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I’ve just put a lengthy post about this on MySpace.
That’ll learn ‘em
Well, I'm sure they rather we did both.
STW sabotaging their own forum may sound great in your head as you type it out, but makes no sense whatsoever.
@bikebouy - currently there are two(?) channels of communication: the "Our Forum" thread and the FB group. Why post updates to one and not the other? If the FB group isn't an official STW group then why post there and not here? (Insert your favourite miscommunication tale here)
The last "official" update from Mark to the users of the forum was three weeks ago so why choose to inform an unofficial group rather than here? Why not update that thread and link to it from FB? It doesn't matter which is gaining or losing, here (as we keep being told) is part of the business. If I want to let members of our cycling club know something I don't just wander into a random pub and make an announcement to whoever happens to be present!
STW sabotaging their own forum may sound great in your head as you type it out, but makes no sense whatsoever.
That’s not what I said, don’t put words in my mouth.
[i]bikebouy wrote:[/i]
Why? If they’re not on here then what relevance is any of this to them?
Why? Erm… because FB reaches the parts that other Forums don’t.
Try re-reading what you quoted - snipped to the relevant bit.
I'm not sure I'd feel ignored if I wasn't informed about updates to the FB group I don't belong to.
If people are seriously suggesting there's a push from STW to migrate to FB, how does that monetise compared to here? I'd be surprised if they could survive on income from that - surely the whole point of the FB stuff is to push them to this site (the main bit with articles at least, if not necessarily the forums).
It wasn't solely aimed at you, but apologies if I've caused offence.
Slightly bemused that you think these platforms/propositions are mutually exclusive.. Aren’t we in a joined up SM world now..? Ignoring a platform that is gaining “users” whilst the other is “loosing” users is commercial suicide.
Don’t forget the FB group isn’t an official STW Group, it’s like any other Group built around like minded users wishing to congregate in an environment local to them
Yet the bloke who should be updating his CUSTOMERS on here, is posting it on there instead.... I don't get it !
I don't think STW will "migrate" to FB. It's A N Other Channel. Can't deny it's global aspect can you.
Whether you or I think it's worth placing "updates" on there isn't really our business. But if I was the owner of STW I too would update the FB page.. it's gathering views and sharing information and spreading the word.
The group started out with a few "names" being sick of on here, decided to collate shared knowledge and simplify communications. FB is spectacularly good at that. The group has gathered momentum, even I joined it and I don't ride anymore, and it's getting views and comments.
Sure there are comments about the STW forum upgrade/migration on there, and I for one (if I was Mark) would post an update on there too.. One - to allay any fears of mass migration to another platform and Two - because FB is pretty damn simple to use and Three - sharing communications is what media is all about.
Rightly you feel a bit "miffed" that an update wasn't posted here "first" or maybe even before that, but you must step back form this internal forum for a second and think of a wider SM comms stream.
Bad or misinformation spreads wide and fast these days, a newly formed group on another platform could easily have a detrimental effect to the views STW gets and it's Forum usage. I too would be right on top of that if it was mine to command.
Mark has informed on here about the updates and progress.. To some extent you feel this is either not good enough or rather you feel left out of some inclusive comms loop.. I don't think thats the case, he's been up front with some platitudes that should be enough to rest the weary minds, yet we are on page 82 and I wouldn't be surprised if 30 of those are folks bemoaning and dissenting Marks output.
You may not like it, but this is an MTB forum thats owned by them, maintained by them, we merely provide content and chat that supports an Ad Revenue Stream so the guys can write/colour in/print guff about bikes and trails.
I do sympathise to some extent some users views on here, yes this place is what "we" make it. It's flaccid without the community here, "we" have gained some notoriety and helped spread narrative and comms to the wider world. Which in turn has helped STW, no doubt there.
But taking the analogy (since we seem to be using these days to explain the simplest of situations) We are the Dog, Mark is the Owner. Barking at him will only lead to either being locked outside with no food or never being taken for walks.
Singling out the Mods is futile. The guys have to put up with the shite end of tappage and a reproaching them for "doing their job" whilst they are stuck in the middle is (analogy again) like asking your best mate to ask that girl you fancy out.. for her to end up going out with your best mate.
we merely provide content and chat that supports an Ad Revenue Stream
Well the ones with P's are also providing revenue for them too. Put it this way, if the forum closed tomorrow, my P subscription would disappear instantly, without doubt and without question. They can say all they want about how it's about the content, the articles, the magazine....The simple fact is, i only have a P for one reason, to stop adverts on the forum.
Not to summarise others but I think the simple point was we were told by the mods that Mark was too busy to update, there were other things going on and giving updates would impact other stuff being done and we should stop asking/bothering. Then updates appear on Facebook 😉
It's quite simple and you can see why it would piss people off. It's not like there is a nice simple place to copy and paste the update into here where every user could easily read it.
[i]bikebouy wrote:[/i]
Mark has informed on here about the updates and progress.. To some extent you feel this is either not good enough or rather you feel left out of some inclusive comms loop.. I don’t think thats the case, he’s been up front with some platitudes
I'm not sure if that has the meaning you intended, but good summary.
Not to summarise others but I think the simple point was we were told by the mods that Mark was too busy to update
No you weren’t you made that bit up Mike.
Sorry you can fill int he blank Drac
Mark -------------------- Update you
But it was you ain't getting one so stop complaining
No, I know what I wrote and why I wrote it.
..
Back to the point made by a few clearly very skilled DBA/Developers on here about the way the "migration" has been handled....
These folks clearly know their // from their \\ and thats a skill set right there I'd be enormously proud of having, as I don't have those skills I sit back a read about how they would progress/apply their skills to this very situation of a borked forum on a platform creaking, and wanting to make a better proposition with integration and stability.
Mark, at some point around page 50, to appease these developers/interested parties openly invited them to pop in and have cake.. I'm not 100% sure if anyone took that offer up.. Now there are 1.1m reasons for not accepting the offer, but he DID offer up the option.. Clearly at some point this "migration" hasn't gone as expected and invited nay requested some assistance.. for thats how I read it. He's restricted by funding no doubt, wants to mitigate the angst, fair enough.. what do you do? Open offer to meet the team, discuss the implications and options open/not yet covered off and maybe gain some empathy for the situation he/the team find themselves in..
Didn't happen, but the offer was there..
Mark
Subscriber
Thursday was the busiest day on the site since Bez’s Column in early January. 70k people on the site. The thing to bear in mind is that we aren’t just a forum. The content we publish gets a lot of views and that’s our commercial focus. We are a publishing company that ALSO hosts a free to use forum. That’s not to say the forum is not important to us and isn’t part of the bigger picture it certainly isBut I’ve been through this before. Several times on this thread. I am aware many use the site only for the forum and they would naturally wish we just developed a forum for them, but our commercial plan encompasses more more than just the forum.
The site is slow. This is due to our hosting company being unable to cope with our high traffic and load, which has increased a lot As previously stated, we are migrating to a new host. Google cloud as it happens. But to ensure uninterrupted service we are taking our time on this and it will be a few more weeks before we make the full transition.
From a few weeks ago so yes some will have missed it, others may have forgotten but the current state of play is that they are migrating over.
Should be sorted now - I've let all the customers know in Asda 🙂 Well until the security guards escorted me out ...
I'm not a premium member on here but do subscribe to grit.cx so not totally free-loading.
I can understand Mark commenting on the FB group particularly if there's misinformation/rumours starting up. But that's not what's getting under people's skin: from the C&P by @sadexpunk he commented on malicious code in ads causing popups on FB but not on the thread here about them; he's posted updates about what's going on on FB but not on the thread that he set up to let everyone know about such things. That's AAF!
But taking the analogy (since we seem to be using these days to explain the simplest of situations) We are the Dog, Mark is the Owner. Barking at him will only lead to either being locked outside with no food or never being taken for walks.
To use that analogy, the dog can also go and live with another family and when Mark has no dog to greet him at the door after a long day/generate revenue, he may miss it 😉
The bottom line is the upgrade was a mess and badly communicated. Rather than just leave, the folks from STW (on the whole) have tried to stick around and be patient but there doesn't seem to be any willingness from the owners to play ball. The mods are doing their best but reading between the lines even they don't get told anything.
But that’s not what’s getting under people’s skin:
With all the screaming it’s hard to tell however you’re right Sadex it turns out was talking about the pop ups as opposed to the forum update. I was asked to cite when it was mentioned about he migrating server which is what I’m replying to.
Anyway the sun is back out so I’m off out again.
[i]bikebouy wrote:[/i]
Mark, at some point around page 50, to appease these developers/interested parties openly invited them to pop in and have cake.. I’m not 100% sure if anyone took that offer up.. Now there are 1.1m reasons for not accepting the offer, but he DID offer up the option.. Clearly at some point this “migration” hasn’t gone as expected and invited nay requested some assistance.. for thats how I read it.
Did he? How I read it was that it was an invite to come and see why we're all wrong, and he stated explicitly at some point that it had all gone exactly as expected (and he hasn't at any point rowed back on that so far as I've seen).
There are plenty of people on here with far more experience of this than me, though I am one of those who does work on these things, and as I pointed out a couple of pages ago with the way things work nowadays it's somewhat unusual to need to physically visit somewhere to collaborate. I've no doubt that with access to the codebase I could contribute (I've hinted a couple of times that it would be nice to have details of the specific Wordpress API which would enable fixing of some stuff client side).
Anyone got a link to the Facebook group please?
Where was that one posted Drac? Not in the Our Forum thread so not sure where the "Official Comms" place is here these days.
[quote="DickBarton"] Anyone got a link to the Facebook group please?
Love the way it goes back to page 82 when I post something on page 83. Funky
Half the people that seem to spend hours a day on here don't even ride a bike,so you can see why the powers that be aren't really that bothered.You are just the fishwives on the corner,not the people they want to continue a new venture with.
We are the Dog, Mark is the Owner. Barking at him will only lead to either being locked outside with no food or never being taken for walks.
Aren't we more like exotic birds that congregate in the STW garden where Mark charges visitors to look at our colourful plumage and spreads out tasty forum treats to encourage us to keep visiting his luxuriant shrubbery?
You can expand this metaphor to include greenhouses, playgrounds, feeders, cats and probably French peasants with shotguns, but unlike dogs, we're free to sod off somewhere else whenever we please.
If Mark can't be arsed to refill the feeder or, more pertinently, he's decided that his main interest is in topping up the bird-baths rather than refilling the feeder with tasty seed and buggy treats mix then that's his decision.
I'm not sure this analogy is going anywhere at all, but ironically, I was slightly unhappy about being characterised as a dog. I'm better than that. We're better than that...
Ta
Are you using Swift keyboard? Apparently a known issue with that.
Samsung S7 (Android) - is that Swift?
It happens on the stock android keyboard too.
I think I’ve even been pointed out as being a moderator (I’m not!).
These always amuse me. People keep coming up with ideas about who the anonymous moderators are, and I don't think anyone's ever actually guessed correctly yet.
Did he? How I read it was that it was an invite to come and see why we’re all wrong
Beat me to it. That was my understanding also.
People keep coming up with ideas about who the anonymous moderators are, and I don’t think anyone’s ever actually guessed correctly yet.
Given that you wouldn't be able to say if someone did guess correctly, it's a bit of a moot point.
Well, no, but I wouldn't have said what I just said either, I'd have not mentioned it.
TBH, I didn't realise there were any anonymous mods! It was more noting comments about various workarounds I've suggested, things like not copying someone's username when quoting to avoid getting the HTML codes in the resulting output.
Well, no, but I wouldn’t have said what I just said either, I’d have not mentioned it.
I'm sure we're all very grateful for the reminder that you know something we don't know.
The forum is dreadful, borderline unusable - fubar
Wait. This isn't page 82?
The thing is obsessed with p82.
I pressed p83, yet landed on 82.
Epilogue: posting took me back to 82 lololl
PostEpilogue: as does editing ffs
(Mobile Chrome, Android 7)
83
It did it on page 79 as well, until we got to 81. There are some numbers it just doesn't like
I look forward to Mark's comments on WeChat about this numberist policy.
I liked 79... but prefer 83.
This forum really struggles on Netscape 😉
There's a forum???
Don't worry I have posted on the new fangled BBS...
and
