HOSTS file and Windows Central ... terrible

[Sunstorming]

I have a HOSTS file in place for adblocking, and it appears that Windows Central no longer has direct links and must click through an ad. Therefore, I cannot see what other forum users link for me. Pathetic. Thanks for limiting what I can use on the site, guys.

 

[Torcher Death]

I have a HOSTS file in place for adblocking, and it appears that Windows Central no longer has direct links and must click through an ad. Therefore, I cannot see what other forum users link for me. Pathetic. Thanks for limiting what I can use on the site, guys.

Well ads are what keep sites like this up & running... So don't really see a problem here.

 

[Sunstorming]

Well ads are what keep sites like this up & running... So don't really see a problem here.

Click thru ads to click on other users posts is inherently evil and bad business policy. I use many other websites on a daily basis, and this one is the only one that odes that. It's about as well designed as the 950XL .. which is to say, awful.

 

[Satyendra Nair]

I don't understand why you mean by "clicking through ads to click on other users posts".

I must be using this site for a good load of time everyday, and the only advertisements I encounter are like a side bar or banners which never block the posts.

 

[Sunstorming]

Go to an article that contains a download link, say to the Microsoft store. Or a post that contains one. When you click it, the URL shifts so that in order for the link to work, it must go through an ad (a disingenuous, terrible way to generate less than a cent of income) ... if you have a HOSTS file installed designed to keep ads out, it stops anything linked to an ad site from loading. Hence, when I click a link anywhere on this site that goes to anywhere outside of this site, it has to go thru an ad, which I do not allow, which means I cannot see it.

I started using a hosts file because I am sick of (and have been for years) of stupid, intrusive Flash ads that take up bandwidth, screenspace and time to sell you the newest Chevy Suburban Commando truck aircraft carrier or whatever. If ads were less obtrusive, I wouldn't care. And btw, the reason I started using Bing years ago instead of Google was no ads. To this day, I still don't go near Google and their data mining crap.

 

[RumoredNow]

I feel your pain...

The problem with Hosts files is they work too well.

Example. I set up a Hosts file and had to dismantle it. It blocked legitimate popup windows I need for functionality on this sight. I'm talking about the window that comes up when you click the avatar next to a post. There is info there for all users, but Mods get extra tools we need in there to do our jobs. I gotta have that window. Hosts won't let me have it. It is NOT an ad in any way shape or form.

The links in posts that you can't click? They don't click through to ads. I see them and use them all the time. They never take me to the Chevy Silverado Death Wrangler Purchase Options.

They don't track you either, so far as my understanding goes.

What they do is provide Mobile Nations (across all its sites) with a credit for sending traffic. It's a partnership program from what I understand.

Hosts is blocking the click THINKING it is an ad. It's only crediting traffic sent to partners of the program. It's a referral to site credit. The content is 100% the same. No more or less ad laden than it would otherwise be. It's not an ad in content, it's an analytic tool for member sites in a pool.

Hope you can click on this: Tracking, reporting and deduplication on the Tradedoubler network

I've not seen a single ad from trade doubler so far as I can tell. It's just the same normal sites I would expect to see without it in there. My AdBlock + has no problems with trade doubler encoded links. I navigate to the sites in a normal way.

 

[rhapdog]

Here's what I've done with my HOSTS file. I searched for:

# [Telia / Trade Doubler][AS1299][217.212.240.160 - 217.212.240.191]

and when I found it, there are a number of lines below that contain the tradedoubler.com.

I put a "#" in front of each line, which prevents those from being blocked. No more issues with the links. See below for how I fixed it.

You could also just delete those particular lines.

#0.0.0.0 anet.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 anetch.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 anetdk.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 anetfi.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 anetit.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 anetlt.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 anetse.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 clk.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 clkde.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 clkuk.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 hst.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 hstde.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 hstes.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 hstfr.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 hstgb.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 hstit.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 hstno.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 hstpl.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 hstus.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 img.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 imp.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impat.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impbe.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impch.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impcz.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impde.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impdk.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impes.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impfi.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impfr.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impgb.tradedoubler.com #[WebBug]
#0.0.0.0 impie.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impit.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 implt.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impnl.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impno.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 imppl.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impru.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 impse.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 pf.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 tbl.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 tbs.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 tracker.tradedoubler.com
#0.0.0.0 wrap.tradedoubler.com