Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Is trump is trying to break black America over his knee? signs point to ‘yes’.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Find someone who loves you the way trump and maga love traitors.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

“woke” is the new caravan.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Republicans do not trust women.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

You are here: Home / z-Retired Categories / Previous Site Maintenance / Site Update: Back Arrow, iPads, and Ads

Site Update: Back Arrow, iPads, and Ads

by | 131 Comments

This post is in: , ,

It’s a quiet day here at Balloon Juice, so maybe this is a good time to check in.

I have three questions for you guys:

Back Arrow:
Can you see if the back arrow is working for you?

iPads:
Are iPads still having major issues with the front page?

Ads:
Are the full-page ads still coming up when you click on a post from the front page?
Are there still ads within the banner with Balloon Juice and the balloon man?
Are there still ads within the post itself?
Are there ads in the comments – how frequently?  Every 10 comments, 5 comments, 2 comments?

And a bonus Tucker.

Site Update: Back Arrow, iPads, and Ads

Open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

131Comments

  1. 1.

    caring & sensitive

    I’m on Windows 10 and using Opera browser. No issues at all. All arrows work. Opera has a built in ad blocker that works perfectly. I salve my conscience by making direct donations to the site through Paypal

  2. 2.

    Benw

    On a macbook with Chrome:
    Back arrow works.
    One add above the banner.
    One add in the post, right above the Tucker pic.
    No adds in the comments in the previous post. ETA: now I agree with AR below, ads after comments 4 & 8.

    Who’s a good boy? Tucker is!

  3. 3.

    Alison Rose

    On desktop MacBook, in Safari and Chrome: Back arrow works fine; never saw a full-page ad; had seen ads within the banner but not anymore (for maybe the last day or so?), now only above the banner; yes, still seeing ads within the post itself, including this one; yes, seeing ads within the comments – on the previous post, I have an ad after comments 4 and 8, but interestingly, none after that.

  4. 4.

    MattF

    On iPad + Safari + ‘Magic Lasso’ ad blocker. Back arrow works, no prob with front page, no probs with ads. I think, at least nothing obvious.

    BJ works very well with an ad blocker, lots better than without one.

  5. 5.

    p.a.

    iPad user here. No banner ad. 1 ad between your last sentence & Tucker photo. Back arrow works. Previous post 1 ad between comments 9 and 10, then nothing (I scrolled to about 105.). This a.m. Chrome/android phone still n.g.: 2/3 of screen was ads, 1/3 was post.

    ETA- The ads on the iPad I would characterize as unobtrusive.

  6. 6.

    namekarB

    Windows 10

    Chrome Version 86.0.4240.198

    Are the full-page ads still coming up when you click on a post from the front page?

    No

    Are there still ads within the banner with Balloon Juice and the balloon man?

    Not within the banner. Yes above the banner

    Are there still ads within the post itself?

    No

    Are there ads in the comments – how frequently? Every 10 comments, 5 comments, 2 comments?

    Had to check previous post. Ad after 4th comment and 8th comment then none thereafter.

    Update: I recently installed EERO Wifi 6 mesh and come to find out it filters some content so I’ve noticed on my PC and phone that some (but not all) ads are being partially blocked (I can see a box where the ad is supposed to be but content is missing).

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    Back arrow seems better behaved now (Mac, Safari). I hadn’t noticed any performance issues previously with my iPad (Air 3, so a couple of years old), so I can’t be of much help there.

  8. 8.

    HinTN

    Are the full-page ads still coming up when you click on a post from the front page? NO, Thank you!

    Are there still ads within the banner with Balloon Juice and the balloon man? Within? No, above yes

    Are there still ads within the post itself? Yes

    Are there ads in the comments – how frequently?  Every 10 comments, 5 comments, 2 comments? Yes, but it’s variable as to when they show up. No ad above 5 as I scrolled here but there was a placeholder for an ad.

    Android using Chrom

    ETA: Ads are the price of doing business. With the full page ad that loaded upon going to a post GONE (PTWG), I suffer the remainder gladly

    ETA^2: There’s an ad below my comment.  ;^

    ETA^3: Always the Zergnet below the first topic

    ETA^4: Going for a record here, always a “footer” ad in the comments page, no matter where I am.

  9. 9.

    Wapiti

    I have an ad above the balloon man, and another ad between “And a bonus Tucker” and the actual picture of Tucker. Also an ad after comment 4 (or a labeled space for the ad, but it’s empty)

    Chrome browser, Win comp.

  10. 10.

    Benw

    iPhone with Safari, same as what everyone else sees, plus a perma-ad at the bottom of the screen that doesn’t scroll with the page. It’s a pretty reasonable ad situation IMO.

  12. 12.

    WaterGirl

    Thank you!  Are any of the 11 people (who have commented so far) still here?

    I would like to try a test, but I will need you guys to still be here for the test to tell me anything.  Chime in if you are here and willing to stay for 10-15 minutes.

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    Okay, I am going to make a quick change and need you guys to tell me whether the back arrow still works or if it doesn’t.

    Okay.  I MADE THE CHANGE.

    Does the back arrow still work?

  24. 24.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Testing back arrow. Will update on experience

    ETA: Back arrow is not working when I have a comment. It just takes me to my comment, not to the comment I was at when I followed a comment.

    I followed comment 17 to comment 1 and the back arrow took me to comment 24, not comment 17.

    That was my experience in the Bixby post earlier.

    Hope that helps.

  26. 26.

    John Revolta

    So, older iMac, Firefox 78. Back button works. Ads above the banner and along the side. Also one within the post. There are ads in the comments but only in the first ten or so (talking older threads with lots of comments). I don’t adblock if that means anything.

  29. 29.

    Scout211

    The full page ad that popped up (filling the entire screen) only occurred on my iPhone 8 (using chrome) when I clicked the post+comments button. I just checked and that isn’t happening now.  There is a large banner ad and a large ad between the post and the comments but neither one fills the entire screen or interferes with reading the post or comments (as the full screen one did).   It was clearly a pop-up, too.  There was nowhere on the screen that indicated you were clicking on an ad.

    It’s good now.

  31. 31.

    different-church-lady

    900 year old MacBook Pro: no ad above or on banner, no full-page ad (never saw one on any device), yes on ad between comment 8 and 9. If the back arrow is supposed to take you to the previous post, then it works for me.

    Will pull out the 300 year old iPad shortly and give it all a go.

  34. 34.

    HinTN

    If you mean the back arrow for three browser, that’s been intermittently weird for a while, but I’m into sledgehammers so I work with it.

  35. 35.

    catclub

    Which back arrow do you mean?  The back for the browser or the double <<

    on the side for back in posts?

     

    both work for me

  41. 41.

    Kristine

    iPhone 7, Safari. I had to load an ad blocker because ads occasionally caused the site to crash. Signed up for monthly donation via Patreon to make up for it.

  45. 45.

    WaterGirl

    I have an ad blocker, and i see the placeholders between comments 4-5 and 8-9.

    That’s consistent with what you guys are seeing.  That seems like a reasonable amount of ads in the comments.

  46. 46.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    macbook pro, Safari, I don’t remember the back button ever disappearing, or getting full page ads

    I do get banner ads, and sometimes an ad in the post, or between the post and the comments, right now the banner ad is duplicated between the text of your post and the picture of the doggie

    no Zergnet for me today

  48. 48.

    Wag

    iPhone

    Ad above the banner

    Another ad between comments 8 and 9

    Another ad an the bottom of the screen.

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    Observations from Win 10 Pro, Firefox and Chrome:

    Back Arrow:
    Can you see if the back arrow is working for you?

    -Yes for both.

    Ads:
    Are the full-page ads still coming up when you click on a post from the front page?

    -No ads with FF; full-width ad on Chrome, above banner.

    Are there still ads within the banner with Balloon Juice and the balloon man?

    -No with either

    Are there still ads within the post itself?

    No with either

    Are there ads in the comments – how frequently? Every 10 comments, 5 comments, 2 comments?

    -None with either

    And a bonus Tucker.

    Fuzzy!

  53. 53.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl:

    Strangely, it did work on Safari, but only on the second click.  The first click on the back button–nothing happened.  But then I clicked it for the second time and it worked.  I thought it was a fluke but it happened three times.  Maybe it was a fluke or just my computer?  Strange.

    ETA:  I tried it again, and it works on the second click but not on the first.  Very strange.

  56. 56.

    HinTN

    @WaterGirl: Went Scrolled to 33. Followed linked response to differentchurchlady. Back arrow brought me back to your comment to me. I’d say not quite right.

  57. 57.

    WaterGirl

    @trollhattan: Can you be more specific about what you mean by “bottom of post”?

    If it’s before the comments start, can you describe where it is, relative to the circle with the # comments and the pie filter?

  59. 59.

    OldDave

    @Wapiti: 
    What Wapiti said. Same conditions (Chrome, Windoze desktop). The comment about Opera cleaning things up is interesting – I’ll have to try that.

  65. 65.

    HinTN

    Ad between “And a bonus Tucker.” and the picture.

    Ad between 4 & 5 and 8 & 9 but no more after that.

    Back arrow hosed for sure.

    Thanks for all you do!

  66. 66.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara (HFG): Can you stick around for a few minutes?  I want to turn the plugin off again – the one I think may be affecting the back arrow – and see if that makes it work for you.

    But I will only turn it off again if you think you can stick around.

  68. 68.

    J R in WV

    Thanks for your order 361180556 on Thursday, December 03, 2020.

    I got this email for Cafe Press. Have gotten email ads from CafePress, hesitate to make them spam, as I want to get an “your order has shipped” email, which I haven’t received yet.

    I was an early orderer I think, and may need to do it again — one copy of Calendar A IIRC.

    I use an adblocker (a couple actually) and don’t see any. Back arrow works mostly, but I got in the habit of clicking on my departing comment’s datestamp, which make it work fairly well from the get-go.

    Clicking comments just 3 or 4 msgs apart doesn’t seem like a challenge, it seems to work OK, but have to wonder how it would work in a 300-500 comment thread…?

  70. 70.

    zhena gogolia

    The back arrow used for going from one comment to another and then back again has never worked for me since the redesign. I have to memorize whatever comment I started on in order to find it again. Chrome, Mac laptop.

  73. 73.

    WaterGirl

    I AM ABOUT TO DO THE THING THAT I THINK MAKES THE BACK ARROW WORK.  HANG ON.

    Okay, I did the thing.  Everybody who is willing, refresh the page and then test the back arrow for me.  Please.

  74. 74.

    zhena gogolia

    I have ads above the banner, above the picture of Tucker, and between comments. But I don’t care.

  75. 75.

    frosty

    Holy cow! The back arrow works without hitting the comment date first. Thank you!

    No issues with ads; never had any, Firefox on Win10 and iPhone SE. Just lucky I guess.

  79. 79.

    J R in WV

    @WaterGirl:

    Thanks for checking!

    Back arrow appear to work here so far. I have noticed more problems in long threads, but perhaps because if I’m only 4 or 8 comments apart I just scroll to where I want to be, as opposed to clicking a back arrow. Also clicking the date stamp before leaving a location in a thread appears to make it always possible for the back arrow to work.

    ETA I was able to back arrow to your comment #73 about making a change.

  82. 82.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @zhena gogolia: Yeah, that’s where it breaks.  The other thing that’s really annoying is if when I first get to a new post and reply to a comment the comment box shows up in text mode.  Then if you click “click here to refresh”, you’re thrown to the end of the comments and unless you remember the comment you were on…well it sucks to be you.

  83. 83.

    zhena gogolia

    I just tried the back arrow on the post below this one, and it worked. But it has worked sporadically in the past. We’ll see.

  84. 84.

    WaterGirl

    I am going to leave the Twitter feed plugin OFF until Monday morning.

    Can you all test to see if the back arrow is working again?  Especially TaMara and HinTN who could reproduce issues even when it worked for some of you?

    Please try to notice whether the back arrow works, and if it occasionally doesn’t what you have just done.

    thanks!

  85. 85.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @WaterGirl:

    Since you asked, no. Nor do any or the appropriate back-to-where-you started -browser methods on OS, any device
    I am not the only one who’s annoyed AF at the unreliable navigation within comments; to anonymously quote – by copy/paste –a valued commenter with whom I correspond offsite, from an email s/he sent me:

    The inability to follow replies back to the comments on Juice is SO annoying. I’ve taken to noting the number of the original comment, then scrolling back, cursing all the while. Most of the time I don’t even bother. I never commented much, and now I’m doing so even less. But I still read it a couple of times a day because the collective Juice mind does give me a decent perspective on and a deeper dive into the horrorshow news that I read — and, I assume, the horrorshow news that I don’t read.

    I only have that quote handy as I’m responding to that post-election email this evening/tomorrow, depending finishing todays work crush tonight. I’ve heard the same thing from several others with whom I communicate offsite. Since the rebuild, it’s so frustrating trying to respond or even read and follow replies back to what prompted them that a visit is now a source of frustration and stress (for me, at least). A brief recent visit took approximately 3x longer than it would have previously. Navigation was not an issue/problem – for me, at least – before the new site rollout. (YMMV). It worked fine at the old site.

    For me, and apparently others, it no longer does. In my case, the phenomenon is unrelated to browser choice, device, or operating system. It happens on my (Android) phone, my personal desktop, my laptop, my work computer, Mr. Q’s iPad, and MacBook he has for work. The only browser I have not tried is Internet Exploder (what dev guys call Explorer), because I never use it. It should not be so fucking hard to get back to where you started and – “I’ve taken to noting the number of the original comment, then scrolling back, cursing all the while. Most of the time I don’t even bother” is a labor- intensive workaround. But clearly those of us who find it an annoyance are just internetting wrong.

    Based on Cole’s responses to my numerous complaints directly to him (none in ALL CAPS, btw) since this started, the only way I can interpret his lack of attention to the difficulty some of us have navigating the comments section is an invitation to self deport.

    *That arrow (top R <—) leads to the previous post.

    PS – thanks for checking and wishing all jackals the best holiday season possible in 2020.

  86. 86.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    Windows 10/Chrome,  All Site arrows are working correctly. The browser back and forward arrows work fine in comments. Ad block show 2 ads blocked on the site

  89. 89.

    Yarrow

    What has happened in the past is that the back arrow works fine on threads if I have not commented. If I have commented then all it does is take me back to my comment. The Comment Box will even be populated with the comment I just made.

    To get the back arrow working I have to click on the post title or do something so the URL doesn’t show the comment number. Then the back button works fine. I will test again after this comment.

    Edit: It seems to be working the way it should work now.

  90. 90.

    Rob

    Back Arrow:
    Can you see if the back arrow is working for you?

    Yes

     

    With my adblockers turned off

    Ads:
    Are the full-page ads still coming up when you click on a post from the front page?
    Yes

    Are there still ads within the banner with Balloon Juice and the balloon man?
    Yes

    Are there still ads within the post itself?
    Yes

    Are there ads in the comments – how frequently? Every 10 comments, 5 comments, 2 comments? After comments 4 & 8, nowhere else in the comments.

    And a bonus Tucker. Awesome!

    This is on a 2020 MacBook Pro with macOS Catalina, on Mozilla Firefox 83.0 (latest version)

  91. 91.

    WaterGirl

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Is there any chance you could check again right now?

    At 5:35 I turned off the plugin that is at least part of the back arrow problem.

    Since this has been such a huge issue for you, if it’s not too much trouble, could you refresh this page and then click on @somebody, and then see if the back arrow returns you to where you were?

    That way we can be sure that the test was done after 5:35pm blog time, when I turned off the plugin.

  94. 94.

    WaterGirl

    @Rob: It looks like you are still seeing some of the problematic ads that others are not.

    It would be tremendously helpful if you can send me screen captures of the two things that others don’t seem to be seeing.  That gives me documentation that John can show the ad guy.

    – screen capture of the full page ads that come up when you click on a post from the front page

    – screen capture of the ad that is inside the balloon man banner with the balloon guy

    thank you so much!

  96. 96.

    Gvg

    iPad Pro safari, back arrow worked once, then didn’t, then I saw you turned something off, I tried again and it worked so far.

    ads, above the title balloon juice, not bad, above Tucker picture, between posts 8 and 9. Didn’t bother me.

    i will check again after this post as some people got different results after they posted.

  100. 100.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: My experience as well – I’ve taken to memorizing the number of the comment I want to reply to so I can find my way back when I have to “refresh.”

    Now off to czech the back-arrow.

  101. 101.

    narya

    MacBook, Safari, mostly works fine (back arrow works). Ads sometimes in post and in comments (no ad blocker).

    Where ads have gotten icky is my old iPhone SE (I think that’s where I am)/Safari–there is ALWAYS an ad at the bottom, and if I’m reading in landscape, it takes up a third of the screen real estate. Even in portrait, it’s still 25% of the screen. If I click the x to close it, there’s still a box there. Sometimes, when I first load the site, there’s a big ad at the top AND the bottom ad . . . and no posts. As soon as I scroll a bit, the top ad goes away. But it’s becoming nearly impossible to do much on the phone.

    Back button hasn’t caused me problems.

  103. 103.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    Here is what DOES NOT WORK…take jeffreyw’s comment at 87 which is a reply to watergirl at 30.  If I click on watergirl in the comment it takes me to comment 30, if I then click the back button it does NOT go back to comment 87, it goes somewhere else.  Unless I anchor the post at comment 87 before I click on the watergirl link in comment 87 that goes back to comment 30 or remember what comment  number was jeffreyw’s comment I’m sent to a random comment with no way to get back.  This also happens when the text mode instead of visual mode comes up when you reply to a comment.

  105. 105.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @WaterGirl:  OK, here’s what I tried:

    • Comment 91, then clicked on respondent’s name that took me to
    • Comment 85, then clicked on that respondent’s name that took me to
    • Comment 33, then clicked on that respondent’s name that took me to
    • Comment 31.

    At that point I started exercising the back arrow:

    • From Comment 31, back arrow took me to
    • Comment 33, back arrow then took me to
    • Comment 85, back arrow then took me to
    • Comment 33 

    i.e, instead of Comment 91 where I started.

    So back arrow worked twice, but the third time screwed up. That’s progress…I guess…but when you’re trying to follow a long conversation buried in the midst of lots of o/t posts…

    (ETA: Dell Inspiron, Firefox [version 83.0, “up to date”], Win 7 [ayup, living dangerously])

  108. 108.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @WaterGirl: I refreshed the page, both with the site’s REFRESH, Chrome refresh and F5. I should also note that this machine was restarted yesterday and my semi-weekly cache clearing was yesterday. No change since 5:35 plugin adjustment.

    Same results. Experience similar to both BillinGlendaleCA and Uncle Cosmo. I confess I only tried Chrome and Firefox on my Lenovo PC Win10. But I have no expectation based on past experience with other OS/device, that it would be different. Please forgive my lack of dedication to more extensive testing.

    Thanks for the follow up.

  109. 109.

    WaterGirl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Okay, so you can take the trip down the road, and find your way back to 1 step from where you started, but it can’t get you back to the origin.

    Is that a fair description?

    If so, still better than where it was, but not quite right.

  110. 110.

    Yarrow

    @WaterGirl:  Yes, it seemed to be behaving at that time. Usually I just end up going to the top of the post and clicking the title again to kind of start over after a comment. The commenting messes up the back button too much. If it’s fixed now that would be great.

  112. 112.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara (HFG): Maybe you can run it through its paces now?  I plan to have the plugin turned off until Monday morning.

    So maybe you can keep an eye on how the back button is behaving and let me know?

    thanks

  113. 113.

    different-church-lady

    300 year old iPad: Front page not too bad. No misbehaving ads (none in between comments either). Back arrow seems to be fine.

    Checked these things on the iPad around 7:40 PM EST — so I don’t know which plug-ins you had on or off at that time.

  114. 114.

    different-church-lady

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Here’s what I do to stay sane: before refreshing or navigating to another comment via link, I click the permalink for the last comment I read. Then I can either (a) use the browser back button to return to that comment, or (b) refresh the page, which will jump me down to that comment while loading all the new ones below.

  119. 119.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @WaterGirl: Dell Inspiron, Firefox version 83.0, “up to date”, Win 7.

    See one ad in sidebar, none in post itself (though these have never been too annoying, one every 5 posts at most, nothing being blocked  out.)

    NB sorry this is so late but I got called away to negotiate next year’s Medicare enrollment.

  123. 123.

    J R in WV

    For what it’s worth, on the 5:58 thread, I was able to comment and use the back arrow without any nonsense to return to where I was when I commented. So yt stull works for me right now at 10:47

    …

  124. 124.

    Antonius

    The front page Twitter posts almost never actually appear on Chrome / Android. Firefox / Android can coax them to load after a delay.

  125. 125.

    David C

    iPad user – everything’s great. Fantastic layout and navigation, especially the “show full post” feature.

  127. 127.

    PhaedrusOnBass

    Hello WaterGirl!

    I use BJ mostly on a three-year-old iPad using Chrome. I’ve had a lot of issues in the recent past with the page, particularly when moving to Page 2. They have lessened significantly since I changed out of Dark Mode globally – I’ve had issues with other apps, particularly FlipBoard, and I think Chrome gets confused rendering pages switching between light and dark mode. I find that I need to let BJ load completely before I start scrolling – the crashes are almost eliminated, but sometimes I get impatient :D I put up with it because of the content…

    Thanks for listening!

  128. 128.

    HeartlandLiberal

    Go to a post in new tab, ad at top above banner, no ads down right side, no ads embedded in comments.

    FireFox, Windows 10, 17″ Dell Inspiron Laptop.

    I turn off AdBlock for Balloon-Juice to support it, I assume there is no residual activation.

  129. 129.

    Cam-WA

    @WaterGirl,

    Slow loading situation with our 2 iPads is DEFINITELY GREATLY IMPROVED, but still not entirely gone. The very important difference between now and before is that things had gotten so bad in terms of how long it took the front page to load (could be up to 60 seconds) that BJ was essentially unusable.

    In the last two (?) days, BJ’s front page has typically loaded within 5-10 seconds. Sunday morning took a bit longer, most likely because TaMara’s front page post had lots of images, which of course take longer to load than text.

    Putting the fold after a single embedded tweet made a big difference by itself, and then whatever else was done behind the curtain improved the situation more (SOMEthing else was done, because things got even better!)

    THANK YOU for persisting in working on this….We’re so happy to have BJ return to being something we actively enjoy (clarification: We ALWAYS enjoy the content…it was the experience that got in the way).

    Can’t speak about the other questions…ad blocker leaves out most of the ads, and we don’t tend to use the arrows very much (other than the up arrow to get to the top…that doesn’t work consistently for us).

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