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When browsing the site using Internet Explorer, a new banner indicating that IE is no longer officially supported appears:

Sorry, we no longer support Internet Explorer

Unfortunately, there is no way to dismiss this prompt. Can there please be a way to dismiss this prompt? (Especially since there are platforms on which it's not possible to install other browsers, e.g. Windows RT or some older company PCs.)

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  • 10
    Why would you willingly use IE?
    – Zoe
    Nov 12, 2019 at 17:09
  • 18
    @Zoe I use Windows RT on occasion, on which IE is the only browser you can use and there is no way to install another browser on it.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Nov 12, 2019 at 17:09
  • 18
    @Zoe - My employer has "standardized" on it due to all their intranet tools being written to use it, and does not allow installs of other browsers. I don't use it at home of course, but I have 0 choice in the matter at work.
    – T.E.D.
    Nov 12, 2019 at 17:22
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    @T.E.D. That's not willingly.
    – Zoe
    Nov 12, 2019 at 17:23
  • 4
    I can see how adding the ability to dismiss the "no longer supported" banner in a browser might be interpreted as supporting that browser.
    – Don't Panic
    Nov 12, 2019 at 17:42
  • 8
    @Don'tPanic That would need a level of incompetence where I then wonder how that person managed to sit upright in front of the monitor. And still, you can just name that button "ignore this message" and that problem should be solved.
    – Tom
    Nov 12, 2019 at 17:45
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    @Tom How would the name of a button help someone sit upright?
    – Don't Panic
    Nov 12, 2019 at 17:52
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    @Tom "That would need a level of incompetence where I then wonder how that person managed to sit upright in front of the monitor." That's widespread and well known as PEBKAC.
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    Nov 12, 2019 at 18:53
  • 1
    The way you disable it is to upgrade to a supported browser. If you can't, explain to your company how much of an impact their policy to not upgrade to Edge is having to your continued productivity.
    – Makoto
    Nov 12, 2019 at 19:33
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    I think the biggest irony here is that you're asking them to make a FR change for IE after they've explicitly said they no longer support IE :P
    – scohe001
    Nov 12, 2019 at 19:35
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    direct your complaints at IT
    – Kevin B
    Nov 12, 2019 at 21:34
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    Ironically, I just hit "Close this Message" on a banner stating "If you think this question is helpful, please consider a comment". It's almost like it's a common practice to have the ability to close banners...
    – FreeSoftwareServers
    Nov 13, 2019 at 4:38
  • 2
    @Zoe If there are no ad blockers, how to use stackexchange? All these banners, questionable ads and fingerprinting made it impossible to use it without ad blockers
    – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz
    Nov 13, 2019 at 12:49
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    @April--Un-SlanderMonica-- We haven't yet removed all the IE-specific code that will break the site. Most notably, the voting buttons will not be floated to the left of the post in IE browsers. Instead, they'll appear as a large block with a ton of blank space on the left and right above each post. There will also be overlapping text in a few places.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Nov 13, 2019 at 15:06
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    @Zoe IE does support ad blockers. EasyList is available as a Tracking Protection List for IE, which effectively gives it ad blocking capabilities.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Nov 13, 2019 at 17:15

4 Answers 4

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Yesterday, while logged in via IE I could upvote comments, posts, and questions. This morning, that functionality is gone.

Are they REMOVING functionality?
Is S.E./S.O. Inc. actively changing the codebase in a way designed specifically to cause issues with a browser they don't support, or is it a side-effect of some other change?

I am not using this browser by choice - it's the only authorized one where I work (a contract at a federal job, with their IT regulations). I am pretty sure I am not the only one using IE because it's the only option.

I also see that I can no longer add comments, or expand more comments.

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    Is S.E./S.O. Inc. actively changing the codebase in a way designed specifically to cause issues with a browser they don't support? Nope, that would not make sense. But trust me, even the slightest improvement to the codebase can throw IE into hissy fits if you're not careful. And most of us are tired of being careful with IE in the first place.
    – Frédéric Hamidi
    Nov 27, 2019 at 14:43
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    @FrédéricHamidi : ‘‘No, Stack Exchange didn’t do X, because X would not make sense.’’   Citation needed.
    – Scott - Слава Україні
    Nov 27, 2019 at 20:29
  • April:  I’m have the same problems.
    – Scott - Слава Україні
    Nov 28, 2019 at 2:06
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    Accepting this since this appears to be the final resolution. The change in question was to remove all the IE-specific hacks that were present in the code.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Mar 4, 2020 at 23:46
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IE is still widely used, especially in enterprise environments. One might be actually forced to use it. In this case, the banner becomes only a nuisance, because you just can't switch browsers as you'd wish.

I don't think anyone needs to be actually reminded everytime that IE is bad and there are better solutions; it's perfectly possible they would really like to use another browser, but just can't.

You have given your warning; if someone then insists on using IE (or, more likely, just has to use it), it's their problem; but forcing a banner upon them is a bit rude.

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  • 2
    Most people are not aware that IE 11 still receives security updates, it even from time to time, receives very minor feature updates (limited to IE11 builds on supported versions of Windows). Now the Trident engine will never be updated to be feature complete with any of the other current browser engines, which is likely the major reason, Stack Exchange has decided not to support it. Although, not supporting IE 11, sort of breaks the general policy of supporting browsers that are supported (i.e. by Google, Mozilla, Apple, Microsoft, etc).
    – Ramhound
    Nov 12, 2019 at 22:04
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    Yes... everything has been working the same today as it has been for the last few years on IE at work. I'd love to dismiss the banner! If I find a function that doesn't work I can remote in a VM on my home LAN, but I highly doubt that use case happening often. I too am forced by work to use IE.
    – FreeSoftwareServers
    Nov 13, 2019 at 4:36
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    It is because of this kind of attitude that IE is still used. There should be zero tolerance towards IE in order to kill it already.
    – Senior Wrangler
    Nov 13, 2019 at 13:53
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    Also a really bad use of screen real-estate. On my setup it takes up something like 10% of the window. That's crazy just for one message.
    – T.E.D.
    Nov 13, 2019 at 15:25
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    @T.E.D. It's a bad use of screen real-estate on a browser that is not supported. There is no reason for a site to make cosmetic changes directed specifically towards a browser that it doesn't support. That's what unsupported means.
    – Ludwik Trammer
    Nov 13, 2019 at 19:56
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    @Ludwik You've missed the point here, the site has made cosmetic changes directed specifically towards a browser that it doesn't support, and that cosmetic change has caused this discussion because it's annoying.
    – Wolfie
    Nov 15, 2019 at 8:14
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    @Renan That's just condescending.
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Nov 27, 2019 at 14:45
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Yes!

I share your pain due to work IT policies.

A good example of how this can be done is Github, which has a similar message with a helpful "Ignore" button. This is a great compromise:

Github banner

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    The more websites that tell you that IE is no longer supported, the more leverage you get with your tech department to finally get a decent browser. We don't want those in charge of keeping systems up to date to be able to ignore these messages, do we?
    – Cerbrus
    Nov 13, 2019 at 12:25
  • I removed the background info which is less relevant in an answer, you can rollback if you find the edit too radical. Thanks.
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Nov 13, 2019 at 12:33
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    @Cerbrus I work for a large company, with slow IT policy roll-outs. For instance the Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade (which includes an update to Edge) is in its 2nd year, and only about 50% complete.
    – Wolfie
    Nov 13, 2019 at 12:40
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    @Wolfie: The problem is that the browser is a side-effect of upgrading the windows version there... It should've had a higher priority, which it would've had if more employees got warnings like these all over the place. "The internet" puts way too much effort into supporting IE, which makes the upgrade process take way too long.
    – Cerbrus
    Nov 13, 2019 at 12:47
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    @Cerbrus You don't need to convince me, this doesn't apply to my personal computer
    – Wolfie
    Nov 13, 2019 at 13:51
  • @Cerbrus - In my case, I really don't think problems on my end loading websites contribute to any leverage whatsoever. Updating our intranet tools to support a newer browser costs money, likely a lot of it. OTOH I can be counted on to "find a way" around technical problems (that's kinda my job), and ingnoring my browser complaints is free.
    – T.E.D.
    Nov 13, 2019 at 20:47
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I don't believe that it's a good idea letting users to dismiss that reminder.
They might easily forget about they've done that, and later come here to complain about features not working.

For you, it won't hinder you to work with the SE sites as long you're only use features that still are supported with IE.

Thus I don't think the efforts to realize your feature-request are justifiable, or it's really useful.

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  • 1
    So, you are saying that users are incapable of taking care of themselves?
    – Robert Columbia
    Nov 12, 2019 at 18:52
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    @ColumbiasaysReinstateMonica Sure I do: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/338021/… Just from experience.
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    Nov 12, 2019 at 18:54
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    I think half of the Internet doesn't work for them... so getting rid of the banner might be more user friendly.
    – Resistance Is Futile
    Nov 12, 2019 at 19:10
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    @her Why should we leave them in the dark, and risk unwanted complaints and noise?
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    Nov 12, 2019 at 19:21
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    But they are already complaining.
    – Resistance Is Futile
    Nov 12, 2019 at 19:31
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    @Her But how would the feature of dismissing make that better?
    – πάντα ῥεῖ
    Nov 12, 2019 at 19:37
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    Save the state. Dismiss only once. Nobody uses Explorer because they really want to. This banner is just adding insult to an injury.
    – Resistance Is Futile
    Nov 12, 2019 at 19:40
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    "Nobody uses Explorer because they really want to." Some people just don't know any better. Also, the more websites that tell you that IE is no longer supported, the more leverage you get with your tech department to finally get a decent browser.
    – Cerbrus
    Nov 13, 2019 at 12:24

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