So it appears to definitely be a problem caused by or related to the the GoogleSyndication redirection. I just wish I could figure out why I could not reproduce it in any way.

 

I cant back up either. Gives me a page expired message. Does this on 5 different computers all at different locations that I have used.

FYI


Chad

 

I was finally able to reproduce this error, so hopefully soon I can figure out a workaround.

cthree: Instead of using a guest account, I simply logged out of my own account and browsed as normal (on a work PC this time; Dell, WinXP, IE7). When thread pages load, if the Google ads aren't able to load for some reason (the JavaScript creates an IFRAME for each) then IE populates the History with either a link (http://pagead2.googlesyndication.etc...) or a 404 not found "marker."

I'm still looking into WHY this happens, but I know it has to do with the pages being NON-linear (pages inside of pages), having to populate into history which IS linear.

 

I'll get right down to business first thing, so the less- or non-techy types don't have to read through a bunch of Jargon. For those having this problem, you have two options:

1. Use a different browser to view s2ki.com. There are a few good ones out there; Safari, Opera, FireFox, etc..

2. Register, and become a member of s2ki.com. Excuses, excuses, just suck it up; it's only $20. POOF, no more "back" problems.


And now for the nerdy details, in all their glory:

This "problem" is indeed an ISSUE (not a problem) with Internet Explorer. Sorry IE haters, it's really just an unfortunate "side effect" and was programmed that way. What it comes down to is how Google inserts advertisements into other peoples' websites.

Google uses JavaScriptlets (a kind of portable JavaScript) which, in IE at least (and possibly other browsers, I haven't looked), create inline IFRAMEs (a type of HTML container) that load the ads. IFRAMES can either be created a lot of different ways, but for the purpose of this post, I've "dumbed it down" to being either "static" (pre-existing in HTML code) or "dynamic" (created 'on-the-fly' through code). Google inserts IFRAMEs dynamically.

The issue is that each browser out there treats IFRAMEs and History in different ways. In FireFox (and I think Opera) only static IFRAMEs affect the history, dynamic do not. In Safari, IFRAMEs never affect history. Finally, in Internet Explorer, IFRAMES always affect the history.

So what is happening is:
1. You load an S2KI thread containing one or more Google ads into your browser.
2. For some reason, one or more (usually more) Google ads can not be loaded (I have not determined the reason why they don't load).
3. The failed ad causes a "404 Not Found" or "400 Bad Request" event.
4. If you're using Internet Explorer, these events appear in your history.

Repeat steps 2-4 every time a Google ad doesn't load.

And that is why you have to hit the back button two or more times.


So, is there a way to fix this? Yes, YOU (the reader) can fix it quite easily. Please see my instructions at the beginning of this post. Can S2KI fix this? Maybe (and that's a big maybe). The interactions between webpages and browser are very complex, and unfortunately differ for every different type of browser, and every different version of those browsers. To my knowledge, there is no "simple" fix, so potentially, any coding-based fix might require tens, hundreds, thousands of lines of code or more. Trust me, it's easier for all of us if you just pay the damned $20.

I hope you appreciate the hours I put into trying to reproduce and diagnose this problem; have a nice day.

 

I have seen this and I may know what the problem is and it isn't entirely IE or Google's fault. I'm going to make a quick change to something and see if it helps.

 

Ok, please let me know if the problem is resolved.

 

Problem still exists.

 

Confirmed. I can still reproduce this at work under Guest.

 

Could google be any help? This problem is preventing their ads from displaying on my notebook and it sounds like it shouldn't be confined to just s2ki. I am running IE6 on XP Pro, SP2. Just an idea.

 

I haven't seen and info from Google about it.

Still seeing the 400 errors?

I'll try to completely regenerate the placement code and see what happens.