[DocHamm]

I have not seen a post or thread on this, so I thought I would open one asking if anyone else has experienced it.

When clicking on some photo links, eBay links or other links posted on Head-Fi you are not being taken to that web site and/or page but instead to "redirectingat.com" which is owned by Skimlinks.

Skimlinks is marketing company that runs redirectingat.com, which is used on "thru-clicks" on a web site to generate marketing information for affiliate marketing.

It is a way to keep advertising on a web site down by using more specific advertising. For example, when clicking on a vendor link, it takes you to the redirector, which still shows the correct page but in the background is capturing information which then generates money for clients of Skimlinks.

Normally the redirector happens so fast you are not supposed to see it. However Trend Micro is aware of the redirector and has blocks against some of their merchants who have been listed as "unsafe", which blocks redirector by association.

I do not know if Head-Fi administrators are aware of this, or Head-Fi is a client of Skimlinks and unaware this is happens with photos, eBay, etc., but it is happening more frequently and should be investigated for the safety of Head-Fi and its members.

 

[krmathis]

I have noticed, and it has been like this for some weeks now.
It breaks how I open external links, and hence its a bit annoying. I command-click links to open them in a new tab in the background, while if I do this now it will open two background tabs with the same content. Quite annoying.

But if it generate money to Head-Fi I can certainly live with it.

 

[DocHamm]

I don't think Head-Fi actually gets anything out of it but I could be wrong. It is supposed to generate money for Skimlinks clients, so if Head-Fi is a client, yay! I would think it more likely that some members of the trade might be clients.

I just don't like having to fight the redirector on photos and such. I was recently reviewing the thread "post pics of your headphone setup and listening area" (322+pages) and about every third photo gets redirected. Very annoying!

 

[billybob_jcv]

I'm going to resurrect this thread because I don't think any of the admins ever answered the "why" of using the redirect wrappers on links. It sure slows me down - I'm not sure if it is because of my browser security, or what, but I really have to be patient when I click on a link in a head-fi thread. I'm all for head-fi generating revenue for the owners, but they also need to know when something they implement is annoying.

 

[cerbie]

Can anyone link to a somewhere that has such a redirected link? I haven't noticed any, but it wouldn't surprise me if redirect remove is taking care of them, and I'm not paying attention to the cursor

.

 

[limpidglitch]

Click the the link in Billy's signature. It redirects for me at least.

 

[cerbie]

Enabling scripts from skimlinks.com seems to trigger it (then Redirect Remover takes care of it). If not allowed (default), no redirect appears. Firefox w/ Noscript, and Opera out-of-the-box allow for this pretty easily.

 

[boomana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by limpidglitch /img/forum/go_quote.gif Click the the link in Billy's signature. It redirects for me at least.

Not me. I've never had this happen, and didn't even know what this thread was talking about. I'm using FireFox.

 

[billybob_jcv]

It seems much quicker right now - maybe it's my ISP or the redirectingat.com site that was slowing me down. When it works quickly, you have to watch the status bar pretty closely to see the redirectingat.com at work. I'm on FF 3.0.11 and I run ABP, but not Redirect Remover.

 

[gevorg]

This is just head-fi marketing, and at least one of head-fi's admins/mods is aware of this.

The link you see in billybob_jcv signature: http:// bumpedhishead.blogspot.com/

Actual link in billybob_jcv's signature: http:// redirectingat.com/?id=475X763&url=http%3A//bumpedhishead.blogspot.com/



P.S. space added to avoid auto-linking.

 

[limpidglitch]

I just tried it in opera as well as safari, but I'm still being redirected.

 

[ecclesand]

No redirect for me. I wonder if it has something to do with whether or not you have contributed to Head-Fi. Was the OP a contributing member at the time this thread was started?

 

[shigzeo]

i am redirected as well and i am not a contrib. but then, my internet is gone all to hell here in korea. in fact, the redirecting causes it to panic and think i am going to **** sites and disallows many links to be faithfully explored.

 

[Billyk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecclesand /img/forum/go_quote.gif No redirect for me. I wonder if it has something to do with whether or not you have contributed to Head-Fi. Was the OP a contributing member at the time this thread was started?

I was re-directed in Firefox, I could see it in the address bar.
I have been using "Inspect Element" on every link I come to and they all start with the redirectat code... Well now I know why a fair amount of links have been not loading or very slow to load at work, all the firewall and websense filtering, I know its not my connection it is 100MBs
Don't think it has to do with membership, I am a member, albeit a lowlevel one.

 

[DocHamm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecclesand /img/forum/go_quote.gif No redirect for me. I wonder if it has something to do with whether or not you have contributed to Head-Fi. Was the OP a contributing member at the time this thread was started?

It has nothing to do with being a contributing member. It happened to me both before and after signing up to contribute. Redirecter is there; you're not supposed to see it.

I still don't know if Head-Fi is a Skimlinks member. I have not, as of yet, had a response from any admins. It is a concern for a number of reasons, including it slows the site and causes links to fail unless you edit your security settings, and that in itself is an important concern. I, for one, would rather not open my security for anything that has the potential to be harmful.