Ads Won’t Randomize with WP Super Cache Turned On

Can you share the shortcode you are using?

Thanks,
Eric

[dfads params=’groups=143&limit=1&orderby=random&container_id=randomAd&return_javascript=1′]

I only added the “return_javascript=1” part after I noticed the ads weren’t randomizing last week. It didn’t change anything. My understanding (possibly incorrect) is that the “javascript” portion of the code is only for users without javascript turned on anyway. Javascript is definitely turned on in my browsers, so I would think it should definitely be working in my browsers, either way.

Hi

I think it’s related to the formatting of your final single quote.

Can you change your shortcode to this:

[dfads params='groups=143&limit=1&orderby=random&container_id=randomAd&return_javascript=1']

That should fix it.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by datafeedr.

Sorry, I’m not seeing any difference between the shortcode I provided and your shortcode – at least not within the []. Looks identical to me.

Right, can you check my updated post (above)? I updated it with the correct shortcode code.

Still again – the “updated” code looks identical to what I already have. What is the difference that I’m missing? The two shortcodes are below – mine on top, and yours on the bottom. Aren’t they identical?

[dfads params=’groups=143&limit=1&orderby=random&container_id=randomAd&return_javascript=1′]

[dfads params=’groups=143&limit=1&orderby=random&container_id=randomAd&return_javascript=1′]

The single quotes are getting rendered differently on my end.

Can you try this: https://gist.github.com/EricBusch/1a97e476a946b71ef0def3b33b759bb7

Ok, now I see what you’re talking about – the straight up and down quotes versus the slanted ones. Actually, within WordPress, the quotes ARE the straight kind, not slanted. It must be this forum that’s changing them to “smart” quotes. So, basically, we’re still back to my shortcode already being correctly formatted, but not randomizing.

It’s random for me…

First I got this ad:
https://sgfneighborhoodnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/JobCenter-ad-Leaderboard.png

Then I got this ad:
https://sgfneighborhoodnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/goSpringfieldMoLeaderboard.jpg

Then I got this ad:
https://sgfneighborhoodnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/cvbLeaderboard1.jpg

Just so you know, ads will be randomized per page load, not after the page has loaded. Specifically, when looking at the page, the ad will not automatically change to a different ad. Ads only change on page reloads.

Hope this helps!

I may not have specified, but that is not the ad block in question. It’s the right hand column ad block that was not seeming to randomize. Also, my original post stated this:

“I finally found a setting in the WP Super Cache plugin to keep it from caching the home page, but that’s not a true solution, as the Ads plugin says it’s supposed to work even with caching plugins.”

Three browsers across two computers kept showing the same ad with no changes last week UNLESS I had told WP Super Cache to NOT cache the homepage. I just now unchecked that setting in WP and reloaded the page 14 times:

13 times in a row I got this ad:
https://sgfneighborhoodnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BYC-SGFNN-ad-Web.png

Then I finally got this one, 2x:
https://sgfneighborhoodnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/trainLandlord.png

Perhaps it really is just a statistical anomaly that one ad comes up so many more times than the other, over several days, browsers, and multiple computers. With only two ads in that group, maybe it just doesn’t have enough to choose from to make it look random, but it’s odd that one shows only about 15% of the time, and the other one consistently shows about 85% of the time. I’ll continue to test.

Yes, I’m seeing both ads as well. It’s completely random.

This is what I saw in 10 page refreshes (color indicates ad color):

1  brown
2  brown
3  brown
4  blue
5  blue
6  blue
7  blue
8  brown
9  brown
10 blue

So that was 50/50.

Eric

I admit, it is doing much better today. Odd, since no code really changed. But I really couldn’t ever get more than the blue one to show last week with caching turned on. I just added another ad, and all three are now coming up randomly.

Cool, glad it’s working now.

BTW, I went to school at SMSU (now MSU)! Small world! Looks like you have a good resource for Springfield! Keep it up!