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woooowooooo
so the opt out for adverts has gone – or as you say its default – but there is no statement for this on the site
so in effect there is now no opt out for adverts
Woah there Tonto.
There is no longer an opt-in for adverts. [P] users do not get served third-party advertising at all, it's now default behaviour.
This does not apply to other site content such as promotion of articles elsewhere on STW.
Any plans to fix [swiftkey], or is that the permanent recommendation?
It's my recommendation for now. I said earlier that I expect it's low down on the priority list as it's affecting a subset of a subset of users and other alternatives are readily available - certainly it'd be at the bottom of the pile if I was a web developer - but this is pure speculation on my part, we don't know for sure.
@aracer, I'll PM you technical details in a bit, it's not that it's a secret but I expect it's of little interest to everyone else.
Anyone got any idea how i post pictures from Flickr onto here now ? I'm stumped.
Goto Flickr. Choose Photo.Click Share button. Choose BBCODE. Select text in between the tags IMG & /IMG. Copy to clipboard. Paste this into the Source box of the Insert/Edit Image tool.
RM.
Can't do that on a mobile device though as there is no BBcode option in the app
@roverpig. There is an (android) app you can install that gives this functionality. Something like flickrbbcode?? You share the pic from flickr app to the other app and hey presto get some bb code 😀
roger... that how I used to do it, but the new reply box will not even given me the option to paste anything....
The only way I have found it to get the BB code, strip out all the gubbins so you just have the .jpg address and then use the insert image button.
Bit of a faff but not the end of the world. Shame really as linking to flickr using that BB code was so easy.
Not a bug, just an observation- I can't use the forum at work anymore due to the header being fixed when scrolling. Watermark background isn't helping either. It's not very incognito 🙁
Uh, it's not fixed? (The fact that it isn't fixed been a complaint a few times.) What platform?
Lowey what system? Have you logged out since yesterday?
Cokie system, OS and version please.
Jinx.
Looking at the forum for the first time on my mac book.
Is there any way to get rid of all the crap on the side?
If not , can you sort it please.
Can you be more descriptive than ‘crap’?
There’s a poll, then latest stories ,then a video for a tubeless inflator.
It takes up a third of the page.
Oh that.
Yeah it’s been altered once already and the rest is here to stay, I can’t say if the layout of it’ll chaneg or not.
It’s quite obtrusive.
It’s ok on my iPad but the page loads slowly so was hoping to use my Mac book.
Yeah, it looks the forum function is slowly working for me now.
But I need smileys ... a lot of smileys ... many ... 🙂
edit: Forum looks good so far.
ignore
[url= https://s20.postimg.org/mu9atogwd/IMG_20180223_185714.jp g" target="_blank">
Obviously paying for my P and running a blocker that must not be mentioned to remove unwanted obtrusive items that take up 1/3 of a page is frowned upon.
Hey ho
and its still loads as slow as a slow thing
Have the fonts got bigger, or is it me? Had to reduce zoom, so there's now even more white space.
Edit: only in threads, on the main forum screen it's still sensibly sized, so I have to resize the page when opening a thread, sure that's new?
I totally agree about the cr4p on the right side
it's intrusive and I am kinda wound up about the fact that having a P and still having this, well lets be honest here, sponsored adverts.
especially now that the formal opt out for adverts is in the ether, err sorry, it's default but not formally stated anywhere
get ready for more adverts or links to articles or whatever
Obviously paying for my P and running a blocker that must not be mentioned to remove unwanted obtrusive items that take up 1/3 of a page is frowned upon.
I was halfway through sending you a message when I saw this, so if you'd rather do this in public instead that's fine by me.
You quoted the STW T&Cs at us in your email. From the same T&Cs text: "In addition you agree not to promote the use of ad blocking on our site in either story comments or forum posts." This is why your post was deleted, not because you are using ad-blocking software. That was never mentioned.
As I said earlier in this thread, premier subscription entitles you to ad-free browsing. It does not entitle you to other-parts-of-the-site-free browsing and never has. Premier users do not get served third-party advertising and this is now default behaviour across the board rather than users having to opt out.
The promoted content is taking up no more space than the blank space on the previous software did and the forum discussion content is the same (fixed) screen width it always was so your suggestion that polls etc are "taking over" is erroneous I'm afraid.
Drac...
Windows 10 version 1709
Chrome Browser.
Logged out and logged back in.
I cant even get the paste command when i right click over this box.
This happens on Home Desktop and Work Desktop
The forum is actually wider (old = 650px new = 730px ) The right hand column is the same width as it was before. Ergo content portion of the screen has increased.
Ads are paid for by third parties. There is none of that in the right hand column for subscribers. What you have is content and links to content from us. A magazine about mountain bikes. I’m afraid the right hand column and it’s contents will remain and I fully appreciate that for some that will not be what they want to hear.
Cheers
Mark
If it's pissing people off why not get rid of it?
You don't need to fight us all the way. What's the point?
It’s not pissing everyone off
it’s our content. That we produce and publish on this website. Something we have done for 17 years. It stays because it’s what we do. It’s what we are about and it’s what we are for.
Plus it’s a very important part of this website and our future plans for it.
Fair enough it’s your party but don’t start playing records no one likes.
You quoted the STW T&Cs at us in your email. From the same T&Cs text: “In addition you agree not to promote the use of ad blocking on our site in either story comments or forum posts.” This is why your post was deleted, not because you are using ad-blocking software. That was never mentioned.
As I said earlier in this thread, premier subscription entitles you to ad-free browsing. It does not entitle you to other-parts-of-the-site-free browsing and never has. Premier users do not get served third-party advertising and this is now default behaviour across the board rather than users having to opt out.
Can I just check I'm not going to get into any trouble for promoting something one version of which removed the right hand side-bar (I'm not entirely sure now whether I ever released that version into the wild 😳 )? Though I'll point out that the Chrome extension never has and never will (whilst I'm doing the dev) block advertising.
However, just in support of what you've done, I'll point out the emphasis on "one version" - I was certainly browsing sidebar free for a while, but I've now disabled that. I found the first sidebar version with big pics and links to FB obtrusive which is why I got rid of it, but I have no idea why anybody objects to the current version. As pointed out the space for forum posts is at least as big as it's ever been (it was interesting to have them full screen, but also kind of strange) and actually I'm more than happy to have links to other bits of the site I might click on occasionally. The thing is, I have clicked on links in the sidebar - but not since the forum update. It's not a new thing!!!
So on this issue I don't see what they're doing wrong, it's not pissing me off - not now it's just text (and I like to think that was fixed quickly in response to feedback on here - so they're doing exactly what we're asking them to). Or are some people seeing something different to me?
p.s. I'm still viewing the forum in Verdana (was Helvetica which had the comforting feeling of avoiding change, but Verdana seems slightly better) - I don't think I'm ever going to agree with you on Montserrat
And with my non-moderator hat on,
As a site user I'm genuinely struggling to see what the beef is here. It seems to boil down to "I pay £1.50 a month and therefore demand a completely blank page apart from the content that I want to see or I'm cancelling my subscription." Either that or "we fear change" I suppose.
I've just fired up articles on the first few sites I randomly thought of: Twitter, Facebook, The Guardian, The Telegraph, YouTube and BBC News. All of them devote as much screen real-estate or more to promoting other content on their site. In fact I'd be hard pressed to think of any commercial websites that don't do this (and there are plenty that are much worse). Do you see related videos on YouTube's sidebar and think "ZOMG adverts" or do you just ignore them? Are you hitting the "block element" button of your advert blocker every time Amazon goes "people who bought this also bought..."?
EDIT: sorry, the thread moved on whilst I was writing. Thanks Mark.
I found the first sidebar version with big pics and links to FB obtrusive which is why I got rid of it, but I have no idea why anybody objects to the current version. As pointed out the space for forum posts is at least as big as it’s ever been
I'd agree with that, doesn't bother me now, it was awful. In a true 'can't please everyone' demonstration - the white space all over the page makes it look quite spartan now, about 25% of the screen (split each side) has nothing on it at all. No watermark or anything any more. And the fonts being different in messages versus the main forum screen.
I know I'm probably a bit guilty of this myself, but I'm thinking there's an element of complaining because that's what we do - complaints when the first version of the sidebar appeared seem reasonable and people have got it into their heads that the sidebar is inherently a bad thing (dare I suggest that the issue could have been avoided by testing the sidebar on a focus group before going live on the whole site? 👿 )
Can I just check though, I'm not the only person who remembers having similar links on the right before the update? So it's not even a "fearing change" thing (I suspect people have forgotten that already having got used to the post-update look).
@nixie. Thanks for the tip on posting from Flickr on mobile. Unfortunately I'm an iPhone user. Maybe I'll just need to find somewhere other than Flickr to host pictures I want to post here.
I'll be honest, it's not pissing me off.
As an openly-gripey sod about the comms (they were total bilge) the site is looking quite tidy now and I've enjoyed reading some of the front page content lately,
It's a meeting in the middle thing isn't it - something's got encourage further reading & drive interest in things other than the crap we post on here.
We've all got to make money to live, and for perspective, some rely on here for just that.
Edit: Christ, how slow am I at typing? My post's a bit redundant now!
Just to prove the point, check out the right hand side (and it also proves Mark's point about the space for posts being wider than before):
https://web.archive.org/web/20170705114115/http://singletrackworld.com:80/forum/topic/our-forum
Yes, there was content on the rhs for years.
As a site user I’m genuinely struggling to see what the beef is here. It seems to boil down to “I pay £1.50 a month and therefore demand a completely blank page apart from the content that I want to see or I’m cancelling my subscription.” Either that or “we fear change” I suppose.
I pay for other sites I visit many are less than the £1.49 a month here and they manage to centre the page content, are ad free, faster loading and easier to post on from a mobile and have more function that this current format.
@aracer - it's a good question and one I can't field. That's one for Mark I fear. The moderation team have discussed it previously and didn't reach a firm conclusion, and when that happens we generally err on the "leave it, then" side of caution. We'd rather under- than over-moderate.
simondbarnes Member
Yes, there was content on the rhs for years
Testing testing function 1, 2, 3 ...
p/s: still can't get the underline to work ... hmmm ...
Can I just check I’m not going to get into any trouble for promoting something one version of which removed the right hand side-bar (I’m not entirely sure now whether I ever released that version into the wild )? Though I’ll point out that the Chrome extension never has and never will (whilst I’m doing the dev) block advertising.
Just wanted to confirm that this is the case. I've previously considered removing the sidebar in the extension in order to widen the forum area but decided against it. I don't really see the issue with the sidebar in and of itself. It's pretty inoffensive and I don't really even see it anymore, it's there but I just don't usually look at it. I even clicked a link on it this evening 😮
I think that the site looks pretty good now, it's a bit too white for me but that's personal preference - I use stylish to use dark themes on Google, Github and Facebook...
I pay for other sites I visit many are less than the £1.49 a month here and they manage to centre the page content, are ad free, faster loading and easier to post on from a mobile and have more function that this current format.
You're beefing that the text isn't central on the page? Seriously? With all due respect, have a word with yourself.
STW is ad-free for [P] subscribers.
Faster loading is being addressed, this has been mentioned numerous times (see the "our forum" sticky), they're looking at new hosting which is better able to cope with STW's traffic volume.
Easier to post I'll grant you, but this is demonstrably being worked on as we've already seen a number of improvements. Again with reference to "our forum," this has been bumped in the short term because the priority is performance.
"More function" will come once everything else is stable, that's kinda the point of the exercise here, to bin the legacy shit so that STW can move forward. This has been discussed at length several times over now.
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">STW is ad-free for [P] subscribers.</span>
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Testing underline ....</span>
The underline function works in preview but not when Submit. 🙁
Just wanted to confirm that this is the case. I’ve previously considered removing the sidebar in the extension in order to widen the forum area but decided against it. I don’t really see the issue with the sidebar in and of itself.
Me and chvck will just have our "get a room" moment on this thread - for those who are aware of the Chrome extension, you may not be aware that chvck developed the original (and most of the code is still what he wrote). Glad to see we're in agreement here. I had a bit of an 😳 moment when the sidebar reappeared, because I'd seen that your branch of the code had some new commits which I ignored when I picked it up to make it work with the updated forum - because of course I didn't need to remove a sidebar which wasn't there (and I'd never considered that as something which needed doing!)
<div class="bbp-reply-author">Cougar</div>
<div class="bbp-reply-content">You’re beefing that the text isn’t central on the page?
</div>
Yup, other sites seem to manage without issue, your continual defence of the overlords must please them greatly. I'd insert a winky in, but they've gone.
<edit> insert rolley eyes <edit>
Faster loading is being addressed
...
“More function” will come once everything else is stable, that’s kinda the point of the exercise here, to bin the legacy shit so that STW can move forward. This has been discussed at length several times over now.
Kind of with reference to both of those - and just a suggestion rather than a complaint at this point - regarding the "REPLY" buttons bottom right of a post. Those just seem to take you to the reply box, but they do it [b]so slowly[/b] that they're currently totally pointless. Is there any plans to enable quoting of the post you're replying to (which is the way most forums work) - and to make that work a whole lot faster? It appears that at the moment that acts as a normal URL, thus reloading the whole page, rather than running a script just to scroll the page which is how it should work (and how our extension worked before the tinyMCE broke it 🙁 )
I know I've mentioned this before, but not sure I've seen it mentioned by anybody else and it might have got lost in the rest of my comment on something else.