I was reading a thread on LinuxQuestions before I logged in, and I noticed a few things.

First, while not logged in, certain words in the thread were converted to hyperlinks to various pages. As an example, the word "Verizon" in one thread was linked to Verizon's home page. That link disappeared when I logged in.

Second, those links caused a kind of "pop-up window" in firefox when I simply moved my mouse over them (without clicking). That pop-up window had an advertisement which had absolutely nothing to do with the word that caused the pop-up to occur.

My first question: what's going on? Why is this being done? Are these pop-up windows named anything other than pop-up windows?

My second question: how can I stop these windows from occurring. I have already blocked pop-up windows in firefox, so I'm guessing that they are a different kind of thing.

The hyperlinks are by design. Since not logged in people aren't contributing in the same way as members, it is right that they should bring in revenue from ads. The pop up is (IIRC) a bit of javascript - otherwise you'd be redirected every time you hovered or clicked. None of these things are malicious, they are simply designed to bring in a bit of money from people who otherwise just take from the site (and the members by extension). They are unblockable though, unless you block all scripts.

And I have moved this to LQ Suggestions and Feedback.

I keep a list of all ad servers in my HOSTS file to redirect them to 0.0.0.0

Ray is correct, these are in no way "popups" and are called ContentLink. If you are logged into LQ you will never see them.

--jeremy

Don't interpret my question as a complaint in any way. I'm mostly just curious what they are, and how they work.

Are hyperlinks (ContentLink) manually embedded by the person posting the message? Or are they somehow automatically generated by the forum software?

> I keep a list of all ad servers in my HOSTS file to redirect them to 0.0.0.0

What does that mean? What HOSTS file are you referring to?

They are embedded by the server, using keywords, using, I believe a service provided by Google. You can turn them off by disabling scripts, one way is use the "NoScript" extension for Firefox. You can manually choose to block certain hosts/sites or allow others. Very powerful tool

NoScript tends to break quite a few things in by experience. AdBlock is probably a better option in this case, IMHO.

--jeremy

I disagree - a properly configured NoScript, even without Adblock Plus, can be the most invaluable tool there is.
Not to mention it's an immense security aid, being able to choose what's allowed to run and what's not.

I just installed NoScript. An additional benefit is that it made certain websites display and interact much faster in firefox. Previously, simply scrolling to the bottom of the page took several seconds. Now, it's instantaneous.

I assume that's because those specific websites were running lots of embedded JavaScript that I didn't know about, and the CPU was bogged down try to run that JavaScript.

Thanks!

@ sysbox -- if you find occasion to often need to scroll to the very top of bottom of a page (like to get to the next page button or whatever) you may like the "Back to Top" extension for Firefox too.

@ Smeeze -- usually people direct adsites and the like, to 127.0.0.1 (the loopback address) -- I'm curious what is the significance of 0.0.0.0 in this case? Isn't 0.0.0.0 a synonym for 0/0 ?

@ sysbox -- look in /etc for the "hosts" file -- it serves similar function as the HOSTS file on a Windows machine: name-to-IP mappings, and it can be used to re-direct internet content that you don't care to receive, into the trash (well, actually it directs the request for that content, to the trash).

Sasha

My question is, why not just log in?

Installing extensions, etc. seems like a lot of trouble just to keep from logging in and prevent seeing ads.
Just my

Cheers

Totally I agree. While the extensions are GREAT generally speaking anyhow, there's no reason to NOT create and use an LQ account if one is a regular lurker already.

I just happened to be unlogged in when I noticed them. It wasn't intentional.

I installed NoScript in response to this thread because I didn't previously know about it, and it seemed cool. I didn't install it to avoid logging in.

I also really like the idea of blocking ad sites via the /etc/hosts instead of using firefox's built-in capability. Why? Because that's a human-readable file that I can easily modify, and if I inadvertantly delete the firefox config files (during an upgrade) or use a different browser, those ad sites will still be effectively blocked.

your welcome, and I hope you enjoy the extension.

And everyone else, same, and you all have brilliant ideas, I intend to try the idea about the HOST file, sounds useful. Bye!