Having A Problem With The Quote and Reply Buttons

For the past few weeks (or maybe it's been longer than that) I've suddenly been having problems trying to click on the "reply" and "quote" buttons in threads.

When I click on them, nothing happens. I try clicking on them several times, refreshing the page and trying again, closing the thread and reopening the thread and trying it again. I've tried closing ATS, reopening ATS, then reopening the thread and trying to reply or quote and again... nothing.

I've tried clearing my cache and cookies but again... nothing.

Sometimes one or more of these methods works, but more times than not they don't and it's getting to be quite frustrating having to horse around trying to get it to work.

It gets to a point where all I can do is read stuff but can't do anything else ?

I don't have any problems clicking on and opening threads or specific thread pages, or opening up various forums, or going into my account, or my messages, etc etc.

The only problem seems to be with the "quote" and "reply" buttons specifically in threads ?



I'm using Firefox (version 56.0) and have Windows 7 Home Edition, but I've never had this problem before on ATS, so why am I now suddenly having this problem ? My Firefox has been on the latest 56.0 version for several months before this problem arose so I don't think that can be it ?

Has there been some sort of technical changes to ATS behind the scenes in the past month or so maybe ?

Is anyone else encountering this same type of problem or is it just me ?

Any ideas what might be happening ?




Oh and FYI:

If I don't respond to posts in this thread, it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate any help you guys might be tossing at me, it just means that I'm not able to friggin "reply" or "quote" again... *grumble grumble*

And as you can see, I'm not having any problem starting a new thread and posting an opening post...

a reply to: CranialSponge

Could it be Firefox? Also, I just checked...and at least for 64-bit FF, it's now on 58.0.

Try a different browser maybe?

a reply to: CranialSponge

The problems you describe would indicate some kind of software problem. The first thing I would do is update Firefox to the version available which is not the version you indicate. (Click on Help in the Firefox menu, then the About Firefox entry. (ETA The last step lets you see if FF sees the new update. Just to be clear.)) Then check FF extensions listed as installed via the FF menu Tools, then Add-ons, you may have spy/ad ware.)

ETA I have Win7 and FF too. We do the easy stuff first, trust me, I used to be a professional.



ETA2 If Firefox doesn't see the update deinstall it and restart the PC. Then go to mozilla.org and download a fresh copy and install it using a different browser. (Internet Exploder is fine) Restart PC. Your Firefox profile will not be deleted. You should be good to go, if not there's a nasty in your profile but one bridge at a time.

Hope it helps

Alright I've updated Firefox to 58.0 (the latest one apparently) and it installed fine.

Logged into ATS, tried out a few threads to test, clicked on reply or quote and here's what's happening:

Some threads are no problem to reply/quote and some threads just won't let me.


I don't have any new add-ons or extensions that I haven't had already for well over a couple of years now, and they're all working fine with the new update too.

I also recently scanned my computer (last week) with my virus program, malwarebytes, spybot, and ccleaner... no spyware or malware detected by any of those programs (I always scan my computer with 3 and 4 different programs because not all programs will catch every single thing every single time).

There doesn't seem to be anything wonky that I can tell...

So I'm at a loss at this point ?

Also note:

I don't have any problems surfing the internet otherwise.

No problems with clicking on links, opening pages, streaming videos, opening multiple tabs, etc etc... I'm not having any other issues happening other than this crazy reply/quote thing on ATS, specifically.

And what makes it even more weird is that it works fine for some threads, while not for others... which really has me scratching my head.

a reply to: CranialSponge

The only other thing that fits is a memory error. Microsoft have a program you can install but I forget the name. You boot from that program and it tests all RAM modules. Faulty memory (or worse, CPU, northbridge or southbridge) is my guess. Let it run for a half hour, one bit error is enough.

ETA Windows Memory Diagnostic

a reply to: LightSpeedDriver

Dang...

Okay, I guess I'll give that a try.

I'll search on google and look for it.

Wish me luck !

Thanks.

a reply to: LightSpeedDriver

So apparently Win 7 already has that memory diagnostics installed with the OS.

So I'm going to log out of ATS and run the mdsched.exe and see what it tells me.

*sigh*

a reply to: CranialSponge

And if that doesn't show an error I have 2 more scenarios, one of which I don't think will help but you never know. BIOS update (again, doubtful).

The second (and more likely scenario) is that there is a hardware problem with your pointing/clicking device and/or the connection it makes with the PC. Low battery? Slightly broken cable? Too much clicky clicky on the left button? You managed to reply to me twice in a row now so it works sometimes.

a reply to: CranialSponge

Please tell me it didn't break!

The "quote" and "reply" buttons work with Javascript, so I see two possibilities: a problem with Javascript or some invisible object in front of the buttons.

So I ran the memory diagnostics tool, no problems were found.

And I have no hardware problems (ie: mouse) because I don't have any problems performing any other tasks on my computer or doing anything else on the internet.

So....

Due to a lack of ideas, I decided to go so far as to install Google Chrome to see if it really is a browser problem I've got happening.

And it turns out, I have no problems clicking on the quote/reply buttons when I'm using Chrome. So it seems the problem is with my Firefox program.

But I've run full scans of my computer with five different malware/antivirus programs and no problems were detected there.

I really don't want to have to go through a stupid fresh install of Firefox (pain in the butt), so as much as I hate Chrome, I think I'll use that whenever I want to surf ATS and use Firefox for everything else (since I'm not having problems that I can see with it anywhere else on the internet).

*sigh*

originally posted by: ArMaP
The "quote" and "reply" buttons work with Javascript, so I see two possibilities: a problem with Javascript or some invisible object in front of the buttons.

Ah, _javascript.

It might be worthwhile then for me to horse around with _javascript (it's fully up-to-date right now), maybe uninstall and reinstall it from fresh and see if that resolves the problem ?

It's definitely much easier to do a fresh new java reinstall than it is for firefox.

Thanks for the idea !

a reply to: CranialSponge

I'm having the same issues and it's both on my Android phone as well as my laptop, it's been happening for a few weeks now.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

You too ?

Are you using Firefox ?

a reply to: CranialSponge

No Firefox was causing me issues, I just use the default browser for windows 10, it's called edge I think.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

I'm wondering if it is a Javascript issue like ArMaP suggested, it makes sense that the quote/reply buttons depend on a proper working _javascript to function.

When I get the chance, I'm going to uninstall and reinstall _javascript and see if that resolves the problem.

I'll let you guys know if it works.



Maybe you might want to try the same thing, it only takes a few minutes to reinstall _javascript.

a reply to: CranialSponge

It could possibly be this.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

A few members had issues a while back with a 'report advertisement' link blocking access to some functions.

Maybe not your problem, but worth checking.

a reply to: CranialSponge

The good news is there is nothing wrong with your PC! Perhaps I took things too literally. As I now finally understand (it's difficult via text on a forum), clicking the link does nothing rather than the clicking part not working.

Javascript is not an installable or uninstallable component in windows 7 as far as I know. I think the browser usually carries it's own version. The thread posted by cuckooold sounds a little like your issue but the issue was supposedly fixed back in December last.

If you can live with Chrome, it might be the easiest way to go.