If you click away from the central box, onto a darkened area of the screen, it should just go away.

I don't know if there are any negative ramifications for clicking through the ad itself, because I don't know where it goes to. However, ads designed to look like error messages or download messages are generally considered to be low quality and not appropriate... I'm going to contact our ad provider about this because they will want to know about it. FWIW, I would prefer not to see ads like this running on DU.

I do so gladly. It stops ads.

I also use an array of adblockers for the rest of the internet. Seriously, it will speed up page loads, make the interent vastly more readable, and spare you from loads of malware such as "click to download" offerings.

Things are extremely tight right now.
Thank you for your reply.

And during the big fund-raising drive, memberships can be gifted.
Noted.

I have asked that gift memberships be available more often!

Our ad provider is looking into this now (they confirmed that it is an ad which is not supposed to be appearing). Thanks for providing the screenshot -- that was extremely helpful. If you see it again, please let me know. Again, you can avoid it by simply clicking away from the ad itself.

and responding so quickly.