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How can I block Exit Splash popups?

  • 4 replies
  • 7 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by inathome

MasterTech
MasterTech
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Some time ago, someone devised a piece of code which generates "unblockable" popups, AKA "exit splash popups"; you know, the ones that say "OK" and "Cancel" at the bottom of a small dialog window. They are intentionally ambiguously worded that way in order to prevent visitors from leaving the site. They are used extensively by internet marketers to harvest email addresses. Sometimes MANY of these "exit splash" popups will appear before one can actually leave the site. Needless to say, these are EXTREMELY ANNOYING! I knew that it was just a matter of time before someone would figure out a way to thwart popup blockers, and these "exit splash", "unblockable" popups will certainly present a considerable challenge to some hot programmer to devise a countermeasure. Is there anything that I can do in the meantime to prevent these abusive advertising techniques? I do, of course, have the most up-to-date version of AdBlock Plus installed in my Firefox browser.

Some time ago, someone devised a piece of code which generates "unblockable" popups, AKA "exit splash popups"; you know, the ones that say "OK" and "Cancel" at the bottom of a small dialog window. They are intentionally ambiguously worded that way in order to prevent visitors from leaving the site. They are used extensively by internet marketers to harvest email addresses. Sometimes MANY of these "exit splash" popups will appear before one can actually leave the site. Needless to say, these are EXTREMELY ANNOYING! I knew that it was just a matter of time before someone would figure out a way to thwart popup blockers, and these "exit splash", "unblockable" popups will certainly present a considerable challenge to some hot programmer to devise a countermeasure. Is there anything that I can do in the meantime to prevent these abusive advertising techniques? I do, of course, have the most up-to-date version of AdBlock Plus installed in my Firefox browser.

All Replies (4)

the-edmeister
the-edmeister
  • Moderator
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My suggestion is to ask about that in the AdblockPlus forum:
http://adblockplus.org/forum/

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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See also:

inathome
inathome
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Adblock+ does block it - just tested it out. I have a couple of list filters and no search function in ABP, so I'm not sure exactly sure which list blocks it. Try easylist that will probably do it.

Modified by inathome

inathome
inathome
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After further testing I must amend my above post to say: Adblock plus blocks some of the sites that use exit splash but not others.

EDIT:

I'll edit this time, instead starting a new post - sorry about that.

Try the NoScript add-on - although, unless you get the settings right, that can be troublesome in itself. There's many swear by it, though.

Here's the link: http://noscript.net/

Modified by inathome