[Closed] What's going on with STW and all the ads?

[i]if there's a way to stop it[/i]

Pay £1.49 a month?

PWhat Pads?

I used to get almost as annoyed with the "just get a premier membership" posts as I did with the adverts themselves...then I bought a premier membership...

Wonderful blissful, ad-free browsing all for the price of 1/2 a pint per month. Go on, treat yourself, it's a no-brainer.

wwaswas - Member

if there's a way to stop it

Pay £1.49 a month?

BOOM - hero post on the first hit, amazing.

Weirdly I don't pay for any other forums and don't have ad issues. Admittedly I haven't seen any problems on this one either (since EPICTV that is)

Might well do that if it's ad free although it feels like I'm being bullied in to it with the recent increase in ads.

Does membership get rid of those stupid mag 'stripes' down each side?

Please see one of the 37 other threads on the subject.

Does membership get rid of those stupid mag 'stripes' down each side?

Yes.

[i]BOOM - hero post on the first hit, amazing.[/i]

nearly as predictable as the four 'how can I stop the ads' threads that appear each day 🙂

Just reopened this thread to point out that we've actually reduced the number of ads in the site in the last two weeks. The mag stripes I'm baffled by. That's what we are. We ARE that magazine. This website is not separate from the printed magazine. We are all here, bashing at our keyboards on this forum because of that magazine. It's as much an ad as the signs inside Tesco pointing you at where they keep the milk.

Just reopened this thread to point out that we've actually reduced the number of ads in the site in the last two weeks. The mag stripes I'm baffled by. That's what we are. We ARE that magazine. This website is not separate from the printed magazine. We are all here, bashing at our keyboards on this forum because of that magazine. It's as much an ad as the signs inside Tesco pointing you at where they keep the milk.

that may be but the website design is shockingly bad imo

that may be but the website design is shockingly bad imo

oooh touchy 😆 I didn't say it offended me, and I've never moaned about the adverts. I'm happy to put up with them as its not a big deal. All I said is that the graphical design of this website is shockingly bad, which in my opinion it is. If you don't share that opinion then fine but I'm entitled to mine.

IMO it looks overly cluttered and the side banners don't display correctly (unless I zoom out). The website looks a bit cheap and tacky which is opposite to the overall image of magazine and ST. Having said that it's not bad enough to make it unusable, but definitely has room for improvement.

There's always room for improvement

No clutter here. Or side banners.

Perhaps it's time to sticky one of these threads as suggest elsewhere?

I like the adverts.

Nice to see a new BMW 520d for £289 per month or a free tool kit at Evans cycles lol.

Do we really feel bullied into buying a subscription? seriously.

Magazine subscription gets you a bunch of lovely mags through the post, ideal for reading in your private 'meditation suite' AND at a reduced price AND the option of an advert free website.

It's a bargain to be sure!

C. 8)

Not a whinge, but if any of the webbies or Mark are reading...

I get this thing when I load it up on an iPad (that's after getting rid of the watch ad...another deadline 🙄 missed) I often end up then clicking on eg. a CRC ad because of the way the site renders and jumps about for the last second or so meaning that aiming to tap the "Chat" button means I inadvertently tap an ad. Is this a problem with the way the page "renders" (sorry if that's the incorrect term) or with the processing speed of the device used?

Honestly, not a whinge, just curious.

Go on.... show us a screen shot of a paid up member....?

just to tempt us?

I'd happily pay extra on top of "P" if I could block posts from certain users

I paid to get rid of the adverts and now they’ve started sending me a bloody magazine in the post!

Who do I complain to?

[img] [/img]

Just to tempt you!

I want a Bionicon Chain Guide now... and a kinesis Tripster...

Zombie needs brainz...

kendo954 - Member
Go on.... show us a screen shot of a paid up member....?

just to tempt us?

This would have been a prime Jamie moment.

I'm still puzzled as to why I'd want to pay money to not see Bravissimo adverts?!

They send me stuff in the post also

[IMG] [/IMG]

[img] [/img]

It's turtles all the way down.

[img] [/img]

[URL= http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff167/LukeBurstow/oldstuff/pic_zpsbkz0awkx.pn g" target="_blank">http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff167/LukeBurstow/oldstuff/pic_zpsbkz0awkx.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Wonderful blissful, ad-free browsing all for the price of 1/2 a pint per month. Go on, treat yourself, it's a no-brainer.

It is once you change the settings on your account. Something I've just discovered!

Was queuing at the bike show in London for a ticket on the Saturday. A very nice man came up to us and gave away the three tickets from his group who couldn't make it.
Adding just £3 to my ticket money, I Popped onto the Singletrack stand and signed up. Nice pair of shiny new pedals for the pub hack too.
Although about to improve, times is a bit hard at the mo, was given my entry money and a lift to the show as a present. Getting rid of the ads was a bonus.

I'm still puzzled as to why I'd want to pay money to not see Bravissimo adverts

Is there an option to turn these, but only these, back on? I'll pay another £1.49

Is there an option to turn these, but only these, back on?

+1

The mag stripes I'm baffled by. That's what we are. We ARE that magazine. This website is not separate from the printed magazine.

[img] [/img]

Annoying isn't it?

dd, many a true word, eh?

Sorry I'm late to this one.

Anyone banned yet?

Popcorn?

I struggle with long sentences 😉

creamegg - Member
oooh touchy I didn't say it offended me, and I've never moaned about the adverts. I'm happy to put up with them as its not a big deal. All I said is that the graphical design of this website is shockingly bad, which in my opinion it is. If you don't share that opinion then fine but I'm entitled to mine.

IMO it looks overly cluttered and the side banners don't display correctly (unless I zoom out). The website looks a bit cheap and tacky which is opposite to the overall image of magazine and ST. Having said that it's not bad enough to make it unusable, but definitely has room for improvement.

😆

Is it just me that this happens to but I am a premier subscriber and keep getting logged out which means on first loading I have to wait for all the ads to load before I can log in and get rid of them?

Must remember that I can't have an opinion on how anything looks as I don't work as a graphic designer.

Similarly I will stop having opinions about food as I don't have forty years experience in a kitchen.

Last night I got a full page add appear for a pizza company!

mmmm Pizza

Your pizza box lid fell across the screen really didn't?

Is it just me that this happens to but I am a premier subscriber and keep getting logged out

and now i want pizza and i've just had breakfast. that's not a good start to the day

gofasterstripes - Member
Sorry I'm late to this one.

Anyone banned yet?

I've considered it, but for some reason the subject matter doesn't bother me anymore.

I have zero issues with them, the layout works perfectly well on a touch-screen device, a double-tap in the main discussion/threads section zooms in and the ads disappear off the sides. Rotate into landscape, it expands to fill the extra real-estate.
What's so bad about that? Works fine for me,

I was watching a film last night on TV then all of a sudden this ad appeared on the screen, making noise and ranting on about stuff I didn't want then another one and more, it just kept happening all the way through the film...

Which design agency do you work for, BTW? Just curious about your graphics/design background.

Yeah I'm not sure I get your logic there.

I understand the need for adverts and I've no issue with them, never have. The banner I understand is there for a purpose but it's pointless if only half the banner (hence half the text) is visible without zooming out (this is on a PC). On my ipad the banners are barely 3mm wide so utterly pointless (not that I'm complaining about that).

I don't need to work in graphic design to realise the banners and some ads are not working as intended.

Incidentally the banners are gone today and now I have a grey background usually only available to subscribers. Now I am tempted to subscribe!

I do wonder if STW could go for product placement opportunities like they do in films?

Members could have companies bid to have their logo associated with every post they make.

Any suggestions for good member/company combo's?

It hasn't bothered me up to now except that when STW was first published the mag's stated philosophy was to have as little advertising as possible. However the middle section of the web page is enough for reading posts.

What IS bothering me is that in the last few days a new kind of ad has started appearing that scrolls down like a curtain and takes over the whole screen, looking worryingly like a malware attack.

Thought I better respond as the OP.

Before posting the thread I did scan the first couple of pages for a similar thread but couldn't see one.

For the record I think the site design is good. Infact, the ease of navigation to the parts I'm interested in are the reason I no longer spend time on PB or BR.

I see no need for the mag banners though. It's well publisied on the site without taking up a third of the page, every page. Having the banners is more likely to stop me using the site then sign up for the mag.

As for the other ads, I think the main problem is that they are getting fancier and there's loads of different ones all doing their own thing. It slows my laptop so much it's hardly worth logging on. Also, after the banner and ads there's very little screen room left for actual forum threads.

The site was crashing IE9 at work. However having opted out of every possible thing in google and AOL it all seems well

As most others have said and I'm sure it no longer bears repeating, no problem with ads but they were making the site unuseable.

Reading this thread:

Load page 1 and as I'm halfway through reading the first few posts a National Lottery Ad takes over the whole screen and I have to close the browser to get rid of it (X thing didn't work). Try again and get the same Ad but it clears this time. Go to page 2 and after 30 seconds or so I get a silver-grey Ad that makes no sense to me, clear that and the Lottery one re-appears!

Bloody frustrating but not as bad as my incredibly slow connection. Building next door gets fibre, I get 0.8meg on a good day. Not bad for the middle of Cardiff 🙁

Still better than BikeRadar though 😆

Cycle Chat doesn't have ads but it's not as funny as STW. I only go to CC for sensible discussion.

Those who are getting the page takeover ads... like BBC and Lottery ads... where are you? ie. What country?

Also, the ads are restricted based on cookies. If you have a no follow option set on your browser, disabled cookies or are using an incognito browser then the caps won't work properly and you will get more ads.

I'm still looking for the source of those screen takeover ads.

I was just browsing this thread without logging in and a whole page advert for "I survived a Zombie Apocalypse" appeared. I'm in Glasgow at the moment and need no reminders that the Apocalypse is ongoing! 😯

[img] [/img]

That's in the UK Mark (I had to go Incognito to get it). Seems to pop up at some point after page refresh.

Cheers for that.

I 'think' I may have found it. Coming from a network called Tribalfusion.
I've blocked the BBC on that network now... which I never expected I'd ever be doing... and also spotted that floating ads were allowed by default on that network - normally that's not the case. Anyway.. box ticked now and we shall see what happens.
Keep reporting them on this thread please and I'll do my best.

I forgot to add that I also suffer from those whole page adverts. I'm in the UK, North Yorks.

Mark - Resident Grumpy
Those who are getting the page takeover ads... like BBC and Lottery ads... where are you? ie. What country?

SE England

In addition to This yesterday

sands - Member
In the last few of days I’ve had a couple of full-screen adverts – Age UK and Volvo cars – only happens when I’ve been viewing STW.

This morning, I’ve just had full-screen BBC3 advertising Zombie Apocalypse and National lottery with a background of diamonds.

Today (just after midnight) had Volvo again and some Army click-the-video ad.

However, nothing else since.

HTH

[quote=Mark ]Cheers for that.
I 'think' I may have found it. Coming from a network called Tribalfusion.
I've blocked the BBC on that network now...Don't we pay a license fee to avoid that sort of thing 😉

Today (just after midnight) had Volvo again and some Army click-the-video ad.

Volvo for sale.

This is the third page I've visited since logging on 5 minutes ago - a 'take-over' ad has appeared on every page, takes about 20 seconds to load and locks up my browser when I try to close it.

Tried to help someone on another thread but wondering why I bother. I'm out of here until this forum becomes useable again.

G 👿

Manchester and I've had the Volvo full-page three times in two days as well as another I can't remember.

😆

*this* is how you do targeted advertising.

Content and advert in perfect harmony;

[img] [/img]

Excelling there!

*chortles*

These adverts get ever more devious. Now having to play "find the log in link" 😡
[img] [/img]

Yeah, I had the same this morning. When I was logged-out....again.

Whats happening with the Honda Advert. Admittedly my work browser is poor and out of date and not my own choice, IE9, but the site redirects to an add that takes over the page I cannot close?