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I think we all know prices of everything have gone up - so if you don't put subs up you are effectively cutting them, which is nuts. I don't actually know what I paid last time but adding the cost of a pint once a year is not going to break the bank - I suspect I'm not alone in this here.
Personally I prefer digital - there's too much stuff piling up in my house as it is. This also means for me I'd favour cheaper production quality on the paper mag - I don't want something that looks too posh to chuck in the recycling when I've read it - hence I don't buy it.
You've got three devs, I've got that for an entire university, with one of the posts that I can't recruit to.
I'm going to buy a sub and FML.
ok, **** this, just had the popup every few minutes and also whilst trying to typing this.
get a grip you fannys
Hi Mark, thanks for a very honest update of where things are at.
I have been a reader since issue 1, a subscriber since 2006 and a lifer since 2016 and still look forward to the next issue dropping through the letterbox.
I was wondering if it's possible to promote and make it easier to use the Singletrack links to on-line retailers? It's not until I read posts like this that it occurs to me and I'm sure, like me, 90% of us buy stuff on a regular basis without using your links. I'm not sure I even know where to find them or who you have links to?
Just a thought.
Good luck in these tough times.
Shack
Klean Kanteen (I had to typed that bout 10 times bloody autocorrect) arrived today, very nicely made and will come in handy. water tight with only a half turn. well worth a look if any left in the merchandise shop
Perhaps worth having a buyer's guide section, unbiased but with the affiliate links? There's the review section now (the link to older pages has disappeared though) and you can click the tags for products in certain categories, but it doesn't cater for "I want a tyre for winter / I want a bike but not sure what" kind of things. It would be great if it included all top products in a category even if they haven't been reviewed (to be unbiased and maintain credibility), e.g. don't (like other sites) do a buyer's guide for dropper posts and not include 2 of the best sellers.
Many thanks to whoever bought an Air Fryer off the links in last week's FGF. That's bagged us £10 in commission 🙂
An update on work behind the scenes:
The new site theme is almost ready for release. Today we are hoping to get our hands on it on our testbed server to make sure it's fully operational (It's been built and tested so far on our techs' dev area). If all goes to plan we could be ready to launch it tomorrow.
Although this is a seemingly cosmetic/design update it's far from a simple task. Our site consists of a complex mesh of multiple systems and databases from the forum integrating with our membership system to our API connections to outside servers (Pocketmags is just one example). We have a great many plugins that need to be checked to ensure that play nice with our theme, not just in our dev areas but when they are actually put under the load of 50-60k visitors a day.
What I'm saying is we expect bugs. Bugs that may not exist on the dev site and may also not show up on the testbed site but annoyingly could turn up when 50k people are hitting it right after launch. We have stress test tools but as is the way with complicated software there's nothing quite like the ultimate test of letting the masses kick the crap out of it 🙂
The forum software itself is one piece of software out of more than 30 individual pieces of software that make up the whole site. All that software is a combination of proprietary and commercial systems that have to manage everything from the icons next to your username and the ads to the payments gateways for the shop and our membership system and paywalls.
So, we expect some glitches. The entire team is on standby to spot and fix them. There is nothing else our tech team will be doing other than that once the new theme launches.
The new site theme is almost ready for release.
Praying for a full Lings-style makeover! 🙏🙏🤣🤣
Can we have a wobbly Mark head in the top left corner!?
Soz!!! 🙁
Pocketmags is just one example
Hmm, I never did get that to work 🤣
If all goes to plan we could be ready to launch it tomorrow.
Exciting!
I know lots of people have asked lots of questions about what we do and how we do it and also loads of you have suggested things we should maybe try. Lots of things are already on the list and others are not. This has got me thinking about maybe doing a live Q&A about all things Singletrack over something like Google Meet.
If I scheduled something like that, would anyone turn up? It would probably be at some slightly out of office hours time to allow as many people a chance to tune in. Is that something anyone would be interested in?
Yep, I'd be interested
Mee too, time dependant I'd be up for it.
Made a couple of donations
Why do it as a meeting, requiring people to be available for a specific time period, and taking up everyone's time with topics they might not be interested in - when it could be done as a forum-based Q&A? Make the thread members-only and delete it after a few days if you want don't want it sticking on record. Just a suggestion to consider the format to improve participation. I know some people love a meeting though, even if it's an online one 😉
Face to face questions and answers can sometimes be better. Just a thought
Do a Saturday or Sunday ride, then Q & A in a pub. - Can be streamed.
I'm in for that mark, so long as it's not in the next three days as I'm on hollibobs with limited net access.
... any idea when either of the shirts will be back in stock?
Just a random comment but my interaction today with the stw team was fab, and reminded me what stw was, and is about. Thanks
After buying and tasting the coffee I have now paused my Pact coffee subscription and will be buying from STW - Purveyors of Fine Coffee
I'm a huge fan of print and hope that the critical mass required to continue to support both the magazine and all of the great editorial content in it is able to survive and thrive. I'm a subscriber from the US (and would understand a price increase). Will encourage other locals to consider making the addition of a digital or print sub to their reading. Another favorite pub was recently consumed in a large venture purchase and almost immediately put out of production. A huge loss.
Membership upgraded. 🙂 Do I have to cancel my digital only subscription, or has that just been upgraded?
plan is to subscribe come pay day.
I was going to donate some cash however thought that there might be a better way. If there is anyone out there who genuinely can't afford a digital subscription but really wants one, let me know and I will gift it. Same price as the donation I was going to make but double the benfits I am thinking.
A one time offer, I am not Elon Musk
Live Q&A?...
...how about getting the forum big-hitters to have a scrap on Todmorden rec once a month. You could make it pay-per-view! 🙂
"...and Binners takes out TJ with a Greggs steak bake - things just got messy!".
"And a stale pork pie caught him in the eye and Ernie bit the dust"
Any discount codes?
Geoff had some new finery coming
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“…and Binners takes out TJ with a Greggs steak bake – things just got messy!”.
Highly implausible. You really think Binners would waste food?
Renewed. I was a member previously, then my credit card expired and I decided to make the most of it to cut down on recurring fees - none of them huge, but bit by bit they all add up. But given I do read STW most days it seems only fair to sign up again!
£39/yr Print+ - struggle to buy a half decent tyre for that.
I was thinking of cancelling my sub, after probably 15+ yrs, but you've convinced me to find the saving elsewhere.
Don't really need a new tyre anyway.
“And a stale pork pie caught him in the eye and Ernie bit the dust”
😀 Two reasons I LOL’d at that, one I’m old enough to remember the song and two I once looked in one of the political threads
Hang in there Guys and Girls your mag news letters and brings so much to us
Paul
I'm currently on a digital sub, paying monthly.
Anyone know if I can I upgrade to Print and pay the rest of the year sub in one hit?
Drop Zoe an email on subs@singletrackworld.com and she can help.
I’m old enough to remember the song
Doh, I missed that. Number 1 when I was born, that.
Thanks Mark
I've just "donated" £20, but it's not a really a donation. I shall explain...
Earlier in the year, I wanted to downgrade to digital only to save a bit of money, only I was too slow and it auto-renewed, so I had to contact STW Towers. I mentioned I wasn't working as a reason, mainly so they wouldn't think I thought the mag was s**t. That's true, but only because I quit my job to have a few months off, so entirely my choice.
Zoe reduced my payment, but insisted on still sending me the mag, despite me explaining and trying to refuse, purely out of concern that I was unemployed and needed the mag to help me through.
I didn't mention this on here at the time, not wanting someone to read it and try it on (this being an open forum), but here we are now. I've paid for the sub I'm still getting, and hopefully other people will see from this the kind of people them at STW are, and that it's not hollow words about "community" etc.
The gesture meant far more than the magazine does, even though I wasn't really in need.
Donated a wee amount to the pot. Keep up the good work at STW towers folks. Would hate to lose this place
I’m torn. STW has been a part of my life for decades. I’ve been a buyer then subscriber, on and off, through that time. A recent political (for want of a better word) declaration by the magazine was IMO so negative that I felt I had no choice but to cancel my subscription. Others apparently felt the same and, having posted to this effect, were told by those close to STW that their money was neither wanted nor missed. I’d like the forum to continue and understand it’s intrinsically linked to the magazine and staff. Like I said, I’m torn.
Just made a one-off donation and will follow-up with a more modest monthly donation.
I wish there was more in Charlie's shop which appealed...bum butter received, Hackney GT top out of stock, will order some coffee.
Any update on re-stocking the Hackney top?
Markie - refresh my memory about the 'political declaration' you refer to.