<time passes>

Ah, it's because I'd visited a different site which had a different banner on it, then went back (by switching windows, not clicking the Back button) and clicked on the old banner, which redirected me to the new banner's site. Surely that shouldn't be happening?

Thanks

How does the banners.iconbar.com banner redirection actually work? Because I'm being redirected to a different site from the ad being shown...

<time passes>

Ah, it's because I'd visited a different site which had a different banner on it, then went back (by switching windows, not clicking the Back button) and clicked on the old banner, which redirected me to the new banner's site. Surely that shouldn't be happening?

not really a Iconbar.com issue, but I am here anyway

So... We sat a cookie saying which banner number was displayed and the redirect according to what the cookie is.
If you have any other ideas please tell us and we will look into it

<personal note>I need to add a feedback form to the banner network</note>

not really a Iconbar.com issue, but I am here anyway

Yes, sorry, realised that, but couldn't see anywhere else to put it

So... We sat a cookie saying which banner number was displayed and the redirect according to what the cookie is.
If you have any other ideas please tell us and we will look into it

Can't think of anything offhand; do all banner systems work like this, then? (Can't say I've clicked on many before )

not really a Iconbar.com issue, but I am here anyway

Yes, sorry, realised that, but couldn't see anywhere else to put it

So... We sat a cookie saying which banner number was displayed and the redirect according to what the cookie is.
If you have any other ideas please tell us and we will look into it

Can't think of anything offhand; do all banner systems work like this, then? (Can't say I've clicked on many before )

Dunno? We wrote it ourselfs, and haven't really looked at any other ones

Why not just stick a ?site=xxx thing on the link the banner goes to? It would make more sense to me rather than sending a cookie with 'site=xxx' in it

Because the banner people have no say over what the people who are inserting the banner into their HTML put as the link? I mean, all a person who wishes to use the banner network is supposed to do is insert the code for an image which inserts the banner. The banner network has no other control over the HTML, and I don't see how it could, either. Also, if a person did that, it would always link to the same site. The only way I can see to do what you're suggesting would be to use JavaScript to insert both the link and the image into the remote HTML, but then that would shut out all Browse users...

That's why they used the cookies in the first place - because they want to know which site you are clicking on. Replacing the cookie with a parameter should solve the problem.

The banner link (I.e. the link you go to when you click on the ad) goes to ROBN, so they can log you clicking the banner, increase the popularity meter for that site, or whatever other spyware they wish to run ROBN then redirects to whatever site you clicked.

Yes, I understand that. It's the only way they could serve different banners to sites who don't want to worry about the coding.

That's why they used the cookies in the first place - because they want to know which site you are clicking on. Replacing the cookie with a parameter should solve the problem.

But how can they replace the cookie with a parameter? As I said, ROBN have no control over the link used to link the image to the banner redirect program. All they have access to is the image being sent, surely. Am I missing something?

But how can they replace the cookie with a parameter? As I said, ROBN have no control over the link used to link the image to the banner redirect program. All they have access to is the image being sent, surely. Am I missing something?

Doh! So I see

the only info we get from the cookie is which URL to go to. The cookie is not used for counting.

The sites get stats on how many times their banner has appeared, how many banners they've shown.

Aren't they the same?

amd how many times someone's click on their banner.

Well, I hope (reading what I said originally in this thread) that you're telling the sites that this statistic is inaccurate.

The sites get stats on how many times their banner has appeared, how many banners they've shown.

Aren't they the same?

amd how many times someone's click on their banner.

Well, I hope (reading what I said originally in this thread) that you're telling the sites that this statistic is inaccurate.

Aren't they the same?

No!

Oh, of course, silly me.

No, we aren't. If everyone uses oregano it'll be perfectly accurate, otherwise, the error will be minute.

Umm, I am using Oregano. It doesn't matter what browser you use, AFAICT; all you have to do is open a new window that includes a different ROBN banner (which will set a new cookie), then clicking on the old banner will take you to the new site. I suppose you could check the cookie so only serve that banner, but that would obviously be stupid, depending on the expiry time of the cookie.

I don't have time to fool about with minor details, really.

Fair enough. Just thought you might want to hear about the problem.