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"skim words"????

MKEgal

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Messages
4,383
Location
in front of my computer, WI
Is this a new "feature" of OCDO or is it a problem with my computer?

I just noticed that a couple words in posts I've made were turned into links to (mostly) completely unrelated sites. In any case, I didn't put links in, they weren't there before I hit 'post', and they were there when it became real.

I went back in & added _ to break up the words & that got rid of the offending unwanted links.

Let's see if it does it this time... I'm not putting any URLs in.
s.kype
car.dealer

ETA - this time only the first example turned into a link.
Last post, both did.
ETA2 - came back to check responses, & they were both linked.
ETA3 - trying ways to block the unwanted links
 
Last edited:

Bill Starks

State Researcher
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
4,304
Location
Nortonville, KY, USA
I have also noticed when I go back to edit a word with my arrow keys I lose my cursor or the page will jump to the top or bottom. I just replaced my keyboard and mouse and have tested this on several computers (all the same issue).

Firefox 8.0
 
H

Herr Heckler Koch

Guest
SkimLinks - Analysis by Ghostery

http://www.ghostery.com/apps/skimlinks
SkimLinks is a London based affiliate marketing platform. Their tools and products provide Web site owners the ability to monetize their site through placement of affiliate links. The SkimLinks JavaScript code is placed on their site, which then scans the website's content and converts product references to links to those products from marketers.

Website:
http://www.skimlinks.com/

SkimLinks
was found on over
30000
sites. Here's a sample:

pinterest.com
jeuxvideo.com
sherdog.net
telegraph.co.uk
tomshardware.de
 
Last edited:

slapmonkay

Campaign Veteran
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
1,308
Location
Montana
MKEgal, it was added to the board by the administrator's to obtain more money (likely to help pay for hosting costs). Its nothing to do with your computer or post specifically.
 

VW_Factor

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2010
Messages
1,092
Location
Leesburg, GA
Skim Words, or adwords that are added in the posts is the most annoying type of advertising that someone could install on a forum. I saw him "testing" in a thread somewhere and I worried that is what he was up to.

I added it to my adblock routine.

Unregistered users that are not logged on, fine.. Show them the ads. For a registered user, its simply crap and annoying.

Its yours, do what you want with it admin, however eventually it will drive some of the userbase away, hopefully not the important users.
 

slapmonkay

Campaign Veteran
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
1,308
Location
Montana
I do agree that it can be annoying.

One example:
Someone creates a post, you see a link in it, you assume the user posted the link and you follow the link to find more details and it brings you to ebay or some other site.

Now I don't easily know which links were added by the user and which links were added by skim/ad words.
 

Badger Johnson

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2011
Messages
1,213
Location
USA
Crossbreed holsters, AIG, Ruger, Google, Facebook

Scanning...testing...

Nope, not working here.
 
Last edited:

eye95

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
13,524
Location
Fairborn, Ohio, USA
I don't know if this feature was turned off and then on some months later, but I never noticed this before. I had been using a Windows-based computer with FireFox and NoScript. I switched a few months ago to a Mac with FireFox and without NoScript. Suddenly, within the past few days, this skimlinks crap showed up. Some words in a post were highlighted in a way that led me to believe that a poster was linking supporting information, so I clicked the link.

I was irked when an ad came up. I felt like I had been duped. I checked the poster's name, a respected poster, so he would not have done it. I hovered over the link, and up popped the fact that the link was added by skimlinks.

Today, my curiosity got the best of me when I saw a few more of these links. So I googled skimlinks. The first few hits were for the skimlinks site. Another indication of the dishonesty of these folks is that they engineer google results. This stuff is so annoying that discussions of their intrusive practice should get a few of the top hits.

This thread did show up in the hits though, so I thought I add my two cents to it.

If the site owners insist on using this "tool," it would be nice if the links looked different and not like one that a poster was helpfully including.

It is their site and their call, but this is a despicable thing to do to their members.

Again, I'd pay a fee to OCDO to avoid this kind of crap.
 

MyWifeSaidYes

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
1,028
Location
Logan, OH
It is possible for SkimLinks and other "ad word" tools to be added to the client by various malware programs.

I run Win7 systems with IE9 or IE10 and Microsoft Security Essentials. No other anti-malware software.

I don't see the SkimLinks links on OCDO.
 

John Pierce

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
1,777
Is this a new "feature" of OCDO or is it a problem with my computer?

I just noticed that a couple words in posts I've made were turned into links to (mostly) completely unrelated sites. In any case, I didn't put links in, they weren't there before I hit 'post', and they were there when it became real.

I went back in & added _ to break up the words & that got rid of the offending unwanted links.

Let's see if it does it this time... I'm not putting any URLs in.
s.kype
car.dealer

ETA - this time only the first example turned into a link.
Last post, both did.
ETA2 - came back to check responses, & they were both linked.
ETA3 - trying ways to block the unwanted links

It is a feature of vBulletin that we are experimenting with. I apologize for not announcing it and making everyone wonder.


John
 

John Pierce

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
1,777
Skim Words, or adwords that are added in the posts is the most annoying type of advertising that someone could install on a forum. I saw him "testing" in a thread somewhere and I worried that is what he was up to.

I added it to my adblock routine.

Unregistered users that are not logged on, fine.. Show them the ads. For a registered user, its simply crap and annoying.

Its yours, do what you want with it admin, however eventually it will drive some of the userbase away, hopefully not the important users.

I am sorry to those who find it annoying.

We are trying Skimwords for two reasons:

1) They do not initiate popups when you mouse over the words (THAT is the thing that irritates me the most on websites); and

2) They allow you to control the page density of links so you don't get a flood of links on every page.

If it truly bothers people we will remove it. As hosting costs continue to increase and Adsense revenue decreases (probably because a lot of privacy minded people use ad blockers), we are just wanting to make sure we have the finances to support the forum.

Thanks.


John
 

MyWifeSaidYes

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
1,028
Location
Logan, OH
I am sorry to those who find it annoying.

We are trying Skimwords for two reasons:

1) They do not initiate popups when you mouse over the words (THAT is the thing that irritates me the most on websites); and

2) They allow you to control the page density of links so you don't get a flood of links on every page.

If it truly bothers people we will remove it. As hosting costs continue to increase and Adsense revenue decreases (probably because a lot of privacy minded people use ad blockers), we are just wanting to make sure we have the finances to support the forum.

Thanks.


John

John-

Love the forum. Hate the advertising. I know it's a necessary evil, but in an arena where links are a natural part of the discussion posts, having "odd" links appear in those same posts, it just seems...intrusive. At least when a moderator edits your posts, you don't have to do a mouseover to find out.

It may be none of our business, but I think it would be beneficial for the forum users to know just how much it costs to keep OCDO running.

Thanks for all you do!
 

eye95

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
13,524
Location
Fairborn, Ohio, USA
They only bother me because they look like links users add to their posts for reference. That causes me to accidentally click them. I have no intention of ever clicking a skim link. If they could be made to look different...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk.

<o>
 

marshaul

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Aug 13, 2007
Messages
11,188
Location
Fairfax County, Virginia
Jeez. I believe it was within 15 seconds of my first encountering a skimlink that I intuited what was going on, and adapted accordingly.

They don't remotely resemble bonafide links. Context is everything.

I mean, right off the bat: how frequently do people use inline links like that on a forum? 99% of the time it's something like:

Check out this great article by Lysander Spooner:

An Essay on the Trial by Jury
 
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Sigger

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2010
Messages
49
Location
Cincinnati (Springfield Township), Ohio, USA
I just made a post in the PA forum and noticed the skimwords link in it. For what my opinion is worth, I did not pay for a registrations to this site. Since it's provided to me for free, yet the site owner does have expenses for it, I will respect the site owner's intentions and not whine/gripe about the links on my posts. Nor will I break up words that are linked to get the links removed.
 

JustaShooter

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2013
Messages
728
Location
NE Ohio
I do not see the skim words links. I presume it is due to one of the Firefox add-ons I run - AdBlock Plus, NoScript, and DoNotTrackMe being the most likely candidates. These do not, however, block the 6 primary ads at the top of the page.
 
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