Hullo... I've noticed in the last few days, some of the posts are littered with links to a lot of seemingly random stuff... ebay and so on. When I hover over a link, it pops up something about being "provided by VigLink"? I'm just wondering if this is an intentional advertising / revenue generator for Trainboard, or if something else might be going on (site hacked, malware or what have you)? Thanks! - TD
I've not seen this but we do use Viglink and have for a couple of years. Many forums do. See the sidebar on the forum main page for information. Charlie
I am seeing them a lot today. Key words that match something for sale on ebay seem to pick up hot links to those items. Random text will have orange links scattered throughout it that were not added by the original poster.
Right. Some words will turn to links such as eBay, but it seemed like people were saying that some sort of other ads were popping up or something. We've had the link insertion for quite some time. Charlie
I'm only seeing it on some posts on some threads, but it does look like the link inserter is grabbing more than it was maybe intended to... For instance, in the quoted text of post #71 of the thread about the new Walthers/LL SW9... I'm seeing the text "Tony Hines" linked to an eBay ad for a book about fashion marketing by Tony Hines ... I'm fairly certain it's a different Tony. Probably just an "honest error" by an automated system. Most of the rest of the added links I saw are to things like "Walthers" and "ConCor" and "GP30", which seem legit. It just raised a little flag with me... thought maybe something might be messing with my browser. If they're legitimately added links as part of the site's function, I've got no beef. Personally, I'm not all that excited about having a third-party inserting links into member/user postings on a forum, as they can imply an endorsement by the author of the post (though I do note that hovering on the link does indicate that the link was auto-added, which helps). But since I haven't yet been able to financially contribute to the site's well being, I don't at all expect my opinion to carry any weight on that subject.
Well, it's supposed to be unobtrusive for the most part and just turn words like eBay and Amazon into links. I, personally, have not seen it advertise other things. But, my browser seems to work differently I guess because I rarely see it. Charlie
Charlie, it does seem to depend on the browser used. I see zero with Firefox, but Safari and Internet Explorer both have some. There are a lot more if you aren't logged in.
I'm seeing them with Firefox, and I'm logged in. These added links seem to have nothing to do with trains and are very distracting. Can they be turned off?
If enough members here became financial Supporters then maybe TrainBoard wouldn't have to depend on the revenue from these types of advertisement techniques to keep the site up and going...
This screen shot taken today. Interesting how it only picks some words. In the first image it picked 3 of the 8 times that the OP used the initials of his railroad. In the above image it missed the Bay, but showed up in the quoted text. In the first image the links go to an item (some type of sensor for a car) for sale on the auction site. In the OPs second post, it picked a different word that linked to a comic book for sale on the same site. When I saw the OP railroad initials highlighted I was thinking I would be taken to his railroads website, not something for sale. I use Firefox 99.9999999999999% of the time and they are showing up. FYI they also show up in Chrome. I believe that it was pointed out if every member gave $1.00/year then Trainboard would be in great financial shape and would not be worrying about paying the bills each month. I Know everyone can afford a $1.00 a year. Gary
Well, if every member gave $1.00 per year we would take in over $20,000 and we would be able to do good things with that. Likewise, if 2000 people gave $10 we would get the same thing. But, we don't get it that way so we use other methods. Viglink is legitimate and it does provide enough funding that it helps us. Since it just creates links, it doesn't add banners, etc., that I think people do not want. Especially non-railroad stuff. Strangely, I use FF at home and IE at work and I do not see much of it at all. Seems like you guys see much more of it than me. Charlie
That you would think is true Gary; but, I seems most complainers of this and other revenue generating methods are not Supporting members. So for those that would like to see this get turned off maybe they should first become a $$$ Supporter and then convince another 24 of their friends to also become one...
FTR, I'm not complaining. Merely making sure the links were a legit advertising effort by the site and not something else. The links were... unfamiliar... that's all. I absolutely agree that if I'm not sending in my own cash to support, I don't really have a right to complain about the other legitimate efforts the site makes to raise funds.
TD I believe it a program that was installed on your PC when you visited some site. You should see it in all your posts and maybe e-mails you send. Your virus/malware program (I use Norton) should have picked up on it. It happened to me and I'm sorry but I don't remember the exact name of the program. Perhaps others will know. The following is all I remember; Click on your windows control panel and (Be careful you uninstall programs with this) select "Programs and Features" page through looking for a name like "Coupon***" something or other. Then click on it and Uninstall It and should solve your issue. TB's real auto links will still work but these advertisement links will be gone. See ya Switchman
Sorry Ron but that's not what is happening here. We use a service that turns some words into links. If people do not want to visit those sites, do not click on the links. It is a reputable company that is being used by many forums. Charlie
Hi, Just put your cursor over the link and wait a second or two (DON'T CLICK IT). If it is a link added by VigLink it will display "Link added by VigLink" next to the cursor. Don't click on it unless you wish to go someplace you really don't want to. If the link is not added by Viglink then nothing will be displayed. Not really a problem once you learn and understand what is going on. Once again if everyone would donated just one dollar ($1.00) per year then TrainBoard would not have to resort to having outside non railroad related advertising. Gary
Thanks for the info Charlie. Gary I wish that would happen but "No Way." I don't like it but I can live with the advertisements to have TB. There is no better mixed scale site on the Internet. See ya Ron
