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On a totally different point I've noticed the article titles on the home page seem to be considerably less clickbaity.
More question marks and not many exclaimations.
I’m 🦆ing off out on my bike!
Was gonna take my STW approved rigid 29er with stupid shaped handlebars and natty framebag but not today.....🚲
Today I ride a Speshilized / Specialised / Special👀 ....🚵♂️
in the 🌞
Ill post a suitably pointless picture in Singletrack ‘Select’ Facebook group...
I too am venturing out for the day. However I am out on my rigid 29er... its only the Ridgeway afterall. 😎
www.flickr.com/photos/146501625@N06/31888714800/in/album-72157675288722774/
Cheers for the update Cougar, glad your chat with Mark was so fruitful 😉
Give it a rest, Mike.
Git.
I forgot all about it to be honest, and I've been kinda busy today. I'll try and get to it tomorrow.
Your constant little digs at us is however becoming quite tedious.
Not a dig at you, quite the opposite.
That's the point.
xxx
sbob.
[i]Cougar wrote:[/i]
The lack of official communication is frustrating for sure. But playing devil’s advocate, I can see why Mark may be reluctant to do so given the kicking I / Drac have been getting at times for trying to field questions. And ultimately it’s not really my monkey. I said this a while back, but I suspect we’d see more interaction if the Big Hitter audience wasn’t such a bear pit.
“We want information!”
“Here’s some information.”
*four pages of outrage about why it’s all shit and I know better because my 12-year old nephew runs his own Pokemon Go website for six friends so how hard can it be?*
If I were Mark I’d have existed on a diet of Red Bull, Marlboro Lights and three hours’ sleep a night for the last six months.
I've responded to this one several times - I even pre-empted it recently when we were last commenting on lack of feedback.
I suspect we might see less outrage if when Mark raised his head he did so in the capacity of actually addressing our concerns, rather than telling us about how it was all going as planned and telling us about all the new wonderful features they're implementing (which nobody asked for) whilst not commenting on what was being done about the things which are broken which we are all interested in. If he bothered to pay any attention to the feedback he'd note that the pages of outrage were largely related to that rather than just general outrage at him, if he actually provided the information we're asking for - or even just dared to apologise and admit things have gone a bit wrong - then the reaction would be somewhat different. It still makes me think of this: https://www.quotes.net/mquote/915230
Your Pokemon Go jibe is somewhat strawmanny - as you're well aware there are plenty of us on here who do software dev and particularly web dev for a living - I'm sure I'm far from the most knowledgeable, but currently working on web stuff with database back end, with rather more than 6 customers. Mark might be able to bluff most people on here, but some of us do understand how these systems work.
If Mark issued the JFDI instruction then my sympathy is somewhat limited (though FFS can't he just come on here and admit it in that case!)
Just the one thing! Just the "last poster" and we could live in harmony and joy.
I mean, the facebook mess came and went, the background ad came and went, the font er, improved... even EVEN the new article headlines have gone back to being for adults! But the last poster on a thread thing... pleeeease... 🙁
On the logging out issue:
[i]Cougar wrote:[/i]
why?
Search me, ask the people who wrote WordPress.
The question isn't why WP has a default logout time of 2 weeks if you enable auto-logout, but why STW has to enable auto-logout at all. Sure if your site does banking or other financial stuff then it makes sense to auto-logout - but this place didn't even feel the need to encrypt the traffic until very recently, which made any security gained by logging people out utterly pointless. As pointed out when the lack of https was raised earlier in this thread, there's nothing terribly sensitive here and allowing people to just stay logged in on a device really isn't an issue. Loads of other forums and sites which just keep you logged in.
The overly frequent logouts aren't an issue for me, but it's a problem which would very easily be solved by simply turning off that behaviour completely. Which would have the bonus of improving the user experience a bit for everybody who does just get logged out every 2 weeks which is slightly irritating.
Results are in - well actually results are a tiny but fudged because the post count for me at least is constantly showing as the wrong number (a cache thing?)
Anyway to within a few minutes of an exact 1 week sample comparing number of posts in the last week with April 2017. This week we have posted 512 times a day on average. This time last year we were posting 748 times a day in the bike forum. So that is a drop of 32% in posts from last year in what should be the premium section of an MTB forum.
Not actually as bad as I thought it was going to be. But 'as busy as ever'....please.
you’re well aware there are plenty of us on here who do software dev and particularly web dev for a living
Of course. I wasn't really referring to professional developers though. There's been some very sensible suggestions and comments made from folk who do this for a living. But there has also been plenty of comments on this thread from those who aren't in that position, have no concept of the challenges faced by STW, and yet still think they know best.
telling us about all the new wonderful features they’re implementing (which nobody asked for)
Case in point here. Should STW be implementing things "people ask for" or prioritising what's most important from a commercial point of view? Ideally the answer is "both" and there will of course be crossover, but the latter has to take priority surely?
Should STW be implementing things “people ask for” or prioritising what’s most important from a commercial point of view? Ideally the answer is “both” and there will of course be crossover, but the latter has to take priority surely?
It's easier top make money when you have happy customers. If you post count is down 32ish% that tells you there are less people here to make money from and you need to fix that - it's a key part of commercial success.
The question isn’t why WP has a default logout time of 2 weeks if you enable auto-logout, but why STW has to enable auto-logout at all.
I suspect the answer is simply "inertia" - that's how it came out of the box and it's never been changed. I got the impression that with the old forum they were reluctant to make any changes because as I've said before it was a rat's nest of code. (I think also that the dev I spoke to hadn't been with STW all that long at the time and had inherited a clustermess.) Hopefully neither of these things should be the case going forward.
All "people are asking for" is the simple functionality we had before!
(And don't tell me it ain't simple - every single bleedin forum on the web has it!)
Interesing Convert but really what is needed is week on week data not a random week out of a year, maybe that week last year been a particularly busy week and this last week a quieter one?
Interesing Convert but really what is needed is week on week data not a random week out of a year,
I guess if STW want to quote those figures when telling us it's busier than ever we won't need as much salt 😉
Interesing Convert but really what is needed is week on week data not a random week out of a year, maybe that week last year been a particularly busy week and this last week a quieter one?
Actually that was a daily average of 28th March to 28th April, compared to the daily average of the last week. Agreed, not perfect but a start.
28th April - 21st May 2017 (I can only choose dates of pages recorded in the wayback machine archive) averaged 750 posts a day exactly last year. I'm going to measure the same full period this year too.
We need a spreadsheet, definitely need moar spreadsheets on this forum.
And pie charts, can we have pie charts too 👍🤡🤙🤙
Bear in mind, the number of posts isn't necessarily reflective of the number of visitors. Posting may be down on last year, but to conclude therefore that Mark must be lying is unfair at best.
The busyness of the site and whether it has changed has the two sides stating the opposite but they are using different stats: On the one side STW/Mark are using page impressions which is what server stats will tell you while on the other users are using the number of posts which is what users *see*.
Bear in mind, the number of posts isn’t necessarily reflective of the number of visitors. Posting may be down on last year, but to conclude therefore that Mark must be lying is unfair at best.
Irrespective, visitors to the forum element of the site are coming here to read content if not to actively participate. There is currently 30 odd percentage less new content to read than there used to be (if you don't count ads as content 😉 ). Also the historical content is essentially not accessible at the moment if that is what they are here to find. If Mark's livelihood is in any part dependent on impressions on the forum and does not see the reduction of posts as an issue he is misguided.
If he can’t see a connection between the user experience of the new forum and the reduced post count he is also misguided.
Don't forget that 3 argumentative people seem to have left us.
For every 1 of their posts there were 5 people shooting them down.
Not good for STW viewing figures but better for my ticker.
Don’t forget that 3 argumentative people seem to have left us.
For every 1 of their posts there were 5 people shooting them down.
Not good for STW viewing figures but better for my ticker.
I deliberately focussed on the bike forum partly for that reason. No normal person comes to a forum to read an argument between a couple of wazzoks.
to conclude therefore that Mark must be lying is unfair at best.
I don't think he was lying when he said that STW had just had it's busiest day ever. That day was when Beast of the East hit the South East though. I'd suggest that there might be a connection.
Pleased at ‘Wazzock’ adoption 👍😀
Case in point here. Should STW be implementing things “people ask for” or prioritising what’s most important from a commercial point of view? Ideally the answer is “both” and there will of course be crossover, but the latter has to take priority surely?
Never as simple as that 👍😀
Seriously though, would team STW consider an offer of help if some of us here do this stuff all day or is it a case of ‘all in hand and we’re good’
I rode my bike for several hours in the sun today.
Puts this into perspective.
Yes the forum can now be annoying, but THIS annoying?
Do you even shred bro?
Any news?
On the one side STW/Mark are using page impressions
They're using Google Analytics. It provides a startlingly detailed breakdown of site usage.
If he can’t see a connection between the user experience of the new forum and the reduced post count he is also misguided.
Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, your speculation is as good as mine. I'm sure he knows what he's doing as he's been doing it for a while. And if not, well, ultimately it's his ball.
would team STW consider an offer of help if some of us here do this stuff all day or is it a case of ‘all in hand and we’re good’
I expect what you'll get is an invite to go and visit (and in fact there's an open invite to do just that). That's what happened when I offered. Before then there was nothing I would've liked better than to get my hands on the codebase; after I visited I came away very glad they hadn't let me. Though, that was the old forum.
No normal person comes to a forum to read an argument between a couple of wazzoks.
Oh....... it brightens up my dull day sometimes
Oh……. it brightens up my dull day sometimes
Absolutely this, it's hilarious how angry people get about an internet forum! 😆
Pleased at ‘Wazzock’ adoption 👍😀
Actually, it’s becoming a bit stale. Try nincumpoop instead.
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Cougar
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On the one side STW/Mark are using page impressions
They’re using Google Analytics. It provides a startlingly detailed breakdown of site usage.
So quote in quote doesn't work or does it???
Anyway I'm the data guy, it's what I do send me the numbers and I'll make it say what you want...
If it's that busy and the post count is off whats the page hits from this week/month daily and weekly nums from last year vs this year?
Whats the post count vs page load ratio for the last 2 years and what is the trend? Does page hits match or deviate from post count, what factors impact this, weather, events etc, could there be a base layer of interenet scraping that is impacting figures?
I'll come round and do some number analysis for free, I'll do some UX stuff too and I do a good line in cold hard facts
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I do a good line in cold hard facts
if the forum worked, I’d post the Jack Nicholson gif in here
Point of order: nobody claimed the site had seen its busiest day ever, the claim was busiest day since January or some sorts.
Thursday was the busiest day on the site since Bez’s Column in early January.
I’ll come round and do some number analysis for free
Again, Mark has offered an open invite.
if the forum worked, I’d post the Jack Nicholson gif in here
I cancelled my subscription a few days ago.
Just had a look at the forum and I only have the first page, no way of going to the next. Also no way of starting a thread.
Have I been banned?
No adverts and I can still log in.
Have reset phone etc and other sites are ok.
Surely I should see the whole forum even if I’m not a subscriber anymore?
If you were banned you’d not be able to log in.
To start a thread you scroll down on the forum index page it should be at the bottom.
You’ve got no ads as you’re stil a subscriber.
They’re using Google Analytics.
It's a tool designed by an advertising behemoth to help them sell more advertising space/clicks. The tool will by design give the best results for the company selling space/clicks.
Meanwhile when is the RSS forum feed facility going to be re-introduced? Losing patience with this function and the last poster not being fixed over 2 months in.
Thanks Drac
I know where to start a thread, it wasn’t there.
Searching gave me responses from 4 years ago.
This is the only forum I’m on and I’ve not really had the issues that others have stated.
Yet the last week on multiple devices has been a nightmare. To the point that I cancelled my subscription.
I’ll just buy it in the shop when I see it.
The P subscription thing makes no difference now which is a real shame as I like to support things like this.
Were you logged in?
Search is still broken yes.
P gives you the mag, zero ads (waits for it) and exclusive articles.
Minor niggle, not sure if it’s been mentioned before. At the bottom of the page is the message to log in to add a reply. Would be helpful if that text was also a link taking the browser to the log-in page.
Steady. That would reduce the number of clicks.