Ancestry.com link fix has broken other apps functionality

Question

One of my favorite features of Wikitree Sourcerer and Wikitree Browser Extension is re-direction of Ancestry.com links.  I use the Ancestry Library edition and before the "Problem with Ancestry.com links?" developed, it worked great.  Since the "fix", this function no longer works.  It appears that the affiliate link now goes through the domain click.linksynergy.com but used to go through ancestry.prf.hn.  I'm speculating that this is the problem.  An example of a new re-direction:  https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=Xib7NfnK11s&mid=50138&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ancestry.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fsse.dll%3Findiv%3D1%26db%3D61131%26h%3D691261.  I now get sent to a sign-up offer.  I hope that Rob and others can get this resolved.  Thanks.

Edit:  This might only apply to links generated by the Ancestry template rather than whole URLs.

Comments

It isn't just the WikiTree templates that are converting the URLs, Kerry. All links to Ancestry.com in profiles and FSPs--while their original format is retained in the database so that they show in edit mode exactly as entered--will be dynamically altered when the profile is displayed in a web browser, morphed into the format that you showed in your second example. The structure of the original URL is changed and, in addition, the Rakuten Advertising preface of "linksynergy.com/deeplink?" is added so that all traffic goes through Rakuten for metrics and monitoring before being routed to Ancestry.

As an FYI, I've had word today from people in EU countries that say, because Rakuten sets somewhere around 19 individual cookies in the web browser, including trackers, when those links are clicked, that EU members are receiving notification and an opt-in choice before proceeding that isn't happening in non-EU countries. I can't directly verify that because enabling my VPN to spoof an EU address automatically blocks the cookies, anyway, and I'm routed to Ancestry's "join now" page rather than the target of the original link.

Answer 1

Yes you are correct, my code in Sourcer and the WBE relied on detecting the .prf.hn, now that Ancestry has switched to using a new affiliate link system and WikiTree has updated the site the redirect features in WBE and Sourcer no longer work.

I have implemented a fix. It should be released in the WBE as a bug fix release in the next couple of days. I also have a fix for Sourcer that will be in the next release of that.

Comments

Thank you Rob!

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Rob, are you certain that this change was Ancestry's decision? On their affiliate information page (https://www.ancestry.com/c/affiliates) every active link to apply or signup as an affiliate still points to Partnerize, not to Rakuten Advertising, who uses the new linksynergy.com prepended domain name (as Kerry noted, Partnerize uses the prf.hn domain). And just to capture the current state of that Ancestry URL, here's the Wayback capture.

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Rob, are you certain that this change was Ancestry's decision?

Yes, we are sure. Ancestry dictates to us what changes to make :) They have moved to a new platform (Rakuten) and have not updated their pages yet.

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Thanks for the confirmation, Steven. Bizarrely, Ancestry's affiliate page is still linking only to Partnerize. 

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This is fixed for the Sourcer context menu in version 1.6.7

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Following up on Edison's comment of 23 April, at some time between 1 June when I last looked and today 25 June 2023, the Ancestry affiliate links have been changed to point to linkshare (Rakuten) instead of Partnerize.