When I go to the straighdope.com, it started trying to download a file. This is even before the page displays.
Sounds very suspicious to me: have you been hit with a virus?
Huh. Didn’t happen to me.
I didn’t get a file trying to download. Maybe you should run a virus scan?
Nothing strange to report here, either.
The problem is not on this end, I assure you.
We will never ask you download something from our front page or anywhere else, the board does not work that way.
This question pops up (pun intended) from time to time and has been answered quite nicely in the past, let me direct you here:
Weird happenings on the SD homepage
>http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=284361
Short version: You’ve picked up something that is triggered by the ad on the Straight Dope front page, currently the only ad running on the entire site. The Chicago Reader’s ads are administered through DoubleClick and THAT’s what triggers the cookie you picked up.
Unfortunately this problem comes up enough so that we need to make this more prominent in our help features. Update of our information is on the way. Sorry for your inconvenience.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator