Nasty commercial screens ?

[Rakkasan187]

I am not having any issues and I would like to take a moment to thank Dimas and the other's who are behind the scenes to ensure the forum is running again..

Thank you all so very much for your efforts to ensure our website is safe from harm.. You do a wonderful job..

Looking forward to another year and since it is nearing the holiday season,,, there will be a nice donation to the forum from me for another year...

Thanks again

Smitty

[BrodieBartfast]

Big thanks to Dimas for getting rid of those nasty gremlins! Things can return to normal now. Well... as normal as they usually are around here!



Regards, B.B.

[HPL2008]

Things can return to normal now. Well... as normal as they usually are around here!

https://youtu.be/_Iw8qUTLBok

[Brig]

I'm still getting these redirects...about every third click

[Dav]

Thanks Dimas, so when we get these redirects, do you know what is happening?
Also, are we any further to getting a certificate applied? I know you had technical issues with this before.
Nick

I also would like to see this happen. An upgrade in forum software is overdue in my opinion. We are currently on version 4.2.2, which is coming up to 7 years old since release now (Latest release is 5.5.5).

As with most websites these days, hackers are targeting them more and more often. It's happened before with Vbulletin software on many other forums with millions of users data stolen and could easily happen again. Especially considering the nature of our forum and the high value of some of the collections belonging to the users on here, I fear something may happen that will result in more serious consequences than just advertising redirect links.

Using 7 year old software with HTTP on a forum having some members with collections valued well into the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, is not going to end well if things do go pear shaped. I often wonder what were to happen if the hundreds of Personal Message logs during trades, containing (I imagine) the addresses of members on here were to be stolen...

[Anderson]

Good point Dav. I regularly delete personal messages from my inbox/sentbox, might be a good practice for all to follow.

[Colin]

Unfortunately this is not new:

Links to webpages a being redirected to viglink.com

I noticed this a year ago.

Still it is strange that when previewing a post before posting it gives the original link and totally unclear to me why a third party would be needed to get links posted.
That's why i don't like third-party advertising, as that to often seemed to be contaminated with problems.

But not my problem eventually as overhere everything threatening is blocked more then once.
Glad it is solved.

[Colin]

Aaaah i get it. An affiliate program, next to link grabbing for profitable adds.
Ok, clear. Sorry i've mentioned a third-party forum implementation as a problem.

[HoundsTooth]

Aaaah i get it. An affiliate program, next to link grabbing for profitable adds.
Ok, clear. Sorry i've mentioned a third-party forum implementation as a problem.

Exactly - perhaps not as straightforward as regular militaria advertisements, but the site has to make money to survive.

For those that do not understand the concept - a 3rd party, VigLink will hyperlink key words in posts such as 'new car' or 'radio' or whatever and send you off to a website that sells them, should you choose to click on the link.

Last year, VigLink was doing some funny things, but this seemed to only be temporary.

Nick

[HoundsTooth]

Still it is strange that when previewing a post before posting it gives the original link and totally unclear to me why a third party would be needed to get links posted.

This was the strange behaviour I saw last year. Legitimate links being sent off to VigLink.