Flight Rising Discussion

A new year, a new thread, and a new way for our players to report bad ads! [b]Table of Contents[/b] [list=1][*][b]Ads, [i]Flight Rising[/i], & You[/b] [*][b]How to report a bad ad[/b] [*][b]FAQ & Clarifications[/b][/list] ----- [b][u][size=4]Ads, [i]Flight Rising[/i], & You[/size][/u][/b] [i]Flight Rising[/i] uses a series of ad networks to serve advertising to the website and help support the site. Our [b][url=https://hiveworkscomics.com/about]ad partner and ad manager[/url][/b], [b]@Hiveworks[/b], manages these networks and keeps things running smoothly. From there, the ad network parent company, [b]Venatus[/b], handles the deeper tech issues and infrastructure development such as in-ad reporting. However, sometimes a bad ad or series of ads will slip into a network that we use. When that happens, reports from our players can help us track down the source of the ad so that we can report it to appropriate network and have it removed. [b]Ads that do or serve the following are not ads that we want on our website:[/b] [LIST] [*]Contain inappropriate content; this list includes but is not limited to: [LIST][*] Politics [*] Religion [*] Hate groups [*] Sex toys [*] Adult media (erotica, erotic games, etc) [*] Guns [*] Gambling[/LIST] [*]Autoplay video or sound. [*]Occur anywhere but the ad units to the left and bottom of the site. [*]Expand out of the Skyscraper area to the left or bottom banner without a player choosing to hover over the ad to trigger this action. [*]Redirect our players to another site without them clicking on the advertisement. [*]Completely freezes or locks up the [i]Flight Rising[/i] website [/LIST] In other words, we don’t want ads on our website that are disruptive to our community’s experience or are inappropriate to serve to our 13 to 17 year old players. ----- [b][u][size=4]How to report a bad ad[/size][/u][/b] The wonderful tech team over at Hiveworks have recently implemented a way that will allow you, our community, to report bad ads directly to the folks who fix them! Be sure to visit the [b][url=https://hiveworkscomics.com/report-ad]Hiveworks Report Ads page[/url][/b] to learn more about their process! To summarize it for you here, what Hiveworks (and Venatus!) need is what’s called a HAR file in order to squelch bad ads like the Adobe ads that have periodically locked up the site for players. [b]From their Report Ads page:[/b] [quote][b]If you encounter a bad ad on a Hiveworks site, please send as much of the following info to tech@thehiveworks.com as you can:[/b] [LIST] [*]URL the ad leads to - right click or long press and copy link address – you don’t need to click directly on ad. [*]HAR file - HAR files are logs of browser network activity (where data is coming from, basically) and can help us determine which ad source is causing the problem. Instructions on how to obtain this file are below. This is especially helpful if an ad is causing some technical issue. [*]Screenshot of ad [/LIST] [b]How to generate a HAR file in Google Chrome[/b] [LIST=1] [*]Load a page where the problematic page appears [*]Hit F12 on your keyboard OR select the Chrome menu at the top-right of your browser window, then select Tools > Developer Tools. [*]The Developer Tools will open as a docked panel at the side or bottom of Chrome. Click on the Network tab. [*]Select the option Preserve log. The recording should autostart and you will see a red circle at the top left of the Network tab. If not, click the black circle, to start recording activity in your browser. [*]Refresh the webpage you're on. The goal is to reproduce the problem you've been experiencing while Chrome is recording activity. [*]Once you've encountered the problem successfully while recording, right-click within the Network tab and click Save as HAR with Content to save a copy of the activity that you recorded. [*]Save the HAR file somewhere convenient. [*]Attach the HAR file to your email to us! Thank you! [/LIST] [b]How to generate a HAR file in Mozilla Firefox[/b] [LIST=1] [*]Load a page where the problematic page appears [*]Hit F12 on your keyboard OR select the Firefox menu at the top-right of your browser window, then select More tools > Developer Web Tools. [*]The Developer Tools will open as a docked panel at the side or bottom of Firefox. Click on the Network tab. The recording will autostart once you start performing actions in the browser. [*]Refresh the web page you are on. The goal is to reproduce the problem you've been experiencing while Firefox is recording activity. [*]Once you have reproduced the issue and you see that all of the actions have been generated in the Developer Network Panel, right click anywhere under the "File" column and click on "Save All As HAR". [*]Save the HAR file somewhere convenient. [*]Attach the HAR file to your email to us! Thank you! [/LIST][/quote] ----- [b][u][size=4]FAQ & Clarifications[/size][/u][/b] [I](Up to date as of February 01, 2024)[/I] [b]What are you doing to improve the accessibility of the ad reporting process?[/b] [i]Flight Rising[/i] and Hiveworks have no control over the ad framework and ad UI. Our understanding is that the ad network parent company, Venatus, is working on an in-ad reporting feature that will improve the accessibility of reporting ads. We’ve communicated our interest in a beta version of this framework should it become available. Should that happen, we will provide you with more information about the framework and what you can expect. [b]I keep getting a consent pop-up that won’t go away when I clear it.[/b] That’s the [b]GDPR data collection consent pop-up[/b] served to players from the EU and UK regions. Our understanding is that if the pop-up is completed, either through accepting all cookies or customizing your cookies through “Manage Options” that will prevent the pop-up from returning for two weeks. Customizing in “Manage Options” is supposed to also include rejecting all cookies. Once the pop-up is completed, it saves (or should save) a single cookie to your browser that tells the ad network that they have notified you of your rights under GDPR and creates the record indicating that they are compliant under the data protection regulation. You shouldn’t see the consent pop-up after that for two weeks unless: [list][*]You clear your browser cookies and cache [*]You’re using an incognito or private mode browser [*]You access the site on a different device or browser [*] Your IP changes[/list] [b]Why is it taking so long to fix a disruptive ad?[/b] First, as with all things engineering, we need reproducible reports. If your report can’t be reproduced by the engineers, it’s going to be difficult to diagnose the problem and fix it. Once we have reproducible reports via the HAR files, links, and screenshots, Hiveworks will investigate and if they need to send it up to the network parent company, they will. [b]In the case of the Adobe ads[/b], this is a peculiar and complicated issue that is taking time to fix. We’ve requested that Adobe ads be turned off on our website until it’s fixed. Venatus does have filters in place that are supposed to prevent ads of certain categories from showing up on Hiveworks sites; however, sometimes ads are miscategorized or misrepresented, and it takes longer to track them down and block them. [b]Do we have partnerships with any advertiser shown on our site?[/b] No. [b]Do we choose specific groups or invite specific groups to advertise on our site?[/b] No. [b]Why are you showing me inappropriate ads?[/b] You shouldn’t be seeing inappropriate ads on our site because [b]we’ve opted the [i]Flight Rising[/i] website out of certain advertising categories[/b] that include but are not limited to: [list][*]Politics [*]Religion [*]Hate groups [*]Sex toys [*]Adult media (erotica, erotic games, etc) [*]Guns [*]Gambling[/list] We’ve also requested that certain online storefronts be blocked as we do not want scams or security risks being served to our community either. If you are seeing an ad that would fall into one of these categories, one of two things has happened: Either a setting was flipped by a network update or the advertiser mislabeled, miscategorized, or misrepresented their ad. [b]We want these ads off our website as soon as possible[/b] and your reports will help Hiveworks track them down and block them. [b]Why am I being served personalized ads?[/b] Google ads are on the network and they will be served from time to time. ----- Thank you for your time, your patience, and your diligence in reporting the bad ads to us and to Hiveworks! It’s our ([i]Flight Rising[/i] and Hiveworks) hope that the new [b][url=https://hiveworkscomics.com/report-ad]Hiveworks Report Ads page[/url][/b] and instructions will empower you, help us resolve the bad ads with greater efficiency, and overall improve your [i]Flight Rising[/i] experience!

Hello @Shirarisun! Please be sure to email your report to tech@thehiveworks.com! We're trying to streamline the reporting process until we have access to in-ad reporting. Thank you!

[quote name="Shirarisun" date="2024-02-02 06:20:06" ] [quote name="Aequorin" date="2024-02-02 06:08:47" ] Hello @/Shirarisun! Please be sure to email your report to tech@thehiveworks.com! We're trying to streamline the reporting process until we have access to in-ad reporting. Thank you! [/quote] i wanted to but i wasn't sure if i needed a HAR file so i put it here ;w; i'm sorry! edit (hope this goes though!): @/Aequorin i just tried emailing hiveworks and gmail automatically rejected it from going through because it contained the ad link, which gmail flagged as suspicious. what should i do? [/quote] @Shirarisun, you can highlight the link with your mouse and then clear the actual hyperlink part so all you're sending is plain text. Don't click the link! Just highlight it and clear the formatting. [quote name="AtomicCosmos" date="2024-02-02 08:46:35" ] I wish there was an easier way to report ads. I'm not doing all that just to report an adult toy ad I see. I barely know how to use my new laptop and I mostly am a mobile user. [/quote] @AtomicCosmos, thank you for your feedback. As we noted in the FAQ above, the network parent company is apparently working on in-ad reporting infrastructure and we've communicated our interest in participating in any beta testing should that become available. In the meantime, this process is what is available to us for tracking down and removing bad ads that are slipping into the network served on our website.

[quote name="Phanerozoic" date="2024-02-02 11:00:56" ] Is there any way to get a HAR file on mobile? I’d like to report an ad that keeps force-zooming me and leaves me unable to zoom out, but I don’t play on computer. [/quote] @Phanerozoic, I've sent your question over to Hiveworks. We may not have an answer for you until next week, just FYI. [emoji=new friend size=1]

@Phanerozoic, at this time HAR files on mobile aren't really possible. According to the tech team at Hiveworks, mobile users can take screen recordings and those can help with tracking down a bad ad:

• Instructions for screen recording on Android.
• Instructions for screen recording on iOS.