Adverts are being displayed at the top - twice

AI-generated summary

A bug has been reported where the #adplugin displays two adverts at the top of the screen on mobile devices (and also replicable on desktop macOS Safari), instead of the expected single advert. Richie first observed this on iOS16.3.1 (Safari and Chrome), noting it only resolves after a browser refresh — navigation or clicking the site logo doesn’t fix it. Richie later confirmed the issue also occurs on macOS Ventura 13.2.1 with Safari 16.3. JammyDodger confirmed seeing the issue on Richie’s site but couldn’t identify the cause. Richie admits uncertainty and has placed a bounty on the issue via Marketplace to encourage a fix. All ad units are set to Responsive in both plugin settings and Google AdSense. The bug appears to be tied to initial page load in private/incognito sessions after accepting cookie and ad consent.

I’ve stumbled upon a bug which is related to the #adplugin whereby it displays two adverts at the top of the screen on mobile (desktop is not affected) and it only goes away if you reload the page via the browser refresh button.

Tested on iOS16.3.1 with Safari and also with Chrome 110.0.5481.x

Steps to replicate:

  1. Start a new private / incognito browser session
  2. Go to a Discourse site using the #adplugin
    – you can use the site on my profile to see this bug in action
  3. Accept all the cookie consent banner, consent to the Google ads, close the versatile banner theme to reveal the site

What should happen:

  • One advert should be displayed at the top of the mobile screen
    – like this:


What actually happens:

  • Two adverts are displayed at the top of the screen
    – like this:


The only way to get rid of the two adverts, and make it only show one advert, is to press the browser reload button (on Safari and Chrome).

No amount of browsing the forum, or pressing the site logo, will remove the two adverts.

This issue only occurs on mobile, I cannot replicate on desktop.

My #adplugin settings are simply my ad unit code in every single box, and I’ve changed them all to be Responsive (the ad unit is also set to responsive on Adsense itself).

I am able to replicate this on Desktop too using macOS Ventura 13.2.1 with Safari 16.3

Just to note that I am also seeing this on your site, but I’m afraid I don’t know what’s causing it.

2 Likes

Neither do I :confused:

I’ll bounty this one to Marketplace too.

1 Like