sony ad

[wvwoman]

i've been bothered (to put it mildly) by an evil sony ad that has been appearing often these days in the ad space just above the puzzle. (as i'm typing right now, i see the same ad off to the right.) black background and garbled, white text, with the instructions, "roll over to expand."

evidently, i somehow 'roll over' it often, cuz suddenly it'll expand and cover the puzzle.

but here's the worst---i click on the 'x' to close it, and by the time i get back over to the puzzle, it has opened again! i close. it reopens. usually over and over. so i resort to clicking on "recent games" and "retry" the puzzle to get it back on a new screen, usually with a different ad.

has anyone else experienced this? major time-waster. subscribing to a premium account just isn't an option, i'm afraid, so that's not the answer. and this ad is appearing more and more often.

the selfsame "evil ad" over to the right that i mentioned in paragraph one? OPENED TWICE WHILE I WAS TYPING THIS! good grief!

[imported_Lurker]

Yep, I just had to close it before I could hit Reply. The problem is that Admin gets his ads in bulk, and it's difficult to sort out one offender with bad code without taking off the entire block. Stephen does try to help us, so he can keep the games free. The more information we can send him, the better he can get rid of any difficult ads.

[wvwoman]

do i still need to take screenshots?

[imported_Lurker]

Wow, total awesomeness! Thank you for taking off the ads while you figure out the problem, Stephen! Way more effort than any of us expected.

And wvwoman, looks like you don't need the screen shots unless it comes back after he has re-established the ads.

[wvwoman]

am i missing messages? (who is stephen?!!)

but oh, lordy, i'm glad to be rid of that ad!!

[imported_Lurker]

Stephen is Admin's real name.

The ad actually is on some pages, but not Chat or Puzzle.

A way to avoid scrolling over any ad is to hit the "Play" button to load a new puzzle. That way, you can pull the cursor straight down through the "hate ads?" logo into the puzzle zone. Also, most computers let you hit Tab to get to the first letter in the puzzle or the equal sign to center it before pressing any other key.

[wvwoman]

i usually click on "solve another puzzle?" so my cursor starts under all ads, & use the 'equals sign' to center & start.
that's the weird thing, lurker---it's always after i've started looking over the puzzle and working on it that the darned thing appears---i've never been aware of rolling over it! just like when i was typing the first thread and it suddenly appeared, twice---and i hadn't gone near it---i was typing! (maybe my computer is possessed! ha!)

[abra]

I don't think I roll over it either. I think it has invisible tentacles reaching out across the puzzle. Once it pops up it's persistent .

[wvwoman]

oh, good---i'm glad it's not just me that it's being tricky with! and you can see why i dubbed it "the evil ad"!

[wvwoman]

i see the ad is back.

[imported_Lurker]

Yep, just had it mess with a puzzle. I clicked on a square nowhere near the side bar, and up it came.

[abra]

I started paying particular attention to it. It has a life of it's own. You don't have to roll over it. It is truly an EVIL ad.

[admin2]

Apologies everyone - I'm in Peru on holiday and haven't been able to check our ad suppliers. Will ask my wife to try to track it down today and cancel.

If you can please post or email me a screenshot of the ad - and the exact URL it takes you to if you click on it.

Thanks and sorry again!

[imported_Lurker]

Link: http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/sto...Student_Offers

Photo will be posted or emailed when I figure out how to do it.

[BrightSky9]

how to sort of avoid

It's possible to avoid this. Not "natural," but I find it's becoming easier. If you're right-handed, your mouse is likely to drift rightward while you're working the cryptogram - and you trigger a Sony ad. So be aware of this & try to keep your mouse pointer in the puzzle area. When you do trip an ad, your mouse path to & from the "x" in that ad is almost certain to run over the other ad - or over both of them again. (The phrase "ad nauseum" was made for this.) To avoid:

Top ad open? Go above it. Move *up*, over, & down to the "x." Return to the puzzle the same way (in reverse).

Side ad open? Go under it. Move *down*, over, & up to the "x." Return the same way (in reverse).

It's the route back to the puzzle that's most important. I relax when I get the ads off, then roll right back over them to the cryptogram. (This way lies madness.)

Or we could all subscribe & avoid ads altogether. Money is tight now, but I'm considering it.