suggestions to improve the ad process, please share them...

I have no quarrel with advertisements as such. Your assertion that the website doesn't pay for itself is undoubtedly correct.

This particular ad, however, is spam pure and simple. It may, perhaps--I've never clicked on it to find out how many millions I've won--cross the line into phishing.

Have you ever clicked on it to see what you have won? Do you believe that others on this forum should? What do you know about the originators of that jiggling ad?

I'm not eager to be a grinch, but the responses I've received so far--including yours--suggest that the administrators of this forum don't think that spam (or phishing) is a particularly bad idea.

Please convince me that I'm mistaken.

 

[Mirc]

NEITHER the administration NOR the mods have control on the ads. Got it?

The ads can only be REPORTED by them to the host (Ugo, AFAIK), which is the site that controls those ads.

 

[Thunderfall]

I have no quarrel with advertisements as such. Your assertion that the website doesn't pay for itself is undoubtedly correct.

This particular ad, however, is spam pure and simple. It may, perhaps--I've never clicked on it to find out how many millions I've won--cross the line into phishing.

Have you ever clicked on it to see what you have won? Do you believe that others on this forum should? What do you know about the originators of that jiggling ad?

I'm not eager to be a grinch, but the responses I've received so far--including yours--suggest that the administrators of this forum don't think that spam (or phishing) is a particularly bad idea.

Please convince me that I'm mistaken.

No one likes those kinds of ads. However, such ads ("You have won something!", "You are the lucky 99999th visitor!", etc) are so commonplace on the web that I don't think much can be done about it. It's like those flashing ads... after surfing the web for a while, you learn to ignore them automatically. It's low quality ad, but not bad enough to be consider phishing, since phishing is using fraudulent website/email such as a fake bank site to lure you into logging in with your bank account login.

That said, we do report the bad ads quickly, if they are one of the following:

1) Audio ad that starts automatically, without mouseover
2) Ads that carry popups
3) Ads that carry potentially harmful things, like trojans.
4) Unacceptable content, such as nudity

There may be other types of bad ads that we report to the ad provider to get them removed.

 

[Fadan80]

Are you associated with the generators of that particular item? If so, you might want to explain its appearance here.

Sorry man, its a joke. Sorry for bother you

 

[LucyDuke]

This particular ad, however, is spam pure and simple.

What ads do you consider "not spam"?

It may, perhaps--I've never clicked on it to find out how many millions I've won--cross the line into phishing.

It's not phishing. Go look up phishing if you're not sure.

Have you ever clicked on it to see what you have won?

I think most people here have been on the internets for more than twenty minutes.

 

[Macha]

This particular ad, however, is spam pure and simple.

You can argue that all ads = spam. They are there for the sole purpose of attracting you to buy the product. If it bothers you that much download adblock or bother ugo. But for a member with only 20 posts in 2 years (most in this thread) to start criticising the site and then to remark like this:

Please give reasons for your answer. Your credibility is, given your initial response, in serious question.

You may wish to consult your legal counsel before responding.

leaves your "credibility" in "serious question".

I'm not eager to be a grinch, but the responses I've received so far--including yours--suggest that the administrators of this forum don't think that spam (or phishing) is a particularly bad idea.

They do have a problem with spam and phishing. If a member posted 30 topics saying:

VISIT MY SITE VISIT MY SITE

The user would be banned straight away as that is spam. Likewise if an ad claimed to be from your bank, they would report the ad as that is phishing.

A final bit of advice: If you don't like the site go somewhere else. As someone who ran a forum myself, I can't blame Thunderfall for trying to have his effort rewarded with anything other than a huge expense (which this site would be without the ads, given the amount of members). I had my hands full with a site 1/1000th of CFC's size.

 

[Fadan80]

To be honest, I like a lot more the ad for the FOXYFANS SWIMSUIT EDITION