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[Dswankey]

.. I am getting regular pop-ups asking me to confirm my acceptance of cookies.

Now, as you might guess from my username, I prefer to decline all unnecessary cookies, ideally with a 'Reject All' option; I certainly never simply click 'Consent'. However, this option is not available on the AK pop-up,

Android 6, Chrome 97.

Sadly, if this continues, I'll probably stop using AK, as it makes access pretty much impossible. Some of you might be relieved by that...

Not sure if this is relevant, but I had the identical pop-up appear when trying to read an article on Outside. Not had it for other websites (that have cookie pop-ups with 'reject all'). If there isn't a 'reject all' option, I don't go further, and quit the page.

I'm guessing here, but if one is getting the identical pop-up when visiting different non affiliated sites (AK & Outside) then the issue is not the sites themselves. I'm pretty sure AK is not in the business of data harvesting

The image you posted looks a lot like a Google template

 

[cpt_paranoia]

I'm pretty sure AK is not in the business of data harvesting

But their advert providers are. This may, as you suggest, be Google.

It's only started in the last week.

I probably should have noted that I'm in the UK as is JP (currently?).

 

[JP]

(currently?)

Yes, until Thursday. VE is using the same consent management interface.

 

[Dswankey]

But their advert providers are. This may, as you suggest, be Google.

It's only started in the last week.

If it is in fact Google, I'm wondering if the issue has anything to do using Android OS & Chrome Browser? both Google products

Any possibility there were (browser and or OS) updates to your phone?

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Any possibility there were (browser and or OS) updates to your phone?

No. My poor old phone struggles with Google bloatware and the mysterious 'System Data' that grows, but no-one seems to understand or document...

So I have disabled the Play Store app, so it cannot do any system or app updates...

It seems to have shut up for the time being...

 

[devnull]

I'm pretty sure AK is not in the business of data harvesting

AK themselves probably aren't - but their ad partners and/or service partners are in that business.

I checked and I only see Google related javascript (or in this case, attempted) activity on my browser, and something referred to as 'adligature', which it turns out is Advally - the ad partner AK uses. I know in the past that I've seen Twitter, Facebook and another big player in the ad world I can't recall right now.

I'm not condemning anything - just pointing out that there is tracking associated with AK, or potentially so, depending on how you go about setting up your browser.

I opened AK in a browser with less aggressive privacy settings. I still don't see Facebook in there, or Twitter/X, which was involved in the past, but there's still plenty of services there associated with data acquisition.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Okay, my next problem, which has started in the last week or so.

AK has become very sluggish, on Android/Chrome as above.

Pages take ages to load/render, and, even when loaded, do not respond smoothly to scrolling.

Writing posts is also slow, and regularly hangs, or drops the keyboard.

I do not experience this with other websites, and symptoms cease when I switch to a different website tab, leaving AK tabs extant.

There may be a link to adverts, because I do not see any adverts at the moment. I do not have any adblockers enabled.

 

[Advally]

Okay, my next problem, which has started in the last week or so.

AK has become very sluggish, on Android/Chrome as above.

Pages take ages to load/render, and, even when loaded, do not respond smoothly to scrolling.

Writing posts is also slow, and regularly hangs, or drops the keyboard.

I do not experience this with other websites, and symptoms cease when I switch to a different website tab, leaving AK tabs extant.

There may be a link to adverts, because I do not see any adverts at the moment. I do not have any adblockers enabled.

@cpt_paranoia Do you have ad loads anywhere on the page? Or are certain spots blank? The page obviously shouldn't be sluggish. If ad spots are blank I suspect you may be receiving a creative blocked by our ad quality scanner, which is then reloading and possibly getting the same creative again. Do you get the same issue if you use an incognito window?

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Do you have ad loads anywhere on the page? Or are certain spots blank?

Nope. No adverts anywhere. Not one. So, unless your advert server is trying to continually punt the same advert all the time.

I'll give the incognito tab a try.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Okay. Incognito tab (not logged in) has adverts between posts, and at bottom of page. But a blank space in the top of page; this is where I used to see adverts, IIRC.

 

[Advally]

Okay. Incognito tab (not logged in) has adverts between posts, and at bottom of page. But a blank space in the top of page; this is where I used to see adverts, IIRC.

@cpt_paranoia I've deployed a change to temporarily disable the ad quality scanner. Can you confirm if the ads appear normally in your usual window? (It may take 20 minutes or so from the time of this post to appear live)

 

[cpt_paranoia]

No; no adverts anywhere on the page.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Here are some examples of what appear to be 'advert gaps'; the blank grey spaces:

 

[cpt_paranoia]

 

[Advally]

@cpt_paranoia Are you in the EEA? The blanks pots could simply be related to a lack of fill due to lacking consent strings.

Is the slow page issue better?

 

[cpt_paranoia]

I'm in the UK.

No improvement in the issue. Chrome is being slugged by AK; typing is very slow.

 

[Advally]

I'm in the UK.

No improvement in the issue. Chrome is being slugged by AK; typing is very slow.

Was the page sluggish while in an incognito window?

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Was the page sluggish while in an incognito window?

Doesn't seem to be. And it showed an ad at the top of the page this time. After a bit of a delay...

 

[Advally]

Doesn't seem to be. And it showed an ad at the top of the page this time. After a bit of a delay...

@cpt_paranoia Very strange, it could be related to some cookies or a browser plugin. I'd suggest you clear your browser cache if you haven't tried already.

I may be able to track it down with a performance insight report from Chrome. Click F12 to get the developer console, then click "Performance Insights". Click "Measure page load", it will take a while to refresh the page and record what happens. Afterwards there is a little "download" button at the top of the report. You can send this to help@advally.com, and mention this thread. It will open a ticket and we can review.

However given it works in an incognito window, I'd start with clearing your browser cache. It may resolve the issue.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

This is Android/Chrome, on a phone. No F12 available. I'll see if there are any diagnostics available.

Browser cache regularly cleared.