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« Web Design Trouble Shooting. Problem(s) resolved»

Disappearing links and images


It's time like this I start to go off Norton Internet Suite!

Confused by your logo or page banner not displaying on the Internet? Have all the links to your carefully planned and heavily advertised sales promotion been mysteriously deleted. Perhaps you are looking for a sponsor and getting no replies. As for your advertising campaign, have you figured out why the images and links are missing?

Well, it's possibly Symantec's fault - blame them!

I was seeing links stripped out of my (live) pages and for the life of me couldn't figure it out. Eventually, between me and the ISP's support team we managed to blame Norton Internet Suites Spam filters, although I had tested this previously. That said, the rules are updated often.

Text based navigation links with ad blocking off     Text based navigation links shown with ad blocking on, deleting the affected link entry

Incidentally, I initially sorted it by renaming the directory from /adverts to /dadvert.


Text ordered list links with ad blocking off, as normal     Text ordered list links with ad blocking on, affected links deleted

Here's a few of the things on the current NIS 2005 default ad block: (Note in these below where links, you'd see nothing!)


Yet, things like the following default to allowed content:


What I find particularly perplexing is that these of mine aren't even images, they are straight links. Looking at their list anything linking to /ads is going to get stripped. I can't be bothered testing something that may well change overnight, but at present I'd be very wary of using directories with dangerous, threatening names like ads, adsorb or even Adsense! Fullily enough, I was trying to figuring why the heck some of Google ads where showing up on some pages.

You know, I can't remember if ad-blocking with NIS is on by default but it seems to me to utterly unreliable when links to a companies eCommerce site monthly promotions can be classed as a risk and stripped out, from a registered charity sponsorship drive and so forth. But this, in my view completely hypocritical when they specifically allow entries from jackpot.com, whose home page advices:

By clicking on the submit button, express entry or yes to all button, I certify that I am at least 18 years old and agree to the Jackpot User Agreement, Jackpot Sweepstakes Rules, and Jackpot Privacy Policy. I understand that by agreeing to the Privacy Policy, I am agreeing to receive great offers from Jackpot and its affiliates.

… I certify that I am at least 18 years old … and its affiliates

While this obviously may not be the case with Jackpot, in my experience that agreement is just begging to have your email address sold/distributed to 'adult content' Spammers.
Here's your agreement from our affiliate to opt-in to all the junk we have.

*Mutter*

~ Paul


Symantec Help Center (application help)

Ad Blocking detects and blocks ads based on two criteria: their dimensions and their locations.

Block by dimensions
Most online advertisers use one or more standard sizes for their ads. Ad Blocking includes the ability to block images and other HTML elements that have the same dimensions as these common ad sizes.

Block by location
Every file on the Internet has a unique address or URL (uniform resource locator). When you view a Web page, your computer connects to the address you request and displays the file that is stored there. If the page includes graphics, audio files, and other multimedia content, your browser displays the files as part of the page.

When you go to a Web page that includes an ad, the instructions used to display the page might include the following:

Greetings from the Uninvited Ads company <img src="http://www.uninvitedads.com/nifty_images/image7.gif">

Your browser displays the text Greetings from the Uninvited Ads company on the screen. Then it connects to www.uninvitedads.com and requests a file called /nifty_images/image7.gif. (The suffix .gif indicates that this is a Graphics Interchange Format file, a common image file format.) The computer at www.uninvitedads.com sends the file to the browser, which displays the image.

When Ad Blocking is enabled and you connect to a Web site, it scans Web pages and compares their contents to two lists:

A default list of ads that Ad Blocking blocks automatically. Use LiveUpdate to keep the list of blocked ads current.
A list that you create as you block specific ads. You can add to and change this list. If the page includes files from a blocked domain, Ad Blocking removes the link and downloads the rest of the page.


Here's how to enable - or disable the ad blocking, or Pop-ups, which are here also:

Ad Blocking compares the addresses of ads that are being downloaded by your browser with its own list of ads to block. If it finds a match, it removes the ad so that it does not appear in your browser, leaving the rest of the Web page intact.

To turn off Ad Blocking

In the main window, under Norton AntiSpam, click Status & Settings.
In the System Status pane, double-click Ad Blocking.
In the Ad Blocking window, in the Ad Blocking settings for drop-down list, select the account that you want to change.
In the Ad Blocking window, uncheck Turn on Ad Blocking.
Click OK.


This exclaims why, recently, I was seeing 'banner.gif' (a logo) stripped, and not 'bannr.gif' and why, a few years ago, I was seeing one or two of my buttons removed:

Content Blocked:
Date Time: 16/09/2003 12:29:52
User:
Action: Blocked
Type: Ad
URL: http://www.ackadia.com/
Data: IMG src="menu-images/xhtml.gif" (Reason: width=88 height=31)

Now, here's the thing, 88x31 is the default size for micro-buttons and a standard preset in many packages like Paintshop Pro. Why on earth would they block it!? The mind boggles.