Chat service availability

[#1]

Just to add to the discussion; I was recently having some problems with various websites informing me that some items could not be viewed due to an adblocker within Firefox (56). I could find no trace of any such app and I knew that I had never installed one. After a fair bit of digging it turned out to be a new option within Windscribe (VPN) that was automatically turned on.

As there are many adblockers out there from many sources it would be a difficult job to cover them all. Does it take that much to search on Google for further help and advice?

[#2]

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@Mav wrote:

As there are many adblockers out there from many sources it would be a difficult job to cover them all. Does it take that much to search on Google for further help and advice?

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Yes, there are many adblockers "out there"... and I am not suggesting that an exahustive list of them should be promulgated, with step by step instructions on how to deal with each one...  what I am trying to suggest is that when any information is put on the Live Chat access pages, about adblockers,... then perhaps a link to another "plusnet help page" would be a good idea, to give the less computer savvy a place to try and make a start on solving the problem themselves.

@Townman  Sorry if you think I have hijacked this thread,  "with meaningless analogies"....

If you did not want to have people airing their views, and (hopefully) adding something to the discussion of how to solve the problem of Live Chat being unavailable to less computer savvy people than yourself,, you should have asked the mods to make it a locked sticky.

YOU may think the analogies I have used were meaningless, because you have superior knowledge of how adblockers work, as does @Mav by what he has said. ( quoted above)..

           in response to that... YES, it does take "that much" to search on google, when you are frustrated by the inadequacies of the live chat "help" saying nothing about what to search for, nor how to effect a solution. your primary concern is to contact PlusNet through the Live Chat, because you want an answer to some query...

@Townman   states....

Plusnet have been asked about what advice might be offered ... without creating the burden of reproducing all that is already in the public domain and then having to maintain it.

My postings are trying to suggest things that could be discussed by the SU group,  reagrding  "..... what advice might be offered .... "  and to how that "advice"  can be disseminated to the less fortunate (than yourselves) rather than a useless statement saying "try later"  and my analogies are put into the postings to point out the failings of the wording of the information so far given by yourself  as in this statement of the obvious ( to you  .....but not everyone else... )   " advert and pop up blockers have / do contribute to the problem."   and   "there are many resources out there already"

As previously mentioned... a short list of the more popular adblockers could be given, and what to look for in those adblockers, would be much more use than  "go and google it ".....

[#3]

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wrote:

I think the point I am trying to make is ... that not everyone knows what an adblocker is,  ( which is a "generic" term for a type of application)...

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If they don't know what an ad-blocker is why would it be on their PC? If they installed it themselves they should know what it is, if they don't know what it is it's their own stupid fault for installing software they don't understand. If someone else installed it for them they should get support from whoever installed it.

Plusnet flagging up that ad-blockers can cause issues is totally sufficient by pointing them in the direction that needs investigation!

[#4]

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@Townman

@jelv wrote:

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Plusnet flagging up that ad-blockers can cause issues is totally sufficient by pointing them in the direction that needs investigation!

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Actually, your comments are not completely correct ...  as previously mentioned, I installed Ghostrey as a tracking blocker... . so , i did not know, ( at that time ) that it WAS/IS an adblocker...

Regarding your statement quoted above,...   again, not entirely correct...

New install of firefox... no  addons... but it shows this pic...

 If I go to "Help".. it says "Restart with all ADDONS disabled"... and then "Restart in safe mode"... Live Chat works.

On the reverse of that... I added some addons... ( see pic ) 

Tried again, . got the first pic again...

The advice given is to disable all addons,  and then activate them one by one, until the problem is identified

so followed that, and  then "disabled" them from the Tools > Addons   and again, get the result that is shown in the first pic.

It would seem to me... a non-geeky computer nerd,.... that there is something else that is blocking Live Chat... rather than the addons... 

I have been using Firefox for the last 8 years, at least..and apart from a previous occasion,( already described in a very old thread - where Ghostery and Google Tag Manager, and  Live Person were found to be the culprits )  have had no problems using Live Chat.with all my addons,( including Ghostery suitably adjusted. )

[#5]

OK - the statement needs to be amended to not just say "ad-blockers" but "ad or tracking blockers".

Job done!

[#6]

Perhaps the statement should be amended as follows.....

[#7]

It's not just Plusnet's chat that is affected by this - I suggest you raise this with Firefox and the add-on creators to show something in the status etc. to show they are blocking something and give the option to retry with the blocking turned off.

[#8]

Someone has succeeded in totally derailing this topic. The topic is about issues where even if there is no problem at the users end, due to bugs in Plusnet's website, if the user takes a particular route the chat service always shows as unavailable.

Either this topic should be locked or all the unhelpful off-topic posts should be deleted/split off (from reply 9 onwards).

[#9]

@jelv  I am assuming that my posts are the unhelpful one`s. that you wish to be deleted?  but yours are helpful, so  should not be deleted... however... it appears that at least ONE  ( my last )  has thrown you completely, because it appears from your post, that you have found something useful in my post.  And your comment that "you should contact firefox....... etc... " is presumably pointed in my direction too... whereas that course of action should be taken by the ISP`s concerned..... not individual users.. (who would have no say in the matter) ..

Whether a user can access Live Chat, or not..  this topic is of concern to all Live Chat customers,..  no matter which direction a customer takes, . my posts have been constructed in a manner to help the discussion of the problems associated with ineffective information/instructions posted on the Live Chat access pages.

I rest my case.... and apologise for any "hi-jacking" that may have been perceived by other users. 

[#10]

I'm totally happy for my posts to be deleted/split as they are not relevant to the topic - I got sucked in!

[#11]

Moderator's note:

One post removed that was way off topic plus I have locked the thread as it appears to be going nowhere.