Is it me?
Hi Chipps, if you're looking for points to discuss, can the images please link through to the adverts rather than just the title. I'm forever clicking on the picture then wondering why it hasn't loaded.
Less specifically, I personally think the 1-week lifespan for non-boosted ads is too short, it's contributing to the place looking empty and as an occasional browser I don't tend to look in the classifieds weekly - though I appreciate that this has wider influences on the decision.
"I personally think the 1-week lifespan for non-boosted ads is too short,"
Hi, I've just checked, and all ads are on there for 14 days as standard. This was changed a week or so ago in response to user feedback.
I'm with you on the 'Clicking the picture' thing and it's on my list of improvements too...
However, I've just checked, and that works too. You can click the title or the photo (but not the background) and it goes to the ad.
And you wonder why they’re not falling over themselves to reply…
Assuming both points made in jest but.....
It's been so long since any engagement from the tech team that this has become a disconnect which is hard to get back from.
Keeping things simple making this thread a sticky and moderating it well would be a good start, a seperate reply/progress on issues/request for info on bugs thread locked to Mod/Dev only could help keep the coms clear.
There was a vague promise to update then general forum doesn't work very well regularly which lasted a few weeks at most.
In simple terms a quick one page Welcome to the New Feature would be a really good start, explain how it works, what the rules are, what the features are and why for instance you see loads of boosted ads before getting near other content. Would save the mods the job of repeating themselves over and over again - see the issues in the main forum posting pics, there is about a thread a week these days asking how to - somebody just write a decent instruction page!!!
There are still quite a lot of technical issues with both sections of the forum that people are waiting to see fixed, sometimes in the mistaken belief we are actually paying customers.It would be good to get an update on the big ones like messed up text entry, forum not knowing how many pages a thread has, a useful history of threads commented on - like the old one that was simple and brief, being able to see who the last poster was from the front page, go to last post from mobile.
As a technical update I finally found some ads via chrome, hidden in a side bar with crap formatting after the daily deals advert feature.
I saw the thing on Facebook too and I don't think it did either party any favours. It did however open my eyes to that nice friendly chap who appears on ST vids occasionally. Anyway......
Thanks for the reply Chipps, good to see the pictures linking now. Apologies for not checking before moaning, but it had been bugging me for a while, including quite recently.
14 days sounds a more sensible compromise. Thanks for the update.
I'll pass on your thanks. And I'll keep taking notes 🙂
Out of interest why do they need to fall off at all, 14 days or otherwise? The old classifieds (I know 🙄 ) with their massive history meant you could go back a see the stuff that wasn't selling or the gradual price drop of overpriced items. It also acted as feedback to give an idea of good and bad sellers. Much more useful as a buyer
Keep the comments coming. I’m making notes…
Notes on who to ban next ? 🤣🤷♂️👏
I don’t look at the classified section, not that I don’t need stuff, but to me it’s less important than fixing other bugs in the forum.
IME classifieds should be simple to read, not linked to any external advertising, paid for (sorry lads, but it’s not your forum and the owners need have an ROI and ongoing maintenance) limited to a small number of adverts per user so they don’t obliterate and clog the section, time limited so they don’t hog the limelight and disappear when users sell stuff but don’t update the classifieds, available on all platforms without bugs and UX issues.
I like pictures of stuff, I think that’s fair on both seller and potential purchaser..
So what is the time limit on paid ads? According to the classified the Mojo HD3 that’s grossly over priced has been for sale for 3 months. Some thought needs to be given to the use of paid ads and how they are displayed! The number of people actually paying to list is virtually non-existent so it just looks like no one is using the classifieds.
There are currently 10 live paid for ads of which only 2 have been placed in the last week. Generating around £20 a week in revenue. Is there really not a better way to get some kind of ROI? It’s worryong that something generating so little has the potential to damage so much!
You are posting as bruneep.
If you want to use a different account, please logout.
Had a look at how to post an ad I'm guessing that multiple accounts are ok now then?
When I click on seller name I really want to see their whole site posting history not just what ads they have have or sold. Are they classified user only<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> *cough trader* or are they regulars, this matters when parting with my cash </span>
<edit> and sort out the shite formatting tags
When I look at the whole site on the device I have where I am able to turn off the adblocker, I don't see actual ads, I just see a placeholder that says "advertisement" so in my case you are causing me unnecessary pain for 0 gain for your advertisers. On the device on which I cannot do anything about the adblocker I can't see ads, nor regular classifieds but I do see the boosted ones so you should probably be charging them more.
The one feature I've always wanted to see in a classified system is one where people can vote on whether the item is massively overpriced so that when I make a sensible offer they can see that everyone agrees tthe price is ridiculous, which saves the usual back and forth on how their bike is different from all the other exactly the same bikes and really is worth more.
"The one feature I’ve always wanted to see in a classified system is one where people can vote on whether the item is massively overpriced"
No one likes the smart alec who says 'Oh, but you can buy that for £20 less from this website'. I'd reckon that whatever price you want to set should be up to you and free from heckling. By all means have a quiet word, but don't be the guy in Sainsbury's pointing at how they can save money by going to Asda.
The Mojo ad has been paid to be boosted and re-boosted, which is why it's still there. And, yes, that earns us more money than some programmatic advertising (Welcome to the brave new digital world. Unfortunately, just having a popular website no longer pays for itself, which is why paywalls and subscription services have become vital to any media company trying to stick around.) Paid-for ads in the new Classifieds have earned us more money than the voluntary donation system did in the last five years. While I know that many people liked it the old way, very few of them ever clicked on the 'Donate to help with the cost of running the site' voluntary donation button.
No one likes the smart alec who says
True. I'm not suggesting it seriously but it would help buyer as much as seller. You are free to set your price, the market will set it's own. To suggest voting is heckling is being unnecessarily perjorative. If one or two people have a quiet word the seller thinks it is because they are trying to screw him out of the rightful value. If you get 50 or 60 people all suggesting it's priced too high you can act accordingly. Either ignore it or realise the people you believe are lowballing are actually offering you a reasonable price. If the person wants their price and is willing to pay to relist that's up to them. Feedback which is what I was suggesting, isn't "heckling"
As an aside, why are the mods in here "stealth". ? This is about the only site where the mids don't have an indicator next to their username
Why not just charge us a one off payment if you want to sell gear? For example £5 for a one year licence. Must be paid to stw by PayPal or similar so that there is an audit trail.
This would
1) Generate more money for you rather than boosted ads. You could make it for x amount of sales so traders have to pay more of they list x amount in a year.
2) Get rid of the boosted ads that we don't like
3) Make it safer for buyers as there is an audit trail rather than a random name in case something goes wrong.
4) stop counterfeit notes and passports
5) stop stolen goods being sold through stw
Just look how many different people have posted on this thread. Charge a small amount across a large number. I buy and sell on here as I feel part of a biking community. I try and help people out as I know they would help me. There are so many examples of this. This is not a faceless market like gumtree.
I also use stw to sell as ebay and PayPal is too expensive these days. I can't comment on others but if you got the price right, I'd use it. But considering pinkbike is free you would have to offer us something back in return. I. E. Buyer protection from the audit trail and a forum that works
Interesting I don’t ever remember a ‘donate’ button on the classifieds? Hell I have given stuff away, which I would of asked people to donate to the classified fund cause! That said as a subscriber I believed that the classified usage was part funded by my subscription....hence why I am now no longer going to renew (as others have also pointed out) my subscription was always to help fund a website as well as receive a great magazine. But if I had to pick between the two it would always be the website nowadays. Hence with all the site glitches and a move away from the good old classifieds I won’t be renewing. So given as the new classified system was to help earn revenue and get away from the ‘classified only user’ it’s now putting off paying multi channel users....go figure
Whilst I’m at it, is there still premier content? I used to enjoy the premier competitions...not seen them for a while?
Question, what would you need to charge per member (online) to make the issues go away with the website and revert back to the good old classified system? Why not charge everyone for access to the site? If there really is no value in ‘non paying members’ then make the pay up or ship out!
True. I’m not suggesting it seriously but it would help buyer as much as seller. You are free to set your price, the market will set it’s own.
Why not just leave it to the market then? It just sounds like adding an unnecessary layer of additional complexity. If people ask for too much, the item won't sell. You don't really need a Classified Price Police to underline that, do you? You could maybe have the option to rate sellers and buyers as per eBay, but again, it just seems like an added complication. I guess it all depends how far ST wants to go towards becoming some sort of MTB eBay.
Why not just charge us a one off payment if you want to sell gear? For example £5 for a one year licence. Must be paid to stw by PayPal or similar so that there is an audit trail.
Solid idea, even a 99p pass go fee to post your first ad and a minimum membership time would help get rid of the scammers and give people a bit of history
I'm probably in a small minority, but I'd pay for an ad that could only be seen by people who participate in the main forums
As an aside, why are the mods in here “stealth”. ? This is about the only site where the mids don’t have an indicator next to their username
A couple of the Mods (Cougar and Drac) did have Moderator in their tag rather than Subscriber or Member but that seemed to have got broken in the last major "upgrade" (about 1 year ago). The rest opted to stay hidden so as not to attract unwanted attention.
Why not charge everyone for access to the site? If there really is no value in ‘non paying members’ then make the pay up or ship out!
Because the other major income stream is advertising and that only earns if you have a large readership/click-through rate. In effect, ALL members (whether paying or not) have value.
Edit: of course, if enough folk subscribed, there would be a point where no advertising was required.
Edit: of course, if enough folk subscribed, there would be a point where no advertising was required.
and there are 2 ways to try and achieve it
That one probably isn't the best one, making a nice easy working forum that does the basics well might help
The rest opted to stay hidden so as not to attract unwanted attention.
That seems a little odd. Undercover mods? Makes it hard to know who to contact. Plus it means they can make posts with distinctly um-modlike language/content and if you don't know they are a mod, it seems a bit off.
If people ask for too much, the item won’t sell. You don’t really need a Classified Price Police to underline that, do you?
Who mentioned price police? It's feedback ffs and yes some people probably do need the help. Anyone who has bought/sold stuff online kniws that at least 25% of the people are utterly convinced of the value of their stuff but will still wonder why it's not selling.
While we're here…
Can someone fix the header navigation? The top level items have a height of 48px but the dropdown menu is positioned 50px from the top, leaving 2px between them. This means that when you hover over the top level item to show the menu, and then you move the pointer down towards it, nine times out of ten the menu disappears before you can click on it. Which is infuriating.
Subject to media queries, you can fix it (and gain a small Fitt's Law win into the bargain) as follows:
.navbar-nav > li > a { padding-top: 18px; padding-bottom: 12px; }
Anything that adds up to 30 will do in terms of fixing the bug, but anyone with a typographer's eye should be able to spot why I've suggested those specific numbers.
That seems a little odd. Undercover mods? Makes it hard to know who to contact.
It's one email.
Plus it means they can make posts with distinctly um-modlike language/content and if you don’t know they are a mod, it seems a bit off.
It also stops them being judged or criticised just for being a mod.
It’s one email
Aye, but to whom?
It also stops them being judged or critised just for being a mod
Aye, but if they are mods shouldn't they embody the ethis of the site at all times? It isn't that hard over time to figure out who is a mod and if they do or say something off key then it appears to be a case of do as I say not as I do. Then you wonder if they are using the lack of identifier as a shield from criticism for not living up to the ideals.
I mentioned that in the early days of the new classifieds. The ad cap is crazy and doesn’t work for smaller items in my view. Which moves away from what this site was great at ‘good karma’ transactions. So someone could post a wanted ad for an obsolete item and you would probably get some kind of response. I gave away loads of stuff which helped other people. Removing the ad cap for ‘P’ users made sense given as we already paid to use the site. But also stop the classified only users from spamming the place up.
Anyway nothing changed on that front and I used pink bike to clean out a load of kit. Ad numbers are capped there too but at a much more sensible number
Aye, but if they are mods shouldn’t they embody the ethis of the site at all times?
You forget, Mods are just regular posters who have been asked "Can you help out" That doesn't make them necessarily a better person, more politically correct or even answering any questions as part of the 'forum' .... Just normal guys... (Who also happen to put up with a lot of crap on here)
Pretty much that Weeksy.
It isn’t that hard over time to figure out who is a mod
So no need for them to be labled as mods.
cromolyolly wrote
It’s one email
Aye, but to whom?
moderator@singletrackworld.com I think
and that reminds me, I've made the point before that as a professional coder I would have been mortified to put out code with bugs like this forum, the fact that bugs like the formatting crap still hasn't been fixed tells me the management is lacking
I'm sure it'll fall on deaf ears but just to add my name to the long list of people who won't be disabling their ad blockers just for the sake of the new classifieds, always enjoyed a browse of the old ones, but I can certainly take or leave the new ones.
Would be interesting to know the traffic in the week of say 2 months ago, versus the last week on the new one.
I browsed the old classifieds regularly, sometimes several times a day. I've not visited the new one since the old classifieds was taken down ...
I doubt you're alone.... i visited once.... i used to browse (and purchase and sell) regularly on the old one.
Well, the links to the old Classifieds at the top of each thread have now gone so that should be less confusing for some folk. (thread / post counts links still appearing though.)
Just visited the wonderful new classifieds. Managed to get down past the Octavia and the Mojo, just about, before...
'Congratulations...you have won....!' fills my screen. Thought shitty popups and hijacks were a mobile-only feature?
PC/chrome/Latest build, if anyone is interested.
This is why people seem to be fond of adblockers.
Why not just charge us a one off payment if you want to sell gear? For example £5 for a one year licence. Must be paid to stw by PayPal or similar so that there is an audit trail.
A musical instrument forum of which I am a member (fnar!) recently implemented something similar. Items up to a set £ limit were free, and then over that limit were either £7 ea or for £20 you paid for a year's access and free ads.
Seems to work pretty well.
BTW classified ads still not showing when I try and browse here on Chrome.
You forget, Mods are just regular posters
I didnt. I am in intimately acquainted with what mods do and what they put up with. Like referees they have to ( publicly)stay above the fray.
So no need for them to be labeled as mods
Depends. Might make the site more friendly to newcomers and inspire confidence in occasional posters. Which is the other way to grow the revenues necessary to keep the site afloat.
Wonders if cromolyolly is a new login for someone who has suffered the wrath of the STW mod squad.
New classifieds are fine for me using an iPhone. Easy to navigate and easy to list. Not a fan of the sticky ads though. Nobody is buying your Mojo or your Santa Cruz.
Who mentioned price police? It’s feedback ffs and yes some people probably do need the help. Anyone who has bought/sold stuff online kniws that at least 25% of the people are utterly convinced of the value of their stuff but will still wonder why it’s not selling.
What would happen if those people didn't drop their asking price?
Just to add my name to the list of users who have deserted the classifieds. I’m not flouncing, it’s just that the new format doesn’t give me what I got from the old one - window shopping with the (low-level) background thrill of a possible bargain or impulse buy.
i might search the new one next time I’m after something specific. But I probably won’t.
