Congratulations, you win (NOT!)

I wonder if I am the only one who is driven batty by this message that tells me that I won (nothing, of course). Gone are the days when I can peruse DG with music playing gently in the background because this enthusiatic voice announces it every time I change to another page, or go back to the same page.

I of corse I could turn off the sound but then why did I pay hard money for a good sound system???

So, Dave, please ... let it flash but please don't let it talk.

Thanks

nomosno, we are trying really hard to track down this ad and get rid of it.

I can turn your ads off, but since you have spotted it, I'm wondering if perhaps you could first help us track down its source? If you see this ad again (I can't get it to appear for me, try as I might), please use the "Contact Us" link to reach us, preferably in a second window. We can walk you through the steps of tracking down its source without opening the ad itself.

If you don't see it anytime soon, and would like to just turn the ads off, you can do that on your own (click on "My Info" , then "Manage your preferences") or contact us for assistance.

Terry, do you need to have the google type ads turned on to see it? I'm here all day, could probably help you track it down...

I thought I had turned off all ad's in the my preference area a long time ago, but all last week I was getting that nerve wracking ad, and it was driving me nuts too! I didn't want to bother Admin about it so I just turned the volume off. It's now gone ... hopefully for good, but if it should appear again, I will definitely contact Admin. to see if you can track it down.

I'm not sure what you have to have turned on. I spent most of yesterday with the ads turned on full-bore, no AdBlocker running, etc. I tried mightily to get that ad to pop up, but I couldn't summon it.

Ok folks ... I was just googling about Petunia's and that same exact ad popped up with the obnoxious voice saying "Congratulations, You've Won"! I clicked on the submit button and this is the screen I got: http://adserve.internetgiveawaygroup.com/SplashPage.aspx?g=01d2b88285234059a2830dc832f63666&c=2143&s=D823248&se=02

I didn't go any farther, cause I don't want to have to give out any personal info.

We sure would like to track it down. My ads have been turned on for the last few days as well.

Lin, thank you--I've forwarded that to the guys who can "zap" it, in the hopes it's enough detail for them to find it and eliminate it.

If not, I'll post back here with more information on what they need to find it in our ad lineup.

I must say, having the ads turned on sure makes for an interesting DG experience!! It's a good thing I don't have a credit card or I would have parted with some serious cash by now!!

Are you sure it isn't spyware or adware that was picked up somewhere else and is being activated by going to a site that involves gardening or in the care of Google doing a search for a gardening subject?


Karen

karen, I don't think so...enough people have reported it that I think it's something in one of the ad networks. Those who keep an adblocker running and the ads turned off get to live in blissful ignorance ;o)

I have my ads turned off and I've seen it twice.

The first time was several days ago when I forwarded it to you Terry.

I saw it again yesterday in the same spot I saw it before, at the bottom of the daily Dave's Garden newsletter. Right now there's a coffee cup ad there. Keep an eye on that area as it seems to love that spot.

Quick! It's there now!

Rats! It's gone again. If you hang out in that area for awhile, you'll eventually see it.

The fact that it showed up in a Google search as well as here is what caused me to think of adware. Unless it's something out there that has latched itself onto sites with a specific content -- gardening or plants in this instance. . . that could be.

I don't have a pop-up blocker running, use Google all the time and am here often, and I haven't seen it in either place. I do run AdAware and Spybot S&D frequently.

Karen

We've had a great number of reports. It is probably the single most complained about ad I've had the 'pleasure' of hunting. Too many reports to think it is spyware. It is a tricky one though...does not want to be caught.

Well, shucks, now I feel left out. It hasn't picked one me even once. LOL.

Karen

I just saw it on the newsletter page, where there was a shampoo ad a minute before. It said copyright LM networks, if that helps.

I have ads turned off, forum sponsors on.

Yep....just saw it too....annoying little booger as it popped up on the lower right of newsletter yesterday... again a few minutes ago in the lower right of the sign in page when I logged in.

garden6, I'm showing that your ads are turned off. Did you just now turn them off? With them off, you should have never seen anything.

Dave, can you check to see if my ads are turned off? I thought they were but I still, on occasion get ads like that annoying "Congratulations, You've Won." I don't remember ever going in and changing anything in my info about ads.

I have been experiencing the same annoying flashing pop-up ads indicating that "you have won!! I seem to notice them before I log onto Dave's Garden. After that they don't appear, probably because I have them blocked in my DG preferences. If this is any help, try this website that identifies the cookies on your computer. Snug

http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

I just visited the Newlsetter page, someting I haven't done for a long time. There was an advert at the top for Kaleidoscope, another at the bottom which was offering to sign up for something at a cost and my ads are turned off. When I went back to the top the ad there had changed to 'can't display the page' type of message.

I just returned and the ad at the top was a 'join free, Meet attractive senior singles, near you' offer! At the bottom there is an Ecoroute ad.

I just checked my ad settings on My Info, I see the top 30 ads have been added and enabled so I deselected that, now I have no ads showing on the News letter page. Seems the meet attractive senior singles is in the top 30!

Dave~ I've had my ads turned off forever, that's why I was surprised to see that little annoying ad in my newsletter and today when I logged in earlier (after deleting cookies on my laptop prior to signing back in.) It congratulated me for winning.,I just can't hear it asthe speaker on my laptop is blown out.

OK~ I just went to my newsletter," no congatulations ad".... then I deleted my cookies and just logged back in...no "congratulations ad" neither. Soooo..perhaps the ad is kaput!

Dave, my ads are off, and I see the ads on the daily newsletter page, but not anywhere else on the site. It's on this page that I've been seeing this particular ad. http://davesgarden.com/nl.php?date=2009-03-02

It's not an ad that rotates often, but it is one that occurs on the bottom of the page.

Ok, this is an technically challenged, older, blonde person here ... how do you disengage/delete "cookies"? I don't even know what they are, LOL.


... oh, but we do have a cat named "Cookie", and I was known as "The Cookie Lady" for many years at the University where my husband teaches ... just don't know what computer cookies are. I'm assuming they aren't good?

I've had my ads both off and on. I've logged out and logged back in. Looked at all of the daily newsletters. I haven't seen it yet. (ads are on right now)

Here's the screenshot I snagged on Feb. 20th

Joan, I just saw that one at the bottom of the page. It flashes like crazy. I reloaded this page several times and each time there was a different ad.

Do you remember what page you were on? Was it the daily newsletter page? I'm wondering if that is the only place this one hangs out or if it appears in the ads in other areas also.

I linked to it through Joan's post above:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=6216950

I just got this at the bottom of Today's Daves Garden Newsletter page.
I've never had anything like this before. I caught it with Vista's Snipping Tool.
I know this is repetitive, but just wanted you to know that I've never had any ads until this one.

I've noticed when I go to the daily newsletter page, for some reason that particular page does not recognize that I'm logged in--this could explain why people are seeing ads there but not anywhere else. (when you're on that page, look up under the navigation tabs, and where you'd usually see a link to log out, instead it says log in). I'm not sure why that specific page doesn't recognize that I'm logged in, I never have that problem on any other pages.

I just checked, and it doesn't show me as logged in either.

Weird. Same here. But then it doesn't require me to log in to continue in Dave's.

I did not know I can turn ads off and I do not mind ads as a matter of princple, but the sound was very annoying. I posted a lot in mid-late February and this annoying things was on almost every page. Then I was not on DG for a good 7 days and game back last night when it was on again. I was on the bromeliad discussion group. I got so annoyed that I posted this message and went to a different site.

I went back to the posts I was making when I kept haivng this annoying ad but it was not present.

Yay!

If it hapens again I will try to make a note of the URL and save the source page if it will help.

I'm on a different computer this morning. When I came here I was not logged in and that voice telling me I won came on right away. No picture just the voice. :-(

That's when I see it is when I sign on to a different computer it's on the main DG page where you log in.

Thanks to that ad..I have disabled all ads on this site. I find it hard to believe that nobody could find it. It was on every single forum I visited tonight and the past week or two. I actually heard the man say "Congratulations You Won" over 10 times tonight. I am so glad I was able to turn the ads off tonight! It took me a few minutes, but I finally found the place to do that.

This morning we finally just had HQ turn of ALL ads except Google text ads and those ads that people run directly with us.

That will put a complete stop to these kinds of ads.