Just something a bit odd that I stumbled across...

a reply to: toysforadults


Yes, Native Advertising. But it is causing all kinds of issues.

Incidentally (because this inevitably comes up sooner or later), both the top advertisement and the side advertisement are showing up. They are not being blocked.

Box is an HP laptop, running Win 7 (i5 core 64 bit) and Firefox browser (v57.0)...and it's clean (and secure).

a reply to: trontech

Yes, the 'live' page is unusable for me.

originally posted by: trontech

Whatever it is it's ATS specific. The report ad appears in all threads I view

I am seeing the same thing today. Very annoying.

Also getting a 404 message when trying to access the Really Above Top Secret forum.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I just tried to report the Ad and it won't let me. Anyone else try this?

I still cannot click on "link, quote, reply" to a post. As I'm typing this (switched to Opera, just to see...) directly above my reply bos is the post by "rhodesj1234".

The link "Report Advertisement" is situated in the middle area of that post, and it is clickable. However, nothing else...

Incidentally, Malwarebytes showed me 0 infections, as well as Avast...

a reply to: rhodesj2314
Your 404 issue with RATS is because you don't have enough posts yet. The forum is set up so that members need to have been around a little and contributed to ATS. You need 200 posts before you can access RATS.

In the past, you had to earn points by posting and then you could buy entry for 5,000 points. But as we don't use points any more, access is based solely on making enough posts.

Just kind of a follow up, to be more specific I notice that the inactive link issue only applies to all links above and to the left of the 'report advertisement' link (in the middle of the 'flagged" column of the 'live' page). Everything to the right and below that link remains active.

a reply to: edaced4
Although this issue is supposed to be due to "Native Advertising", I'd still suggest you still try running a full malwarebytes scan while your computer is in safe mode. Just to be doubly sure.

I have this issue also and have done full scan finding nothing. Then I put on the ad-blocker on browser which is off by default on ATS, and the problem disappeared. So yeah, not farfetched that the problem is in the ads used on this site.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I second that.
It seems the advertisement is blocking the live page even though it's invisible.
On my mobile it's clear to see the area.
The few links below that block were clickable on the live page.
I will post a screenshot in a minute.

in the screenshot below you see a red line marking the boundaries of the advertisement.
It's a bit faint but if you look closely you can see it.
At the bottom you can see one link that is outside the red box (in the flagged column.)
This was the only topic that responded to my 'touch'

a reply to: Zaphod58


How certain are you of this? I can see the same thing happening. Is there any chance it has to do with a browser specific issue? Ie: Edge, Chrome, Firefox?

I am using Edge, personally. Going to check it out in Chrome too.

This is unsettling, because I have a WatchGuard Firebox securing my home network (with all the optional add-ons purchased), and run Sophos AV on the end points. I haven't seen any warnings, or noticed any unusual incoming traffic lately. I know that isn't bulletproof by any means, but I would nevertheless be surprised to discover active malware.

A bit concerned now

originally posted by: z00mster
in the screenshot below you see a red line marking the boundaries of the advertisement.
It's a bit faint but if you look closely you can see it.
At the bottom you can see one link that is outside the red box (in the flagged column.)
This was the only topic that responded to my 'touch'

Confirmed on Windows 10 Pro x64, Edge browser + Chrome browser

I can select any link below "Proper Ads" report form. Anything within that drawn red box is obscured

Using sysinternals tools has not revealed any anomalous activities, and in process of running full scans for malware just in case. If I do find any, I will capture it and throw it in a VM

EDIT: My guess is that some people see this and others don't because it is platform or browser specific. It seems like the entire client side page source is JavaScript or AJAX, and it is entirely possible the report-ad feature (from the ad provider) uses some method not compatible with certain platforms.

a reply to: z00mster

Same here on my IPhone

Just ran a full scan with Malware bytes and removed any threats detected. ATS problem remains. It's this site.

Same issue. Just this site.

Just a quick note to say that staff is aware of the issue and it is being researched.

a reply to: Zarniwoop

Any updates yet?