Geekzone injecting viglink proxy before amazon link

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Jase2985

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#273193 10-Aug-2020 05:21

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=164&topicid=273188&page_no=1#2537451

in the above post i pasted the link:

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Business-Expansion-Wireless-Mountable/dp/B07PKDZMY1?ref_=nav_signin&

geekzone seems to be hijacking that link and adding all this extra on the front

https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_159699335693710&key=52c49b41c094df83a0993effa5865823&libId=kdnchyzt0100fjo4000DL4jd3mzd1&loc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekzone.co.nz%2Fforums.asp%3Fforumid%3D164%26topicid%3D273188%26page_no%3D1%232537451&v=1&opt=true&out=https%3A%2F%2Fbuy.geni.us%2FProxy.ashx%3FTSID%3D6584%26GR_URL%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.amazon.com%252FNETGEAR-Business-Expansion-Wireless-Mountable%252Fdp%252FB07PKDZMY1%253Fref_%253Dnav_signin%2526&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekzone.co.nz%2Fforums_unread.asp&title=NETGEAR%20Orbi%20Pro%20Tri-Band%20WiFi%20Ceiling-Mount%20Satellite%20for%20Business%20%24281%20%40%20Amazon&txt=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FNETGEAR-Business-Expansion-Wireless-Mountable%2Fdp%2FB07PKDZMY1%3Fref_%3Dnav_signin%26amp%3B

The issue then is it redirects you to the Amazon Australia site which doesn't have the deal

why is this happening?

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#2537555 10-Aug-2020 07:34

Doesn't happen with Ublock Origin running but I could replicate this using an incognito window with it disabled. I guess it's something Mauricio is trialing that monetizes all links?

VigLink's content monetization solution connects potential consumers to products by hyperlinking particular keywords in a website's content.[1][3][7][9]

The company's technology, VigLink Insert, scans a page for words that could be potentially profitable to the publisher of the page, and connects the keyword with a product from an affiliate program.[3][4] The publisher is paid when a reader clicks a link contained in the content to buy or learn more about a service or product.

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freitasm

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#2537573 10-Aug-2020 08:21

The problem is not Viglink. That description @Lias posted is also wrong now.

We have been using Viglink since 2012. Back then and up until a few months back it used to do three things:

1. scan the text on pages and add links to some words, going to affiliates
2. change any third-party affiliate codes to our own code
3. automatically hyperlink any URL posted

Because of (1) I had decided to not load Viglink for logged in users.

A couple of months back they changed the way it works and (1) was removed. Because of this I've decided to have Viglink loading for everyone - most importantly because of (3) which is something a lot of people complained before.

So you might not have noticed Viglink before but it's been in use for many years.

The problem is a different service that we use to automatically add our Amazon affiliate code to URLs linking to Amazon. I have noticed the redirect to the AU shop a few months back and asked them to change this as the number of purchases from AU is nothing compared to the USA. I was told it was in the works so will follow up.

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#2537634 10-Aug-2020 09:00

As I said I've asked about the status of the change to avoid redirecting to AU stores when possible.

On another topic, I have been removing/changing scripts on Geekzone for the last few weeks - always trying to make it quicker. I've just read through some release notes and one of the service we use can actually connect to another service via an API - so one script instead of two. This also means we would lose the auto-hyperlink option (only for those not using the auto-hyperlink in the rich-text editor anyway).

You will see one less script loading soon...

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#2537988 10-Aug-2020 15:17

Would this relate to an issue I've been seeing for 2 or 3 weeks on GZ only, where links from a post to an external site don't open properly? Instead, it opens a new tab with the originating URL. Right clicking and opening the link manually in a new tab works OK.

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#2537990 10-Aug-2020 15:20

Are you running an ad blocker?

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RunningMan

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#2537992 10-Aug-2020 15:23

Yes, whitelisted for *.geekzone.co.nz

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

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#2537993 10-Aug-2020 15:24

RunningMan:

Yes, whitelisted for *.geekzone.co.nz

I have removed Viglink this morning as it can be used through a different script so if it is still happening, probably not related.

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#2537998 10-Aug-2020 15:29

Thanks. Have just tried a few links and it seems to have resolved today.

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#2539442 12-Aug-2020 14:44

Has there been another change? If I click the link in this post, it tries to take me to https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=161&topicid=273078&page_no=3 but leaves the page unloaded. Reloading loads the (original) page fine. Right clicking and opening a new tab/window from the link temporarily brings up a viglink redirect URL, then the actual target URL (Youtube). Firefox with an adblocker whitelisted for GZ.

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#2539447 12-Aug-2020 14:47

Yes, I am doing some testing. Have decided not to use the other provider as there are some problems with Amazon.

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#2539847 13-Aug-2020 08:20

Another change today.

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RunningMan

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#2539989 13-Aug-2020 10:51

Seems far quicker to open external links now.

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#2543435 18-Aug-2020 09:57

@freitasm, did you enable another link injector?

I am now having trouble accessing GZ CDN images because my pihole is blocking the redirect to the skimresources.com domain.

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#2543436 18-Aug-2020 09:59

Yes, switched from Viglink to Skimlinks but you shouldn't have any problem loading GZ CDN images.

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#2543451 18-Aug-2020 10:09

Sorry, I should have clarified it's loading them normally, but in cases where it is a thumbnail linking to the full image on the CDN domain like here, it's injecting the skimresources.com link. Is there any way to switch it off for the CDN domain links?

I mean, really it's gonna break every link for me regardless since it's on my Pihole blocklist, but I can appreciate these things all help pay for the site.

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