BWW Tech: Can you please do something about the ads on the boards?

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 8:57pm

You need to generate revenue so that you can keep BWW open. I get it.

BUT -- I do not enjoy the BWW experience when these ads disrupt it. On my PC, I was reading a thread for like 3 minutes when suddenly out of nowhere, as I'm scrolling down, a loud video ad for Swarovski suddenly starts playing on the bottom right side of the webpage. There is no way to mute it.

Earlier today, I was reading the boards on my mobile phone's browser, and when I clicked to read a thread, suddenly it redirects to an ad on Facebook and says that I have won and I need to click to claim my prize. It doesn't given me an option to close the ad or to hit the back button on the browser (it just reloads the ad), so I have to close the tab and open BWW again.

SO ANNOYING!

[greenifyme2]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 8:59pm

The Facebook ad thing has also happened to me all day - no way to close it out and every time I go to the site on mobile web.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 9:08pm

completely agree. And because of this I view this site less & less. The desktop version is almost unusable for me due to the ads & videos taking so long to load up. The mobile site isn't as bad, but the random ads that pop up while I'm reading something is very annoying.

[pdjennings]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 9:23pm

Agreed. The browser hijack ads are completely unprofessional and make your site look extremely shady.

[dmwnc1959]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 9:46pm

greenifyme2 said: "The Facebook ad thing has also happened to me all day - no way to close it out and every time I go to the site on mobile web."

This happened to me as well on my iPhone 8 Plus, and it got so bad in the past couple of hours this site was all but unusable. I finally, and for the first time ever, downloaded an ad block app called AdGuard. 

Updated On: 5/13/18 at 09:46 PM

[greenifyme2]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 10:10pm

dmwnc1959 said: "greenifyme2 said: "The Facebook ad thing has also happened to me all day - no way to close it out and every time I go to the site on mobile web."

This happened to me as well on my iPhone 8 Plus,and it got so bad in the past couple of hours this site was all but unusable. I finally, and for the first time ever, downloaded an ad block app called AdGuard."

I tried an adblocker in the past when it was really bad before and it made the website literally unusable (pop up would say to remove the ad blocker and site wouldn’t load at all).

Updated On: 5/13/18 at 10:10 PM

[dearalanaaaa]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 10:32pm

They always give me targeted ads for Harry Potter, Spongebob, and Come From Away tickets. It's really annoying on my browser, considered it feels super invasive and I've already seen 2 of the 3 above. On the mobile, I can't browse the main page due to ads, which is a bummer because most of the time I am on the go On my computer, the video ads with volume annoy me to no end, to the point where I mute my volume before going on this website. So you can delete threads debating issues relating to Broadway, but can't solve your issue of bots spamming the boards and ads glitching the whole site?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 10:36pm

pdjennings said: "Agreed. The browser hijack ads are completely unprofessional and make your site look extremely shady."

It's more than shady. It makes the site dangerous to browse. Ads like that can lead to malware and viruses.

[S394206H]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 11:13pm

I've had similar experiences to all of these above, and I'd also like to point out that this website is pretty much incapable of recognizing when an adblocker is disabled. I have both of my adblockers turned off for this site just to get rid of that annoying pop-up asking you to turn it off, but I still get the popup while they are disabled! It's usually pretty delayed as well, so I can be halfway down the page and then get redirected in the middle of reading to the stupid popup. I'm glad to turn off my adblockers to help generate revenue but at least make your site usable alongside the ads!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 11:22pm

I gave up on generating revenue for BWW years ago when they began using the intrusive advertising. It's disheartening to know that users are now seeing ads that highjack the browser and redirect to other sites. That's dangerous. Will BWW pay for spyware and malware removal? No.

[wssinsider]

Posted: 5/13/18 at 11:23pm

Mods are silent. Crickets crickets

[mplstheatrefan]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 12:08am

Gotta agree, the Facebook “prize” ads are so irritating and make the site difficult to use

Updated On: 5/14/18 at 12:08 AM

[LxGstv]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 1:03am

I do believe the Facebook prize pop-up isn’t an intentional ad from broadway world, but it’s an annoying malware that’s been more common recently, on android and iOS. I’ve noticed on other websites too, apparently it has something to do with Facebook access and websites your visit frequently. I remember reading that clearing the history should fix the problem, I’ve never done it because I like to remain logged in... which is probably part of the problem.

The one with the music is a different story however.

 

edit: I usually prevent the pop up one by switching to airplane mode, you can do it when you notice it’s about to happen... after a page loads, the bar on top will go active like it’s loading something else... just switch to airplane mode and you’ll be able to read without the interruption.

Updated On: 5/14/18 at 01:03 AM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 9:57am

Thanks, Alan. This is why I've refused to whitelist the site and why I'm okay with living without the ability view videos, or to quote-tweet or style my posts anymore. (The bar doesn't appear due to, I assume, my adblockers.)

[denali.fire]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 10:16am

Best thing I NEVER did was to get a facebook account.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 11:18am

Alan Henry said: "Hi All

We definitely want to look into all this.

To do that - however - we need your help.

If you can, when you have a second, go tohttps://www.whatismybrowser.com/and DM me that link along with which specific issues you had on the board with ads? If you can click through an ad causing issues and send me the link it takes you to that would be super helpful.

The link you'll be sending me providesno personally identifiable information. You may see your IP address on that page but when you copy the link it sends and send it to me - that information will not be there.

I really appreciate you guys bringing this to my attention, and we hope we can improve the user experience for you all."

Thanks for taking the time to look into it. I'll send to you. BTW, the FB ad from my phone occurred on a brand new, one day old new device with barely any usage, so I doubt it had malware.