I appreciate the scores of folks sending me messages about the annoying pop up ads that are hijacking their devices when they visit here. I’m not a techie, but I have been in contact with WordPress, which has been diligently trying to find a fix.
The problem is that they haven’t been able to recreate the problem on their end. As a result, they’re trying to reverse engineer the situation to see if they can get to the root cause.
They’ve asked me to share this request with you guys.
Can you ask the users who have complained to trying clearing out their browser cache – https://en.support.wordpress.com/browser-issues/#clearing-your-browser-cache
Let me know if that stops the redirect for them.
Those of you who have been struggling with this, please let me know in the comments if that has any effect on your browsing experience here at the blog. I’ll pass your comments on.
Thanks. And sorry…
Get The Picture 
Techie, here. There is no stopping it from the user-side. Clearing your cache won’t stop them forever. It is an issue with deep linking originating from the AdWords on the site. Ads are great, but creators are beginning to abuse them. Share this info with WordPress, but Google AdWords (I assume you’re using) will be your best bet. Thanks for addressing the issue – pain in the ass – but I at least know it’s not that your site has been hacked and it is unintentional. It’s happening with a lot of sites lately.
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I, personally, have never encountered this problem and I’m a constant visitor. Often wondered why I don’t see ads on a popular blog???
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Just one of the many perks of the sexy world of a blogger. 😉
Once again, thank you for your selfless service. I sincerely appreciate it.
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The last time it was happening I cleared my cache and it didn’t help. Drew, above, seems to know what’s up.
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Download pop-up blocker add-on on your browser. Not that hard, people. I use a combination of uBlock and Privacy Badger. Will change your browsing experience not just here, but everywhere.
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How hard is it to realize that the Senator makes just a bit from the ads on here?
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I would gladly pay a monthly subscription and he could drop the ads.
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I’m guessing you would be in the minority. Just a guess though.
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You know… you’re on to something here. I’d pay a subscription or hit a tip jar for Get the Picture in a heartbeat. Reading this blog is part of my daily routine, even if I tend to avoid the comments most of the time because reading them just isn’t as fun as it used to be (a few of the regular commenters tend to be overbearing, confrontational assholes… it’s beyond tedious). This blog is not only a great aggregator for the best of what’s out there in re: UGA football, but the lawyerly thinking and analysis of the team AND the macro-trends in the sport is just brilliant. I love this blog. It’s truly the best.
Hell, the Senator has even refined my thinking about not only the state of amateurism in the NCAA, but the UGAA as well. He’s given me a good perspective into the day-to-day dealings of my favorite sports team while equipping me with a firm grasp of the world that the sport is living in. He writes and thinks well enough that it’s easy to follow his math. Even when I find myself disagreeing with the Senator, his rationale is so clear that his perspective always strikes me as super reasonable. That’s NOT something you often encounter on the internet.
When the day comes that he hangs it up and drives off into the sunset in his sweet ride, I’m really going to miss this blog.
Suffice it to say, the Senator invests a degree of time and passion that goes well beyond the typical hobby. On the other hand, charging a subscription would probably create expectations that would make the blog feel like more of a second job for him. So… your mileage may vary.
At any rate, I’ve had a lot of problems with page redirects on my iPhone and iPad. Clearing my cache hasn’t solved the issue. Smooth sailing on laptop web browsers, though.
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I did clear my cache and the pop ups are gone (for now)
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Thank you. It happened last week on my IPad repeatedly and never on my PC running Google Chrome. The last couple of days have been trouble free.
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The WordPress app and reading on the phone is perfect. Plus I can talk to y’all while i’m taking my morning ______. TMI ?
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Agree and yes
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Coffee?
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I use the WP app as well. Otherwise can’t read the blog!
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Here are some of the url addresses that get blocked routinely:
https://api.adsnative.com
ip address: 100.24.219.139 (and several others)
https://rudy.adsnative.com
ip address: 34.195.56.44 (and several others)
I am not sure if this helps.
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Not a fix, but using incognito tabs on Chrome should help with the ads and it can also allow access around a few paywalls 😉
Purely anecdotal, but I’ve noticed on mobile (Android, Chrome browser) it seems like the ads are responding to first imprint, not release. Before, you had to press and release the link (ad) in order for the redirect to occur, same with any link. But it seems current ads are responding to inadvertent clicks (i.e. scrolling).
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I had not considered trying Chrome incognito tabs, but I just did and got several several notices from my popup blocker. So that didn’t work for me.
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Not a techie, but I know it only happens on my iPhone, not iPad or laptop.
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I get them on my desktop whether I use Chrome or IE. I just cleared my history/cookies on both, and it didn’t help. I have a pretty good popup blocker, so I don’t usually see them pop up, but my blocker does report having blocked them. FWIW, I get the same addresses as DugLite reported above, among others. Thank goodness I have a good blocker, because I’d just have to stop visiting this site if I didn’t. It has gotten to the point where I get multiple popups every time I click the link to any of your posts.
I get them while using Chrome on my phone as well, but nowhere near as often.
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On my iPhone using Safari, the site was unusable beginning about a month ago(?). Tried all the solutions and none worked with Safari. I’ve since downloaded and only use Foxfire for iPhone browsing and have not had an issue since. The downside to Foxfire is that linked tweets show up as plain text but I can live with it.. the ads I could not.
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I enabled the safari pop up blocker a month ago and I have not had any trouble since. I’m on an iPad when I read here.
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I have cleared my browser and that did not help. The only thing that fixed it for me was disabling java. It happens in my iPhone.
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My two cents: I haven’t read GTP on my iPhone, but I don’t have any issues on my MacBook Air and never have.
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Using the native Samsung browser on my android phone and never have any problems. I’ve also used Chrome on my phone, PC and tablet and never have problems.
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I use Opera on my PC and Focus on my Iphone. Zero issues. Safari: huge problem.
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It’s unlikely that they can reproduce it. The ad slot could be served by any number of ad networks.
I used to do this type of work. We managed the ad networks for most of he tv/radio stations (think WSB’s app) and every once and a while we would get a complaint from WSB because someone would complain to them that they got an ad for the pink pony or something like that. We would try and run it down, but you never figure it out.
Someone could submit an ad to a network, get it approved and then switch it out. Most of the traffic gets waterfalled through multiple networks based on the person demographics of the ad slot and the rate that the ad was paying.
I appreciate that you are trying to run it down, but likely there is nothing that anyone can do.
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In the years that I’ve been reading I’ve never had a problem, with or without pop-up blockers. But then, I don’t use Apple products.
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Same here.
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Using a VPN (I use TunnelBear) stops the pop ups for me on my iPhone. That makes me think there may be a connection between the pop ups and my ISP (Charter).
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It is only on my iPhone.
Doesn’t affect iPad or laptops/desktops.
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Same with me. This site is un-readable on my iphone due to the re-directs to ad sites. I read daily on my desktop with no problems.
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I’m a web QA guy by trade. This is likely browser-specific. Particularly since most of the affected commenters here have mentioned Safari on a mobile device. I’ve not noticed an issue on my PC using either Chrome or Firefox, but the few times I’ve read the site on my iphone on Safari, i’ve had some of the popups appear.
tl;dr – use something other than Safari on your iPhone.
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Senator, a suggestion. Assuming you and WP can’t resolve this problem from your end, and that the solution looks like each user needs to adopt an AdBlocker, especially for Safari on iPhone/iPad, then maybe have the techies recommend the best Adblocker and rather than subscription, at least appeal for donations with a button to click right at the top of GTP. Might make-up most of the ad revenue difference lost.
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Never a problem on my PC using Chrome, but intermittently on my Android phone, also using Chrome. It has gotten a lot better lately though. I thought maybe the problem was fixed from the source but I guess not.
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Only happens on my iPhone, never on my desk top. Clearing the browser history doesn’t always help.
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Yo, i thought the playpen was for this type conversation…….Give Me Dawg Porn Senator, Please!
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My favorite remark was the guy who was asking why on earth he was seeing ads for a funeral home on here, and telling the Senator to chose better sponsors. Lol. His wife knew something he didn’t.
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As many have already stated, it only occurs on my iphone and not my ipad or computer. Maybe there’s enough evidence to narrow it to iphone use?
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Thanks for working on a resolution.
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Thanks Senator. It only happens on my I-phone. When I am on my computer it doesn’t happen. Thus I rarely look at the comments unless I am on the computer. I do use Sagari on my phone. I will try something else. I use outlook on my computer
Aladawg
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