The Ad That Must Not Be Named...

[ABSpareEditor]

As we are all well aware we have had an incredibly irritating issue with a particularly clever ad that seemed determined to interrupt specific people on our lovely site.

We have been working hard over the weekend to get to the root of this. And our techie gnomes have discovered it likes to be named, so any threads naming this ad (beginning with a 'g', and ending with an 's') were triggering the ad to show.

For this reason we have deleted all threads, both old and new, that mention this terrible ad by name. It's not that we're deleting your threads because we don't care - quite the opposite!

The advice of 'please clear your cache' still stands true, if you have seen the ad, please clear your cache (comment below if you need any help on your specific browser, but a quick google should help you). And let's never talk of this terrible ad again! Doing so will cause it to rear it's ugly head!

[AB Editor]

Update:

We have been getting rid of the ads one provider at a time to find the culprit. There should now be no ads on the site, and no sign of the unmentionable. If there are any more problems let me know, but there should be no ads in sight.

We're also working on putting measures in place on the ads to prevent them from redirecting the page to another website. This should be in place soon.

We're going to start putting the ads back on bit by bit, apart from the offending provider, and working with them to get the problem resolved once and for all.

[Bigbad]

Been on 15 minutes, and so far so good, so thanks for that.
Going out now, but will come back later with crossed fingers!
I've got to say again that I don't remember ever seeing the A***** advert, though.

[gulliver1]

When I had the problem on a laptop! unplugged from wall socket ,without switching laptop off, waited couple of minutes ,then started in safe mode, Bingo!

[AB Editor]

Hi all,
I have turned on one of the providers that we don't think is causing issues. If you get the unmentionable from now onwards, please let me know here.

[Bertrum]

No adverts no popups no tunes
I may however be getting withdrawal symptoms

[Bertrum]

I recorded it copies are available

[woofgang]

it may be a co-incidence but the email I have registered here has been hacked twice....Its an old one and I don't use it anywhere else. I have changed it for a new email and if that starts sending and receiving spam I will let you know Ed.

[AB Editor]

Doesn't sound like anything related to AB, woofgang.

[AB Editor]

I have turned on another provider. Again, there should be no problems but let me know if you see the unmentionable.

[Bertrum]

Let me know a price...

Actually I saw a “Long Sleeve Maya Totem Print Shirt” on the GS site that would do nicely

[Kidas]

OK - leaving AB in a spare window; not logged in. No ad blockers running.

Will check back to see if anything untoward happens.

[Kidas]

Two-and-a half hours on and no offending ads. Site is behaving completely normally.

Firefox / Mac / no ad-blockers and no customised site-blocking.

[AB Editor]

Okay, I am starting to put the ads on that were causing the problem. I hope I have fixed the issue but if not we can take them back down straight away. Again, let me know if you see the G word or Ali.

[Kidas]

Just noticed that my Safari browser picked up the G*** advert.

I've not cleared the cache recently, so it's not a red alert yet.

It's been sitting there for half an hour or so in a minimised window, so I did not see the actual event.

[AB Editor]

Thanks Kidas, we switched on the offending ads and then saw there was still a problem so have switched them off again.

[hereIam]

Hooray at last I am free of that ruddy ad !!!