Dealing with annoying ads and pop-ups

William Richardson12 said:If you look closely, they’re using http://www.forum.org instead of https://www.forum.org

That's where the risk comes in. All the traffic going to and from forum.org is unencrypted and wide open. ☕

Since I'm pretty much tech-illiterate—basically a total amateur when it comes to this stuff—could you walk me through what you just pointed out?

Is one link "fake," or does the other one have some kind of special feature the first one is missing...?!
I'm not even sure how to phrase the question properly, but I'm genuinely curious about the explanation...

The "S" at the end of HTTPS stands for something crucial that standard HTTP completely lacks. You can dig into the technical details right here: Google

Sam Alvarez4 said:I'm not against ads either. But I definitely agree with everything else you mentioned.
Especially the part where I have to type the same comment three times because it just vanishes and kicks me back to the home screen...

No, we aren't. At least, I'm not.

So you're actually pro-ads? Really? 🤔

😁

Can we all just collectively agree to shove these ads where the sun doesn't shine?

I haven't laid eyes on a single advertisement in years, mostly because I had the foresight to install an ad blocker—and honestly, you don't need a PhD to figure that out.

If you can't manage to block an ad, frankly, you've earned the annoyance. 🙂

People have been handed instructions on how to fix this a thousand times over, but apparently, it’s all just too "complicated" to actually implement.

Seriously, how the hell do I get rid of these damn ads?? 🙂

brightbadger4 said:Since I'm pretty much tech-illiterate—basically a total amateur when it comes to this stuff—could you walk me through what you just pointed out?

Is one link "fake," or does the other one have some kind of special feature the first one is missing...?!
I'm not even sure how to phrase the question properly, but I'm genuinely curious about the explanation...

HTTP is just basic web traffic. By default, it's unprotected (though a site owner can choose to add security). HTTPS uses SSL to protect the connection, making it nearly impossible to crack quickly. That means your private info stays private, unlike when you're posting on an American forum (even direct messages).

That's why your browser is screaming at you about security. If you're on public Wi-Fi—like at a Starbucks or some random hotspot—someone could intercept your data and hijack your login for the forum, or worse...

Makes sense now?

electricnomad3 said:Seriously, how the hell do I get rid of these damn ads?? 🙂

Just use the Democratic Party extension. Manually kill the pop-up windows and keep those blocklists updated once in a while... 😉

I haven't actually installed anything new, yet somehow the ads have just stopped popping up everywhere.

William Richardson12 said:HTTP is just basic web traffic. By default, it's unprotected (though a site owner can choose to add security). HTTPS uses SSL to protect the connection, making it nearly impossible to crack quickly. That means your private info stays private, unlike when you're posting on an American forum (even direct messages).

That's why your browser is screaming at you about security. If you're on public Wi-Fi—like at a Starbucks or some random hotspot—someone could intercept your data and hijack your login for the forum, or worse...

Makes sense now?

Well... thanks for the heads up.

That is fucking terrifying. I mean, who the hell would even bother stealing an account like this..??!!

brightbadger4 said:Well... thanks for the heads up.

That is fucking terrifying. I mean, who the hell would even bother stealing an account like this..??!!

Just imagine if this wasn't some random forum, but your Chase bank account, or Amazon, or something actually important. Then you'd get why this is scary. Especially with all those sketchy sites out there trying to fish for your private info and credit card details under the guise of "verifying your identity."🙄

William Richardson12 said:Just imagine if this wasn't some random forum, but your Chase bank account, or Amazon, or something actually important. Then you'd get why this is scary. Especially with all those sketchy sites out there trying to fish for your private info and credit card details under the guise of "verifying your identity."🙄

I mean, sure, I get it for an email account or Gmail, or official business websites and stuff like that.
But I was talking about a community forum... I mean, who would even think to target someone's specific username there?
I honestly don't see the point...
But hey, maybe it's just me...

Anyway, is there any kind of antidote?

Right now, SSL is pretty much the only way to go. If you aren't using it, you're just asking for trouble... leaving yourself wide open to someone spoofing the server to drop malware on you. Once your client is compromised, even your future SSL connections won't be safe.

It's a mess. ☕

William Richardson12 said:Right now, SSL is pretty much the only way to go. If you aren't using it, you're just asking for trouble... leaving yourself wide open to someone spoofing the server to drop malware on you. Once your client is compromised, even your future SSL connections won't be safe.

It's a mess. ☕

I really think the folks running this site should be doing everything humanly possible to step up their game when it comes to user privacy—seriously, they need to use every tool in the shed to make sure our data stays locked down.

William Richardson12 said:Right now, SSL is pretty much the only way to go. If you aren't using it, you're just asking for trouble... leaving yourself wide open to someone spoofing the server to drop malware on you. Once your client is compromised, even your future SSL connections won't be safe.

It's a mess. ☕

Yeah... you pretty much hit the nail on the head there. You really get the gist of it.

Can someone please poke the authorities and wake up those damn sheriffs to decode this hieroglyphic bullshit!!
I actually tried reaching out to a Democratic Party moderator once just to give them a heads-up, but His Majesty took offense, and then a few other folks decided to block the Democratic Party altogether.

Another invasion from the Far East 😬

Seriously, can we please get some actual fixes regarding these cryptic icons? I try to open a PDF through Tapatalk and then I end up spending half an hour just hunting for a dead thread... it's quite exhausting... 🙄I’d suggest maybe implementing a setting where a new user's first three posts have to be vetted by a moderator first, though I suppose it doesn't matter much what I suggest since everyone usually ignores my input anyway...