[Acorn]

Anyone getting bombarded with phishing emails all of a sudden, starting around the time ads started to appear on HS?

[xyzcf]

I am getting ads in my junk that are flagged and marked urgent...that started in the last week or so

[lawprofessor]

Op don't be naughty!

Today my Google searches include:

3 recipes
2 WSJ articles
The best loved poetry of Jackie O book.
Scrap metal prices
Oil per barrel prices
Moscow news and weather

Each day my phone clears my cookies.
I'm not signed in to google.

According to my tech guy what I understand is this is a cheap and simple ad service that's not correctly calibrated and tested before implementation, the same as the false generator of views that screwed up access to the site just a few weeks ago.  With no clues from Google, no history, they use whatever they need views on because they promise companies  at least a certain minimum of views. 

But yes, it's so ridiculous it would be funny if this were not supposed to be a serious site dealing with serious matters. 

And now the the phishing attempts and spam emails? 

Is there an explanation for that?
 

[Acorn]

I am getting ads in my junk that are flagged and marked urgent...that started in the last week or so

Me, too.
Phishing and spam emails.
Apparently I won $500 at McDonald’s (I have not been there for a decade or longer.)
About Keto diet, Vegas, HDTV, and young exotic ladies.
A lot of them are from the same sender, ‘admin@jaylee.b.kadiof.net.  (Please do not click on it.)

If xyz and I are the only ones dealing with the sudden appearance of phishing and spam emails, OK, a private matter.
If others are having the same trouble, then the admin could look into it?

Anyone had similar experiences?

[Thunder]

No I'm sorry xyzcf and Acorn, I am getting none of this in my email account.

It's strange how it is only effecting certain people.
My ads have just been normal, run of the mill ads I see every day.

[OffRoad]

No Phishing or Spam for me. I keep a completely separate email just for HS and it's completely empty ATM

[AlvinTheMaker]

It's strange how it is only effecting certain people.
My ads have just been normal, run of the mill ads I see every day.

This is natural for Ezoic. They are serving ads from multiple networks. Some networks (such as Google Ads) are family friendly, others (such as Commission Junction) are not so much (doing gambling, casinos etc not Google approved stuff)... In some countries and areas there is somewhat somewhat infinite bowl of ads from Google Ads, on some areas (for example Russia, where Google is not dominant like most of Europe),  they have to fill the void with other networks.  In some areas (say UK) Google Ads is what usually provides highest revenue, with others (say India) it is something else.... All in all what network is used is something RCR or any of us do not have much control (as ezoic always seeks one providing highest revenue, and it can change any time because the underlying systems are similar to auctions - highest bidder wins). Of course RCR could simply ditch ezoic and switch to Google Adsense (which shows nothing but Google approved ads).

Using incognito mode, not being signed ti google, and clearing up cookies makes advertising "less targeted". So it is like adding gasoline to flames. If you are not using a public device, all three are pretty much something I would avoid.

Sadly it takes time for these systems to truly learn about new website, new users. Not hours, not days, not weeks, but say anything north of 6-12 months.

So all in all the situation here is bit like with our marriages, with somewhat similar cure (we can only control our side of the street). 

Sorry for giving a lecture.

Alvin

[Milly]

Today I got 'Soulmate dating site.' That's touchy for me. OW/Alienator said on facebook that she'd found her soulmate when she met my H. Maybe this would be an ad more suited on a MLCer and OW site.

[Rollercoasterider]

Rollercoasterider... I hope things go well with Ezoic. I do have some professional experience with them.  ...my professional advice (and that is coming from place of 20+ years with digital advertizing) is to proceed carefully.

Thanks. It's been rough so far--not counting the issues you are all experiencing with it. I am still looking into the ad manager mod Iused before as well. There was a plugin interaction and things stopped working and the income from ads went down significantly--actually that is an understatement. It was never a lot, but it paid ofr the running of the sites and other expenses and, back then my student loan which (YAY) are finally paid off.
Right now I am on fire to do some things with the sites and am needing some income to finance what I want to do.
I finally published some new blog posts after two years! I have not sent one out in a few weeks because all of this behind the scenes stuff has caused a few problems, one of which is with email sending. The next post has been ready and I'm still troubleshooting--since January 3rd!

...if the ads Ezoic is serving are coming from Google Ads Network (as they oftentimes are), one-time visit at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated will allow Google to know what kind of ads you are interested of.  It will make the ads "less annoying" and more targeted to each's personal interests.

Thanks for this link. I have added a note to the first post--at the top of the first post--to highlight this link.

[AlvinTheMaker]

I am still looking into the ad manager mod Iused before as well. There was a plugin interaction and things stopped working...

If approaching this from technical perspective....  If you know you want nothing but very simple "ad system", how about simply ditching modules/plugins approach (as it always involves the risk of breaking down things during upgrades/updates),  and simply injecting Google AdSense (or Google Tag Manager) code into theme-file(s).  It is somewhat risk-free and easy/quick operation (basically copy-paste).

If you decide to go with Google Adsense, then do acknowledge that under AdSense's management  there is an option to disable "Standard sensitive ad categories" - which pretty much filters out everything people consider "junky" (astrology,  body modifications, consumer loans, dating, downloads, gaming,  get rich schemes, weight loss etc).  By default ads from these categories are allowed.

...and the income from ads went down significantly--actually that is an understatement. It was never a lot, but it paid ofr the running of the sites and other expenses and, back then my student loan which (YAY) are finally paid off.
Right now I am on fire to do some things with the sites and am needing some income to finance what I want to do.

I know your pain (been there, done that etc)...  Have you considered other means of website monetization?  Basically the key to longterm success is all about adding number of tiny sources of revenue that work. 

Besides Google Adsense you might want to experiment with some  affeliate programs.  For example legal advice seems to be one area that audince here uses a lot -  you might want to check yout  affeliate program such  as RocketLawyer or LegalZoom (paying 15-30% commission of each sales).   And many of us here do buy (marriage, psychology etc) books from Amazon (their Amazon Associates Program pays 1-10% of each purchase)...    Whether you provide something like a "list of recommended books"(changing monthly)"  or  "use this link when buying anything from Amazon"  or "seek legal advice from here"   are all ok options (and considering you have got global audience, with heavy focus on US, Canada and UK - you could and should localize the offering).

... one of which is with email sending.

Let me guess... you had to switch server / IP-address in beginning of year? So basically your reputation/sender score etc. went to kingdom come and some/lot of the mail sent out bounces back?  It's a touch sitch with no quick & easy way out - which is why many people opt-in with external services like Mailchimp (full mailing system) or SendGrid (basically just a mailserver you connect with your server).  Of course both of the above options would be yet another cost   



Just like everything else, these things need to worked through one at a time, using somewhat systematic/mindful approach.  Possibly the first thing could/should be finding out how many users are having negative experience with ads?   And why?   Is it because of   sensitive ad contents,  bad ad location or ads slowing load times.  Possibly having a poll or two on topic would be a good idea....    On the positive side, the ads are now running and hopefully bringing you some much required funds to keep the systems up and running.  So situation is more positive than negative IMHO. 

Alvin.