Changes: Help:Bad advertisements

Revision as of 18:17, 26 May 2020

Fandom wants visitors to see only good-quality advertisements, and thus we have a system for reporting "bad" ads, as shown below.

Bad ads might include, but are not limited to:

Ads about game exploits and cheating — particularly ones which involve the game explored by the wiki on which the ad appears. For instance, we will aggressively stop ads about selling in-game currency that violates the game's Terms of Use.
Ads that move rapidly and continuously, flash in bright colors, or otherwise disrupt the senses so as to make the article on which it is embedded difficult to read.
Broken ads - for example, ads that are sized incorrectly and/or overlapping content.
Auto-play ads - Ads that, when loaded, automatically execute audio. Some of Fandom's video ads play automatically, but they should do so muted.
Malvertising - Ads that attempt to download or execute a malicious program on your computer. Luckily, these are very, very rare due to Fandom's strict ad policies, but sometimes malicious individuals find a way in. Malware reports are taken very seriously by Fandom Staff.
Ads that cover Fandom content.
Intrusive unexpected behaviors: auto-redirects, invisible click-capture overlays (clicking anywhere on the page opens an ad landing page), opens in a new tab, pop-ups (and pop unders), fake close buttons, etc.

Please note that advertisement removal requests are considered on a case by case basis and while all complaints will be accepted, not all ads can be removed.

How can I report a bad advertisement?

In all cases, reporting a bad advertisement with any information you can provide, no matter how small, is appreciated and better than not reporting it at all. You may wish to open the reporting form in a new tab or window, in order to keep the page with the ad available for the steps described below.

To report a bad advertisement, please use this link.

Note that Fandom can only take action against an offending ad if we have as much of the following information as possible included:

On which community page the bad ad appeared.
A brief description of what the ad is about, and why the ad is bad.
What city, state/province, and country you live in (do not send us an exact address).
The ad code from the page's HTML (see below for how to find it).
A screenshot of the ad on the community.

How to find the ad tag in a page's HTML

The right-click menu with 'Inspect Element' highlighted

Every ad is put on the page via an ad tag in the page's HTML code. This bit of code is very helpful for us in identifying the rogue ad, so we especially appreciate it if you can include it in your bad ad report. This is how you find it:

Right click on the ad and choose "Inspect Element" (if it's a Flash ad, you may need to click just outside of the ad to get this option).
A panel will open below or next to the page in your browser and will show you the HTML for the entire webpage. A line of code should be highlighted.
- Around that highlighted line, look for a <div> tag preceded with a comment "<!-- BEGIN SLOTNAME:" that starts with "<div id="wikia_gpt/ ...> for standard ads, or something including "video" for video ads.
- It may be collapsed. By clicking the chevron you can open it and see its contents.
- If you're not sure if you have the correct tag, hover over it in the panel, and the corresponding element on the webpage will be highlighted.
- Copy the contents of this <div> tag. Don't worry if this is very long! The most helpful parts will be strings of numbers and/or letters that follow the terms data-gpt-line-item-id or data-gpt-creative-id (for standard ads) or data-vast-line-item-id (for video ads).
Include the code you copied in your bad ad report. If you have problems with copying the code, a screenshot can be helpful instead.

Further help and feedback

Browse and search other help pages at Help:Contents
Check Fandom Community Central for sources of further help and support
Check Contacting Fandom for how to report any errors or unclear steps in this article

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{tocright}}Fandom wants visitors to see only good-quality advertisements, and thus we have a system for reporting '''"bad" ads''', as shown below.
-{{tocright}}
-Wikia wants users to only see good quality advertisements, and thus we have a system for reporting "bad" ads, as shown below.
 Bad ads might include, but are not limited to:
+* Ads about game exploits and cheating — particularly ones which involve the game explored by the wiki on which the ad appears. For instance, we will aggressively stop ads about selling in-game currency that violates the game's Terms of Use.
-* Inappropriate for your wiki (e.g. dating ads on a wiki aimed at children).
-* With regards to gaming wikis, ads about exploits and cheating
 * Ads that move rapidly and continuously, flash in bright colors, or otherwise disrupt the senses so as to make the article on which it is embedded difficult to read.
 * Broken ads - for example, ads that are sized incorrectly and/or overlapping content.
-* Auto-play ads - Ads that, when loaded, automatically execute audio. Some of Wikia's video ads play automatically, but they should do so muted.
+* Auto-play ads - Ads that, when loaded, automatically execute audio. Some of Fandom's video ads play automatically, but they should do so muted.
-* Malware - Ads that attempt to download or execute a malicious program on your computer. Luckily, these are very, very rare due to Wikia's strict ad policies, but sometimes malicious individuals find a way in. Malware reports are taken very seriously by Wikia Staff.
+* [[wp:Malvertising|Malvertising]] - Ads that attempt to download or execute a malicious program on your computer. Luckily, these are very, very rare due to Fandom's strict ad policies, but sometimes malicious individuals find a way in. Malware reports are taken very seriously by Fandom Staff.
+* Ads that cover Fandom content.
+* Intrusive unexpected behaviors: auto-redirects, invisible click-capture overlays (clicking anywhere on the page opens an ad landing page), opens in a new tab, pop-ups (and pop unders), fake close buttons, etc.
 Please note that advertisement removal requests are considered on a '''''case by case basis''''' and while all complaints will be accepted, not all ads can be removed.
 == How can I report a bad advertisement? ==
+In all cases, reporting a bad advertisement with any information you can provide, no matter how small, is appreciated and better than not reporting it at all. You may wish to open the reporting form in a new tab or window, in order to keep the page with the ad available for the steps described below.
+To report a bad advertisement, please use '''[https://fandom.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021262634-I-Have-Seen-an-Ad-That-Bothers-Me this link]'''.
-In all cases, [[:Special:Contact/bad-ad|reporting a bad advertisement]] with any information you can provide, no matter how small, is appreciated and better than not reporting it at all. You may wish to open the reporting form in a new tab or window, in order to keep the page with the ad available for the steps described below.
-However, Wikia can only take action to turn off an offending ad if we have all of the following information, included in '''[[:Special:Contact/bad-ad|this form]]''':
+Note that Fandom can only take action against an offending ad if we have as much of the following information as possible included:
+# On which community page the bad ad appeared.
+# A brief description of what the ad is about, and why the ad is bad.
+# What city, state/province, and country you live in (do '''not''' send us an exact address).
+# The ad code from the page's HTML (see below for how to find it).
+# A screenshot of the ad on the community.
-# What wiki page the bad ad appeared.
+== How to find the ad tag in a page's HTML ==
+[[File:Inspect Element.png|thumb|The right-click menu with 'Inspect Element' highlighted]]
-# A brief description of why the ad is bad.
+Every ad is put on the page via an ad tag in the page's HTML code. This bit of code is very helpful for us in identifying the rogue ad, so we especially appreciate it if you can include it in your bad ad report. This is how you find it:
-# What city and country you live in (do '''not''' send us an exact address).
-# The URL the ad links to.
-# A screenshot of the ad on the wiki.
-# The source of the ad (instructions below).
+# Right click on the ad and choose "Inspect Element" (if it's a Flash ad, you may need to click just outside of the ad to get this option).
-==How To Find Ad URLs on Different Browsers ==
+# A panel will open below or next to the page in your browser and will show you the HTML for the entire webpage. A line of code should be highlighted.
+#* Around that highlighted line, look for a <nowiki><div></nowiki> tag preceded with a comment "<nowiki><!-- BEGIN SLOTNAME:</nowiki>" that starts with "<nowiki><div id="wikia_gpt/ ...></nowiki> for standard ads, or something including "video" for video ads.
+#* It may be collapsed. By clicking the chevron you can open it and see its contents.
+#* If you're not sure if you have the correct tag, hover over it in the panel, and the corresponding element on the webpage will be highlighted.
+#* Copy the contents of this <nowiki><div></nowiki> tag. Don't worry if this is very long! The most helpful parts will be strings of numbers and/or letters that follow the terms '''data-gpt-line-item-id''' or '''data-gpt-creative-id''' (for standard ads) or '''data-vast-line-item-id''' (for video ads).
+#Include the code you copied in your bad ad report. If you have problems with copying the code, a screenshot can be helpful instead.
+<gallery>
-=== Firefox instructions ===
-[[File:Firefox inspector.png|thumb|Using Firefox's Inspector to locate an ad's URL]]
+  Firefox inspector.png          | Using Firefox's Inspect Element to locate an ad tag
+  ChromeInspectElement.png       | Using Google Chrome's built-in Inspector feature
+  Ad slot tag for ad reports.png | Code fragment to look for (standard ads)
-# Right click on the ad.
+  Featured-video-code.png        | Code fragment to look for (video ads)
-# Select "Inspect Element" (if it's Flash ad, you may need to click just outside of the ad)
+</gallery>
-# The Firefox Inspector will open at the bottom of your browser. Inside, a line will be highlighted in a light grey color.
-# Select and copy the highlighted line.
-# Include this information in your bad ad report.
-=== Google Chrome instructions ===
-[[File:ChromeInspectElement.png|thumb|Using Google Chrome's built in Inspect Element feature to locate an ad's image URL]]
-# Right click on the ad.
-# Click "Inspect Element"  (if it's Flash ad, you may need to click just outside of the ad)
-# Chrome's Inspect Element should take you directly to the image source. Copy that image URL into your report.
-# If possible, also include the anchor tag URL that the image is wrapped in (i.e. the <nowiki><a></nowiki> tag right above the image source. This URL is probably going to be very long, so do not be alarmed if it looks complex.
-=== Internet Explorer instructions ===
-# Right click on the ad
-# Click properties
-# Copy ad URL. Hint: You can click on the URL and press "CTRL-A" to get the whole thing at once
-# Note the URL of the wiki where the ad was spotted and the size of the ad
-=== Opera 10 Instructions ===
-First, try right-clicking on the ad, and choosing "Copy image address" from the context menu. If that doesn't work:
-# Open Dragonfly (click Tools -&gt; Advanced -&gt; Developer Tools)
-# When Dragonfly has loaded, you should see boxes around each element you hover your cursor over.
-# Click on the ad to jump to the markup for it in Dragonfly.
-# Copy the address.
+== Further help and feedback ==
+{{Help and feedback section}}[[ca:Ajuda:Anuncis inadequats]]
 [[de:Hilfe:Unerwünschte Werbung]]
-[[eshelp:Ayuda:Anuncios inapropiados]]
+[[es:Ayuda:Anuncios inapropiados]]
-[[frhelp:Aide:Publicités offensantes]]
+[[fr:Aide:Publicités offensantes]]
+[[it:Aiuto:Pubblicità non consona]]
-[[nlhelp:Help:Slechte advertenties]]
+[[ja:ヘルプ:悪質な広告]]
+[[nl:Help:Slechte advertenties]]
 [[pl:Pomoc:Złe reklamy]]
+[[pt:Ajuda:Anúncios ruins]]
+[[ru:Справка:Плохая реклама]]
-[[Category:Help|{{PAGENAME}}]]
+[[tr:Yardım:Kötü reklamlar]]
+[[uk:Довідка:Погана реклама]]
+[[zh:Help:不良廣告]]
+[[Category:Help]]