MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Just opened STW forum, click on a thread and a window pops up, congratulations you have been selected to trial an iPhone 7. And then you have also qualified for a free iPhone 6s!
I never even got the ad for Maserati 🙁
tech@singletrackworld.com
Right one this time I think
I had that too. Gone now
I used to get the dreaded Maserati car ad all of the time , it seems to have done one !!
Just happened again ....
[img] 
[/img]
Have you mailed the people who can do something about it? Who will probably not be working today - don't think stw even offers 24/7 support to the p's
Is this one of those "we can't control the scamming ads that pop up on this website" problems again?
First time poster here about to post a what 29er frame/bike thread (joke) but have these iphone messages appearing multiple times, having cleared history/cache etc whilst using javascript enabled.
Has anyone found a solution so far as appears it opens up an added page in background.
This isn't the first site I use that suffers these iphone ads. If I wanted an iphone I would have bought one from a legitimate source! Oh wait! I already did!
Stw - yh incoming seeking tech help on this issue.
Big n daft, it's a Sunday lunchtime, do you know how the ad systems work? You don't get to vet and check every single one.
Glad this has been posted so we can all agree/disagree about this...fear not though, those that need to be aware are likely to do nothing about it for reasons that don't appear to get shared with anyone.
For something that is apparently so large these days, I find it amusing that people come on and suggest they don't monitor the system every day...
It is probably known about, but a fix isn't possible (yet) so everything will remain quiet...possibly.
The 'freeloaders' will become vocal about how poor this is, the people-what-pay will suggest we all pay so we can switch ads off; we'll then hear from people who do pay but get logged out and then get the ads; the 'freeloaders' (who make up the largest portion of page views and therefore advert viewings and therefore the largest chunk of money earned from ads being displayed) will point out that with this kind of experience, it isn't worth paying for a service that doesn't sound as though it is any better when paid for...
At some point, people will start going elsewhere and viewing figures will drop...and maybe then it might be accepted that there was an actual problem and apparently ignoring it wasn't actually the best solution.
Until then, I love these posts, breaks the monotony of all the biking chat. 😉
I miss the Tudor era most
DickBarton, you're missing the bit where the mods complain about people daring to post complaints about the awful adverts.
Do they or just the fact that people seem to think they can fix stuff they cant. I assume somebody has mailed the email for Web problems as is normally suggested. I don't know how it stw towers is these days but most software/Web support isn't 24/7 these days unless it's mission critical or you have heaps of cash to waste.
The 'freeloaders' will become vocal about how poor this is, the people-what-pay will suggest we all pay so we can switch ads off; we'll then hear from people who do pay but get logged out and then get the ads; the 'freeloaders' (who make up the largest portion of page views and therefore advert viewings and therefore the largest chunk of money earned from ads being displayed) will point out that with this kind of experience, it isn't worth paying for a service that doesn't sound as though it is any better when paid for...At some point, people will start [s]going elsewhere and viewing figures will drop[/s] to realise that there is an alternative where ads are not visible and that you don't even have to pay for the service, the business will lose all revenue and the site will eventually close as there's not really a viable business...and maybe then it might be accepted that there was an actual problem and apparently ignoring it wasn't actually the best solution.
Jus' sayin'.
I thin
*logged out*
[quote=scaredypants ]I miss the Tudor era most
[img] 
[/img]
Big hitters meeting in the Tudor era
and round and round and round...repete until funny 😆
Blimey!
If that's the attitude towards other folk using this forum.
I actually think I might join another more friendly bike forum where they discuss trails etc than just "what bike" or "what watch"
Talk about dull!
It's very well having mods on here to delete swear words etc but when there are site issues, what then!?
I also have noticed whilst being a lurker for a while that forum regulars swear and post up sooooo much drivvle that gets left to block up forum space.
No wonder it's putting off many newcomers.
For that reason! I'm ouuut!
If it's a redirect, it's a rogue ad rather than intentional. Content is supplied by a third party, it happens sometimes. It'll get picked up when the people who are actually paid to work here get into work on Monday, assuming anyone's actually reported it. Email tech@ as suggested in the second post.
preciousmetals > welcome to the forum and sorry for the inconvenience, it'll get addressed as soon as practically possible.
FunkyDunc > thanks for the screen grab, I'm sure that'll help.
thecaptain > bite me. I've explained this countless times now, you're just being deliberately obtuse. The only thing we can do as Moderators is flag it up to tech, something you're more than capable of doing yourself. Starting another thread serves no purpose other than to antagonise those who are doing what they can to help.
And come on, If anyone seriously expects 24/7 drop-everything support for an issue which affects people using the forum for free, I hope you brought enough to share whatever you've been smoking. Mark and co often do check in out-of-hours to try to sort stuff, but if I were them then the first time it became demanded would be the last time I'd be doing it.
again?
[quote=preciousmetals ]
I also have noticed whilst being a lurker for a while that forum regulars swear and post up sooooo much drivvle that gets left to block up forum space.
No wonder it's putting off many newcomers.
For that reason! I'm ouuut!
A flounce sooo soon?
Hello Cougar, yes I have reported to tech@stw address a while earlier.
Just a shame I came from a motorcycle forum today to find similar scam popup but yes it then redirects to the scam site.
@bruneep, well it's of course early days but it's not a good start, hell I must have been unlucky.
Perhaps if the regulars redeem themselves and confess their sins of abusing stw forum all this time then maybe, just maybe I'll stick around.
It's very well having mods on here to delete swear words etc but when there are site issues, what then!?
I should perhaps explain. The Moderators are, broadly, (volunteer) content moderators. We can address complaints about people being offensive and suchlike, but we do not have access to the codebase. Therefore, any issues with the site itself - bugs, rogue ads and the like - has to be dealt with by the site developers / owners.
The grumpiness you see on this thread is because it's been a long-standing bone of contention. The advertising is a necessary evil; ostensibly it funds the forum.
As for "what trail" etc, there are two forum areas here. The 'bike' forum is for exactly what you describe, the 'chat' forum for everything else. And it quite literally is [i]everything[/i] else; whilst a lot of it is banal, there's a wealth of experience and knowledge on here that I've not known since my bulletin board days. Whist any social group has its share of problem children and special snowflakes, people have found support and solace in all manner of difficult circumstances here; there's a running joke that there's nothing STW can't answer but it's based in truth. I sincerely hope you stick around to find out.
if the regulars redeem themselves and confess their sins
Good luck with that. (-:
..and it's "Drivel" btw, something you'll find some of us are professionals in (and grammar pedantry, to make up for other inadequacies)
Welcome, you big flouncy teddy.
*logged out*
Got to admit though it's an impressive flounce for a newbie. Some more experienced hands could learn a thing or two.
+1 to everything Cougar said also. Yes the content on any given day is largely bollocks but of a certain quality and when the shit hits the fan folk do step up big time. I know from personal experience.
but we do not have access to the codebase.
Some say no-one does, and it's currently roaming free in abandoned tunnels underneath Hebden....completely feral. On a quiet evening you can hear it's howls as it tries to search it's contents.
"its"
(sorry, couldn't resist after BN's post)
Chaps. You do know that you bring a lot of these adverts with you when you come back onto this site. They go by what site you have been looking at and what adverts (and how they are implemented) happens on those sites.
Hence me being a good lady chap doesn't get things popping up and offering me a good time
As someone who works in publishing,it amuses me/makes me grit my teeth, when I see comments from people who can't find it within their tight little pockets to spend less than a pound a week to be a subscriber, complaining about the service. And these being people who think nothing about dropping 100s (if not 1000s) of quid on bike related kit. If everyone who used the service coughed up what amounts to loose change, none of this would even be necessary. And they'd get a great magazine through the door every month. Fat chance though as we live in the "expect everything for free" world of t'internet. As Joni Mitchell so eloquently put it "you don't know what you've got 'til its gone.."
If you actually read Cougars reply on this matter, then you'll realise it gas nothing to do with subscribing or have I missed something obvious.
Subscribing lets you switch off the ads when you are logged on.
If you actually read Cougars reply on this matter, then you'll realise it gas nothing to do with subscribing or have I missed something obvious.
What Funky is getting at I think is, one of the perks of membership is an ad-free experience.
But like I said, this has been a long-running debate.
Has anyone mentioned Descent World yet? Dick Barton's standards are slipping.
In all fairness I wasn't the one mentioning Descent-world...but almost all my other points have already been highlighted...on the first page as well.
For the record, I was a subscriber...many years ago...I stopped paying as the mag wasn't doing 'my' thing...I still use the site and would be a 'freeloader'.
Adverts make money, there are so many here nowadays so many people viewing the site that the money isn't going to be pence...it makes sense to make sure the adverts work on a site as they can help generate revenue but also, when done well, won't detract from the experience and will increase more views and therefore revenue.
When done poorly it does the opposite.
This site and mag are 15 years old...a fantastic achievement made possible by the hard work of several people...but this is much more than just a hobby for them and they need to ensure nothing detracts from visitor numbers.
I'm not expecting 24/7 tech support...this is a biking forum but the site runs 24/7 so things need to be in place to support the site during at least day time times (or the busiest periods)...it isn't a monday-friday only gig.
I'd happily support this if things got dealt with...I don't care about getting a mag or access to a premium Web report but I'm not keen on paying a sub when the basic solution is so broken...
I've been here long enough to see the trend as a long-term issue, it has been so for several years...since before the great hack, so this isn't new and just keeps festering.
All my opinion of course and I'm sure many will be able to argue it out the door...
As someone who works in publishing,it amuses me/makes me grit my teeth, when I see comments from people who can't find it within their tight little pockets to spend less than a pound a week to be a subscriber, complaining about the service. And these being people who think nothing about dropping 100s (if not 1000s) of quid on bike related kit. If everyone who used the service coughed up what amounts to loose change, none of this would even be necessary. And they'd get a great magazine through the door every month. Fat chance though as we live in the "expect everything for free" world of t'internet. As Joni Mitchell so eloquently put it "you don't know what you've got 'til its gone.."
We've discussed this, no? Being a P doesn't guarantee you wont see adverts as you get logged out, then Cougar will post a link to the login form, then someone will mention why should they pay for P when the forum is running on a Soviet era rats nest of code, old timers will mention it's fine how it is then fall asleep in their favourite chair, mods will be dismissive, Scotsroutes will FTFM etc etc
preciousmetals - Member
Blimey!
If that's the attitude towards other folk using this forum.
I actually think I might join another more friendly bike forum where they discuss trails etc than just "what bike" or "what watch"Talk about dull!
It's very well having mods on here to delete swear words etc but when there are site issues, what then!?
I also have noticed whilst being a lurker for a while that forum regulars swear and post up sooooo much drivvle that gets left to block up forum space.No wonder it's putting off many newcomers.
For that reason! I'm ouuut!
Impressive flounce, precious! Is impressed. 😀
I actually think I might join another more friendly bike forum where they discuss trails etc than just "what bike" or "what watch"
As has been pointed out, that's the province of the 'bike forum', this is the 'chat forum', where the subject matter very rarely has anything to do with bikes.
Pretty much everything else, though, much of it very obtuse, but that's the fun of it. It's why I've been on here since 2003.
[quote=bongohoohaa ]old timers will mention[s] it's fine how it is then fall asleep in their favourite chair,[/s] how there wouldn't be any ads at all if everyone was willing to pay the meagre subscription of £15 per year.
Phew he's back on form.
Thanks for letting us know - (fortunately) I don't get allowed to touch things involving numbers or code, so we'll have a look on Monday. It may surprise you that we don't make enough money to have techs on standby at all times and anyone who's been to the office has been surprised at how small the team behind the magazine and website actually is.
Nevertheless, we don't want adverts popping up in the wrong place, so we'll do our best to track it down and fix it.
Cheers!
Chipps
I'll shut my face for a bit...happy to have had a response so I suspect there will be an improvement soon, thanks.
Just to be clear those without a P are not freeloaders. They contribute to the content as well that gives this site its ultimate value. This gets missed in the debate. STW would be dead without the vibrant forum, 100% populated by its users.
Adverts make money, there are so many here nowadays so many people viewing the site that the money isn't going to be pence...it makes sense to make sure the adverts work on a site as they can help generate revenue but also, when done well, won't detract from the experience and will increase more views and therefore revenue.
Sorry to have to be the voice of doom, but even with the traffic that Singletrack get, the money that they generate from online ads probably won't pay the salary for one tech for one year. Fact is, it is very, very difficult to make any real money from online ads. Only the sites with squillions of uniques per month (and publishers with many, many sites to effectively link together) can do so and that is all done through highly automated programmatic advertising.
Being a P doesn't guarantee you wont see adverts as you get logged out, then Cougar will post a link to the login form, then someone will mention why should they pay for P when the forum is running on a Soviet era rats nest of code, old timers will mention it's fine how it is then fall asleep in their favourite chair, mods will be dismissive, Scotsroutes will FTFM etc etc
I hear what you're saying, but actually my argument isn't about the ads per se. I just think that all those who use this forum regularly should be prepared to cough up the equivalent of a 1/4 pint of beer a week to help keep it running. Those who don't - and there's an awful lot of people who seem to conduct a big chunk of their lives on this site - should frankly be ashamed of themselves. For the record I don't disable the ads, figure that they need all the impressions they can get. I even click on them from time to time because that helps too.
Just to be clear those without a P are not freeloaders. They contribute to the content as well that gives this site its ultimate value. This gets missed in the debate. STW would be dead without the vibrant forum, 100% populated by its users.
Hmmm. It's a fair point, the value of this site is the incredible community and the wealth of knowledge and experience and support and humour. I get that. Still think that people who, for the most part, can afford 75p per week should cough up.
This forum has got me a £750 refund from Scottish Power ,18 months free phone and Internet from BT and stopped me making the worlds biggest mistake when varnishing my floor.
That's an awful lot of subscriptions.
£1.49 gets you a month of Premier access that includes being able to turn the ads off. Shortly the ads will be off by default for all subscribers although you will be able able to turn them on if you really want to.
Here are some things that £1.49 won't get you.
Half a pint in London
A spare tube
Any drink from Starbucks
A big mac
A single copy of any printed MTB mag
But it will get you a month of access to this site, with no ads, and full access to our apps and mag archive containing everything we've ever published in 15 years. You even get Premier benefits from all our Premier dealers. Hell, even if you pay £1.49, download our Premier app, go in to Blazing Saddles and get 5% off anything that costs more than £30 and you've got your cash BACK.
Content is very expensive to create and pay for but we are practically giving it away. All our online features published on this site that you can read for free cost us money to produce. We pay for all our stories, news items, reviews and columns. This is all available to you for free. There's some content we keep back for the mag or the occasional premier only web feature and for this we charge a tiny amount compared to what it costs to create.
All of the stuff you get for free is paid for by the advertising. If you pay us less than half the cost of one coffee a month then you get to turn all the ads off and access everything. If you choose not to then that's totally fine, so long as you realise that the ads you see are the price you pay.
Now, first thing tomorrow I'm going to spend a good chunk of time contacting our ad networks to track down the ad that is not being nice.
and round we go weeeeee 😆
I don't normally get involved in these 'ad' topics as its all been done before and has never affected me in a manner that I found really annoying. In fact, I had no idea what this Masarati ref was (I thought maybe an 'in' joke)? I did mention a week or so ago about strange ads not being relevant to me. This last week though has been a nightmare.
I subscribe, have done for many years and will continue to do so as the mag is sooooo good.
I guess I'm a 'p' subscriber.
Site logs me out now and again, no bother, just log in again, saved password, takes seconds.
Will keep up subscription for mag but logging onto forum is just tedious now.
Adverts/ pop ups/ redirects, hit x then redirects again?
Just now got maybe 4/5 ads/ redirects, before I got a chance to actually log back in.
I've never gambled in my life and would not even care to, so William Hill popping up and cannot get rid of the page is a bore.
I would expect this on less salubrious webpages, but on a bike forum?
Lots of love
Peeved from Reading
I've never gambled in my life and would not even care to, so William Hill popping up and cannot get rid of the page is a bore.
I would expect this on less salubrious webpages, but on a bike forum?
William Hill and other betting sites appear quite regularly on my BBC pages and apps (overseas gets ads some full page and all that) morally how far is it from an overpriced ego car with poor fuel economy, a beer brand or something like that.
Mike, if I don't log in and have William Hill ads or whatever down the right of the page, and maybe bike related banner at the top, BUT I can still continue to the forum etc, then ok, no bother.
But when I now open up Singletrack page and click on the forum section get pop ups and redirected to pages, then redirected to more and have to close everything down and start again, gets tedious.
Not the same as having normal ads down the side on the BBC page.
BTW Mike, as you seem to be defending; I don't mind the ads down the side of the page or at the top if I haven't logged in, most of the time I never log in; but this recent week has been constant pop ups/ redirects/ intrusive behaviour that I have never encountered here before.
Just to remind you, the normal ads are ok.
Yeah I've been getting full screen ad's on the BBC sport app for a while now. Not so much defending as wondering
I would expect this on less salubrious webpages, but on a bike forum?
Why you put this?
From an advertisers perspective there is a huge amount of sport discussed here and some simple analytics would probably show it's a decent place for that legal and well regulated company to advertise.
On logging in personally I log in, at most once a week I end up logged out but that is common with a lot of sites or if my browser does an update and resets something. Can't see why you wouldn't log in 😉
Compared to a lot of sites when I end up looking at STW not logged in it's not that bad, pop ups would be annoying but there is a nice email to report the rogue ads which I'm guessing nobody actually bothers to do.
mws - does anyone else use your machine?
nope all 4 are just for me 😉 though if it's only family members I wouldn't log it out either. If I did the bookmark would be the login page though.
logging onto forum is just tedious now.
Once more with feeling,
If you bookmark http://singletrackworld.com/wp-login.php?redirect_to=forum/ it'll take you to the forum if you're logged in, and to an ad-free login page if you aren't.
Pop ups are annoying, redirects even worse, but for pity's sake please report them by email. Include a screen grab and which browser/device you are using. We can do very little when all we have to go on is a post saying the pop up is annoying.
Redirects are banned in all the ad networks we use but rogue ads do get in. They can be stopped but we do need information to track them down.
I'm getting the iPhone 7 bollocks constantly, not been here for a while but now it's pretty much unusable cos of redirects and pop ups, using a 6s on safari, not on the iPad though
Sends me here
http://www.best-iphone6s.com/new-iphone/Luckyusers/LP/gb/8394/index.php
Why not have a tiered P?
P+ = Access to everything and no ads. £15
P- = Just the no ads - £5
Or does my maths not check out?
There is 2 tiers.
£35 access to everything
£15 access to digital
Make it 3 tiers then
I'm getting this as well on an iPhone 4s latest iOS, but not on the iPad.
Never had the pop-up ads issue, but today I haven't been able to read a single thread on my phone.
I don't click on ads and it's now happening without clicking on threads.
Just tried Cougars suggestion and typed in the link, logged in and it still happened.
Pop ups are annoying, redirects even worse, but for pity's sake please report them by email. Include a screen grab and which browser/device you are using. We can do very little when all we have to go on is a post saying the pop up is annoying.
To quote Mark... Mail them with the details
Still think that people who, for the most part, can afford 75p per week should cough up.
I probably click on more than 75p worth of ads per week trying to close the Maserati ad 😆
Make it 3 tiers then
This guy gets it.
Blimey I was only trying to be helpful by posting !
I only ever use an iPhone to acces STW because on any other device the ads have been ridiculous for years. I haven't read all the other recent ad threads because they were not effecting me, so I didn't know there was an email address for reporting. Maybe a button at the top would be worth while given the regulatory of the issue?
Pay for membership ? Would end up being a very dull place
Maybe a button at the top would be worth while given the regulatory of the issue?
....or some kind of popup to alert the reader.
Just tried Cougars suggestion and typed in the link, logged in and it still happened.
To be clear,
The link I provided will give you an ad-free login screen if you're logged out. Once logged in, Premier users will continue to be ad-free so long as they've selected this option in their subscription settings. Regular users will still be presented with advertising.
[quote=Cougar ]logging onto forum is just tedious now.
Once more with feeling,
If you bookmark> http://singletrackworld.com/wp-login.php?redirect_to=forum/
Thanks Stoner
Thanks Stoner
How rude of me, I forgot to thank Stoner for that link.
Cheers, mate. Really helps out.
Why not have a tiered P?P+ = Access to everything and no ads. £15
P- = Just the no ads - £5
Good grief!
It's currently £0.04/day
If I blew the froth of my coffee and let you smell it, it would be more expensive.
If I blew the froth of my coffee and let you smell it,
Keep talking you filthy beast.....
[img] 
[/img]
If I blew the froth of my coffee and let you smell it, it would be more expensive.
This guy gets it.
They do have a £1.49 a month option. If you can't afford that or don't want to pay it, well that's fine
but down pile on the staff and expect them to jump through hoops.
Stuff happens
Well at least it's a super hero now 🙂
Is this a new email ??
[img] 
[/img]
I've sent an email, however appear to be getting redirected to a different site every time I click anything !
Is that safari or Chrome?
That's Safari.
When the ads give you strife,
And it's affecting your life,
That's Safari.
When the ads give you strife,
And it's affecting your life,
That's Safari.
Next he'll be singing opera....
I've been getting that cyclops thing recently. If you click on it it takes you to the App Store. I've sent an email too.