It seems that there is a new Infolinks popup at the bottom of every page "new" page, except in the marketplace. Is this really new, or have I just some how been oblivious in the past. I'm pretty easy going, but this is a really annoying popup. Is this a new website "feature" we are going to have to endure for the foreseeable future, or just a temporary thing?

I hate to add more stuff to the browser, but is there a good free ad blocker that will block this new popup? It really makes Renderosity feel like one of those sites that needs to have tons of annoying adds to pay for the web site (the type of site I avoid). So it's either block it, get annoyed every time I visit, or just not come here much anymore.

I really wonder if this type of advertising really works? I know I never click on them, so the effort and band width is truly wasted on me. Am I unusual, and does this type of advertisement really generate more sales for companies advertising this way? I also wonder why a web site selling products would want to send you to another website, risking the dollars you might spend with them would be diverted and spent elsewhere? Obviously they did think of this possibility a bit though, since it doesn't show in the Renderosity Marketplace, but it does show in Free Stuff, the Galleries, and the Community sections of the website.

Anyway, if someone could point me to a good free ad blocker I would very grateful!!!!

The only thing these #%^^$ pop-ups do for me is drive me away from sites that use them... If you are using these to generate income, Renderosity, PLEASE reconsider.. This is REALLY annoying.

I did find a way to stop them (I think)… See my post on the same subject.

Infolinks appears to be a legitimate ad company, but still....

Thanks Rod! Your fix worked .... woohoo!!!

I am reaching out to let you all know that we are just running a test.

If you want some user feedback they are totally ruining my user experience on this site. 1 - there is a delay so it covers the screen after you start viewing - very annoying like other pop ups. 2 - there are way too many, every click! 3 - when the key pad is opened they cover text box. Trying to be helpful - but I hate them and I hope the test end soon.

Thank you for your feedback it has been noted.

You are welcome, I would like to add I would never follow the link in a pop up - from a security point of view.

DustRider posted at 2:19PM Fri, 21 February 2020 - #4381307

Thanks Rod! Your fix worked .... woohoo!!!

Glad I could help, my friend!

I just hope to God Rendo isn't even considering inflicting this intrusive and annoying "feature" on us. They say they're just "testing" but I'm wondering... Testing for what? If implemented this will drive more people away than they could possibly make up for with advertising income, IMHO...

Glad to hear this is just a test. They really were very visually distracting, popping up over things I was looking at. Had RodS not clicked on the link and found out how to disable them, they would still be driving me crazy, because I never click on popups!!!

I'm crazy like that..... ?? Plus I like solving mysteries.. (which is why I run a "Spy Organization").... LOL

Good you're here to solve the mysteries!!!

I thought I should probably mention this as well, since someone is monitoring our threads Things like this popup just scream "unprofessional" at me. I have a very poor view of sites that do this, and as a result it could easily make me never purchase from the site again. My thought process is "if they are willing to intrude on my privacy by sticking ads in my face that I need to close just to look at their site, do I really trust buying anything from them (or, continuing to be a "member" of the site, where they may be sharing my info with someone just to make a buck). Others may not be as critical, so it might not be a huge problem for your bottom line, but for me it is.

Thanks for the info Rod, freaked me out, these ads behave the way they do when you have a virus. Rend should really not use these or warn people

Well said, very valid points, and I fully agree. I do hope they're 'listening..'

I know over 10+ years, I've spent literally thousands of $$ on merchandise from the Rendo Marketplace. And I know many others who have as well. Is it worth driving that income away for a few quick advertising bucks? Think about it.

They say they're just "testing.." My sincere hope is they will quickly see it's not worth alienating long time members, and find another way to increase the bottom line.

anitalee posted at 2:58PM Fri, 21 February 2020 - #4381326

Thanks for the info Rod, freaked me out, these ads behave the way they do when you have a virus. Rend should really not use these or warn people

You're welcome, Anita! Yeah, when they first started popping up, I was like "OH, @$^&&$%^&!! Did I get a virus somewhere??" And I was getting it on ALL my machines, so I was freaking out a bit myself.. Thanks for the warning (not), Rendo... ?

what ever is a nuisance to me will not get any business from me

Seriously??? Just trying to look at the forums on my tablet in portrait mode and that d@#$ popup takes up half the screen,. To top it off, thanks to the "convenient" delay, Rendo got two free offsite clicks (that of course sent me to other sites) just trying to scroll the screen before the popup appeared. This is either a classic case of capitalism run amok, or Rendo having financial difficulties and abusing their users to try and improve financials. It is not a service to your clientele, and looks horribly unprofessional. I am now seriously considering my membership here, and needless to say I won't be purchasing anything until I feel more comfortable about your business practices.

CHMedia posted at 7:47PM Fri, 21 February 2020 - #4381309

I am reaching out to let you all know that we are just running a test.

Well, judging from the comments in this thread, as well as the other thread about these Infolinks popups, I'd say the testing has failed.

CHMedia posted at 8:06PM Fri, 21 February 2020 - #4381315

Thank you for your feedback it has been noted.

Thanks. Glad it has been "noted." Now get rid if it, please. Just in case you hadn't noticed, it's really annoying your members.

infolinks are always in the way. very annoying

Popups on every single page??? Seriously??? Not good.

"infolinks" cookie they put into your browser to stop them has been considered malware for ages and info links considered intrusion ware.. Rendo's greed for more $$ from ads will end up finishing them off it this keeps up

I don't see them on my browser (Epic Privacy Browser) but on my phone, I cant even see what im typing

Mar3D just lost a sale because I spent the last 2 hours in google trying to figure if I had a virus or what because I was seeing these infolinks messages. Now her sale is over so no purchase.

cal0628 posted at 1:24AM Sat, 22 February 2020 - #4381390

Mar3D just lost a sale because I spent the last 2 hours in google trying to figure if I had a virus or what because I was seeing these infolinks messages. Now her sale is over so no purchase.

I hit the issue when I went to the Deals page to get the 15% coupon code. Needless to say, I lost out on this also because that offer has expired also.

I am so frustrated with this site!!!

Digital_Dames posted at 12:14AM Sat, 22 February 2020 - #4381375

"infolinks" cookie they put into your browser to stop them has been considered malware for ages and info links considered intrusion ware.. Rendo's greed for more $$ from ads will end up finishing them off it this keeps up

Thanks for the heads up, a quick search on infolinks does bring up a lot of questionable practices, and unwanted activities. I didn't even consider that Rendo would invite such a questionable "business" into their web site, with the possibility of exposing all of their loyal customers to their nefarious activities.

To think I was actually considering upgrading to Poser 11. Given this obvious lack of judgment, and the fact that Poser 11 is phoning home, and will have links to the store built in (and who knows what else now), I'm no longer considering it. This is truly disturbing. This is the only 3D market place that I have been exposed to this type of dubious advertising, all for an extra buck. I feel perfectly safe at competing sites, in fact you won't see any off site ads or marketing at DAZ, Reallusion, Hivewire, Unity, or Unreal. Not to mention you won't get this type of treatment from any reputable software vendor like Pixlogic, Autodesk, SideFX, or even Adobe. Your user base has to trust your decisions, especially if they are installing your products on their computers. This move as severely undermined my trust here (and it was already rather low).

So sad that they have chosen to attempt to make money off of their patrons in such a dubious manner. Well, off to start running malware and spyware scans on this PC and the tablet I used. Thanks Rendo for nothing!!

And with all this..... Nothing but SILENCE from the admins... ??

I'm not involved with the test and have not been told any more than you. Please give it some time. If I had to guess, the test was set to run for a specific time length, and those running it will act accordingly when the test is complete. Please be patient.

And please keep in mind the Admin are humans that need sleep and food, like the rest of us. They are not tied to their computers 24/7. It may take some time for them to respond.

Understood, RedPhantom. Of course the Admins need to take a break. And as I stated in the other thread on this subject, I’m not trying to make trouble, and I don’t think any of the others are, either.

I just took a quick look on Google with the search term “Infolinks.” Below are the first 7 links that came up on how to remove Infolink’s intrusive, privacy invading spyware from your computer / browsers. There were many more.

And I’m addressing this to all those running this “test”… Do you really want to cause this much hassle for your members? If there are not legitimate concerns about this company’s questionable practices would there be this much information on how to remove their spyware?

http://howtoremoveit.net/infolinks-removal/

https://www.2-viruses.com/remove-infolinks-adware

https://www.2-spyware.com/remove-infolinks.html

https://junkwareremoval.com/pop-up/get-rid-of-infolinks-ads/

http://www.pccaretips.com/blog/how-to-remove-ads-by-infolinks-step-by-step-free-guide.html

https://spyware-techie.com/infolinks-removal-guide

http://it-help.info/ow-to/hijackers/2906-how-to-remove-resources-infolinks-com-completely

With all the concern over the massive security breaches at major companies and institutions by hackers, identity thieves, and other nefarious entities, we are naturally concerned about what is being done with our personal information – to include what is being planted in our own computers without our knowledge.

In addition to that, there is the frustration and annoyance of the CONSTANT bombardment of advertising we’re subjected to every day. Please, please, keep this in mind as you review the results of your “testing.”

Thank you for understanding.

Thanks for the links Rod, but it looks like it's not installed, or an extension in my browser, so why I can't get rid of it is quite perplexing.

I hate to say it, but it looks like I won't be back on this forum until this is cleared up.

RedPhantom posted at 12:00PM Sat, 22 February 2020 - #4381433

I'm not involved with the test and have not been told any more than you. Please give it some time. If I had to guess, the test was set to run for a specific time length, and those running it will act accordingly when the test is complete. Please be patient.

And please keep in mind the Admin are humans that need sleep and food, like the rest of us. They are not tied to their computers 24/7. It may take some time for them to respond.

True, I fully understand that staff need time off. I was the guy in charge of IT for many years, and it can be a thankless, high stress job. However, there is a tendency for IT staff, and companies to initiate ill will all on their own. This "test" is a prime example. Start it on Friday, with the people responsible off for the next two days. Brilliant if you want to really upset people. I had staff do similar, or try to do similar things. If I got wind of their plans, I would always stop them in their tracks, it's not the proper way to do business IMHO.

After further research, it appears the the real "Infolinks" is a "legitimate" company. They provide targeted ads (based on your browsing activity) like we are getting here. They also provide tracking info and analytics to other companies. They do collect machine/user specific information (they don't say what that information is), but "do not provide user specific information" to anyone else (do you believe that???).

They use tracking cookies to gather the information. If you have clicked on any of their adds, they have place a tracking cookie on your system. If you went to their site using the "?" on the ad, and opted out of seeing their ads, they placed a tracking cookie on your machine that will keep the ads silent, but track your browser usage. It's unclear if simply by going to a page where the adds show up if they are now tracking you or not (i.e just by coming to the forum, but not clicking on the add, though by closing the add, my guess is that they are placing a tracking cookie on your system). My guess is that since the first add that showed up when I saw the first "infolinks" add was from the last search I ran, they did either immediately place a cookie on my system, or maybe read the search history from my browser (also not cool). But for sure, if you have clicked on an ad, or opted out of the ads being shown, you are now being tracked.

Now the question is, just how much does Rendo get for running this "test" which is going to place tracking cookies on many (all??) of their patrons computers. By just running a "test", they have exposed their patrons to additional tracking, which no doubt they are getting compensated for (i.e. If you run a 7 day "test", we will pay you x amount for every cookie we place on a new un-tracked computer/tablet/phone, and you will get x payment for each of those computers for the next x number of months/years). So simply by running a test, then "listening to their users and stopping the activity", they have allowed .... no, actually they have encouraged or possibly ensured that their customers would have tracking cookies from a third party unknowingly placed on their devices. This is seriously un-cool, very unethical, and has seriously eroded my trust in a place where I have been a member for 22 years!!!

I wish to add my voice to protest this horrible test! They used to give castor oil and a medicine in the old days. I think this pop up on every blessed page other than the market place is really ill founded and entirely not thought through! I pray also to the god osity that some sense prevails and that this 'test' is quickly finished and removed never to return again!!!!!!!!!

HEY RENDEROSITY!!! THE RESULTS OF THETEST ARE IN! Score it an "F." The add at the bottom of every new page is annoying! The first thing we have to do is get rid of it because its covering up part of what we do want.

Basically, what everyone needs to do once this "test" is complete is go into your browser's settings and clear all cookies and site information to get rid of the Infolinks cookie. You'll have to sign back in to Rendo and any other sites that your browser is set to remember. You'll have to do this for all browsers you use. You should probably do this frequently anyway.

Thanks for all the info and help Rob! I'm going to log off and clean things up (get rid of infolinks cookies). I might be back in a week or so to see if Rendo has come back to their senses.

What a wonderful way to push their customers away

Makes me sad, really.... That they have such little regard for us... ?

What a drag!!!

wow this is very anoying. I hate this infolinks, you don't need this at the site. FYI this bother people!

Dammit. I deleted the cookies for this site and I am STILL getting the frigging pop-ups! I'm BEYOND annoyed now and this is making me not want to visit this site anymore. This so-called "test" is ruining the experience for me BIG time. Please stop this "test" NOW!

According to Jennblake we're going to have to endure this S##T for TWO WEEKS!!!!!!

I strongly suggest at least a TWO WEEK boycott of the RMP. I am seriously considering leaving Renderosity for good over this. (After over 10 years, and several thousand $ spent in the RMP) They have not only violated our trust, they have thrown it on the ground and ground it into the dirt with their boot heel. Renderosity has demonstrated conclusively that they don't give a damn how wee feel. We are merely a commodity to be harvested like so many sheep. And obviously they don't even have the common courtesy to grace us with a response.

This is beyond reprehensible, and it's a slap in the face to every artist, member and vendor here. Thank you sooooo much, Renderosity.

And, no... I won't be leaving the site - especially after..... shall we say, recent voting results. But I am, along with many, many others DEEPLY disappointed with this entire episode. I do hope the powers-that-be take a good, long look at the damage to our trust this "testing" has done.

Peeps, I found a very quick and simple fix--just get an ad blocker for your browser. That's what I did for Safari, and presto! The annoying Infolinks pop-up is HISTORY! Now I'm mellowed out ?

Guys, this is a shopping site. I am buying from you. If you distract me with ads from other places the best you can hope for is that I will not be annoyed so much I stop coming. Worst case is you convince me to spend money with somebody else I would have spent with you.

Is that really worth the extra cents you get per click? Why are you even considering it? Does Walmart run ads for McDonald's on their TV screens?

As far as the tracking cookies: At the end of two weeks when the test is over delete your cookies. Actually that is probably a good thing to do on a daily basis when you shut down the browser anyway. Don't know about phones, I assume you can do the same thing there. I rarely browse the internet on my phone.

I started getting the very same pop ups when I go to the gallery any gallery....very annoying. Will you be fixing this or addressing it soon? I do not get this InfoLinks pop add on any other site, so it has to be concentrated from here, and I have been scanning, no virus' on my end on any browser. It came to my pc, phone and pads. Rod, I am sorry, but your fix did not work on my phones?

Just install uBlock Origin to your browser and every annoying thing is gone. I haven't seen this pop up that people complain about but i would be annoyed as hell my self about it if I got it on every page. It's because of things like that i use blockers.

Having been out of it for the past few weeks, I had to engage with pop-up hell to catch up with all my favorite artists.

Do you have any concept that the reasons people spend money in your store, do so in order to share their own work in the very process the site has decided to obstruct, and make exceedingly UNpleasant.

Having been a retail manager, who increased sales personally, thru my own decisions and acts, in double, and even triple digits - I know, that if your company needs to increase its profits . . . Totally annoying all your customers - and potential customers is not the way to achieve your goals.

Renderosity has a lot of good things going for it, that all could be utilized with much more efficient - and profit-generating strategies.

Aggressively antagonizing your customers - is not a sane strategy for a company in need of growing its cash flow. ? Anyone who

Oh, FYI:

Yes. I did delete ALL my cookies. Another annoyance.

Yes. I have a pop-up blocker, and it is ON. Apparently I need an update, even though I have no pop-up problems with any other site I have visited. Another annoyance.

Oh, and here’s one, right to the heart: DAZ would never do anything this tacky.

You need an ad blocker not a pop up blocker dragongirl. I'm using Firefox with the Ghostery add-in. I imagine Chrome has something available like it also. Before deleting tracking cookies does any good you first have to delete the source of the cookies ;)

Thanks FW. ?

Just thought I'd drop by to see if Rendo had come to their senses yet. The popup occurrences have dropped off quite a bit, so they aren't over the top annoying, but they are still annoying. I also have issues with a "software" company that subjects it's customers to this type of marketing (and really, why would you send potential customers elsewhere to spend their money??). Anyway, I guess I'm out of here until the "2 week test" is over. Then I'll decide if I'm staying around or gone from here for a lot longer.

Odd that they would do this when a competing site is having one of their annual sales. I was hoping to see some good deals here, but since I won't be around, I guess DAZ gets my money, or I save it. This has lowered my trust here quite a bit as well. I'm definitely not thinking about upgrading Poser now (dang it, I was really beginning to warm up to the idea too), I really don't trust what sort of tracking software they might feel the need to put in it (or who knows what else they might do to it). Yes, I could install an ad blocker, and depending on what the end results are after the two week test, I might decide to do that. But, the bottom line here is trust. Why should I have to install an add blocker for a site I trust? I've been a member of for 18 years, and it's sad to see this happening. If I feel the need to block third party ads on a web site (ads delivered by a company with a rather suspect reputation), do I trust purchasing anything on that web site???? I'm kind of feeling ..... um ..... no, I don't. The only real option that I would feel comfortable with now would be to get a prepaid credit card, I definitely don't want Rendo to have access to anything else now.

Oh well, later.