AdBlocker Detected!

[dylarr]

Hi AFF team,

I'm having issues reading AFF articles due to the AdBlocker detected popup on the homepage. Also the "SUPPORT THE AUSTRALIAN FREQUENT FLYER" banner doesn't disappear even after I've logged in.

Even if I log out / log back in, switch between Safari and Chrome the homepage doesn't recognise me as logged in so I'm blocked from reading articles.

Any ideas? In terms of ad blocking - it's DNS based (Pi-hole) - not a software / browser based blocker.

Edit: I captured a screen recording here if it helps - https://app.dyl.space/dropbox/AFF.mov

 

[Matt_01]

I had the same experience earlier today.

 

[admin]

Hi AFF team,

I'm having issues reading AFF articles due to the AdBlocker detected popup on the homepage. Also the "SUPPORT THE AUSTRALIAN FREQUENT FLYER" banner doesn't disappear even after I've logged in.

Even if I log out / log back in, switch between Safari and Chrome the homepage doesn't recognise me as logged in so I'm blocked from reading articles.

Any ideas? In terms of ad blocking - it's DNS based (Pi-hole) - not a software / browser based blocker.

Edit: I captured a screen recording here if it helps - https://app.dyl.space/dropbox/AFF.mov

@dylarr Sorry about the problem you are experiencing. From the screen recording I can see that you are logged in. Have you tried to (hard) refresh the article page?

 

[support]

This appears to be an issue with a recent change to Wordpress. That being said, other than the supporter banner and the fact you’re a paid member, if you add AFF to your whitelist in your adblocker, do ads display and/or the message when viewing articles?

 

[Matt_01]

This appears to be an issue with a recent change to Wordpress. That being said, other than the supporter banner and the fact you’re a paid member, if you add AFF to your whitelist in your adblocker, do ads display and/or the message when viewing articles?

I have added AFF to my ad blocker whitelist and this seems to have solved the problem. I use Chrome on MacOS and cannot speak for other configurations.

 

[dylarr]

Thanks for the quick replies!

@dylarr Sorry about the problem you are experiencing. From the screen recording I can see that you are logged in. Have you tried to (hard) refresh the article page?

No worries. Confirming different permutations of cache clearing / force refreshing etc didn't have any impact.

This appears to be an issue with a recent change to Wordpress. That being said, other than the supporter banner and the fact you’re a paid member, if you add AFF to your whitelist in your adblocker, do ads display and/or the message when viewing articles?

Understood! Fingers crossed the Wordpress issue can be resolved - I know there has always been complexities due to the news and forums being on different platforms. I can view the articles if I disable the ad blocking completely. Whitelisting is a bit more tricky as I need to individually whitelist any hostnames the ad networks use rather than AFF itself (just due to the way Pi-hole works with it being set up at network level). I'll have a bit of a play around with it.

 

[Cryptarcadian]

I have had this issue as well, and am still seeing the "AdBlocker Detected!" message even when logged in.

I'm not using an ad-blocker, but I am using Firefox and have Enhanced Tracking Protection set to Strict. A hard refresh lets me view articles on desktop, but needs to be done every article view.

In principle, I'm obviously happy to support AFF, and for AFF to directly have stats on how I'm using AFF. That's why I'm a subscriber, after all! But I'm not so comfortable with the variety of third-party trackers involved... there's a lot of them that Firefox is blocking, and I recognise almost none of them.

 

[support]

I have had this issue as well, and am still seeing the "AdBlocker Detected!" message even when logged in.

I'm not using an ad-blocker, but I am using Firefox and have Enhanced Tracking Protection set to Strict. A hard refresh lets me view articles on desktop, but needs to be done every article view.

In principle, I'm obviously happy to support AFF, and for AFF to directly have stats on how I'm using AFF. That's why I'm a subscriber, after all! But I'm not so comfortable with the variety of third-party trackers involved... there's a lot of them that Firefox is blocking, and I recognise almost none of them.

Unfortunately, it will be one of those trackers that facilitates ads not being shown for you as a logged in user. If you could provide an exception for AFF you may not face the issue. This is unfortunately necessitated because we run two platforms – Xenforo and Wordpress – that don't talk well enough to each other.

 

[2infinity]

I started getting the 'Ad Blocker Detected' message sometime last year i think. Was totally annoying, but put it down to being my work computer and maybe my IT added some Ad Blocker software. Never know with that bunch. To get around this i just opened the gazette on my iphone. I've had no problems for ages, until today. Message is now popping up on my iphone. I don't have any ad blocker running on my phone. What gives?

The Gazette is now redundant as can't read it.

 

[pilotsh]

The Gazette is now redundant as can't read it.

I feel the same. I use Firefox, no adblockers, have turned off enhanced protection for the AFF site, and it still blocks the articles . If there is no way to fix this, there is no point continuing with my paid membership....
Has anyone in Firefox got AFF to work properly!?

 

[pilotsh]

I feel the same. I use Firefox, no adblockers, have turned off enhanced protection for the AFF site, and it still blocks the articles . If there is no way to fix this, there is no point continuing with my paid membership....
Has anyone in Firefox got AFF to work properly!?

And by disabling the Duckduckgo Add-on, the website loads correctly.

I must say, I am not to happy that the AFF requires users to disable security features to view the site: this means that the AFF website itself not that secure.....

 

[support]

If there is no way to fix this, there is no point continuing with my paid membership....

You don't have a paid membership to AFF.

And by disabling the Duckduckgo Add-on, the website loads correctly.

I must say, I am not to happy that the AFF requires users to disable security features to view the site: this means that the AFF website itself not that secure.....

AFF does not require disabling security features, as I outlined to you in an email earlier today. You are getting confused between security and privacy, with the unfortunate fact that advertising has for years relied on user data to deliver targeted ads. It's basically how advertising works.

The feature you're unhappy about having to disable on AFF is very similar to the "Do Not Track" button in most modern web browsers, but when paired with the DuckDuckGo browser extension it goes a step further and actually blocks ads, which in turn then triggers the warning.

A paid membership to AFF removes ads, and thus you could run the DuckDuckGo "GPC" setting and there'd be no issues, but there is a difference between a feature that protects your personal information/privacy (from ads tracking you website-to-website) and a feature that keeps you safe from security issues and malicious websites. AFF is not in the second category, nor does the DuckDuckGo browser extension protect you from that.

Don't confuse the two and mis-characterise the security of AFF.

 

[pilotsh]

You don't have a paid membership to AFF.

Doesn't my Premium Economy Membership count!?

(If that is not paid membership then now I am really confused!)

Thank you for clarifying the security/privacy settings in the email (my post above was made before the support email chain was concluded).

 

[RooFlyer]

Doesn't my Premium Economy Membership count!?

(If that is not paid membership then now I am really confused!)

That sounds like a Frequent Flyer Solutions membership. A related organisation, but not the same as having a paid subscription to AFF (except with First Class on FFS, you get included Gold AFF membership).

 

[support]

Doesn't my Premium Economy Membership count!?

As @RooFlyer mentions, this is a Frequent Flyer Solutions tier, a sister site of AFF, but not the same.

Home - Frequent Flyer Solutions

frequentflyer.com.au

 

[redone123]

I have had Business Class membership to FFS for many years. I’m now unable to view links in the emails I receive from AFF (owned and operated by the same team I believe), just because I choose to use Firefox as my default search engine. This is seriously frustrating! I’ve changed from a happy customer who has recommended FFS/AFF on many occasions to one who is rethinking whether to even continue my FFS membership
I’m hoping the FFS/AFF team recognise Business Class members as paying AFF members

 

[admin]

I have had Business Class membership to FFS for many years. I’m now unable to view links in the emails I receive from AFF (owned and operated by the same team I believe), just because I choose to use Firefox as my default search engine. This is seriously frustrating! I’ve changed from a happy customer who has recommended FFS/AFF on many occasions to one who is rethinking whether to even continue my FFS membership
I’m hoping the FFS/AFF team recognise Business Class members as paying AFF members

Your FFS Business Class benefits are explained clearly on their website and do not include an AFF ad free experience.

By whitelisting AFF on your FireFox browser, you will be able to view all articles and posts on AFF at no additional charge. Alternatively you can upgrade your AFF account (from just $6 per month) for an ad free experience.

 

[Batterytraveller]

I am getting told to uninstall my adblocker, I don’t have one (iOS safari). As you can see from this screenshot I am being served an advert and the only thing blocking me from seeing the ad is the message telling me to turn off my ad blocker.

 

[kallinch]

I am getting told to uninstall my adblocker, I don’t have one (iOS safari). As you can see from this screenshot I am being served an advert and the only thing blocking me from seeing the ad is the message telling me to turn off my ad blocker.

View attachment 279815

Same for me recently - iPhone 12 safari.
only occurs when viewing homepage articles.

 

[Kremmen]

When I visited today, ads used 100% of my CPU, so I turned my ad blocker on. That fixed the CPU waste issue, but the pop-up that blocks 80% of the screen came up. Turned the ad blocker off and the pop-up continues to block access for another 10 minutes. This is a lousy user experience.