Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Not sure if anyone else is having issues with the spikeybitz website recently? There has been alot of cutting and pasting of other website articles, a crazy increase in advertising and pop ups, and some of them are linking to spyware. At the point I’m sadly forced to boycott that website until they get the problem under control. Is anyone else seeing the same issue?? Frustrating for sure they used to be a good resource, but have changed dramatically lately especially with the negativity and clear support of IP theft. I guess capitalism eventually gets the best of everyone and it’s always a cash grab.

I will say dakkadakka is one of the last solid sites out there. People tend to get negative at times, but at least we don’t get the million pop up adds and spyware download attempts.

Maybe your adblocker died, Spikybits was always like that.

I have many, many issues with Spikeybits.

To be clear I understand the need to do some advertisement, but to this degree and with the spyware issues they have gone too far. Do they not screen or validate any advertisers??

Lurker here breaking silence. I stopped visiting Spikey Bits for more or less the exact same reason - but that was about 3 or 4 years ago!

During the great NDA-gate of recent months I was told not to doubt it because it came from such a credible site as spikey bits.

In honesty though it is a gak hole a lot of the time, yet by contrast I really like their podcast.

broxus wrote:
Not sure if anyone else is having issues with the spikeybitz website recently? There has been alot of cutting and pasting of other website articles, a crazy increase in advertising and pop ups, and some of them are linking to spyware. At the point I’m sadly forced to boycott that website until they get the problem under control. Is anyone else seeing the same issue?? Frustrating for sure they used to be a good resource, but have changed dramatically lately especially with the negativity and clear support of IP theft. I guess capitalism eventually gets the best of everyone and it’s always a cash grab.

I will say dakkadakka is one of the last solid sites out there. People tend to get negative at times, but at least we don’t get the million pop up adds and spyware download attempts.

Can you give an example of the copy paste/ theft? The ads and popups are definitely not new though its been years since I've been to their website without multiple blockers so maybe it has gotten worse.

On the forced redirects, those pop up now and again. Websites tend to get ad packages which should be trustworthy. Sometimes the ads are super dodgy and obviously so.

 warboss wrote:
Can you give an example of the copy paste/ theft?

They take photos from other sites and pass them off as their own - Chapter Master Valrak and others have called them out on it in the past.

They lifted my piccies from Warhammerfest and used them without crediting me.

Yeah, not seeing any "news" here, that's all just SpikeyBits being SpikeyBits.

Did you turn on your ad blocker and tracking prevention which were brought to you by capitalism, on the internet which was also brought to you by capitalism?

I even specifically tried Microsoft Edge
Version 95.0.1020.40 stock without extensions which was able to screen out every single advert on there.

broxus wrote:
Not sure if anyone else is having issues with the spikeybitz website recently? There has been alot of cutting and pasting of other website articles, a crazy increase in advertising and pop ups, and some of them are linking to spyware. At the point I’m sadly forced to boycott that website until they get the problem under control. Is anyone else seeing the same issue?? Frustrating for sure they used to be a good resource, but have changed dramatically lately especially with the negativity and clear support of IP theft. I guess capitalism eventually gets the best of everyone and it’s always a cash grab.

I will say dakkadakka is one of the last solid sites out there. People tend to get negative at times, but at least we don’t get the million pop up adds and spyware download attempts.

I wouldn't recommend his website to anyone. Disagree wholeheartedly on him, since he went full anti-GW. Since then, he's gone full puppy dogs and rainbows to the point where he's just boringly predictable. Zero information, zero credibility.

At the end of the day, how many times can you keep making "GW Sux, and I'm so cool" videos?

I agree constantly being negative towards the hobby which enables your business isn’t a good thing. Maybe that is why more shady ads are out of control now to make up for lost revenue? Sad I liked the Spikeybitz back in the day.

I just can’t support a site who doesn’t even attempt screen their advertisements (or worse yet they are in on it). Having malware embedded throughout a fan site is insane. My concern is this leads to someone being victim to identity theft or worse. It could destroy a community and turn people away from other sites and participating in the hobby.

It makes me appreciate dakkadakka a whole lot more!!

Yeah Spikybitz is the trashy site for wargaming. It's not alone, but its got the highest profile of the pack.

Take the ads out and there really isn't any actual news that isn't from a formal GW release on their news page anyway; and the rumour is just whatever is hot on forums/community groups at the time.


It's basically worthless which is likely why they load it to the brim with ads so that whatever few users they do get might click some to generate revenue.

I know over the last years a lot of news sites have gone heavier on the ads, but Spikey takes it to a whole other level.



It's sad because it could be so much more, but yeah no one recommends them and typically tells everyone else to avoid it like the plague.

That sucks about using images without permission or at a minimum crediting the original source in even an attempt at fair use.

I think I gave up on Spikybitz when an article discussing a new rumour was structured like this:

1. Ad.
2. Big picture.
3. Intro paragraph #1.
4. Ad.
5. Intro paragraph #2
6. Ad.
7. Sub-heading to recap existing rumours.
8. Picture.
9. Paragraph explaining existing rumour.
10. Ad.
11. More paragraphs going over gak we already know interspersed with more ads.
12. Finally the one sentence of new rumours.

That website, That Website scares me.

In case I needed more reason to avoid SpikeyBits

 warboss wrote:

broxus wrote:
Not sure if anyone else is having issues with the spikeybitz website recently? There has been alot of cutting and pasting of other website articles, a crazy increase in advertising and pop ups, and some of them are linking to spyware. At the point I’m sadly forced to boycott that website until they get the problem under control. Is anyone else seeing the same issue?? Frustrating for sure they used to be a good resource, but have changed dramatically lately especially with the negativity and clear support of IP theft. I guess capitalism eventually gets the best of everyone and it’s always a cash grab.

I will say dakkadakka is one of the last solid sites out there. People tend to get negative at times, but at least we don’t get the million pop up adds and spyware download attempts.

Can you give an example of the copy paste/ theft? The ads and popups are definitely not new though its been years since I've been to their website without multiple blockers so maybe it has gotten worse.

Hi all! Just wanted to first off thank everyone for reading the site! Second I wanted to let everyone know that we're hosted on an enterprise-level managed platform, meaning they real-time monitor, detect, and fix any issues such as malware, spoofing, clickjacking, etc.

While I appreciate everyone's opinions on this thread I think it's worth mentioning that we source all the information used in our posts. If you see something that is amiss or that was incorrectly credited please just shoot us an email about it and we'll be happy to fix it!

Thanks again for reading
Rob Baer
Founder and Managing Editor Spikey Bits
Co-Founder The Long War

I genuinely had to check this wasn't a thread necro from 5 years ago. Spikeybits has been a terrible place to visit for a long time. Nothing new here. It combines the web's worst aspects of desperate monetisation attempts with an amazing lack of useful content given the volume of articles it posts.

The response from the owner is kind of amusing given that we have one user here pointing out they really don't source all the information they use in their posts. I'll leave others to draw their own conclusions.

The response from the owner is kind of amusing given that we have one user here pointing out they really don't source all the information they use in their posts. I'll leave others to draw their own conclusions.

cited example?, so far all I have seen is people say "this one time spikey bits blah blah blah"...where are the links?

 quickfuze wrote:

The response from the owner is kind of amusing given that we have one user here pointing out they really don't source all the information they use in their posts. I'll leave others to draw their own conclusions.

cited example?, so far all I have seen is people say "this one time spikey bits blah blah blah"...where are the links?

MDG literally mentioned it in this thread. You're welcome to dispute that with them if you want.

Slipspace wrote:

 quickfuze wrote:

The response from the owner is kind of amusing given that we have one user here pointing out they really don't source all the information they use in their posts. I'll leave others to draw their own conclusions.

cited example?, so far all I have seen is people say "this one time spikey bits blah blah blah"...where are the links?

MDG literally mentioned it in this thread. You're welcome to dispute that with them if you want.

Again, he made a claim with absolutely no proof to back it up so.............

Umm go to literally any thread on their website and look at it. They steal photos and materials directly off of other websites and use it for their own. I’m very surprised GW and other manufacturers haven’t given them a nasty letter yet to stop IP theft.

There is no sound reason to ever visit Spikybitz or any page he associates himself with.

The bad press this clown has constantly generated through the years is astounding. Frankly I'm amazed he hasn't been driven off by a mob yielding torches and pitchforks.

I really don't think SpikeyBits's ads are worse than other websites. I like the site since it's not blocked at work and gives me something to read

 oni wrote:
There is no sound reason to ever visit Spikybitz or any page he associates himself with.

The bad press this clown has constantly generated through the years is astounding. Frankly I'm amazed he hasn't been driven off by a mob yielding torches and pitchforks.

Sadly, very true. I know he is leading the efforts to boycott GW. Honesty, there should be a @boycottspikeybits until he changes his ways. The negativity, IP theft, advertisement spam, and constant malware on the site is unacceptable and will harm the entire gaming community. Sad this is the case.

broxus wrote:

 oni wrote:
There is no sound reason to ever visit Spikybitz or any page he associates himself with.

The bad press this clown has constantly generated through the years is astounding. Frankly I'm amazed he hasn't been driven off by a mob yielding torches and pitchforks.

Sadly, very true. I know he is leading the efforts to boycott GW. Honesty, there should be a @boycottspikeybits until he changes his ways. The negativity, IP theft, advertisement spam, and constant malware on the site is unacceptable and will harm the entire gaming community. Sad this is the case.

Hi. I am going to have to politely stop you right there. I have explained above we dont have malware on the site, there also has never been an IP infraction submitted there either. We are also not leading any "boycott" GW movement, as explained in many articles on the site including this one. https://spikeybits.com/2021/08/boycotts-dont-work-do-this-instead.html

I have also asked the mods and one of the site owners to step into this thread as you continue to make untrue and libelous statements about Spikey Bits which goes against the posting rules here https://www.dakkadakka.com/core/forum_rules.jsp of which I have been a member of for the last 16 years.

Rob Baer
Founder and Managing Editor Spikey Bits
Co-Founder The Long War

 quickfuze wrote:

Slipspace wrote:

 quickfuze wrote:

The response from the owner is kind of amusing given that we have one user here pointing out they really don't source all the information they use in their posts. I'll leave others to draw their own conclusions.

cited example?, so far all I have seen is people say "this one time spikey bits blah blah blah"...where are the links?

MDG literally mentioned it in this thread. You're welcome to dispute that with them if you want.

Again, he made a claim with absolutely no proof to back it up so.............

I personally have seen my own photos of my own minis show up on Spikeybits without any citation for the photo or the minis.

When I complained in the thread, Rob Baer apologized and said that "he found it in a google search so didn't know who to credit it to" or something to that effect. It was not updated with a credit.

This was a few years ago. I didn't then or now regularly go to Spikey Bits so I don't know if it's happened again, someone else had pinged me about it.

Edit: I found it here.