Empty box at the bottom

[sengsational]

Both on Firefox desktop and Firefox Android I've had an empty box appear at the bottom of the browser window. It's got an "x" in the top right corner, and it's able to be dismissed. Just weird. Wondering if anyone else is seeing this. Maybe it's more of that nutty 'notify user we use cookies' law (like, duh, cookies are ubiquitous, I don't need to be reminded ten thousand times). But if that's it, then where's the text?

 

[REWahoo]

I'm seeing the same thing at times on Chrome.

 

[cathy63]

I assumed it was a new kind of ad that was being only partially blocked by my ad blocker, but I hadn't yet gotten curious enough to turn off the blocker and see. Are you guys using ad blockers?

 

[gwraigty]

I'm seeing the same thing at times on Chrome.

+1, but so far, not yet today.

 

[powerplay]

I've been seeing the same thing also, very curious.

 

[Jerry1]

I’ve seen the same thing, but not every time. I was thinking the ad blocker blocked the text but at the same time was telling myself that doesn’t make sense. Oh well, click and it’s gone. Hopefully it will not be a lingering issue.

 

[pb4uski]

I'm seeing the same thing at times on Chrome.

+1

 

[MBAustin]

I've seen it occasionally - using Safari.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I assumed it was a new kind of ad that was being only partially blocked by my ad blocker, but I hadn't yet gotten curious enough to turn off the blocker and see. Are you guys using ad blockers?

I think you're right. I had turned off my ad blocker for E-R.org, but I've turned it back on for now after that banner started popping up, and it's blocking it successfully.

 

[zinger1457]

I'm also seeing it on Firefox. I disable my adblocker temporarily, it appears to be an ad for assisted living.

 

[kcowan]

I got it today and yesterday on Chrome.

 

[CardsFan]

I got it today and yesterday on Chrome.

Same here.

 

[braumeister]

I only saw it once, two days ago. Safari on a Mac.

 

[CaptTom]

Same here. A blocked ad, seems to pop up only when I initially open this forum, among others. Once dismissed, it doesn't appear again for the rest of the session. Of course everyone has pop-up blockers now, but this one somehow manages to pop without any content.

It started happening a few days ago on three forums I frequent. Apparently someone found a way to thwart pop-up blockers, but not ad content blockers.

I can't believe anyone purchases products or services from a company which places pop-up ads any more. Seems all they do is annoy people. But maybe there are still enough fools out there to justify the cost. I hope the blockers catch up to this new technique.

 

[SunBlueSky]

Same here (Safari)

 

[RunningBum]

Empty box on Firefox where I have ad blockers and ghostery, and an ad on Chrome where I don't have that stuff. A bit annoying, but if I keep an ER tab open and just use "New Posts" to refresh, I don't see it.

 

[lemming]

I thought I saw one but in about 10seconds it loaded an ad for some hotel investment project promising 15% returns. Maybe you guys can just tune out those ads completely.

 

[omni550]

Seeing the same empty box(on Firefox) for several days, just on this site. Once, I left it for about 10 minutes, but it never loaded. So I hit the x to get rid of it.

omni

 

[ncbill]

same thing, I'm using an ad blocker so I figure that's why it's blank.

 

[gwraigty]

The empty box just came back for me.

 

[Janet H]

It's a new block for ads. If you are running an blocker, the transparent box still displays minus the ad for something you really, really needed...

You'll need to dismiss the box (X in corner) and then tomorrow it will reappear. Ads cover site costs even though universally hated.

 

[ivinsfan]

I'm seeing it a lot today and it's really slowing down my load up time, lots of spinning and waiting.

 

[Walt34]

It's a new block for ads. If you are running an blocker, the transparent box still displays minus the ad for something you really, really needed...

Well, that's different then!

 

[CaptTom]

It's a new block for ads. If you are running an blocker, the transparent box still displays minus the ad for something you really, really needed...

You'll need to dismiss the box (X in corner) and then tomorrow it will reappear. Ads cover site costs even though universally hated.

Yes, of course, we all understand that ads pay the bills.

But pop-up ads? In 2019? Seriously?

Those are easily the most hated, and have been since the dawn of the web browser. Just about every browser now blocks them by default.

Apparently, someone at the forum hosting company figured out a way around those blocks. That doesn't mean it's a good idea to use that workaround.

I suspect all it will do is force more people to install ad blockers, which isn't good for this forum. I want to see this forum continue its success!

 

[Andy R]

The reason the box is empty is because we have so many people using ad blockers that's it's undermining the ability to offer services for free. We basically moved the ad from the footer of the page (which would not have seen before if you are using an ad blocker) into the box in the footer.

The box in the footer is empty because the ad blocker is removing the ad. All you have to do is click the X and it will go away for 24 hours. Then you can view as many pages as you want before it comes back in 24 hours.

We are looking into a way to disable this thing for members who actively post. For example, made 20 posts in the last month it would get disabled. We are working on this solution so it might be a little while before we can roll it out.