Skimlinks

[Nigel_O]

I'm having real grief with skimlinks on PH when accessed through my PC - I cannot see ANY link, as it comes up with an error message.



I get this in 100% of all cases - even my own links to my own Flickr account....

I run AdBlocker, but its disabled for PH. Running Firefox 52.0.2 on Win7 Pro. It also fails in Internet Explorer with no ad-blocker installed.

It does it whether I'm logged in or not

Any thoughts?

[Nigel_O]

Even clicking on the above image causes the same error, so the message's excuse that it must be down to a broken link is complete rubbish

[Nigel_O]

Also fails in Chrome....

[Nigel_O]

Hello....

Awfully lonely in here....

[Jonesy23]

You aren't the only person who had that.

The only obvious quick solution is to turn on your ad blocker.

[illmonkey]

What does the source code show?

Could you have a malware or similar adding their skimlink code to every link?

[saaby93]

Hello Nigel

I'm not seeing same.,,,,,,,

[Nigel_O]

illmonkey said:

What does the source code show?

Could you have a malware or similar adding their skimlink code to every link?

Page source looks fine - the image links point straight to the source (Thumbsnap in the case of your screenshot)

If it was an issue with my PC, I'd be getting skimlinks re-directions on other websites - PH is the only place I'm getting the problem and it doesn't make any difference whether I have AdBlock Plus running or not

[Nigel_O]

I've been doing some research....

It would appear that HayMarket are using Skimlinks to derive revenue from "affiliates" - the Skimlinks system intercepts a user clicking on a link and redirects it through a proxy server (or something like that - its beyond me)

I would appear that the issue I'm getting is that something on MY PC is breaking the Skimlink service, whereas everyone else's is somehow getting through

Either way, it would appear that PH members are being used to generate income without us knowing about it. I have no problem with this per sé, but its the surreptitious approach that irks me (and the fact that I can't click on ANYTHING in PH - christ, even a link to another PH thread is falling over...)

Someone far more techy than me should be able to explain it, or even prove that our clicks are being hijacked

[illmonkey]

Nigel_O said:

I've been doing some research....

It would appear that HayMarket are using Skimlinks to derive revenue from "affiliates" - the Skimlinks system intercepts a user clicking on a link and redirects it through a proxy server (or something like that - its beyond me)

I would appear that the issue I'm getting is that something on MY PC is breaking the Skimlink service, whereas everyone else's is somehow getting through

Either way, it would appear that PH members are being used to generate income without us knowing about it. I have no problem with this per sé, but its the surreptitious approach that irks me (and the fact that I can't click on ANYTHING in PH - christ, even a link to another PH thread is falling over...)

Someone far more techy than me should be able to explain it, or even prove that our clicks are being hijacked

We know about it, well, some of us do!

You're correct, a small javascript sits on the site and rips through a rendering page, converts say a ebay link to a skimlinks link, that diverts you back to ebay, but they then get a kick back. It also adds a cookie to your PC, so that any (or most) purchases via ebay or the like give commission to them.

But if the source code is a link to thumbsnap.com, it's unlikely to actually redirect you to skimlinks. source code is client side code, so won't be messed with when you click it.