I donate money every month, I still get spammed by your donation popup no matter how many times I close it, but this is where I draw the line. I'll never donate another dollar and I'll stop using the forum if I ever end up clicking on a link like that from you again.
I donate money every month, I still get spammed by your donation popup no matter how many times I close it, but this is where I draw the line. I'll never donate another dollar and I'll stop using the forum if I ever end up clicking on a link like that from you again.
Nope. This kind of monetization is fraudulent although not typically something people are held accountable for. He represented the link as a link to his game, instead it went somewhere else wasting my time and my bandwidth.
Nope. This kind of monetization is fraudulent although not typically something people are held accountable for. He represented the link as a link to his game, instead it went somewhere else wasting my time and my bandwidth.
For me, it went straight to a silly game about a Frog. Where did it lead you?
Originally posted by TheDigitalAlchemist: For me, it went straight to a silly game about a Frog. Where did it lead you?
I go to a viglink page and get spammed with ads, this is the link cliff posted. http://redirect.viglink.com...oogle.com%2Fstore%2F apps%2Fdetails%3Fid%3Dnl.pennock.stupidfrog&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fiero.nl%2Fcgi-bin%2Ffiero%2Fforumdisplay.cgi%3Faction%3Dtopics%26forum%3DTotally%2BO%2FT%26number%3D6&title=I%27m%20also%20on%20the%20App%20Store.%20%3A)%20-%20Pennock%27s%20Fiero%20Forum&tx t=Click%20here%20to%20go%20to%20Google%20Play%20(Android)
[This message has been edited by jmbishop (edited 09-14-2018).]
I'm done here for now and I cancelled my donations through PayPal, I'll wait and see if he sets the record straight. I know Cliff isn't super active so he may not have seen this yet.
Nope. VigLink is an "in-between" station that simply checks where links are headed to. If a link ends up on eBay, it makes sure eBay knows that there was an incoming link from the forum. And if you buy something on eBay, I get a few cents. I'm pretty sure I've explained that before. It doesn't keep track of your behavior (because, simply put, eBay does that already), it simply makes sure PFF gets a few cents.
If you don't want to reward anyone for linking to eBay or Amazon etc. you can block the VigLink script in your adblocker. But it will not make any difference whatsoever for you (because like I said, it doesn't do any tracking of your online doings) but will only hurt me.
If you don't like the pop-up (because you already donate), then you are completely missing the point why it's there in the first place. I am extremely grateful that you donate. But of the few thousand members that visit PFF every month, only a handful donate.
PFF offers a free service but isn't free for me to offer. I spend a lot of time (and money) to keep it running as smoothly as it does. It has a nearly 100% uptime. And even though the software is old (I wrote it myself), the forum still serves its purpose pretty good.
And even though I offer all this for free, people are still complaining about the ads. Or about the fact I have a script in place that simply tells the big boys (eBay, Amazon, etc) that PFF is the source of their traffic and sales.
You want me to remove all ads? Stop annoy you with a pop-up that asks you to consider making a donation voluntarily? Fine, but then tell me how to maintain PFF. Or are you expecting me to pay for this out of my own pocket?
The thing that irks me, is that nobody minds paying money to the Fiero Store. Or Rodney Dickman. Or Auto Zone. Or Sears. Or wherever it is you spend your money to keep your Fiero up and running. And yet they get all bend up when I show ads, or show a popup asking for donations to make sure the place where they get all the information for keeping their Fiero up and running stays a free service.
My Fiero doesn't even run. You know why? Because I can't afford the $100 or so it costs to get a new battery. The game for iOs and Android is one thing I'm doing trying to generate some income. So far I've earned $6 with it. I would also love to make some money with PFF. But that's nearly impossible because apparently people think getting a service for free is a right. Not a privilege.
In short, I'm not removing any of the ads. I'm not removing VigLink. I'm not removing the popup ad. The day I do is the day PFF will cease to exist. It's as simple as that.
Sorry. Done ranting. You can go about your business now.
I do not play games on my phone. I am dumbfounded when witnessing this in public.
We cannot all be DJ's.
Cliff, grow a pair. If you are going to biatch about what ales ya, folks are going to pay less attention. My life is not perfect, but only I am in charge of it's outcome. Just chill man. It sounds as if life is hitting you a bit, but take it on the chin and move the **** on. M,kay?
I wish all good fortune. My wishes have nothing to do with any of your lives. Only YOU can prevent forest fires.
You admit to running a script that's literally committing fraud on your behalf. It's obnoxious enough that it led multiple people to believe I had malware on my system and this is the garbage you respond with?
You're kidding, right? With all the crap that's been slung my way in the years that I've done PFF, you are telling me to grow a pair? AYFKM?
Absolutely in jest, but yes, grow a pair. I have had to many a time in my life. If you are taking my advice as negative, then YOU are in the wrong. I am extending my hand, not biting yours off. Jeez. Perhaps too many late night DJ sessions and you need a Snickers?
You admit to running a script that's literally committing fraud on your behalf. It's obnoxious enough that it led multiple people to believe I had malware on my system and this is the garbage you respond with?
Wow. Seriously? You think it's fraud? Like, in what way? That it tells eBay/Amazon/whomever where a link came from? Every single browser in existence already does that. It's called a "referrer". But let me explain how this works.
A lot of sites put tracking cookies on your machine. PFF doesn't. And let me explain what those tracking cookies do. Say you click on a link to eBay here on PFF to, idunno, a car part. You buy that car part on eBay. eBay is going to pay a referrer reward for this sale (which can be a few cents or a few dollars). And who will receive this reward? Whichever site has put that tracking cookie on your machine the last. So that could be that news site you visited. Or that music site. Or whatever sites you visit. But it wouldn't be PFF - the site where the traffic actually came from. So a site that had nothing to do with the actually traffic but which you happened to visit is receiving the reward.
Viglink works somewhat different, and in my opinion more honest. If you click a link, it simply tells the site receiving the traffic that it came from here. It's going to override any tracking cookie on your machine. So in my example, if eBay is going to reward anything, it's going to reward PFF. Not some random other site. And because PFF doesn't leave any tracking cookies on your machine, it will never receive a reward that should have gone to someone else.
But hey, if you think it's fraud - fine. Feel free to block Viglink in your adblocker. And let some random other site receive the rewards for the traffic coming from PFF (which sounds a lot like true fraud if you ask me).
Ugh! I was trying to be of help and offer advice. I am not sorry that you are taking it 180* in the opposite direction Cliff. Just forget about it. Honestly, just talking between men. Carry on. Or don't. YOU get to choose.
Follow my advice about forest fires. It was the in jest part that you missed.
Originally posted by Cliff Pennock: Viglink works somewhat different, and in my opinion more honest. If you click a link, it simply tells the site receiving the traffic that it came from here. It's going to override any tracking cookie on your machine. So in my example, if eBay is going to reward anything, it's going to reward PFF. Not some random other site. And because PFF doesn't leave any tracking cookies on your machine, it will never receive a reward that should have gone to someone else.
But hey, if you think it's fraud - fine. Feel free to block Viglink in your adblocker. And let some random other site receive the rewards for the traffic coming from PFF (which sounds a lot like true fraud if you ask me).
Apparently you need to be educated about how viglink works. Viglink redirects you to a referral URL that normally it's unnoticeable as it forwards you to the link you thought you clicked. This is how it tracks and rewards you when a partner is linked. Nothing wrong with that, the issue is it doesn't always direct you to the link you clicked on and this is where the fraud happens. The link was represented as one link, when I clicked on it I got another viglink adress full of advertisements. This is fraud and it's playing with fire, I've got no tolerance for that garbage, If you do, good luck.
[This message has been edited by jmbishop (edited 09-19-2018).]
