[Closed] Invasive advertising

Can't see anything here 😉

Happens evertime I open a page 🙁

Got a real shock when I last saw the website with adverts. It's gopping 😮

In fact, I doubt I would spend as much time here with all that nonsense going on, but I accept that it funds the website. As does my subscription.

I get this on my tablet using chrome, plus it freezes the browser. Unusable website on my tablet.

As has been said before, STW has to be funded somehow, and you have two choices - either subscribe (for a whole £1.49/m) or put up with the ads.

We do try to avoid pop-up or crazy loud/intrusive/Wonga ads, but sometimes the ad networks send them through.
I always have the ads on and haven't had an ad pop up recently.

I dont mind adverts and happy to put up with them but stw is starting to look like the tacky websites from the late 90's

Mines particularly bad this morning,
Also when I scroll down and get to the bit i want it reloads me back at the top of the page .
And if I click on my username and move down to forum activity, it does not work but instead the subscribe box becomes highlighted.

Attempted bullying into subscription just stiffens my resolve,

AND makes me not want to subscribe. 😀

But this has been covered a few times now and the answer is,
Put up, pay up or pack up.

Mine's fine if on lappy or work Mac.
Iphone gets hammered by those bloody Reiss or Vape ads and yes it's a PITA.

I get that ads are necessary and Singletrack's survival has got to be subs-driven. But I think most critics of the non-subs version would just like one with slightly fewer ads. It's the recent creep of ads in every spare space that's turning the site into a naff looking, inaccessible place to visit.

If Singletrack value new visitors and want to grow new subs from strangers, I would have thought they should be looking at sorting this out ASAP. If they just rely on word of mouth and people that already know and accept the site, then I can understand why they wouldn't really see this as an issue.

Their site, their strategy, ultimately their success or failure.

[url= http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=258929848 ]What £1.25 gets you[/url]
[img] [/img]
£1.49/month for reduced or £2.99 for no ads?
http://singletrackworld.com/premier/account/

I don't mind if theres one ad or many around the site content - above, below to the left or right, fine, I'm capable of choosing where my eyes point. But, for phone use, ads dancing around in front of the site content isn't so good.

well said Freeloader

[img] [/img]

Alright a tad harsh, and it was a big night last night so perhaps the patience-o-meter settings are a bit out of kilter. But I just don't get why people begrudge the cost of a subscription to this site. particularly given how for many it's almost a mountain biking Second Life.

My particular frustration with all this stems from three years running a b2b online magazine. We made it work, but begads it is hard to make money from online as the revenue options are so limited. The amount of people I encountered in my work who seemed to feel that because it is online it should be free was breathtaking. And I know many journalists who've had to quit the profession over the last few years (I'm not a journo by the way) as a direct result of this attitude to their endeavours.

So, as an edited response to the OP, can I respectfully suggest that if the amount of adverts on the site is really so irksome, perhaps you might consider purchasing an extremely high value subscription in order to alleviate yourself of this issue?

To be fair, after reading the OP again, I noticed they said 'lol'.

So maybe your vitriol was deserved.

The reason behind the adverts being skittish is I am sure to promote the unintentional activation of said adverts.
Some times I have inadvertently click an advert more than once as it appeared as I clicked a thread.

If it gets any worse it could actually become a game to rival candy crush for speed of touch and reaction times where your prize is to actually get to read a thread.

Just logged out to try the site with ads...

Jebus, that Microsoft one the takes over the front page until you close it? All the animation/constant changing images/videos?

I don't mind adverts but having multiple ones all changing images/playing video does make the site look cheap and unprofessional. In order for people to pay for a subscription they need to be hooked and engaged first to the point they are willing to pay. If I was a first time/casual visitor I'd stop using the site before I even considered paying.

I assume that all the animated ones pay more than static adverts?

Wow! I've been modded! First time for everything I guess. Kind of puts my second comment into outer contextspace though. So for those who blinked and missed it I expressed to the OP that I thought he should really consider investing some of his hard earned in supporting the behemoth what is Singletrack and if he wasn't prepared to do so should perhaps share his concerns elsewhere..

Anyway, that's my two penn'orth. Happy Bank Holiday one and all!

Jamie - Freeloader!
To be fair, after reading the OP again, I noticed they said 'lol'.

So maybe your vitriol was deserved

I missed that. And a good thing too! Would undoubtedly have resulted in a ban...

Wow! I've been modded!

Likewise. Makes Mike's post seem a bit odd.

...well odder than usual. BOOOOOOM!

Hopefully STW towers are taking onboard the feedback from this and the many other threads about the invasive ads....

On the pc with a big screen no issues with adds you can look at the bits you want to
but on mobile ( phone or Ipad/tablet ) the adds take over and keep appearing even though I dont want to Vape or buy clothes
and the close add x is hard to hit every time which means the add opens
even had an add with no close x anywhere on screen

Seems like the mobile add makers are getting more aggressive

Hmmm....mods have been at work on this thread today.
Unless I'm mistaken, quite a few comments seem to have been deleted that were up earlier 😕

I don't mind adverts but having multiple ones all changing images/playing video does make the site look cheap and unprofessional. In order for people to pay for a subscription they need to be hooked and engaged first to the point they are willing to pay. If I was a first time/casual visitor I'd stop using the site before I even considered paying.

+1
Exactly what I've said before.

Of course the subscribers will whine and get on their high horses and post pictures of stuff that costs £1.49 (really are you that childish and Coke doesn't even cost that much unless you do your weekly shop in a motorway service station) but the fact is that if people are put off the site when they first come to it cos it looks so tacky and slow to load they won't hang around - new subscribers dry up, visits to site go down, everything goes pear shape. Then your precious £1.49 won't get you diddly squat.

I just timed how long it too to load the forum page up - iPhone 5, 50mb fibre wi-fi connection at full strength. 17 seconds to load the whole page and the ads.

Errrr that's not great really, or is that normal for a modern website?

On the other hand, as mentioned above, it does give me a nostalgic glow to see such a retro website.

Nineties-tastic!

"Click here to win a million!!!"

I'm fed up being logged out! I have paid for years but keep having to log back in across devices other sites manage this ok. The remember me button seems good for about a day.

I just timed how long it too to load the forum page up - iPhone 5, 50mb fibre wi-fi connection at full strength. 17 seconds to load the whole page and the ads.

You should try it with a crap connection, you literally cannot comment on a topic as every time an ad half loads up your kicked out of the keyboard, so mid type you inevitably end up hitting an add. Pain in the posterior.

I think STW need to decide if they want visitors or not. If all they want is subscribers, then they should make it a subscriber only forum. If it carries on like this, it's what they'll probably end up with anyway.

Greed is at the bottom of this. Plain and simple.

There never used to be ads, then ads at top , bottom and side of page.
Then the flashing , video ads.
Now this...

But it costs money to run this site...
Ok, ok, I get that, but I believe the costs are covered and then some.
Greed , greed , greed.

Oh, and the "just get a P account" argument just smacks of blackmail/bullying.

But it costs money to run this site...
Ok, ok, I get that, but I believe the costs are covered and then some.
Greed , greed , greed.

Cool - can you post the numbers here? How much does it cost to run the site (inc. staff, hosting, editorial content, travel to gather the content etc)?
And how much do they earn from the ads/subscriptions? Can you break that down by type of advert too, that would help us all understand the decisions behind the advertising layout.

Or... are you simply spouting an uninformed opinion without any information or facts to back it up.

I believe the site is being paid for by an anonymous Middle-Eastern government official. That would explain all the brand new cars and big houses owned by the STW people.

Ok, ok, I get that, but I believe the costs are covered and then some.

I think that's called 'profit'. Businesses seem to be keen on it for some reason.

Ok, ok, I get that, but I believe the costs are covered and then some.
Greed , greed , greed.

Might be what you believe but it doesn't make you right.

I'm fed up being logged out! I have paid for years but keep having to log back in across devices other sites manage this ok. The remember me button seems good for about a day.

Have you tried the cookie clearing tricks? I'm stay logged in in every device I connect with.

Agree that due to the pop ups and the time it takes to load, the site is now pretty much un-useable on an iPhone or tablet when away from a fast Wifi connection. That's when I normally use the site, via 3G on the tram on the way to or from work. Don't often bother now because its so frustrating, which kind of defeats the point in having ads I guess if I'm not seeing them any more?

I see the point in a premium sub for the access to back issues and extra content online etc, but taking it up just to get rid of all the click through ads? You can eff right off sunshine! Obviously the ads are placed to generate a bit more revenue, but just how click happy are STWers?

I maybe click one or two a year tops, and it hasn't resulted in a single purchase yet...

Even on a fast connection it's near unusable on ipad, you can zoom in and crop the ads out which stops it jumping around then you just have the Reiss banner at the bottom that doesn't really interfere too much.

Should be an easy fix for a competent web person?

I'm glad to see I've touched a nerve with the "greed" comment.
It's just so blatantly obvious that more and more is needed to run this site...

cookeaa - have a read of the forum rules, you're still in the edit window (hint, hint).

I'm glad to see I've touched a nerve with the "greed" comment

You say what we're all thinking.

Crickey!

The mods can move like Greased Shit off a shovel under the right conditions...

Sorry I was just noticing your clever use of the swear filter...

TBH I don't think I'd ever noticed that rule before, but my comment was related to the topic...

Apologies for sewing the seeds of descent...

I'm glad to see I've touched a nerve with the "greed" comment.
It's just so blatantly obvious that more and more is needed to run this site...

You really haven't. The second part you'd be right it does cost more to run the site.

The mods can move like Greased Shit off a shovel under the right conditions...

I happened to be reading the thread 🙂

OK I've cracked and decided to give Premier membership another go.
I stopped it before as I wasn't reading the mag and still had issues with adverts when logging in on a mobile after random log-outs.

I have no issue in paying £1.49 per month as long as I don't lose patience waiting fir ads to load whist trying to log-in on a mobile.....

OK I've cracked and decided to give Premier membership another go.

Thanks for that. We can now enjoy an extra pack of pork scratchings at the Xmas party.

Thanks for that. We can now enjoy an extra pack of pork scratchings at the Xmas party.

[i]Agree that due to the pop ups and the time it takes to load, the site is now pretty much un-useable on an iPhone or tablet when away from a fast Wifi connection. That's when I normally use the site, via 3G on the tram on the way to or from work. Don't often bother now because its so frustrating, which kind of defeats the point in having ads I guess if I'm not seeing them any more? [/i]

Completely agree, I used to browse the site on iPhone/iPad and seldom bother now, the floating banner ad just annoys me after a couple of minutes as does the constant page resizing..

On paying £1.49 a month, well I used to subscribe to the mag and did so for years but cancelled my subs as the mag didn't really suit the kind of cycling I do now. So over the years I've contributed much more than £1.49 a month. I'm not going to be pressured into paying for something I don't want just to make a site usable on a mobile device.

Last year we turned over 650k
Our profit margin was 1.8%
The site gets 1.6 million unique users a month. We haven't recorded a drop in monthly uniques in the last 12 months.
Making money out of publishing is really ****ing hard.

I think someone asked..

I understand that, but the floating ads and resizing that have started in the last few months are turning people off the site.

1.6 million unique users a month

that's, like, nearly all the IT managers in the UK! 😯

define "unique users a month"...

But Gary, the stats are showing that we are getting more visitors a month... not fewer. You can argue that if the ads were not there there would be even more but the fact is the ads are funding the site. I accept it's a balancing act and you may think it's tipped to far towards the ads but with margins as tight as they are it's a tough and risky game to play - especially when there's the wages of 18 people to consider.

Stoner.. a Unique users is a unique user as defined by Google. It's the industry standard measure of traffic to a website. It's a unique IP address belonging to a device that has accessed the site. It is easily argued that it is not a measure of individual humans but it is the closest that the internet has to that measure. What the actual stat represents is less relevant to the fact that it is used as a standard 'ruler' to compare websites.

There are currently 605 people active on this site right now as I type this. The average user stays for 4 minutes.

[i]But Gary, the stats are showing that we are getting more visitors a month... not fewer.[/i]

But how long are new users staying for?

Hi to the 604.

Can we give it a rest now for another month? Spleens have been vented, points made, explanations have been given, let's not keep arguing over the fine details.

Making money out of publishing is really **** hard.

Thanks for the input Mark. Advertising is fine , I don't mind and understand the need for it.
But the problem now is this latest type of advertising is making the site very unpleasant to use on a mobile device.

What I can say is that for a vision of the future have a look at what we are doing with Grit.cx

But the problem now is this latest type of advertising is making the site very unpleasant to use on a mobile device.

This + 1. It's not the advertising that people object to, it's the banners and pop ups that are making the website almost completely un-useable on any mobile device.

As mobile devices are making up an ever increasing percentage of internet useage then this is something the STW team should really be quite concerned about surely? Yet they seem quite blase about the issue?

Mark, are you soliciting feedback on the new site anywhere?

[i]Mark, are you soliciting feedback on the new site anywhere? [/i]

On the new site 🙂

On the site? It has a forum and I think Neil has asked for thoughts.

As mobile devices are making up an ever increasing percentage of internet useage then this is something the STW team should really be quite concerned about surely? Yet they seem quite blase about the issue?

Far from 'blase'. In fact as more mobile use happens the ads will follow - that's one of the fundamental issues that the whole publishing industry is scratching their heads about - how to make mobile pay. Standard ads don't work. The principal solution is to design mobile optimised websites, like we have done with Grit but they still currently bring in a small proportion of the ad revenue that desktop sites do. So far from being apathetic about mobile readeship, it's actually the principal driving force behind our current development of Grit and then STW. Grit really is prototype STW3

You can look at it now without registering. Go and have a look round. It's still limited in function right now but the way it adapts to screen widths and devices is the main point.

There does seem to be something a bit odd going on with the Nicorette/Reiss/whatever else ads - I don't get them at all on the PC, but they are a pain on the phone - slow the site down, get in the way, and open up a new window instead of closing the ad.

It doesn't seem to depend on the version of iOS either - we're running different versions on our phones and still get the same problem, to the point I now only go on to Singletrack when I'm on the PC.

Doesn't seem to be an issue on Windows Phone.. at least it wasn't last time I got logged out.

I'd love a mobile site though - there has to be a way to get the content and ads onto a mobile phone nicely. Perhaps do what FB does - the ads appear as posts inline with your news feed.

oooh. lets tuck this in here 😉
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That's not a misleading statistic, is it Stoner? From you?

[url= http://kindofnormal.com/truthfacts ]I can cite my sources![/url]