Forum menu
Hello full members. I want to sign up to support stw, however my forum experience as a free member is mostly ok, apart from the ads obviously and occasional 24hr glitch. All I'm reading from you full members is that your forum experience is almost unuseable, you have to be logged out and so on.
If I sign up is it going to kill my forum experience?
sign up, it's worth it just for the digital magazine alone.
The forum is only a small portion of what is available
It’s waaay better without ads.
’unusable’ is hyperbole imo. It’s not super quick (see the STW 3.0 thread as for why) ATM, but it’s not exactly life and death being discussed here, as much as some posters like to think of their opinions.
i haven’t logged out for about 8 years.
Forum's a bit slow to load at the moment, maybe a few seconds, but it certainly isn't unusable.
The painfully slow loading times some of us are experiencing are supposedly down to our posting history, not our membership status. Seemingly those with a high post count have the slowest loading, whether or not they are paid up members. If they log out, the slow loading disappears. This does does negate the benefit of membership if you have to log out.
Mark and his team are beta testing new forum software which will apparently resolve this. Only you can decide if membership is worth it. My view? If the new software does as advertised, then it's worth it.
As above.
Takes a few seconds to load a page, but on the odd occasion I use the site without being logged in it's a jolt to the system!
I have no issues, is what I'm saying.
OP
You will immediately start to feel more confident,attractive and there will be a spring in your step .
You may also feel a small tickling sensation,don't worry about it.
As above.
Takes a few seconds to load a page, but on the odd occasion I use the site without being logged in it’s a jolt to the system!
I have no issues, is what I’m saying.
Same here. I also figure that paying for things that bring me value is the way to go, especially if it helps them hang around.
it’s not exactly life and death being discussed here, as much as some posters like to think of their opinions.
This could have been a polite helpful thread, without any snark. Sigh.... I've been critical of the performance issues on here, constructively I hope. No, it's not life and death but when you can't use a service you've paid for, for days at a time then I think it's valid to raise that and question the vfm. Everyone will experience this differently, depending on the time of day they use the forum, the amount of time on here and their posting history. Don't assume your experience of the slow loading is the same as everyone elses. Not recently, but I've experienced several periods of 3 or 4 days at a time when I couldn't use the forum at all, as pages were taking so long to load, minutes for each page refresh. It's a little better now, and hopefully a lot better soon.
’unusable’ is hyperbole imo. It’s not super quick (see the STW 3.0 thread as for why) ATM, but it’s not exactly life and death being discussed here, as much as some posters like to think of their opinions.
Very well put. As one of the more prolific posters over the last 20 years, I can live with the minor inconvenience. Maybe they should keep it as a feature to discourage the same half dozen of us posting the same circular arguments on every thread topic?
Right, cheers guys, I'm signed up. Didn't notice any snarky comments above and @fasthaggis I defo need a spring putting in my step today, dragging myself back to work after the puffer this weekend.
Have a good day you lot
Other than it being a bit slow from time to time (as noted in several posts above) I've not had any issues with the forum as a full member. I only browse the forum on work time so a few extra seconds here and there isn't an issue...
It’s waaay better without ads.
dunno if it's just me, I quite often get loads of ads now even when logged in (desktop), always get them on mobile (iOS).
I only browse the forum on work time so a few extra seconds here and there isn’t an issue…
I only use it at work now. Click on a link, then do something else for a while, come back and the page has loaded. There's no way I'd sit down at home and think, right, time for an STW session now. No-one's got the patience for that 🙂
No-one’s got the patience for that
I have. It takes a few seconds to load each page for me, and others - as mentioned.
First time I have logged in for a while and it seems better than it has been. In fact it is the first time I have been able to log in on my PC for a while so that is an improvement.
I have been mostly logged out for a few weeks now. I use Brave on all devices and apart from some refresh issues it has been fine unlike being logged in.
My long time membership has lapsed and to be honest it will stay that way until I can see that things work.
dunno if it’s just me, I quite often get loads of ads now even when logged in (desktop), always get them on mobile (iOS).
turned them off in your preferences?
No ads, digital magazine. The discount I got on my Garmin watch has paid for a few years of subscription.
The slow loading times that are happening now, just give me a nostalgic feeling from the 512k days of broadband
It will depend entirely on how you view the slower loading times. Many seem to be forgetting all the good bits just now due to this slowness. However, no ads, a digital copy of a magazine (if you are interested), access to some decent discounts...all for about £25 a year.
I'm hating the slow loading (I'm between 15-20 seconds for pages to load), but aware it is temporary (as I've been here since about 2003, I'm viewing several months as temporary), the no ads for £25 is worth it for me.
’unusable’ is hyperbole imo.
It’s not super quick (see the STW 3.0 thread as for why) ATM
what is the opposite of hyperbole?
what is the opposite of hyperbole?
Litotes.
(Equally counterintuitive to pronounce, lie-TOE-tees.)
Thanks!
Where do I switch the tickling sensation on? Would like that working before videos please
I would hardly describe the forum as unusable. If you're trying to quickly read a thread before the boss gets back then it is definitely an inconvenience, and the load times can be a little frustrating at times but it's still a really good and very helpful forum and signing up gives you access to so much more as well, which all runs OK.