survey popup

March 17, 2008 6:44 AM

what's with this survey thing that pops out at the unsuspecting mefite? (It adds "for research purposes only", but would you trust the claims of a browser pop-up?)
posted by progosk to MetaFilter-Related at 6:44 AM (35 comments total)

From the MeFi front page, a few minutes ago. I'm on Firefox, without Adblock, but pop-ups turned off...
posted by progosk at 6:58 AM on March 17, 2008

(not able to replicate this now...)
posted by progosk at 7:03 AM on March 17, 2008

You' got cooties.
posted by cashman at 7:04 AM on March 17, 2008

amch.questionmarket.com is known adware.
posted by iconomy at 7:15 AM on March 17, 2008

Yeah, it's not originating here, unless the fmpub ad company servers are hacked to spit it out, which I doubt.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:17 AM on March 17, 2008

Ok, nevermind, I guess. I tried to replicate with the three other tabs I had open previously, but nuthin' doin'. Might I have associated it with metafilter because of the similar colour-scheme?
It actually disppeared of its own accord, unclicked, after about 15 seconds. (Oh, and: I'm on a Mac, so it cain't be cooties - not yet, at least...)
posted by progosk at 7:26 AM on March 17, 2008

It's being served to you from inside your house!!!
posted by Meatbomb at 7:28 AM on March 17, 2008 [11 favorites]

would you trust the claims of a browser pop-up?

Hell yes! Otherwise, I never would have learned that my computer may be suffering from instability or low PC speeds, and I would not have been given an opportunity for a free system sca111000000000000SKYNETACTIVATED
posted by brain_drain at 7:29 AM on March 17, 2008

Such things can also be served upon navigating away from a previous site.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 7:40 AM on March 17, 2008

Or served upon a bed of lettuce.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:52 AM on March 17, 2008 [2 favorites]

Or served by executing some sort of complex dance routine.
posted by tkolar at 8:31 AM on March 17, 2008

Questionamarket is a pretty common survey tool used by major online advertisers to track the effectiveness of their campaigns. The pop-up is often coded directly into the flash ads being served, so it may be coming through for non-logged in users without mathowie knowing about it.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:34 AM on March 17, 2008

You got served
posted by pupdog at 8:34 AM on March 17, 2008

From highlights of Meg Whitman's career:

September 17, 2002—Started a brief trial of eBay Black for the sale of drugs, weapons, and human organs

The survey deals with how Matt can learn from Meg's mistakes.
posted by lukemeister at 9:06 AM on March 17, 2008

jacquilynne writes: "The pop-up is often coded directly into the flash ads being served, so it may be coming through for non-logged in users without mathowie knowing about it."

Tried to replicate that, too - no dice. Sorry for the false alarm that this is proving to have been.
posted by progosk at 9:31 AM on March 17, 2008

You gotta serve somebody.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 9:33 AM on March 17, 2008

Serve man?
posted by disclaimer at 10:18 AM on March 17, 2008

With hollandaise sauce.
posted by baphomet at 10:22 AM on March 17, 2008

we mopped up that pop up.
posted by ORthey at 10:23 AM on March 17, 2008

It's a cookbook!!!
posted by wendell at 10:23 AM on March 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Wait, actually it's more of a cooking memoir.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:02 AM on March 17, 2008

It's being served to you from inside your house!!!

127.00.00.01 - The movie!
posted by Artw at 11:28 AM on March 17, 2008

How to Serve Humans--for Dinner!

I got here too late, didn't I?
posted by slogger at 1:13 PM on March 17, 2008

"It's a cookbook!"
posted by Artw at 1:20 PM on March 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

aw crap.
posted by Artw at 1:20 PM on March 17, 2008

Mercy favorite for Artw.
posted by Locative at 2:37 PM on March 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Now I'm wondering what the longest string of favorited comments (unbroken) in a single thread is.
posted by davejay at 3:24 PM on March 17, 2008

It is at moments like this that I relish sharing the fact that my recent ancestors are survivors of the ill-fated Donner party. It's really delicious dinner conversation to be able to tell people that somewhere in my recent, ungarnished genetic history my people ate... some other people... delicious... tasty...

Hey, you really don't need that arm, do you? *licks chops, gestures casually with fork*


127.00.00.01

IF YOU EVER WRITE AN IPV4 ADDRESS LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN I'M GOING TO ROOT YOUR BRAIN AND TYPE SUDO RM -RF / AT THE USERPROMPT OF THE MALFORMED, TINY BASH SHELL THAT IS YOUR VERY SOUL.
posted by loquacious at 4:59 PM on March 17, 2008

...my recent ancestors are survivors of the ill-fated Donner party.

This explains so much...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:05 PM on March 17, 2008

0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1?
posted by Artw at 5:09 PM on March 17, 2008

You mean they ate each other up?
posted by Artw at 5:10 PM on March 17, 2008

I would run HiJackThis at your earliest opportunity.
posted by IronLizard at 6:31 PM on March 17, 2008

Dear Artw,
::1/128
posted by nsillik at 12:50 PM on March 18, 2008

Just to say: finally found the pop-up culprit! It's the New Yorker (not always, but repeatedly over the past few days).
posted by progosk at 5:54 PM on March 20, 2008

So it was malware after all.
posted by IronLizard at 6:51 PM on March 20, 2008