DarkCntry wrote on Dec 19, 2024, 00:52:

Blue wrote on Dec 18, 2024, 11:32:
There are too many problems to go on with this situation. I've asked for these ads to be removed.

Ad revenue sucks these days, and these are apparently represent an appreciable percentage of ours, but that can't be at the expense of the user experience.

Sorry for the problems it caused, and thanks for suffering with it to help track them down.

I do feel bad for being a source of loss of revenue, I only wanted to bring it to attention.

Don't feel bad, it's not your fault. They were able to fix it overwriting user options, but the arbitrary change to the margins and a seeming inability to cap the frequency of the intrusive ad for some were too harmful to the user experience here, so it was not a hard call to make.

The good news is that the changes made in the background seem to have solved the problem of losing focus when typing in the forums or the search box. Our next conversation was going to be about restricting these ad refreshes as a result, so at least that's no longer a problem. You have to take your victories where you can sometimes.

Blue wrote on Dec 18, 2024, 11:32:
There are too many problems to go on with this situation. I've asked for these ads to be removed.

Ad revenue sucks these days, and these are apparently represent an appreciable percentage of ours, but that can't be at the expense of the user experience.

Sorry for the problems it caused, and thanks for suffering with it to help track them down.

I do feel bad for being a source of loss of revenue, I only wanted to bring it to attention.

There are too many problems to go on with this situation. I've asked for these ads to be removed.

Ad revenue sucks these days, and these are apparently represent an appreciable percentage of ours, but that can't be at the expense of the user experience.

Sorry for the problems it caused, and thanks for suffering with it to help track them down.

Okay, this thread has identified a few issues with the ads in question, and after some conversations with the ad folks, this is my understanding.

As far as they know, the issue that started the thread, that it was overwriting customization options, is cleared up. Please let me know if you are still seeing those.

But other issues are identified along the way. We don't serve many of these big ads, and they are supposed to be capped, so no one should be getting them repeatedly. The margins on the ad are bizarre, and they shouldn't squeeze the site's content like that. Finally, these (and other ads for that matter) may be refreshing too frequently.

They are looking into adding or fixing the cap to the number of times these unusual ads are served as well as how aggressively the margins change the reading experience. We agreed to look into the refresh thing after everything else is cleared up. I'll let you know what's up when I hear back.

I appreciate the patience of the couple of you living with the problems so they can be recreated and tracked. Let me know when you're done with all that and we'll fix you up with some no-ad support as compensation.

This comment was edited on Dec 18, 2024, 03:25.

Simon Says wrote on Dec 15, 2024, 19:14:

Any updates on this?

I'm still having issues here so I'm waiting for a fix or an announcement, anything.

I'm really sorry this remains unaddressed. I've prodded the responsible parties to try and instill the proper sense of urgency. Hopefully this will produce results. I'll let you know. If it comes to it we can always start pulling ad code.

Any updates on this?

I'm still having issues here so I'm waiting for a fix or an announcement, anything.

Blue wrote on Dec 9, 2024, 11:13:

DarkCntry wrote on Dec 9, 2024, 10:43:
I don't know about it being capped...I can refresh the page and almost consistently get the big ads each and every time. I probably wouldn't mind it if it didn't change the customizations and totally throw off the readability of the site.

Well, as I said, the customization thing is being looked into. This sounds like a manageable bug, but we shall see. If they can't fix it we'll just have to drop those ads.

But if you are getting it to reload on refresh then something's definitely wrong. I may have more questions about this after I make the ad folks aware of it.

The ads seem to be accepting some of the customization settings now, but they still massively adjust the page margins making it a pretty difficult thing to read your actual content, and I am getting them constantly on any load/refresh of the main page.

Edit: https://imgur.com/a/FIn10J8
Seems like the main page isn't the only one getting them for me now...

This comment was edited on Dec 9, 2024, 17:49.

Blue wrote on Dec 9, 2024, 11:13:
But if you are getting it to reload on refresh then something's definitely wrong. I may have more questions about this after I make the ad folks aware of it.

I've hit refresh a few times, tried closing the browser and reopening it, tried purging the cache and nope, I get multiple of those in a row, sometimes the same one.

Just did an experiment, opening the main page and hitting refresh:

First opening: Uber Eats ( idiocracy style )
First refresh: Uber Eats ( idiocracy style )
Second refresh: The Sticky ( big idiocracy style ad too )
Third and fourth refresh: Uber Eats ( idiocracy style )
Fifth refresh: Mazda ( big idiocracy style ad too )
Sixth refresh: Finally a sane sized ad from Rakuten.

I'd say there's a serious problem somewhere...

I haven't removed the exception yet on the ad blocker, waiting to see if it'll get sorted out.

Edit: For clarification, when I say refresh, it means I hit the "reload this page" button.

This comment was edited on Dec 9, 2024, 12:17.

DarkCntry wrote on Dec 9, 2024, 10:43:
I don't know about it being capped...I can refresh the page and almost consistently get the big ads each and every time. I probably wouldn't mind it if it didn't change the customizations and totally throw off the readability of the site.

Well, as I said, the customization thing is being looked into. This sounds like a manageable bug, but we shall see. If they can't fix it we'll just have to drop those ads.

But if you are getting it to reload on refresh then something's definitely wrong. I may have more questions about this after I make the ad folks aware of it.

Blue wrote on Dec 9, 2024, 09:44:
There are now two different things being discussed here.

One is the bug in this big ad overwriting customization options. The ad provider is now aware of this and has promised to get back to me after investigating further.

The other is the appearance of the big ad in the first place. Until this came up, I was not aware these still appear here, because it's been forever since I've seen one, so I do not believe they come up that often. But they are served by our ad partner, so this is not a bug. It's my understanding that this type of ad is capped, and should not appear more than once a day for any user. So please let me know if it shows up more frequently, or if its unusual nature causes other problems not mentioned here already.

We do not stop anyone from blocking ads, but be aware that their income is vital here, so I hope anyone seeking to bypass advertising will consider subscribing for ad-free reading.

I don't know about it being capped...I can refresh the page and almost consistently get the big ads each and every time. I probably wouldn't mind it if it didn't change the customizations and totally throw off the readability of the site.

There are now two different things being discussed here.

One is the bug in this big ad overwriting customization options. The ad provider is now aware of this and has promised to get back to me after investigating further.

The other is the appearance of the big ad in the first place. Until this came up, I was not aware these still appear here, because it's been forever since I've seen one, so I do not believe they come up that often. But they are served by our ad partner, so this is not a bug. It's my understanding that this type of ad is capped, and should not appear more than once a day for any user. So please let me know if it shows up more frequently, or if its unusual nature causes other problems not mentioned here already.

We do not stop anyone from blocking ads, but be aware that their income is vital here, so I hope anyone seeking to bypass advertising will consider subscribing for ad-free reading.

Add the Mazda advert to the bunch too.

Beginning to think something might be up with the browser's cache tho... I'll keep updating as things develop.

EDIT: Mazda advert screenshot:https://imgur.com/bkYX3nv

Purged the browser's cache, to no avail, it's still acting up.

This comment was edited on Dec 8, 2024, 19:44.

Just got the "Idiocracy" bug again today, Uber Eats again...

All other ads seem fine, it's only this particular one that shits the bed.

EDIT: And I've been getting NOTHING but uber eats adverts today... All hail BluesIdiocracy! xD xD

UPDATE: Yeah, it's not only Uber Eats, an advert for "the Sticky" for Amazon Prime is shitting the bed too: https://imgur.com/FNdZ9Qe

Seems like you guys will have to do something about this proliferation of the Idiocracy bug... because if it continues, like it or not, the exception to Bluesnews on my Brave browser AD blocker will have to go each time one of these pops up. GL!

This comment was edited on Dec 8, 2024, 14:31.

Blue wrote on Dec 4, 2024, 11:17:

Simon Says wrote on Dec 4, 2024, 10:42:
Here are screenshots:

https://imgur.com/a/K8loM4y

No idea what provoked it tho.

Closed the browser completely, reloaded the page and it's a different ad now, not uber eats, the banners are normal sized, the customization options work.
Might just be this particular ad or a certain set of ads?

That's super weird. I've never seen anything like it. Can I ask where you are located? Maybe some weird campaign is running outside my region.

Tacoma Washington area...

I figured it was odd because I could never see you allowing ads this intrusive.

Edit: https://imgur.com/a/N1c0W7q

Current images as of 5 Dec.

This comment was edited on Dec 6, 2024, 01:30.

Blue wrote on Dec 4, 2024, 11:17:

Simon Says wrote on Dec 4, 2024, 10:42:
Here are screenshots:

https://imgur.com/a/K8loM4y

No idea what provoked it tho.

Closed the browser completely, reloaded the page and it's a different ad now, not uber eats, the banners are normal sized, the customization options work.
Might just be this particular ad or a certain set of ads?

That's super weird. I've never seen anything like it. Can I ask where you are located? Maybe some weird campaign is running outside my region.

Canada, Quebec province.

Simon Says wrote on Dec 4, 2024, 10:42:
Here are screenshots:

https://imgur.com/a/K8loM4y

No idea what provoked it tho.

Closed the browser completely, reloaded the page and it's a different ad now, not uber eats, the banners are normal sized, the customization options work.
Might just be this particular ad or a certain set of ads?

That's super weird. I've never seen anything like it. Can I ask where you are located? Maybe some weird campaign is running outside my region.

Blue wrote on Dec 4, 2024, 08:37:

DarkCntry wrote on Dec 3, 2024, 17:30:
It seems whatever new ads that do full-size background 'videos' is overwriting the customization settings. It is happening each time there's an ad that defaults to 'full-page, background'.

Anyone else seeing this?

As far as I know we do not run any full-size ads of any sort. The only ads here are embedded banners. Can you please send me a screenshot of what you're experiencing along with any details that might help figure this out?

Yeah I got the "idiocracy bug" full blast this morning.

Here are screenshots:

https://imgur.com/a/K8loM4y

No idea what provoked it tho.

Closed the browser completely, reloaded the page and it's a different ad now, not uber eats, the banners are normal sized, the customization options work.
Might just be this particular ad or a certain set of ads?

DarkCntry wrote on Dec 3, 2024, 17:30:
It seems whatever new ads that do full-size background 'videos' is overwriting the customization settings. It is happening each time there's an ad that defaults to 'full-page, background'.

Anyone else seeing this?

As far as I know we do not run any full-size ads of any sort. The only ads here are embedded banners. Can you please send me a screenshot of what you're experiencing along with any details that might help figure this out?

I have not experienced that yet.

It seems whatever new ads that do full-size background 'videos' is overwriting the customization settings. It is happening each time there's an ad that defaults to 'full-page, background'.

Anyone else seeing this?