Notice – STW any issues ?

Last 48 hours got a really odd standard view on the forum overview, left half of the screen blank, 1/3 forum as per normal and then last tiny sliver adverts on the right – very weird. Using PC and Chrome.https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4g4zujuxvsviscwfmmdro/singletrack-forum-screwed.png?rlkey=rw02uczf1gn63qpa5tzmfqu2m&st=959ciw1y&dl=0

Hopefully image will show up so you can see first hand, but if not message me.

Once you open a thread all as normal though, overview only knackered.

James

Randomly asks me to log in when I’m already logged in, and then comes up with a “prove you’re not a robot” with those annoying captcha things. I must be a robot as it tells me I get them wrong every time.

For some reason none of my raffall tickets seem to work as I’d like them to.

Just got the new sticky privacy button popping up when viewing the forum on my iPhone.

Doesn’t seem to be a way to make it go away.

Please, please, please make it go away.

This has just appeared on every screen. I can’t rid. Irritating!

Hell yeah!
That privacy tab is very annoying 😐

Still got no buttons for quotes etc, but nobody ever seems to answer that.
I see the poster above has them.
I’ve not had them for months and months and not the slightest inkling or explanation why that might be.

Chrome android

Privacy tab on side here too now on phone (Android system running Brave browser). Very annoying

Still got no buttons for quotes etc, but nobody ever seems to answer that.

It’s been answered about 17 times in this thread.

That privacy tab is very annoying

Um, that might be my fault, I flagged up an issue which I guess is being worked on currently.

On the privacy issue why no reject all button? Have untick all manually and who decides what legitimate interest is? Opinions on what is legitimate may differ

Still got no buttons for quotes etc, but nobody ever seems to answer that.

It’s been answered about 17 times in this thread.

Not seen it. I’ll go back over it. As I’ve had the issue for months now I assumed others were too. Cleared my cache and all that but still no buttons.

I’ve not got smart editor selected and I don’t get the buttons on my mobile, but I do on my windows laptop (but not my work MacBook).
I don’t use them, but can’t work out why I have them showing on 1 of the 3 things I browse this site on.
Not too bothered about, but it does seem odd.

Just checked the privacy settings – some vendors can’t be removed as the consent tickbox is greyed out as selected.
Taken 15 minutes to go through the list and unselect them all.
If these are all used on the site it is no wonder it is slow. Surely this can be improved by optimising the options and reducing them?
Or better yet, a single button to uncheck every vendor option so none of the options are selected for them?
Probably been posted about before but I don’t read every thread…

The privacy button has appeared without anyone here knowing. It’s likely an Ezoic thing. I’m looking into it now.

on the why issue as to why there isn’t a reject all option in the privacy settings the answer is in two parts. 1) it’s not a requirement (yet). 2) it would kick us in the balls financially instantly.

My thoughts on these two issues are that I think it’s right to have that option made a requirement. You should be able to select ‘none of the above’. In relation to 2) I’m working as hard as I can to get our financial situation to the point that we can take the loss by building revenue streams that don’t depend on programmatic (targeted) advertising. Raffles, subs, sponsored content etc. as well as cutting our costs where we can. But at the same time investing in what makes us unique and sustainable, like the server (502 club).

TLDR I agree it’s a shit show and I’m working on it.

Reminder on bugs. We aren’t actively working on them until we’ve got the new server up and running but we appreciate you reporting them here nonetheless.  That said, thanks to your reports (props to @cougar on this one) we fixed the image upload issue. Turned out it was a simple setting unintuitively restricted the physical size of images.

I’m being told by Ezoic that the privacy tab is a mandatory thing in order to be compliant with Google’s policies. I’m fine with anyone changing their settings – it’s a good thing. But I’m a bit annoyed that they didn’t give us a warning or any options on how it looks or where it sits. I’m trying to find out if we have any options in terms of where the control sits, especially on mobile. I’ll update you when I have more.

Thanks for the update Mark, as much as it is annoying, it is good to know it wasn’t something STW have done intentionally. Is slightly off not being informed of it though (I mean you not being informed by Ezoic).

It’s made me grumpy.

..On a Saturday!

Can they give an example of another customer’s site that’s had it foisted upon them I wonder?  It seems mad that there’s no customisability at all.

Here’s one. https://primetimepreps.com/

It’s apparently across their entire client base.

Another one you might appreciate @cougar 🙂

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On the privacy issue why no reject all button? Have untick all manually and who decides what legitimate interest is? Opinions on what is legitimate may differ
Posted 7 hours ago

DickBartonFull Member
Just checked the privacy settings – some vendors can’t be removed as the consent tickbox is greyed out as selected.
Taken 15 minutes to go through the list and unselect them all.
If these are all used on the site it is no wonder it is slow. Surely this can be improved by optimising the options and reducing them?

Every week or so I go through the rigmarole of unticking every box, in the vendor list there is loads of “legitimate interest” boxes, takes me 30 mins to an hr or so to go through them all, not that stw ever received kickbacks from myself as I’ve never bought anything through a sponsored link. With some websites I don’t bother viewing them anymore as their cookie objections are so hidden its not worth the hassle

I’m happy to participate in raffles though so I hope that provides a funding stream, and I think that there should be a percentage of kickback to stw for use of the classifieds if you sell something – if you use the classifieds to sell without donating then you’re a dick.

And one more thing,

”this web page is using a significant amount of energy, closing it may improve the responsiveness of your Mac”

The only website to ever show this message is STW.

Ezoic have told me they are working on way for us to have control over the styling and position of the consent tab.

Another one you might appreciate @cougar

That’s toss, isn’t it.

Click through the cookies settings, then click the new Privacy side-tab and the self-same dialogue comes straight back up again covering half the page, asking the same questions you’ve literally just answered.  On both of those sites.

Full disclosure. I have this setting at my disposal in our Ezoic ad system. It’s off because it’s not a requirement to have it on (but it will be in the future when legislation passes to mandate it). In the meantime that 20-50% revenue drop would put Singletrack at great risk and I’m not going to do that until I know I can afford to hit that button or I’m legally obliged to.

I’m sure it’s been mentioned before but,

When pasting Amazon links, embedding assumes it’s a Kindle link even if it isn’t.

Also, it doesn’t know that Twitter is now X.  If you paste a twitter dot com link it embeds, x dot com doesn’t.

That privacy tab on the side is in the way.

Agree with the above, is the privacy tab supposed to be there permanently?

The Privacy tab is a Google requirement and has been placed there by our ad partner Ezoic. It was a surprise to me too. I’ve been in touch with them over the weekend and they have assured me they are working on a less intrusive option for us. I don’t have a timescale on that

Privacy tab on other sites I visit lives along the bottom of the screen in the left corner.

Indeed. Had we been consulted before they turned it on I would have suggested that’s where it should be. As it stands we have no control over it – which is annoying

I can’t upload photo’s from my phone, in classifieds. It gets to 100% and nothing happens!

Indeed. Had we been consulted before they turned it on I would have suggested that’s where it should be. As it stands we have no control over it – which is annoying

Ignorant of these matters, it’s a big surprise to me that as a site owner you have so little control over the basics of how the site looks. That a third party can impose changes, which have a significant impact on appearance and usability without your consent or approval.  Madness!  Is there a more cooperative/less domineering provider you could use instead?

We have a contract with them for a length of time.

It will get fixed. It’s an annoyance at the moment.

Ooh it’s (the privacy tab thingy) on the bottom right now (Chrome, Windows). Much less prominent!

Yeah, that’s loads better.

Yep. If it has to be there at all, that’s a much better place for it 👍

Still can’t upload an image. 800×600 pixels, 140kb.

Windows 11, Edge.

Twitter imbeds seem to be randomly broken

Donald! Trump!

Twitter imbeds seem to be randomly broken

Twitter dot com embeds, x dot com does not.