Ad Blocking on this website?

[wind-borne]

@tig said:

I've listed the three main ones that I know of...

AdBlock is easily disabled for the whole SCF site - one-click

NoScripts also readily allows you to 'whitelist' SCF, but buysellads.com needs specifically enabling as its default setting is 'barred' - of course under the ToS members agree not to use 'ad-blockers'...

DoNotTrackMe is far far less easy to customize, and blocks everything by default...

I have also AVG DoNotTrack installed and that allows SCF/buysellad anyway - only barring a relatively compact list of usual suspects...

I have AdBlock disabled here and everywhere to test and still have buy/sell problems here.
Intermittent problems are the most annoying.
Maybe 5 pages will load ok and suddenly all I get is 1.4 minute time outs...............over and over
Problematic more than not
Any ideas welcome

screenshots 12 minutes apart

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[Aerilius]

To me, Firefox developer tools said it would be waiting for the server to respond (for the main html document).
Then loading all the other resources (although ~50+ files) was not much more than a second.

Shouldn't the server logs reveal more valuable info about what happens between that the browser sends a request and that the server responds?

[Mike Lucey]

Thanks Guys for sticking with this. I will after a while make a Global regarding the little gremlins that folks may have working away that they could well have forgotten about.

I imagine there are probably a few more that will come the the surface?

[Gaieus]

@aerilius said:

To me, Firefox developer tools said it would be waiting for the server to respond (for the main html document).
Then loading all the other resources (although ~50+ files) was not much more than a second.

Well, the site has been put together and styles changed here and there to conform more to our needs but it has never been "optimized" for best performance (yet). Certainly there are many places for improvement and we'll try to do these as our resources allow.

@unknownuser said:

Shouldn't the server logs reveal more valuable info about what happens between that the browser sends a request and that the server responds?

Not only the server logs but there are online tools, too, like Google's page speed insight.

With another site (that I have been building forever) I have managed to get that "improvement possibility list" to have only one item: enabling compression (which I cannot do on my shared hosting server) so I am beginning to understand what those "suggestions" mean but on a site like this, it is much more complex to achieve than on a speedy, small website (which I put together from bits and pieces in php manually so I can optimize wherever I wish).

I would not dare to tamper with the code here though...

[Woodarc]

I'm still really struggling with this issue of not seeing ads etc. Ive checked all the settings and cleared-out browsing history and caches, updated stuff and so on but still can't see stuff. The image attached is what my browser (Chrome) tells me. I have three computers through my router 2 wired and one wireless. The wireless one (my wifes) I can view ok. Is is wire/wireless issue? Suggestions on remedies welcome please (apart from always using the wifes!).

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[TIG]

What 'add-ons' [..Tools>Extensions] do you have loading for Chrome ?
Do you have 'AdBlock'? that needs deactivating for SCF.com. click on the icon at the end of the address bar... Are there any other 'DoNotTrackMe' types of thing ?
I assume your illustration is from the machine that's not working...
Javascript seems fully enabled ?
What about the other settings... my are all similar so I expect that's not it.
I use Firefox so it's not directly comparable... many members use Chrome without difficulty though...
If your Firewall set to allow SCF through unfettered ? That might be a difference ?

[Joe Wood]

For the forum's troubleshooters, I'm having these loading issues intermittently, this morning I was able to browse the forums no problem, came back after an hour and had the long wait again. An hour later, trying to reply to this thread also took over a minute to load, we'll see if it even posts.

[solo]

@tig said:

many members use Chrome without difficulty though...

Disabling AdBlock and 'Do not track me' makes it possible, however at the price of very very long loading times.

[Rich O Brien]

You can run ad block Pete?

You should be able to

[solo]

Aha!!! excellent, page loaded in less than a second.

[TIG]

@solo said:

@tig said:

many members use Chrome without difficulty though...

Disabling AdBlock and 'Do not track me' makes it possible, however at the price of very very long loading times.
I have 'Firefox' [as my usual browser] and also 'Chrome' [occasional use], both with 'AdBlock' loading, but both have it disabled for SCF. I notice no time difference in the site loading with or without 'AdBlock' enabled - the load-time is usually pretty fast for me - and it's no faster if 'AdBlock' is totally disabled globally.
I use 'AVG DO No Track' which ignores SCF and buysellads anyway, rather than 'DoNotTrackMe', which I found both clunky and difficult to understand and customize ! Have you tried it with that 'off'.
Using 'NoScript' is also likely to stop/slow SCF à la une ad-blocker...
That can be disabled using a site 'whiteboard', but I stopped having that add-on enabled altogether ages ago...
Without any first hand experience of this 'load-delay' I am at a loss to suggest what might be up... Is it consistently slow ??

[wind-borne]

@tig said:

Without any first hand experience of this 'load-delay' I am at a loss to suggest what might be up... Is it consistently slow ??

Broken record here

Would seem like a setting would be consistent yes/no for loading.
Here are 4 instances within a couple hours where buy/sell twice loads, twice fails to load and times out at ~ 1.4 minutes before allowing page to load.

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[Woodarc]

@tig said:

What 'add-ons' [..Tools>Extensions] do you have loading for Chrome ?
Do you have 'AdBlock'? that needs deactivating for SCF.com. click on the icon at the end of the address bar... [attachment=0:19pzd05m]<!-- ia0 -->Capture.PNG<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:19pzd05m] Are there any other 'DoNotTrackMe' types of thing ?
I assume your illustration is from the machine that's not working...
Javascript seems fully enabled ?
What about the other settings... my are all similar so I expect that's not it.
I use Firefox so it's not directly comparable... many members use Chrome without difficulty though...
If your Firewall set to allow SCF through unfettered ? That might be a difference ?

I have no add-ons at all on Chrome, I don't have Adblock and no other 'donottrackme' type things as far as I'm aware.
The illustration was from the machine that isn't working. How and where can I check Javascript? I've checked the firewall and set internet security level to medium and incorporated SCF as a trusted site.
http://sketchucation.com/forums/posting.php?mode=quote&f=76&p=452612#

[julyyen]

@tig said:

@julyyen said:

I don't have any AdBlock and DoNotTrackMe addons for Firefox, I also read what other regular users comment here, so finally what is the solution to view and download those
useful attachments - plugins and others?
Something on your system is blocking these so the SCF end won't display the links for you.
The most common 'ad-blockers' are AdBlock, NoScript and DoNotTrackMe, these need disabling/removing for SCF to open with all links available - but there are other add-ons too that can cause this...
Also your anti-virus/malware software or your firewall etc might also be set to be over zealous where SCF is concerned...
The tech-guys are working to ensure that nothing that is not a genuine ad-blocker is misinterpreted as one !
If you use IE or install a 'clean' version of 'Chrome' with no add-ons, what happens ?
If that works then you know it's then something in Firefox...

I use Firefox [v19] with the latest AdBlock add-on and I have no issues whatsoever, ether with link display or loading times etc [but then it is fully 'disabled' for SCF.com and a few other sites I visit that are supported solely by advertising...]

Thank you so much, 'TIG' and 'notareal' for these tips, but I tried to use Chrome, Opera and also I checked settings in antivirus,it's not working, anyway I can enter on site, view&download attachments using my Android smartphone.

[TIG]

Do you allow javascript to run on pages ?
SCF needs it.
Do your Firewall settings restrict SCF in any way ?

[wind-borne]

Well,
everyday I see this thread resurrect I hope for some resolution to buy/sell failing to load conundrum.
seems like a setting would return consistent results...
screenshots loading(4 sec)/failing to load(1.4 min)/loading(4 sec)... within an hour.

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[livemixer]

@mike lucey said:

I honestly don't think that the adverts we have here are obtrusive or too large. As a matter of interest we insist that they must be sub 150Kb in size. also not too 'flashy'. I would go as far to say that all are well designed and to my mind add a 'splash of colour' to the site.

Just my 2¢:
I don't mind static ad banners. I even agree (to some extent) that they add color & interest to the site. But the highly animated ones are very obtrusive; a constant, highly annoying distraction from the site's content and/or anything else I have running on my Mac that actually has a legitimate need to display dynamic content to attract my attention.

The worst offenders are the ones that cycle through several completely different banner images to deliver their message. I think that sort of thing should be reserved for click throughs, or at the least set to cycle just once through all the images & then stop on a single, static one.

As it is, they are the visual equivalent of the obnoxious, ridiculously loud TV ads that have me scrambling for the mute button on the TV … & resolving never to buy the products they tout.

[Mike Lucey]

Hi livemixer,

Thanks for these comment and observations. I agree totally with you and do realise that there are two adverts in particular that could well fall into the category you mention. I also appreciate you speaking clearly on this matter which I have now resolved to 'clean up', so to speak.

While we state in our BuySellAds page that we do not wish for 'flashing' ads I am afraid some advertisers feel that 'flashing' adverts attract more attention ...... as you you say, yes they do but they also annoy the viewer and can quickly get the viewers 'back up'!

The TV advert analogy you mention is also so very correct! I keep the remote close to hand for the very same reason, those adverts that pump up the volume and annoy me!

We do advise that we allow animated gifs and most are very smooth and IMO quite pleasant to view but as I say there are some the 'hurt the eye'.

I will now contact the advertisers in question with the annoying and probably self defeating adverts and suggest that they revisit their adverts with a critical eye and redesign so that they are not annoying and probably far more productive.

Thanks for this honest and well described opinion.

Mike

[livemixer]

@mike lucey said:

The TV advert analogy you mention is also so very correct! I keep the remote close to hand for the very same reason, those adverts that pump up the volume and annoy me!

If you lived in the U.S., as of last December 13th you would theoretically never have to suffer through these overly loud ads again.

That's when CALM (the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act) went into effect. It is now a violation of Federal law for average ad volume to exceed average program volume.

Of course, in the real world the FCC depends on consumer complaints to identify offenders. Not many people know how to file a complaint, so it hasn't had as much effect as one might hope for.

[Mike Lucey]

Never heard about CALM, its a great idea. Thet should introduce something like it over here.

My favourite current advert is the Heineken one with The Asteroids! It gets my feet tapping and shoulders shifting ..... don't laugh ....... at least its exercise or so I'm told as it burns 5 calories each time:D

Check it out here, http://youtu.be/qiQj0o8BOYw