With thousands of members, thousands of hits, thousands of banners and thousands of individual URLs rotating on a traffic exchange it only makes sense that at some point you'll come across a site or banner that shouldn't be there. This post will teach you how to properly report a website or a banner, and why it needs to be done that way.
How Not to Report A Site
I decided to put this up first because it's the #1 way people report sites via email. That Q number has nothing to do with the website you are viewing. It has everything to do with the next button. Note there are 6 icons in that button, well each icon has a different random number given to it each load. The number is passed back telling me which one you clicked. That's it. The numbers expire immediately when you click it.
How to Report A Site
Use that report button! This is the best way possible because it shows the last five pages you've viewed, their URL, and their URL ID. The URL ID is important because it's how I find the site in the database. The URL is important because it could be changed after you report it. I actually need both. Using the report feature not only gives me that but it sends the website scanner out to check the site automatically. This can usually catch the problem sites immediately. On top of that you have a selection of reasons to make it easier for Richard and I to figure out why you are reporting it. And finally, after reporting it the report page will ask if you want to add it to your block list immediately.
How to Report A Site After 5 Views
If it's been more than 5 page views, or for some reason it's not showing on the report page, goto the surfing history. Not only can you find the URL id and URL, but you can click the X to block the site for you. This is great if there is a site you find waay annoying but isn't actually breaking the TOS.
How to Report A Banner
Similar to the URL ID, there is a Banner ID. This one is trickier, you actually have to find it in the link of the banner. So right click that banner and hit Properties. You should see a click number. That's it right there highlighted:
Why Can't I Send The URL Only?
Well the simple reason is because it makes it easy. Sounds lazy I know, but the longer explanation is that many people are using trackers, rotators, and other redirects. This means the URL you send us is usually not the URL as it is in the database. So while it is possible to find it, it could take hours or even days to do it. By then they could have changed it altogether and well we'd be nowhere.
Let's face it, there are people who don't know their site is causing problems. But there are also people who are purposely adding in problem websites in rotation. Thankfully it's not happening so much at StartXchange right now, but I've had times where I pretty much had to drop everything to continously update the website scanner to detect the ways they are getting around it. So when you've got these guys who are good at being sneaky, we really need the ID's to find them. Thanks!
{ 7 comments }
Thanx for the tips. There are problems with some that take you away from the page, you can’t see who the website is and when you report it you don’t know which one it is. So how do you report that one?
Barbara
This method of reporting is fine for your Traffic Exchange, but what about for others that have scripts which are only capable of reporting the current website? I had an experience surfing the other day (unfortunately, I don’t remember which exchange it was on, as I was surfing several that day) where a site broke frame, and hitting the back button did not get me back into the exchange. I had to completely reload the site. At that point, all I had to go on was the URL of the site, as once I got back to the surf bar, the only page it would let me report was the current one. I hit the report button, explained the situation, and gave the URL of the offending site. Was there anything else I could have done differently?
Incidentally, I was taken to this outside site even though I hit “cancel” on the pop-up asking if I really wanted to leave the surf page.
Any comments would be helpful. Thank you.
Jeanne Theunissen
Thankx again Tim, I just couldn’t figure that one out. It was so frustrating that i couldn’t report the site, now I know.
barbara
Thank You once again Tim for the great tips. You are great! Sometimes I start to wonder if reporting sites are even noticed by other webmasters, as the site still shows up. I love SX for the clean surf, and the fast response to the websites I have reported, not all have been bad, just mainly annoying……..
As the owner of yourprohits I have to say that all the admins of traffic exchanges that I am in contact with take reported sites very seriously. There are 2 main reasons that you might continue seing a site after it is reported,
1. The site was checked and found to conform to the TOS
2. The site was deleted, but a second or third instance of it was still in rotation.
what sometime happens is that someone will add the exact same site more than once sometimes with popups and sometimes not, and of course with popular sites more than one person could have added the site.
I second what graham says.
If i get a reported site, i usually check the reported site and
the ones that were viewed before and after it, and sometimes
you have to refresh them a few times, because they are
using a rotator to find the bad site.
thank you Graham and Michael, that helps me, now I understand.
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