Protect Your Site Against UserCash and Other Scumbags
In this brief article I explain the atrocity that is UserCash and then provide the JavaScript needed to protect your site.
What is UserCash?
UserCash is an online advertising program that uses redirects and frames to exploit your site with advertisements. UserCash customers link to target sites using rewritten URL’s generated via the UserCash “generator/compiler.” There are two types of these rewritten UserCash links:
- Links that use frames to create banner-like ads above your pages
- Links that use frames to deploy landing-page ads before your pages
As of now, all UserCash links assume the following generalized format:
http://1z2l3e4gt6y44k7wqld9.usercash.comUserCash then pays 70 cents (or less) for every 9999 top-frame clicks or 70 cents for every 3999 landing-page clicks. Let’s just pause for a moment to contemplate the implications of this idiocy:
- UserCash is paying people to exploit sites that may not belong to them.
- UserCash advertisements are low-quality, unwanted cheap spam junk ads.
- UserCash pays 70 cents for 9999 ads, or, 70 bucks for a million ads.
- UserCash is littering the Web with their cheap garbage advertisements.
- UserCash will pay people to put garbage ads on any site — even yours.
- Even Google is susceptible to this type of advertising (see screenshot).
I find it remarkably sad that there are people who are eager to force scummy spam ads upon others just to make a quick buck. It is also utterly pathetic that people are willing to sell out their own sites with such a blatantly cheap advertising stunt. Nonetheless, rather than continuing with this rant, let’s focus on a way to protect our sites against UserCash and any other site that tries to frame our pages..
Protect your site against UserCash and other framing scumbags
Fortunately, preventing scumbags such as UserCash from placing ads on your site is relatively easy. Simply link to or place the following JavaScript in the <head> of your web pages:
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--//--><![CDATA[//><!--
// break out of frames @ https://perishablepress.com/press/2007/12/03/protect-your-site-against-usercash-and-other-scumbags/
if (top.location != self.location)
top.location = self.location;
//--><!]]>
</script>With this code in place, your pages will automatically “break out” of any enclosing frames. Of course, this method requires that JavaScript be enabled on the visitor’s browser, which happens to be the case for a large majority. When JavaScript is available, this code is highly effective at breaking your pages out of frames. This trick was taken from my article, HTML Frames Notes Plus.
27 responses to “Protect Your Site Against UserCash and Other Scumbags”
Usercash was working fine for me for over a year. I was up over a dollar (unfortunately you need 5 or more to be paid) but I’ll admit, the site was organized horribly. On the other hand, if anyone clicked these garbage ads they deserve to see where they link to. As far as i’m concerned, placing unobtrusive ads that no one would ever want to click and getting money for it is perfectly fine.
But now they are defunct and i have to change hundreds of links to the direct link rather than ____.usercash.com. I’m not wasting my times with sites like this in the future.
Nice tips to Protect Your Site against Scumbags; and how to avoid such frames and advertisements by using code.
Thanks
@Jawns Lover: Thanks for the comment, but I respectfully disagree with you. I think the whole concept is extremely trashy. I would never condone it, but to each his own, as they say.
@metalHurricane: lol – their site was pretty atrocious! I’m glad to hear they are no longer in business — Good riddance! ;)
@Monika: Absolutely my pleasure — thanks for the positive feedback :)