What is preventing me from backing out of this website?

June 2, 2017 12:49 PM

I sometimes encounter websites that won't let me use the back button to escape them. In fact, each time I click them opens another tab which adds more time. Most recently, this one - http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/feedback/. Why does this happen? Do webmasters know it happens? Is it a technical problem or intentional somehow?
posted by CollectiveMind to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Response by poster: And, clicking the "X" at the upper right of the screen or using the "Close all Tabs" seems to hang it up. I end up going to Task Manager to find the problem. Maybe its my browser, though it's updated.
posted by CollectiveMind at 12:51 PM on June 2, 2017

The back button works OK for me on that page, using Firefox in Windows 7. What browser/OS are you using?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:52 PM on June 2, 2017

Works ok for me on that page, and I can close using the X also. I am using Chrome on Windows 10.
posted by clone boulevard at 1:03 PM on June 2, 2017

My first guess is that you were automatically redirected to that page and when you hit "back" it is taking you back to the page that automatically redirected you, which once again automatically redirects you. Others are not having the problem because they are accessing the page directly rather than via the redirect that got you there.

If you right-click on the "back" button you might be able to skip over the page that is redirecting you.

That wouldn't explain why you can't easily close that tab, though - could be two different problems, or could be something unusual about your browser setup? Are you running any browser plugins?
posted by mskyle at 1:08 PM on June 2, 2017 [6 favorites]

Firefox on a Mac, and the back button and the X work just fine.

Have you checked your system for bugs or malware?
posted by hydra77 at 1:09 PM on June 2, 2017

Response by poster: I have AVG's latest update. Its scan show no bugs. I'll try reinstalling Firefox on my Windows machine. Thanks for the checks.
posted by CollectiveMind at 1:11 PM on June 2, 2017

I like mskyle's idea. How did you get to the page?
posted by Obscure Reference at 1:30 PM on June 2, 2017

Because of the various ways that web people (I hesitate to use the term "designers") try to break browsers, it may be how you got to that page that's breaking the back button.

Specifically, a web page can use JavaScript to go to a page, and if you go back to the previous page and it uses JavaScript to go to the http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/feedback/ page, then those of us who are going directly there are able to back out no problem, but in your case it's the page you visited before that that's the problem...
posted by straw at 1:38 PM on June 2, 2017

Also try turning off any extensions, plugins or grease monkey scripts (if you have any).
posted by forforf at 3:12 PM on June 2, 2017

When I run into this, I call up the page history (right-click back button on my Windows 10 Chrome browser) and just scroll down to the page I know I came from.
posted by elmay at 3:42 PM on June 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

I find that double clicking the back button (or clicking it many times in a row) can sometimes break that cycle, which makes me think straw and mskyle have the right explanation.
posted by gideonfrog at 8:04 PM on June 2, 2017

My money is on malware. It is possible for a site to break the back button / open new tabs with Javascript, it's malicious behavior you see in bad neighborhoods like free porn sites. But there's no way pbs.org would be doing that and I don't see it happening now there.

Can you reliably reproduce the problem? If you can post the exact steps to do it, we can help more. It'd also be interesting to know if you have the same problem with another web browser and whether the same problem occurs on https://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/feedback/, the secure version of that URL you posted.

Possible vectors for the malware include something on your Windows machine, some addon installed in Firefox, or your ISP or other network stuff injecting malware into unrelated web pages.
posted by Nelson at 7:51 AM on June 3, 2017