Greetings, Avsim staff. 

 There is a constant issue in your platform that in my 18 years using Avsim it has never been this annoying. It’s now cumbersome and takes away from what used to be a pleasant experience. 
 

The issue? Even if I’m using Safari, Chrome, Opera or Mozilla Firefox on my iPhone I will randomly get repeatedly redirected to this website. http://bbd383ttka22.top/prize/luckyus-ad/lppay.php?c=66zl9oaoz5fz0&k=7f9c798a9c07afe97c66c338fd563b95&country_code=US&country_name=United States&region=New Jersey&city=Mount Laurel&isp=Comcast Cable Communications, LLC&lang=en&ref_domain=&os=iOS&osv=16&browser=Chrome&browserv=114&brand=Apple&model=iPhone&marketing_name=iPhone&tablet=2&rheight=0&rwidth=0&e=5
 

Pressing the back button will constantly just redirect me back into the same page. Using as blocker DOES NOT solve the problem.  I am all for monetizing the platform to cover cost, etc. However, are we perhaps overlocking something when placing these ads? With my busy life I don’t always have time to open up a desktop. It’s at the point that after my tens of thousands of hours invested in this platform, I am nearly at my limit of patience as all I am going to do when I visit your platform is get redirected to a spam Google site. 
 

Please take this constructive criticism in your next meeting among the board members. When the most popular device in the planet that sever of your future and current viewers have access navigating to the site because of ads, we got a problem. 
 

Have a good day! 
-Al 

This has been discussed ad infinitum. Ads are at fault. Why you ask? Ads pay the bills here the same as almost any other site you visit today.

There are two ways to stop this.

1. Donate to Avsim

2. Use an ad blocker as most do. However donations help keep the site up.

 

7 hours ago, 188AHC said:

This has been discussed ad infinitum. Ads are at fault. Why you ask? Ads pay the bills here the same as almost any other site you visit today.

There are two ways to stop this.

1. Donate to Avsim

2. Use an ad blocker as most do. However donations help keep the site up.

 

Two points I have already acknowledged. The reality I am facing is that no ad blocker will stop the redirects. The ad blockers work to “blank” out the ads on the page. But the redirects still occur. I also am perplexed by this logic. How does Avsim benefit from an ad that prevents me from enjoying the site? How does this work when of using an ad blocker the user will not be viewing the ads that generate revenue? Supposedly no one gets paid when an ad blocker is used. So, in another example, any time I do to a newspaper website they are begging that I turn my ad blocker off so that they can enjoy the revenue from my time reading an article with ads I will be exposed to. Has Avsim figured out a way to still get paid regardless of using an ad blocker or not? 

I am not suggesting that ads go away. I will happily donate if I can enjoy the site on any device. The reality is this when I try to use my phone to browse the forum 97% of the time I get redirected without warning to the site listed above. This is unstoppable regardless of what I do. Why would I donate when I can't find or even enjoy the site while waiting for my next flight on my phone? 

At some point, I hope it is realized that this is feedback from a loyal “customer base” if you will. It's concerning for me to see that the answers remain the same and that it appears to one wants to place themselves in my shoes to experience my reality while enjoying your product. 

I use an ad blocker on my Chromebook and see no redirects at all!  Are you using a phone to see AVSIM?  There is a setting to remove redirects on it.

Well, just to throw another log on the campfire, this what I see when opening that link:

Guardio blocked this site because it's malicious

What does that mean?
This site will harm your online security in some way. Malicious websites like this are designed to look real and legitimate, but will trick you into giving away your personal information and security details.
What should you do?
Don’t visit this site. It will harm your online security. Go back to safety.

This is all I see on that link!

 

Al;

  We appreciate the feedback, but unfortunately the vast, vast majority of these redirects occur as the result of malware located on the user's computer and not on the server.  It's an unhappy phenomena called browser hijacking, and caused by malware loaded on the user's PC as the result of virus or virus-like software.  Were it a server issue, everyone who frequents AVSIM would be seeing it.  The ads we host on the site are screened for malware by the ad service...although I'll never say never, we're not beset by large numbers of these complaints, as we certainly would be were we hosting malware-laden ads.

  See: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/learning-center/what-is-browser-hijacking

 

20 hours ago, 188AHC said:

However donations help keep the site up.

Absolutely! And if you spend as much time here as some of us, then please consider kicking in.

Redirects result when you have persistent ads on your computer, tab, or phone.

Try C cleaner to clear this mess up then use a good Adblocker.

I use Adblocker on my tab and phone and have no problems.

I also donate when I can.

I appreciate all the feedback. Two things. This is on an iPhone, 2nd the reason you may not be able to see what I get redirected on is simply because the URL changes eachtime a new session is started. 

How to Remove “Congratulations you won” Pop-Up Ads| Cybernews This guide explains a version of what I am encountering when I visit AVSIM and ONLY Avsim. I will attempt to clear all my browsing data. This however has been happening for a extended period, with three different devices. I have already attempted turning off pop-ups on the seetings for safari. This has had no effect on the problem. 

Everyone here is correct, right now, as I have a Moscow Mule at an airport bar in Philly, I am not getting the issue on my Surface tablet. If I try to open the same page we are all seeing on my iPhone, or my business phone I get the redirect, clicking the back button just persitently brings me back to one of the "You won an award, or get a cheap galaxy phone / tablet sites that's clearly a spam webpage. 

 

 

I had these pop-ups until 1-2 years ago. I then dived deeply into the matter and was able to stop it without using an ad-blocker. It is caused by the ad servers that feed into Avsim. It is not an image, it is rather an overlay to the web page. That's why most ad blockers cannot catch it. To stop this, I did the following.

- First, trigger one of these ads and note the web address of the redirect. Let's call it "http://luckywinner.com/yaddayadda"

- Clean your browser cache, in particular cookies. 

- Block the site luckywinner.com from doing redirects and cookies (and anything else) in your browser settings.

I had to do this a couple of times since the fraudulent ad guys use different web addresses, but once I blocked them all, I had no issues anymore. Specifically, I block [*.]windowsdetector.com , [*.]phonenow.net , [*.]luckypapa.top , [*.]best-lucky-cat.xyz , [*.]best-lucky-people.xyz , [*.]windows-protector.com

To the people who run Avsim: thank you so much for running this site, it is one of my favourite forums and I am very grateful for what you do. However, I wish to respond to some of the comments you provided in this thread:

1. These pop-ups have nothing to do with malware on a user's computer. They are generated by the ad service that you use. I personally have experienced them only on Avsim.

2. You mentioned that donating would be a way to stop this. Well, I did that regularly and still had to put up with pop-ups and the fact that many of the ads cover text or buttons. How about an ad-free subscription to Avsim? I would buy in.

3. As an alternative to donating, you stated that we could use ad blockers. Wouldn't that reduce you revenue?

Peter

 

 

On 6/30/2023 at 10:23 AM, qqwertzde said:

3. As an alternative to donating, you stated that we could use ad blockers. Wouldn't that reduce you revenue?

Peter

Donating to the site will help to keep it running.  The ads will not go away if only a few folks donate.  It would take every member to donate, at least, $1 every year to make a difference.

Membership now is at 272,939

I jumped on my desktop to upvote the original post.  The site is completely unusable on mobile iOs.  On my iphone and have a minute to check the site, immediate redirect.  It's completely unusable.

I don't understand the logic behind promoting the use of adblockers.  Can the site just deal with whoever is serving the ads to remove the malicious ones?  

I do like this site and appreciate it, and don't mind seeing ads, even pop up ones or ones that will open a new window if that's what it takes to keep the site up and running - but this malicious "ad" literally blocks your site, which you created and maintain for people to use, unusable on a very popular mobile phone.

 

*Edited to add I probably won't see any replies until the next time I jump on my desktop.

Edited July 3, 20232 yr by Waste
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I don’t know if you took any direct action, but if you did, thank you!

 

Im happily posting this from my iPhone without a single redirect hijack.