Question: What's with all the unintentional hyperlinks?

[Triple_R]

I've noticed lately that a lot of the posts I make now contain unintentional hyperlinks.

Words like "Christmas", "money", "shopping", "younger", "deals", etc... tend to bring these up somehow (I wonder how many of those words will become hyperlinks in this post, lol).


I don't necessarily mind this, but I'm curious about what's causing it.

[Archon_Wing]

They are ads and shouldn't appear if you login. I believe it's built into the forum software. And yes, your post looks quite ridiculous if I log out.
It's still annoying though, as I really doubt anyone actually would use them.

[Kotohono]

As Archon said it should only appear if you're logged out, and if you see them while logged in (with the DOUBLE underline) you should be reporting it to the moderation.

[Triple_R]

Right now, I'm logged in. I'm almost always automatically logged in to Anime Suki.

Every post on this thread looks fine. Except that for Archon_Wing's post I'm seeing the word "software" underlined, and it links to " justcloud.com ".

It's nothing widespread, but it is a noticeable change that I've only noticed recently. Like in the last few days.


Edit: Woah, that's weird. Now "software" looks fine in Archon's post!

[Archon_Wing]

You shouldn't see any ads when you're logged in.

Go start a new thread in the tech support forum. You might have some kind of adware

[Solace]

You should never see ads on the forums when logged in. Since it's just you, for the moment, it's more likely you have some unwanted software on your machine. I'd check for that possibility first.

[Dr. Casey]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

They are ads and shouldn't appear if you login. I believe it's built into the forum software. And yes, your post looks quite ridiculous if I log out.
It's still annoying though, as I really doubt anyone actually would use them.

This is too anticlimatic a resolution, so allow me to introduce some drama into this thread. Triple, you have caught a rare but deadly disease called Spambotitis. Over the coming months, you will slowly but surely transform from a human being into a spambot. You're already exhibiting the earliest symptoms: random words in your posts becoming hyperlinks. In a few months, you might notice yourself beginning to slip in entire sentences without realizing it advertising a certain product. And then... one fateful day... you will wake up to realize that you are no longer a human being at all, that you have completed your transformation into a mindless spambot.

I'm sorry, Triple.

[Triple_R]

Well, at least I know what's likely causing it now.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

[GHDpro]

Here is one thing to try: log out of the forum, and check the double underlined green links (the ads that show when you are not logged in). Maybe use another browser for a moment if you can't see them (again make sure you are not logged in).

Compare these ads (which appear when you hover your mouse over the double-underlined green links) with the ones you saw earlier when logged in.

Do they look the same? If so... odd. I won't repeat it... but logged in you shouldn't see them. Try clearing your browser cache, maybe that might help in that case.

If they are not similar (not double-underlined, not green links, completely different or simply lacking floating box when you hover over the links) then the problem is likely not related to the forum but your PC. In that case the problem might also appear on other websites. The likely cause is some kind of malware, which could be as simple as a wonky plugin in your browser.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by bigdeal000

I have the word money as a link. I put the pointer over it to see what it shows. Was it like that?

Nah, see what GHDpro said above:

Originally Posted by GHDpro

If they are not similar (not double-underlined, not green links, completely different or simply lacking floating box when you hover over the links) then the problem is likely not related to the forum but your PC. In that case the problem might also appear on other websites. The likely cause is some kind of malware, which could be as simple as a wonky plugin in your browser.

And, as was said, you shouldn't see any when you're logged-in anyway, so it doubly-points to something on your PC.

[demonix]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

And, as was said, you shouldn't see any when you're logged-in anyway, so it doubly-points to something on your PC.

Or it could be a browser addon that now includes some advertising program added to it (this has been happening with addons on firefox).

The best way to find out if that is the case (since the person in question is using firefox) is to start firefox with all addons disabled, and if there aren't any links like that then it's just a process of elimination to find the offending addon.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by demonix

Or it could be a browser addon that now includes some advertising program added to it (this has been happening with addons on firefox).

Thanks for the info. I use Firefox almost exclusively, so I hope this is what it is. Thanks for the advice on how to deal with this if it is due to Firefox add-ons.

[GHDpro]

Originally Posted by bigdeal000

Looks like a "shockwave flash" firefox plugin was causing it, problem solved now.

That is not likely, unless you had some kind of hacked/modified version installed somehow.

Flash is fairly standard plugin from Adobe. It may cause instability (I have to kill flash on occasion to unfreeze Firefox) but it is not malicious (as in show links that should not be there).

What plugins did you have installed?

[Solace]

Flash and Firefox sometimes don't play nice together. There was a version from last year that had security flaws and performance issues, but it was patched shortly. However if you haven't updated in a while, that could have been it.

[Hooves]

They still appear when I log in. But that's because I'm using Google Chrome possibly? Also because my adblock is acting funny.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Hooves

They still appear when I log in. But that's because I'm using Google Chrome possibly? Also because my adblock is acting funny.

You should try disabling all your browser extensions, but it could also be something else installed on your PC. Also see the posts above about what the official links should look like -- if they don't look like those, then it's being done by a third-party.

If you're logged-in, there should be no links, even in Chrome.

[demonix]

Originally Posted by Hooves

They still appear when I log in. But that's because I'm using Google Chrome possibly? Also because my adblock is acting funny.

It's probably the same thing (an addon is introducing those links into the site).

Try starting Chrome with all extensions disabled (or disable them manually if that isn't possible) and see if the links come back which just leaves the usual process of elimination to find the offending addon (that is if the links vanish).

[EroKing]

I only managed to see those hyperlinks with IE, even while logged out no hyperlinks or ads on SRWare Iron (a modified version of Chrome without all the crap) and AdBlock version 2.5.34.

[bigdeal000]

Originally Posted by GHDpro

That is not likely, unless you had some kind of hacked/modified version installed somehow.

Flash is fairly standard plugin from Adobe. It may cause instability (I have to kill flash on occasion to unfreeze Firefox) but it is not malicious (as in show links that should not be there).

What plugins did you have installed?

Late reply, so I don't know if this matters anymore. I'm on a different computer and can't check my plugins right now, but back then, with only that plugin enabled, I had the links and with only it disabled and everything else enabled, I had no links, so I don't see how it could be anything else.

[SeijiSensei]

Are you sure you were already logged in when you saw them? I happened to have started using Firefox on a machine where I had never used it before. Until I logged in, the links popped up everywhere. Once I logged in, they disappeared.