Mirror links Update 1.41.42.1020 ransomware.

@The_gh0stm4n
When I tried to download the Game folders via the mirror links https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t33004-the-sims-4-update-version-1-41-42-1020-out-now#
I was confronted with a notification about ransomware, I was asked to call a "Microsoft-phonenumber"  don't use your mouse / keyboard and don't switch te computer off.
Many people will be frightened by such messages.

Of course this was just fishing and after shutting the computer down and restart no harm was done.
Although I often warned about Adf.ly, why still continue with this malware spreading website ?

You seem to be rather unlucky with those links, since I recall this is not the first time you've said something similar. I myself can't say I have encountered such a thing yet. Incidentally, I was going to ask ~Ann~ to actually extend the adfly to more topics, but I backed down from the idea, because it would be too unpopular.

I think I hinted at it here already:
https://games4theworld.forumotion.com/t24027-about-forum-links-and-advertising-editorial

There are (occasional) problems & unsuitable ads, yes, but not enough in my opinion to completely abandon the adfly. Maybe one day in the future  we will stop using it, when the 'payout' will get so low as to not make it feasible anymore. But at the moment, we will probably be continuing to use it.

What I can think about and probably will do, is that after a little while, to remove the adfly from the announcement-messages. We already provide these mirror-links to the .torrent files HERE, so we might as well remove the adfly from the actual announcements while we are at it.

Tarac wrote:Although I often warned about Adf.ly, why still continue with this malware spreading website ?

I think the above statements, combined with the fact that we don't use adfly on all links, should be a good-enough compromise. It's similar to what I wrote in the e-mail. In my opinion, it's not worth to put "too much effort" into certain things.

What I also want to say is: I don't think we should pay for all this, out of our own pockets. What do we gain out of it? What is the advantage compared to using adfly + free platforms? If you - or anybody else - can give us reasons that go beyond mere idealism ("moral obligation of staff members to pay for everything", or similar), then we'll talk again. I myself can't really think of any good reasons.

And as said, the occasional problem-ad in my opinion does not yet justify the removal of the entire adfly system.