Hello all
You don't have to click on any of the links on that test page, which are just placeholders. What we're interested in is whether any of you get strange ads when looking at that page. So far it sounds as though you haven't?

Glogirl, which is the link that goes to the page with the 'look at the tits' line? Not cool - not cool at all. Let me know which one it is and I'll delete. Really sorry - looks as though someone has been having a bit of fun with the whole page. I will be having words on Monday...

Thanks Running. can you give us some more info, what device and browser are you using and did you manage to take a screenshot?

Many thanks

@DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen

Porn has gone but just got a virus alert message highlighting one of my posts from yesterday

Motorola G phone with AGV . Can't screen shot as last time I tried my phone went born and unresponsive for ages apart from a dead android !!

Hi Dame,

Would you please mail [email protected] and someone will have a look?

Thanks all, we seem to be ok thus far so we are releasing the next round of ads to see if they are ok or not, please do post or mail us if you see any issues.

Many thanks as ever.

Stealth. And now you've handily passed on the favour by reminding me to book mine.

Hi all,

We have narrowed down the issue to a specific area but we haven't hit the nail on the head with the actual root of the problem.

We need to turn ads back on one by one (there are a lot of them) to find the specific one that is causing the issue so that we can get rid of it.

We will do this slowly over the week, could we please ask that if you see anything untoward that you mail [email protected] immediately and we will stop it. We're so sorry that this has become such a long winded process and that you've been exposed to these ads, we are trying our best to get rid of them but we do need your help.

Many, many thanks.

Has anyone had any further pop-ups or redirects since around 10.45pm last night? It would be really useful if you could post either way so we can know where to channel our efforts.

Thanks so much.

Ach, sorry all. This is really useful though - we're definitely narrowing it down.

We're going to turn that channel of ads off again now, so please do let us know if it happens again after about 20 mins, as that will be significant.

Thanks, all - really helpful.

@GloGirl

Just what you wanted - school holiday trolls and porn pop ups hope you've got a fully stocked gin cupboard!

we have no gin yet slightly too early even for us. Thanks so much for the tea though.

I believe all we're looking for are pop-ups and redirects - the strangely basic-looking MN isn't related as far as I know, but tech are aware.

Hello all

We've been working very closely with one of our ad partners over the weekend screening a test page - we thought we'd identified the source of these things. Alas, it looks as though we spoke too soon- so we're going to turn ads on again fully, and continue to isolate elements of our ad-serving system till we pin down the source. Really sorry - there isn't another way of doing this.

Please do let us know if it happens again, by mailing [email protected] or posting here. Many thanks - again - for your patience and help.

Very relieved to hear that the porn is finally gorn.

As for the massive MN logo, we've flagged this to our Tech team (there's a whole other thread about it in Site Stuff) and they're on the case.

We'll update again as soon as we have some news.

Many thanks for bearing with us.

We are still holding our breath here a bit, but it does seem that it might be resolved .

Thank you all so much for bearing with us - your patience and help was much appreciated.

Thanks AtAt, no, that looks like a slow connection, it happens sometimes. Just hit refresh and you should get the normal page. Do let us know if not...

Thanks all for being brilliant with this. The information you have provided has been really helpful.

We think we have pinpointed the issue our end and we are going to turn the ads back on and see what happens. Please do report back to us if you see any pop-ups asap. It is important that you let us know either way as we are still unable to replicate this in the office so any sightings by you are essential for us to hear about.

Fingers crossed, we've found the issue. Please do keep us posted.

Excellent stuff, please do keep us posted.

Hi all,

Apologies that this is taking so long to sort and that you haven't heard from us.

We have turned off all ads from the mobile site and we'd really like your help by telling us if you still see any popups. If you do, can you please email [email protected] the following details.

• Date and time of when the ad appeared (as close as possible)
• Location
• Type of device you are using
• The page you are on
• Landing page of the ad, if tap and hold on your device and click copy link you will get this

I know some of you struggled to send mails yesterday, we only received two, so if the mail bounces, please do PM me and I'll send the info to tech.

Apologies all, we really hope to get this sorted asap.

Lass, I think the cache clearing is supposed to help the tech team narrow things down, rather than anything else. Could you let us know when you cleared it, and also when you saw the Tesco pop-up, so that we can cross-check with the times that we took action at this end? The other information requested above would also be useful (although obviously you can't copy the url of the ad now).

ItsAllGoingToBeFine, these are very good questions. I've got to turn in now or I'll be no use for owt tomorrow, but let me check back with the tech team first thing and get back to you.

Night all and apols again.

Hello everyone

Really sorry for the limited updates today - we are working hard on this, honestly, but we just haven't been able to replicate the issue at all here yet.

Today we turned off all the ads which are served through third-party partners, to try and narrow things down. It sounds as though some of you were still getting pop-ups, though, so earlier tonight we turned ads off altogether on the Talk section of the mobile site (ie if you're browsing threads on a mobile).

I'm not a techy I'm afraid but it does sound as though the only way to get to the bottom of this is with information from MNers. If this has happened to you, could you please clear your cache (sorry, we know it's a pain)? If it then happens again on Talk, on a mobile device please please do send the following info to [email protected].

• Date and time of when the ad appeared (as close as possible)
• Location
• Type of device you are using
• The Mumsnet page you are on
• The URL of the landing page of the ad - tap and hold on your device and click 'copy link' to get this

Here are instructions for clearing the cache on [[www.phonearena.com/news/How-to-clear-cookies-cache-and-history-in-Chrome-for-Android_id70104
android phones]] and iOS phones.

Thanks so much everyone - all info is much appreciated.

Hi there,

Just to let you know our tech team is working hard to get to the bottom of this and fix it.

We're really sorry .

Thank you for all the feedback you have given, the information you have provided has been a great help.

We are trying out a temporary change on the site

Could you please clear your cache on your device first. If you are then still receiving unwanted popups or redirects after this, then can you please email [email protected] the following details.

• Date and time of when the ad appeared (as close as possible)
• Location
• Type of device you are using
• The page you are on
• Landing page of the ad, if tap and hold on your device and click copy link you will get this

To clear your cache on iOS and Android devices, the following guides will help:

iOS: www.cio.com/article/3011876/ios/ios-9-clear-cookies-browsing-history-and-data-from-safaris-cache.html
Android: www.phonearena.com/news/How-to-clear-cookies-cache-and-history-in-Chrome-for-Android_id70104

Once again, thank you for all your feedback.

Hi all

Our ad partners' tech teams have been scanning MN all day but alas, have not been able to replicate the issues. They've asked for some help from MNers, so if anyone is able to do the following we'd all be extremely grateful.

In order to pinpoint the rogue ad we need to obtain a clicktag on a mobile device. To obtain this, click and hold on the ad, and wait for a popup displaying a URL to appear. Copy the URL, and send that to [email protected], along with a description of the pop-up and/or a screenshot.

Thanks so much for your help and patience everyone.

Ugh, how horrible. The tech team is still working on this. We really appreciate your patience, we know this is unpleasant and are very sorry that it's still happening.

Hi OhYouBadBadKitten

Unfortunately there are no simple apps like the iOS app on android for this that we know of, we will keep you informed if we find something

Here's some background info on these rogue ads and why we sometimes struggle to track them down - including details of how you might be able to help us in future, by downloading an app which grabs the info we need. Many thanks in advance if you are able to help - much appreciated as ever.

Why are Mumsnet showing me these annoying pop-up ads?
Mumsnet sell some of our advertising space directly to approved advertisers, but we also sell some through third-party partners. We do not sell pop-up ads ourselves - we know they are a really frustrating format. We have measures in place to prevent them being sold via third-party partners too, but rarely, unscrupulous parties manage to outwit the systems that are in place on most websites, including Mumsnet.

Why does it take so long to stop these adverts?
We work hard to stop these adverts as quickly as we can, but it’s difficult to work out where it’s coming from with only a screenshot or a URL; the fact that they are handled through a variety of third-party partners can also complicate things. Sometimes these adverts are only shown to users on specific mobile networks in specific cities within short bursts of time – again, this makes them hard for us to find.

Why can’t you find the advert from the URL?
You might have noticed on websites such as Twitter or Facebook that the link you click on is completely different to the page you are directed to. For example: t.co/sWSLYXccEv takes you to a Mumsnet books page. This is the same for online advertising – sometimes the page you land on is different to the URL we are told is serving. Whilst the final URL can be useful, we often need more information to track down the issue quickly.

How can I help Mumsnet stop these ads?
To help us stop these ads we need as much information from you as possible. This includes the phone type you were using, the browser or app, your mobile network provider, your location, time of day and - most importantly - the ‘ad calls’.

What are ad calls?
Ad calls are a piece of code that are loaded onto a page to request an advert to appear. Ad calls can pass from one party to another and sometimes one ad trigger several ad calls before an ad appears - we will often need to know the full chain of events to help us identify the guilty party.

How can I capture ad calls?
There is a free app on the Apple App Store called HTTP Watch that can help you easily capture all this information which you can then send onto us. It functions exactly like a normal web browser – but also captures every ad call and ad response that occur while you browse.

Will HTTP Watch record any private information such as login details?
No, your personal data is not captured. All that is captured are the various requests and responses that the page you are browsing makes - such as requests to third-parties to return adverts on the page.

How to use the HTTP Watch app

1. If you are experiencing issues with adverts on your mobile device, go to the Apple App Store and download the free HTTP Watch Basic app.
2. Once downloaded, open the app and type in the URL of the page where you last saw the bad ad
3. If you do not see the bad ad, tap on the spanner icon at the bottom of the screen and tap ‘Clear Log’. If you don’t do this, the file may become too large to use.
4. Refresh the page or go to another page to see if the ad appears. If the ad does not appear then repeat step 3.
5. Once you see the bad ad you need to tap on the icon that looks like three horizontal bars in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. This is where all the ad calls have been captured whilst you have been browsing.
6. Now tap the icon in the top right of the screen that is three horizontal lines.
7. Tap ‘Email’ and then send this whole file to [email protected] , explaining what you saw with as much detail as you can.

Thanks again for your patience and help with this – it’s much appreciated.

Hi all,

Thanks for all of the feedback.

For all those who have checked their devices anti-virus and are still seeing porn ads this morning we are still busy looking into what is causing the issue, we will have further information for you later today.

Thanks

Hi all,

Dan from Tech here, we're sorry to hear this is happening, nothing worse than going to a thread about school uniforms and being blasted with porn popups.

Reading through this thread it looks like this is happening to people using android devices, so it sounds like some malware/vicious app has been downloaded onto your phones. At the moment there seems to be a big issue with fake versions of the Pokemon Go app that seem to be causing malware issues, you can read more about that here:
www.ibtimes.co.uk/pokemon-go-fake-android-app-delivers-first-ever-lockscreen-malware-that-clicks-porn-ads-1570930

But don't panic these can be removed. Here are some tips on how to get rid of malware on your device:

www.androidcentral.com/help-my-android-has-malware

The general idea is to remove any suspicious apps from your phone, download some anti virus software onto your device like AVG and run a scan to check if any malware remains. If those fail then I would backup anything from your phone you would like to keep like photos/messages and do a full factory reset. Obviously this is a last resort just incase the first two don't work.

Let me know if you need anymore information on this