Sunday, January 25, 2015

Blog Connection Problem Via Mobile Devices?

I noticed something with Book Chase this morning - something that put a bit of a scare into me when I tried to connect to the site from a Barnes & Noble store.  I tried connecting twice, once on an iPad and once on a Kindle, and the same thing happened both times. Within seconds of accessing Book Chase, I was suddenly redirected toward some third party site.  

In neither case, did an actual re-connection happen, but from the looks of the internet addresses shown on the browsers, they were pointing me toward a Chinese site of some sort - and that can't possibly be a good thing.  This has only happened when trying to connect from mobile devices...no problems when I connect from my iMac here at home.  

My question: have any of you had that experience when trying to connect to Book Chase from a mobile device?  Have you run into a similar problem elsewhere, by chance?  If so, please let me know because I'm trying to figure out if the problem is in my blogger software or in the operating systems of the devices I was using this morning.  Thanks.

7 comments:

  1. I haven't, no, but I've noticed this with your blog as well. In my case, the first time I try to access, and Google Play page for some app shows up (sorry, can't remember which one, and I'm accessing from my desktop computer at the moment). I had assumed there was something running on your blog that needed that app, but I've never opted to install.

    I did a quick search, and the only thing I could find that was maybe connected was this, but it was from a year ago: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/06/shady-app-install-ads-are-automatically-redirecting-mobile-users-to-app-store-google-play/

    So, if that's possible, maybe try temporarily removing Google AdSense and seeing what happens?

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    1. Thanks for the information. I'll remove Google AdSense and see what happens. Honestly, I don't know why I bother with AdSense in the first place. At one time, I was hoping to earn enough from it to buy giveaway books and pay postage from it, etc. but it really hasn't come close to earning enough money for that...something like 78 cents in the last 28 days.

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  2. I think and HOPE I have solved the problem. A few days ago, I added a widget to my sidebar that was from some outfit called "100 Widgets." Well, it seems that this bunch is notorious for hiding "redirection coding" inside its widgets to do exactly the kind of thing that I am describing here. But Google apparently has a command built into my blog software that keeps the actual redirect from happening...but leaves you kicked out of Blog Chase in the process. Anyway, I removed that widget and, at least for now, the problem seems to have gone away.

    The lesson here is to stay away from Third Party Widgets because they might just be full of little surprises.

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    1. Very scary, Library Girl, because I had no idea this was going on until I completely just stumbled upon the problem this morning. I never use a mobile device to access my own website, so this could have gone on forever without me knowing about it.

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  3. Well I am so happy you have that sorted out. I could not figure out a way to contact you to tell you about the problem I was having being redirected from your blog. Also wanted to say how good it was to see you back blogging. Always enjoy what you bring to our attention.

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  4. Thanks, Elizabeth, for the kind words.

    Your comment makes me wonder how many people have been having the same problem (I assume it's anyone trying to use an iPad, tablet, or phone, to get to the site) and for how long. I noticed my traffic dropped by about 30% overnight a few days ago, and that it was not really coming back as I hoped it would. I'm really hoping that was the problem , and now that people haven't just given up on connecting again.

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I always love hearing from you guys...that's what keeps me book-blogging. Thanks for stopping by.