[Jonathan]

Update 1/31 10:49 AM: Ads have been disabled from the site until Google resolves the problem

Huge apologies to everyone who has been redirected to a spam webpage while trying to access the site yesterday. A vulnerability in Google Adsense has recently been discovered enabling fake Amazon pages to redirect users to an external website. Google is aware of the problem, but in the meantime I have blocked any Amazon ads from being displayed, which I hope will eliminate the issue.

If you are ever redirected to another website while trying to access Carowinds Connection, exit that website and do not download anything from it. We will never intentionally code anything on this website to redirect you to another site.

If this happens again, please private message me or use the 'Contact Us' link in the header to alert me to the problem. The more information you can provide the better. Screenshots are always helpful.

I am very sorry this happened and trust that I take security extremely seriously on here. Again, this is a Google issue and nothing on Carowinds Connection itself has been compromised. If you did download anything from the pages you were directed to please run a malware scan on your computer as soon as possible. Malwarebytes (https://www.malwarebytes.org/) and AdAware (http://www.lavasoft.com) are excellent programs that can be downloaded for free.

[Axel]

This has happened to me 5-6 times throughout this last week... not just yesterday. It happened twice this morning. I'm using I.E. 11 I didn't notice what advertisement was displaying when this happened. I've attached some screen prints of where I was redirected to. I've been redirected to other sites at other times. I always close and hit the back button to get out of these.

redirect1.png (11.31KiB)Viewed 3904 times

redirect2.png (41.18KiB)Viewed 3904 times

redirect3.png (34.97KiB)Viewed 3904 times

[redrunner97]

^ that's the exact page I am sent to as well. (or was sent to, on I downloaded the Ad Block Plus extension for my Chromebook and have yet to be redirected since unless viewing in Incognito Mode -in which case the app is disabled and the issue continues).

[Jonathan]

Please continue to report if this happens again. I have completely disabled all third party ad networks, so the only remaining ads until this is resolved will be those that were purchased individually direct through Google.

This is a widespread Google problem and there are thousands of posts about it on the Google help forums. They claim they are aware of the problem and working on it:

Google's ads quality team is investigating a new type of spam that uses Flash to auto redirect users to a different site once loaded on a page.

We've identified the cause of the issue, and have addressed the problem on our network. We're working with impacted publishers and improving our screening to protect against this type of problem in the future.

Thanks,

The Google AdSense Team

I will not re-enable third party advertising on Carowinds Connection until there is confirmation that they have completely eradicated the problem.

[Axel]

I just signed on and it redirected me twice so far...

[CarowindsCentral]

I literally just got this trying to GET to this post, and WHILE trying to post this!

[Jonathan]

Well, the nuclear option it is then. Ads are removed until Google gets their act together.

[coasterchitchat]

No ads are good anyways.

[Jonathan]

Everybody loves somethin for nothin.

[kirkgun]

I'll just take this opportunity to thank Jonathan for his work on CC. Thank you.

I understand that the site is supported by the revenue from these ads, and they are what make it all possible. But, I thought I'd make a suggestion so people might be able to surf on other sites, and not get hassled by pop-ups trying to scam them to download malware. Try installing the Chrome browser, and installing the ad-blocker extension from the chrome store. It should get rid the problem (it does for me).

BUT once Google gets their ad service fixed... make sure to turn that adblocker off when playing here on CC. Jonathan needs that ad money to pay the bills that make this site free for all of us to enjoy.

[Tawny71]

I love seeing the site without the ads. And I'd be happy to pay a subscription fee if there was a way to have a paid non-ad and a free ad version.

But I agree, we should all be thankful for all that Jonathan (and our whole admin team) do to keep this site up and running. Can you imagine the last 4 months of your life without this site?

[FamousAmos]

Thank you Jonathan for maintaining this site. I am very thankful for this. Believe it or not, but becoming a member here has changed my future goals almost drastically, which is a very good thing.

[Jonathan]

If it makes anyone feel any better, I am getting the redirect problem on the New York Times website this morning lol.

[kirkgun]

I was surfing some news stories this morning (with my ad-blocker paused) and got one too (I forget where it was).

[mark40511]

This never happened to me at all, but I have had adblock extension on my browsers for a long time now.