Adware on login page?

[nebulouslion]

(I apologize in advance if this is on the wrong board, I sort of assumed this was a Site Help issue; a mod can move it if they see fit.)

Hello! I registered for this game yesterday, and got into it a bit on the same day. So far, it seems to be a relaxing but fun game and I don't really have any complaints. ...Well, except for this one.

This morning, when I woke up and wanted to play the game for a bit again, I noticed that my attempts to log in thru the Login page (aka the Play Game button) weren't going through at all. Multiple times I tried submitting my login information - each and every attempt with me KNOWING the information was 100% correct - but none of it worked.

This kind of thing usually isn't too big of a deal for me, considering I always use a proxy, adblock, etc. as protective measures when browsing. However, as I went thru and turned all of them off systematically to narrow down a cause and see how I could log in, I found that I got popups occasionally in the place of the login page, as if it was redirecting me away from the logged-in page and instead to a random ad.

Curiously (as I was beginning to get a little concerned), I checked what my NoScript addon had to say about the login page, and lo and behold, I noticed there was not just one, but TWO different adware sites 'attached' to the login page. I checked this on both Firefox (my main browser) and Google Chrome (my backup), and they both have at least one of these malicious URLs connected to them.

"Well, okay, maybe it's just me," I thought as I frantically told my multiple antiviruses to scan my computer. Perhaps I'd downloaded adware by mistake from one of the presets or item packs...?

However, all 3 programs I used came up completely clean. Even a selective scan of the FeralHeart directory and my entire Downloads folder (where any mods/item packs/etc. could've been stored) gave nothing. So, I have to assume this is an issue with the site itself as opposed to my PC.

I don't mean to accuse the site managers of acting maliciously in any way - really, I'd be thrilled if this was some kind of misunderstanding - but I do find the apparent embedding of these two confirmed adware destinations into the login page very worrying, and I hope it's something that can be fixed. It's not only causing me distress by the threat of a stray popup accidentally DLing some kind of malware when I log in, but it's also preventing me from logging into the game entirely. Please help!

(Before it's asked: the specific adware sites I'm talking about are onclasrv.com and tqeobp89axcn.com ; I can give other details and screenshot evidence as well, if needed.)

EDIT: Managed to log in somehow just a couple minutes after posting this (oops), so that part is solved for now; I'll still keep this up for the adware part, though.

[WolfQueen]

I personally (and I'm sure most of us) have been well aware that the login page doesn't work sometimes and the ads that pop up on this site are inappropriate and/or malicious, but it's been over a year now and nothing has been done to fix it. I would suggest reporting this to Razmirz but there's no promise that anything's going to be fixed anytime soon.
The only thing you can do now is close the ad as soon as you get it, or use Firefox because most of (if not all) the ads get a "secure connection" error, at least for me.

[ShadowMT13]

When I log in the first or second click usually sends me to another tab and it has some kind of advertisement, I simply exit it and go back to what I was doing. Please note that for me at least I have to click login twice, once after entering my username and password and again when it clears the info, but I do not retype the info I simply click log in again. Hope this helped.

[Siarczek]

A lot of times when I login, I get redirected to another page but I can never see what it is because it automatically closes. Only started to have this problem recently. Really wish something would be done to control what kinds of ads come up (or to just disable them from the login page altogether since you can't really avoid clicking them).

[Lucius]

I risk sounding cynical, but if you think anyone would actually make their advertisements optional for viewing, then I'll have to tell you that it's a utopian ideal.

Those advertisements have to be clicked on in order for them to generate any revenue and most of us don't click on these ads. Not to mention that an advertisement for something that's more popular will no doubt pay more per click than an ad for something less known; as an example, an ad for diamond engagement rings will pay more for a click than an ad for shoelaces, because people are more likely to be looking for diamond rings than shoelaces.

This is probably why you see advertisements that are unrelated to FeralHeart or children's animal games in general; they don't generate as much revenue as those out of place dating ads and 18+ games.

Now then, since most of us don't click the banner advertisements, I presume that there hasn't been much revenue generated from them. So, I assume that this prompted the idea of forcing people to click an ad at least once per member visit by making that "log in" link redirect them to an advertisement and generating a click.

By forcing a click from the log-in page, it seems to occasionally bypass adblockers and therefore generates revenue from a larger audience. It's a desperate solution at best and an outright dishonest one at worst.

Either way, that's just my take on it. You can see Razmir's response and explanation here: Razmir's post.

As you can see, it's intentional.

If you want, you can try getting add-ons for your browser that disable pop-ups and javascript. In fact, you could try blocking almost everything just on the log-in page if you're paranoid.

Hope this answers your question.