Some add tags aren’t working on my site. The advertising company says they need admin access to troubleshooting.
I’ve said no, especially as they want me to send those through via email. I’m sure I wouldn’t be covered insurance wise if something did happen as it would be very lapse for security.
I cant see why they would need this account.
It’s just a header tag and a body tag, very simple and they can view the source of the page.
They insist that to help they need an admin account, should they need this? Is this standard practice?
Neither can I, this could only be the ad company’s practice. Can’t believe anyone would give third party root access to their server for trouble shooting, and never ever as a standard practice.
Even if your site is cms created, it’s the created page that the ad should live in. That code is what they see in source view, they can change that code on the fly by their browser’s inspect tool if they want to test themselves why their ad doesn’t work. They can then advise you how to mend your code.
I would strongly advise not to. Damage can be done so it doesn’t show. Ultimatly the host can be at risk if the server is compromized.
What is the op doing using the company if they do not trust them?
As @SamA74 says give them temporary access and delete it as soon as they have finished. Check for all modified files if you want to.
Or move on and find another ad provider; the OP could have any amount of other javascripts that are intefearing with the ad one. It will be a pain for the other company to wade through his code to find the problem.
But what do I care it is not my site; he asked the question and people have given some advice.
“add [sic ad] tags aren’t working” really isn’t much help.
It could mean “they aren’t earning as much for me as I expected”.
Or “they crash my site”, “there’s a 1 pixel jog” and anything in between.
Are there any error messages anywhere in server logs or the browser’s console?
If the company can be trusted and they have a financial interest in having the ads “work” it could be that they have decided it makes more sense for them to simply go in and fix it themselves rather than to help a site owner do the fixing.
Nothing personal @philpones (welcome to the forum BTW) you are certainly not the first, nor the only member that has had trouble clearly expressing a problem using adequate terminology so that others can understand what the issue is.
There are a good number of topics here that go a few posts in before the pertinent information has been elicited allowing solutions to be suggested.
Anyway, would I give anyone admin access to my site? NO!
IMHO if the company is not willing to provide support in some form that is agreeable to you, then you could find a different company or you could ask here.
Although the company may not want to spend the time and effort walking you through to a solution, members here tend to be very helpful.
The first step is to help others be able to help you.
describe as best as you can exactly what the problem is
provide any error messages involved with the problem
mention what, if anything, you have already tried that failed to correct the problem
For these sort of things where an unknown (untrusted) 3rd party absolutely needs access I tend to use a copy of the site on a development server, that way they can’t screw things up and and any changes you can then copy to the live site when you are ready.
Honestly, I haven’t encountered any situation where an advertising company would require your admin logins to resolve their own issue. This is quite suspicious if you’re going to ask me… I mean why would they need that when they can troubleshoot the issue on their own end and not in your site?
My advice on this, don’t give your logins that easily to them as this is NOT a standard practice…
