As an aside, why are the mods in here “stealth”. ? This is about the only site where the mids don’t have an indicator next to their username

A couple of the Mods (Cougar and Drac) did have Moderator in their tag rather than Subscriber or Member but that seemed to have got broken in the last major “upgrade” (about 1 year ago). The rest opted to stay hidden so as not to attract unwanted attention.

Why not charge everyone for access to the site? If there really is no value in ‘non paying members’ then make the pay up or ship out!

Because the other major income stream is advertising and that only earns if you have a large readership/click-through rate. In effect, ALL members (whether paying or not) have value.

Edit: of course, if enough folk subscribed, there would be a point where no advertising was required.

Edit: of course, if enough folk subscribed, there would be a point where no advertising was required.

and there are 2 ways to try and achieve it

That one probably isn’t the best one, making a nice easy working forum that does the basics well might help

 The rest opted to stay hidden so as not to attract unwanted attention.

That seems a little odd.  Undercover mods?  Makes it hard to know who to contact.  Plus it means they can make posts with distinctly um-modlike language/content and if you don’t know they are a mod, it seems a bit off.

 If people ask for too much, the item won’t sell. You don’t really need a Classified Price Police to underline that, do you?

Who mentioned price police?  It’s feedback ffs and yes some people probably do need the help.  Anyone who has bought/sold stuff online kniws that at least 25% of the people are utterly convinced of the value of their stuff but will still wonder why it’s not selling.

While we’re here…

Can someone fix the header navigation? The top level items have a height of 48px but the dropdown menu is positioned 50px from the top, leaving 2px between them. This means that when you hover over the top level item to show the menu, and then you move the pointer down towards it, nine times out of ten the menu disappears before you can click on it. Which is infuriating.

Subject to media queries, you can fix it (and gain a small Fitt’s Law win into the bargain) as follows:

.navbar-nav > li > a { padding-top: 18px; padding-bottom: 12px; }

Anything that adds up to 30 will do in terms of fixing the bug, but anyone with a typographer’s eye should be able to spot why I’ve suggested those specific numbers.

That seems a little odd.  Undercover mods?  Makes it hard to know who to contact.

It’s one email.

Plus it means they can make posts with distinctly um-modlike language/content and if you don’t know they are a mod, it seems a bit off.

It also stops them being judged or criticised just for being a mod.

It’s one email

Aye, but to whom?

It also stops them being judged or critised just for being a mod

Aye, but if they are mods shouldn’t they embody the ethis of the site at all times?  It isn’t that hard over time to figure out who is a mod and if they do or say something off key then it appears to be a case of do as I say not as I do.  Then you wonder if they are using the lack of identifier as a shield from criticism for not living up to the ideals.

<p>The great thing about the old classifieds was scanning 50 adverts in about 30s for the parts you wanted, you could be in and out in 45s and know whether anyone had advertised the bits you wanted. Now you’re scrolling through Gumtree’esque rubbish instead.</p>

<p>Aye, small clearout, bits and pieces and Shimano XT are all really helpful titles when you’re looking for a brake. Whereas clicking on the bit that says ‘Brakes’ is just a complete ballache and unnecessary. I can see your logic there.</p><p></p><p>Chipps – What’s the reasoning behind the limited number of ads? I have a few things I’d like to sell but given I’m one of the more vocal ones who were in favour of proper listings by category I would like to do that. However I don’t want to spend the next month or so listing ads, selling then listing another. By limiting ads you are limiting traffic and by extension exposure. You can mitigate this by either removing the cap (because honestly, if you’re a legit seller then traffic is traffic) and enforcing the rules or introducing a paid aspect that allows you unlimited ads for a nominal amount either as a stand alone payment or as a perk for P users.</p>

I mentioned that in the early days of the new classifieds.  The ad cap is crazy and doesn’t work for smaller items in my view.   Which moves away from what this site was great at ‘good karma’ transactions.  So someone could post a wanted ad for an obsolete item and you would probably get some kind of response.  I gave away loads of stuff which helped other people.  Removing the ad cap for ‘P’ users made sense given as we already paid to use the site. But also stop the classified only users from spamming the place up.

Anyway nothing changed on that front and I used pink bike to clean out a load of kit.  Ad numbers are capped there too but at a much more sensible number

Aye, but if they are mods shouldn’t they embody the ethis of the site at all times?

You forget, Mods are just regular posters who have been asked “Can you help out” That doesn’t make them necessarily a better person, more politically correct or even answering any questions as part of the ‘forum’ …. Just normal guys…  (Who also happen to put up with a lot of crap on here)

Pretty much that Weeksy.

It isn’t that hard over time to figure out who is a mod

So no need for them to be labled as mods.

cromolyolly wrote

It’s one email

Aye, but to whom?

moderator@singletrackworld.com I think

and that reminds me, I’ve made the point before that as a professional coder I would have been mortified to put out code with bugs like this forum, the fact that bugs like the formatting crap still hasn’t been fixed tells me the management is lacking

I’m sure it’ll fall on deaf ears but just to add my name to the long list of people who won’t be disabling their ad blockers just for the sake of the new classifieds, always enjoyed a browse of the old ones, but I can certainly take or leave the new ones.

Would be interesting to know the traffic in the week of say 2 months ago, versus the last week on the new one.

I browsed the old classifieds regularly, sometimes several times a day. I’ve not visited the new one since the old classifieds was taken down …

I doubt you’re alone…. i visited once…. i used to browse (and purchase and sell) regularly on the old one.

Well, the links to the old Classifieds at the top of each thread have now gone so that should be less confusing for some folk. (thread / post counts links still appearing though.)

Just visited the wonderful new classifieds. Managed to get down past the Octavia and the Mojo, just about, before…

‘Congratulations…you have won….!’ fills my screen. Thought shitty popups and hijacks were a mobile-only feature?

PC/chrome/Latest build, if anyone is interested.

This is why people seem to be fond of adblockers.

Why not just charge us a one off payment if you want to sell gear? For example £5 for a one year licence. Must be paid to stw by PayPal or similar so that there is an audit trail.

A musical instrument forum of which I am a member (fnar!) recently implemented something similar. Items up to a set £ limit were free, and then over that limit were either £7 ea or for £20 you paid for a year’s access and free ads.

Seems to work pretty well.

BTW classified ads still not showing when I try and browse here on Chrome.

You forget, Mods are just regular posters

I didnt.  I am in intimately acquainted with what mods do and what they put up with.  Like referees they have to  ( publicly)stay above the fray.

So no need for them to be labeled as mods

Depends.  Might make the site more friendly to newcomers and inspire confidence in occasional posters.  Which is the other way to grow the revenues necessary to keep the site afloat.

Wonders if cromolyolly is a new login for someone who has suffered the wrath of the STW mod squad.

New classifieds are fine for me using an iPhone. Easy to navigate and easy to list. Not a fan of the sticky ads though. Nobody is buying your Mojo or your Santa Cruz.

Who mentioned price police?  It’s feedback ffs and yes some people probably do need the help.  Anyone who has bought/sold stuff online kniws that at least 25% of the people are utterly convinced of the value of their stuff but will still wonder why it’s not selling.

What would happen if those people didn’t drop their asking price?

Just to add my name to the list of users who have deserted the classifieds. I’m not flouncing, it’s just that the new format doesn’t give me what I got from the old one – window shopping with the (low-level) background thrill of a possible bargain or impulse buy.

i might search the new one next time I’m after something specific. But I probably won’t.

I visited the new classifieds and I died to death.

I visited the new classifieds and I died to death

I thought I was okay after looking and posting an advert on there. Turns out I was wrong though. I’ve contracted the bad cat aids and found several dead baby robins on the patio. I didn’t even have a patio before browsing on there.

The new classifieds are the worst and have literally ruined my life.

Over the years, I have used the old classifieds on here to buy and sell probably more than £10k’s worth of bikes and gear – I found it a great place to buy and sell stuff – but just to add my voice to those of others (again), I will not be using the new system – it’s rubbish compared to the old (I even paid for a sticky ad and still wan’t happy with that)….like others have said, I imagine if you look at traffic on here it will have dipped significantly since the change – the old classifieds was one of the main reasons (alongside Bike Forum) that kept bringing people back

Clearly, the change is a mistake…..

So all will be forgiven when you reinstate the old Classifieds!

In the event that any of the developers are reading this thread can I suggest that a link to the new classifieds needs to be available/visible the way the old one was – at the top of each thread. That encourages “casual” visits which the separate menu doesn’t

Any update from Stw when the new classified site will be fixed from ad blockers? I’ve got some stuff to list. I’d tell you what I have but I’m scared of the stealth, stealth ad police.

Actually, having looked at the classifieds on desktop today they seem to work quite well.  A list that’s quick to scroll down, pictures at sensible sizes and the boosted ads remain in the unobtrusively in the sidebar once you’ve scrolled past them . I can see the value of boosting and think it does represent an upgrade on the old system .

I stil liked the old “have a rummage jumble sale’ of the old system, but now understand much better what the changes are achieving.

Maybe it’s more of an issue that it doesn’t really work on mobile cos the pictures are too big?

One thing I have noticed is how few wanted ads there are in the new forum area. I often browsed the wtd section as it was simple to see if someone was looking for that odd or end that may be lurking in my parts box rather than list everything in for sale

Only 10 wtd ads in a week. it was always a bit quieter than the other forum pages but 10 in a week! That’s broken.

What would happen if those people didn’t drop their asking price?

depends if you ask an existentialist or psychic.  If a price falls in the classifieds and no one is there to hear it?

who has suffered the wrath of the STW mod squad

How would you know?  They are stealthy, ninja-like, moving in the shadows.

Just had a browse of the new classifieds to see what all the hot air was about … Works ok for me. Half a page of priority ads then down to the other stuff. Easy to use. No horrid ads (as a logged in, STW subscriber), no pop ups. Using a Moto G6 android phone. Allowed me to send a message about some wheels, let me go back to the place in the listings where I’d left it. Quite an ok experience.

depends if you ask an existentialist or psychic.  If a price falls in the classifieds and no one is there to hear it?

There’s audio?

 Works ok for me.

One of the many points is it doesn’t actually display ads for quite a number of users.

Hopefully chips has taken his list to the team.and is typing his response right now…. As with previous management engagement posts it’s what follows that is most important.

There’s audio?

If you are not hearing the voices, maybe try turning off your adblocker?  Seems to be the solution to all problems.