Meta - Congratulations Amazon User

Submitted by Zarniwoop on

I use an IPhone sometimes to read mgoblog (especially at work).

I hate my iphone and prefer android, but for some reason, the God of Android hates me and thus I've given up and am using an iphone.

Regardless, this site gives me fits with the "congratulations amazon user" scam redirect. I've cleared my cache and it continues. The instant I scroll on this site, BAM, redirect.

No other site I visit is similarly affected.

I'm wondering if I'm alone and since my time is very limited during the week for research, I was hoping someone could give me the best remedy for my problem (specific ad-blocker, etc..).

I've just accepted that for whatever reason, this site is vulnerable to this. I just want to be able to use my phone consistently to browse the site.

If mods feel that this isn't a good threat idea, I'll just work it all out this weekend.

Edit: For those getting this on their PCs, I use NoScript for firefox and I've never had a popup of any kind. This is just for my iOS, which I hate but sometimes need to use.

buttstalk

March 14th, 2018 at 12:58 PM ^

Have a droid and use Samsung internet beta, because baseline browsers sort of suck. I use the built in ad blocker and have never seen this. It's not perfect but if you have an android and wish to eliminate this problem then there's a good chance it will work for you.

Dan Man

March 14th, 2018 at 1:25 PM ^

I hope something can be done about it.  Not sure if this has been mentioned, but what is so annoying about it is that you can't just close the ad or even hit a back arrow to get rid of it.  It renders the site unviewable from my iPhone.  (Using the mgoblog app seems to avoid the ad for me, but the app is glitchy in other ways.)

03 Blue 07

March 14th, 2018 at 1:46 PM ^

Same problem. And it meant that during Selection Sunday and the B1G tournament, I couldn't access MGoBlog, as I was using my phone to attempt to access the site. I have to think this has a decent impact on the stats for this site-- I'm willing to bet a lot of pageviews (conservatively, north of 15%) come from people on their mobile devices, especially those using iPhones or iPads. The long and short of it is, I'm not going to make a bunch of life changes to access the site through my phone; the onus is on the site to figure its shit out and rectify the issue, because right now visiting MGoBlog via iphone shuts down your entire browser in Safari. 

Rasmus

March 14th, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^

You can switch to a new tab and keep browsing, but you can't go back to MGoBlog -- the pop-up will just reappear. I think the ad network is playing whack-a-mole, so eventually you'll be able to use the site again, until the next time one of these ads gets through.

But the ad network does not seem to be policing itself effectively, because this keeps happening. So time to change ad networks.

03 Blue 07

March 14th, 2018 at 1:42 PM ^

Same problem on iPhone using safari; have just resigned myself to the fact that I cannot access MGoBlog via the most convenient method available for me. And no, I don't want to install an adblocker on my iPhone (believe it or not, I find targeted ads to be useful, and also I'd prefer not to shut off a revenue stream for the creators of content such as MgoBlog.)

You Only Live Twice

March 14th, 2018 at 3:58 PM ^

For Safari, enable all protections:  block pop-ups, prevent cross-site tracking, block cookies, ask website not to track, fraudulent website warning... 

Clear your browsing history and website data.  Then, hit the Home button twice quickly and swipe all apps up to close.  Finally power off and restart.

it will take some persistence and you won't be able to eliminate the Lucky Winner scam entirely, but this will greatly minimize its reappearance.