Could there be confusion over the URL?

linuxquestions.org = LQ.org
linuxquestions.net = redirects to LQ.org
linuxquestions.com = totally different website, not connected to LQ.org in any way, shape, or form

I can't explain how a bookmarked LQ.org link could get redirected elsewhere, but an "LQ.com" link has nothing to do with LQ.org.

FWIW, with respect to the OP's initial post, I have not seen any unexpected/unusual behavior visiting LQ.org, and cannot reproduce the reported issue.

Did you mean to imply LQ.org == linuxquestions.org?

Doesn't look like .. Umm wait...


For the problem, could it be an "hostile ad". I mean more hostile than an ad?
Like the ones currently found on google?

Otherwise it could be a dns issue. I remembered some months ago again they were saying that dns servers were being attacked.

It's correct that linuxquestions.com and lq.org have absolutely nothing to do with this site (and never have). If www.linuxquestions.org ever brings you to another site and you are running Windows I highly recommend you do a virus/malware scan.

--jeremy

wow.

i thought that you had .net .com and .org.


oops.


If I see anything else weird on .org ill document it.

Jeremy,

It happened again: Trying to open the "Laptop & Handheld" forum in a new window I was back at that wretched page. "View source" looked normal this time (Like LQ source usually does, not like the weird one I emailed to you). I think this was because when I ask Firefox to "View source", it re-fetches the page, and the second time it fetched it OK from LQ.
I checked my FF Cache - but it was not helpful (nearly empty, though it is set for 50MB cache). I have a screenshot (Mostly to convince myself that this was really happening) of FF displaying http://www.linuxquestions.org in the address bar, but spam on the page.

Later this evening it happened yet again, this time when I was trying to go to http://www.google.co.uk/ and I ended up at the same spam page, so I do not think this is a problem with LQ, more likely my ISP, which happens to be BT(UK) and perhaps their DNS servers.

It is very odd though - the problem crops up for maybe only 30s, so it is difficult for me to type fast enough to try to track down what exactly is happening before things are restored to normal.

Were you able to make any sense of the supposedly LQ html I emailed you (complete with bizarre LQ link addresses)? That's the only piece of solid evidence I have managed to capture.

I don't think this is an LQ problem, but I would appreciate your advice if you have the time.

Thanks.

Looking at the HTML this is almost certainly related to a local problem (be it ISP, your machine or something in between).

--jeremy

I'll continue to look into it. What's "Over & Out" in geek-speak?
No reply expected
My thanks.

if you look at that register article, i think that sort of thing must be client malware or such, as they can't screw about with lq's dns etc... some dodgy ff extension maybe?

Finally solved this problem:

It's my ISP's DNS servers. If they fail to resolve an address within about 20 sec, or the site doesn't exist, they redirect me to this stupid page, without any error message.

Once in a blue moon, LQ is slow to respond (network congestion?), and that's why I ended up at that page (sometimes), instead of the LQ link.
My ISP sees no need to alter this behaviour, annoying though it is.

So, there's nothing to worry about, and thanks to all of you who tried to help me get this sorted out.

Maybe install Pdnsd, it's a caching nameserver without the dependencies the caching nameserver from BIND has (also Pdnsd's cache does survive reboots). It also allows you to add more DNS servers which in your situation may be beneficial since Pdnsd can fire off queries to multiple servers at the same time.

Thank you, I'll look into pdnsd. Learn something new every day