Annoying advertising on Imdb ruining the experience for all of us!

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Dear Imdb: you have just crossed a line with the ever increasing amount of advertising you include in your website. Up to now it was pretty annoying to have to watch this unwanted commercial abuse left and right. But now your new advertisements are actually posted on top of the content, blocking it from our view. This is simply unacceptable. I understand the financial needs of any for-profit company and the revenues advertising brings but this can never be done at the expense of ruining the Imdb experience for your viewers and contributors and this is exactly what you have done in my case. Unless this problem is corrected soon I, for one, will be forced to stop contributing or even using IMDB.com
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Rafael Lahera

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Posted 7 years ago

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7 years ago
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Emperor, Champion

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When people have reported this kind of thing, it often turns out to be the cause of a malware infection on your computer - IMDB can be specifically targeted by such beasties (sometimes with ads and sometimes with more subtle links add into the text), because it is one of the most visited sites on the web. So I'd recommend the first thing you do is run a check. A virus scan should help but I keep Malwarebytes in reserve for this kind of thing (I also have it installed on a USB stick, just in case) as it is free to use:

http://www.malwarebytes.org

If you are clean and you still find the ads annoying, you can add browser plugins to hide them. I personally use an ab-blocker and a Flash blocker (a few years ago there was a trend for terrible pop-up flash ads - not sure if they still go on) but, as I say, this sounds like more than the usual IMDB ads. A screenshot of the problematic examples would really be handy too, as if they are official it sounds like something has gone wrong and needs fixing.
2013-09-24T22:07:18+00:00
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Rafael Lahera

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Thank you Emperor. I will try the malware link you sent me and let you know if this fixes the problem.
2013-12-25T16:31:41+00:00
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MollyBlue

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Emperor Champion I am sick of this answer. Are you telling me that the giant banner add that runs across the top of each page is a malware problem and NOT your site greed? I run spyware and adware security programs routinely and ads that appear on your site never seem to be effected by any malware my programs find and destroy. I'd appreciate an answer or solution to this problem.
2013-12-26T01:27:16+00:00
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Emperor, Champion

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No, that isn't what I'm saying, but if an ad is plastered across the content (which is the problem I was replying to) then it is either going to be a bug or malware as it isn't in IMDB's interest to actual obscure its own content.

The usual ads on the site (like the banner and sidebar ads) won't be effected by such anti-spyware or malware software, as they are legitimate ads. You'd need an adblocking plugin for your browser - I use one and haven't seen an ad on the site in years.
2015-05-24T19:40:48+00:00
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Gerald Jones, Ph.D.

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This sounds suspiciously like IMDb trying to deflect blame. The "overlay" ads I've seen for the last year or so are IMDb-posted, for sure, as when they are finished obscuring the page, they minimize into a sidebar ad that is clearly promoting the same film or show that the "overlay" ad was promoting. It is embarrassing that IMDb thinks we can't see this, and blames malware. How the mighty have fallen.
7 years ago
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Giancarlo Cairella, Official Rep

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Can you let us know exactly what ad/page/content you are referring to?

I am not aware of any ads which would behave in the way you describe, so this could either be a technical issue with the display of an existing ad (due to a browser issue or a problem at our end), or something that is triggered by an external cause (e.g. malware).

But without specifics, I can't really guess.

If this occurs again, posting a screen-grab would really help.

Thanks in advance.
2014-08-01T02:06:23+00:00
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MollyBlue

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My apologies for not replying sooner, I've been ill and unable to frequent imdb at my usual habit. I'll have to report back to you on this a bit later.  Thank you. 
7 years ago
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Rafael Lahera

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Ok Giancarlo, thanks for your reply. I will try to send a screen-grab as soon as I can.
5 years ago
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Gerald Jones, Ph.D.

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This type of "overlay" advertisting happened today (2015-05-23) with a History Channel ad for the program "Texas Rising". IMDb advertising bosses should stop denying this happens, or claiming they can't imagine it without seeing a screen grab, and just "fess up" (an American Western expression) or stop the practice. Sorry to be so caustic, but when intrusive advertising ruins what is otherwise a satisfying and useful experience, I get "riled" (another AmerWest expression).

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