Will a subscription improve my STW experience?

Hi all, I’ve been having issues with this site recently where my computer screen freezes whilst on this site requiring a re-start, I initially thought that it was my computer but it only happens on this site and has happened whilst using my phone as well (Google Chrome browswer on both, Chromebook/android respectively).

I had theorised that maybe it was the adverts on the site, and perhaps if this was the case then a digital ad free subscription would make the problem go away, which would be a reasonable solution as this place is my favourite way to procrastinate!

However the flip side to this is i don’t really want to spend money on something that isgoing to be glitchy and still annoying.

Any words of wisdom?

Thanks.

Well worth the cost of a digital sub IMO, the site seems to be more unstable if I ever get logged out.

Steerage was just as good as first class as it happened 😉

Well, I’m not saying I’ve become more attractive to women since subscribing op but I definitely have.

Not just women 😉

I’ve also been having issues with browser locking up, fans spinning like crazy, general poor behaviour making it a real PITA to use the forum. Happens on MacBook, iPad, and iPhone with Chrome and Safari. I’ve put an email in to the tech team and hopefully we can figure it out.

I’ve spent the last 10+ years deliberating about whether to subscribe, I am extremely loathed to do so just because the user experience is poor without a subscription – that’s the wrong reason to spend money IMO.

Well, I’m not saying I’ve become more attractive to women since subscribing op but I definitely have.

Posted 22 minutes ago

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dangeourbrain

Full Member

Not just women 😉

Still a bit meh! to me….

Well considering there is a 50% off offer on at the moment i’ll give it a bash, £10 is worth it for the entertainment value.

Steerage was just as good as first class as it happened

assuming you’re referring to the Titanic, actually 1st class was a lot more favourable – only 39% of those passengers died as opposed to 76% in steerage. And the overall experience was significantly more pleasant right up until the end. 😃 Not that we’re comparing STW to a sinking ship 😬

Still a bit meh! to me….

You wouldn’t say that if you could see my manly form in the flesh.

I often receive compliments on my Adonis/Buddha hybrid curves.

that’s the wrong reason to spend money IMO.

I agree. But is 10+ years of free use not a more compelling one? 🙂

assuming you’re referring to the Titanic, actually 1st class was a lot more favourable – only 39% of those passengers died as opposed to 76% in steerage. And the overall experience was significantly more pleasant right up until the end. 😃 Not that we’re comparing STW to a sinking ship 😬

But surely the STW way is to travel in steerage, suffering stoically and loudly, and then laugh at the elitist snobs in their fancy lifeboats while drowning in the freezing north atlantic.

I agree. But is 10+ years of free use not a more compelling one? 🙂

It is :-D. I will.

Edit to add: I do buy the physical magazine a few times a year while travelling and in need of an interesting read, so I’m not a complete freeloader!

1st class was a lot more favourable – only 39% of those passengers died as opposed to 76% in steerage. And the overall experience was significantly more pleasant right up until the end.

Veering wildly off-topic: I’ve been on a sister ship to the Titanic. The difference between the classes was simply astonishing to me. 1st Class was like a royal palace; Steerage was little more than a jail and a grotty one at that. It wouldn’t surprise me if that 76% mortality rate would have been similar had it not crashed.

I just subscrive to support the forum, I haven’t been interested in mountain bikes for years!

Although I will confess to being gravel-curious…

Best of the bunch as far as I’m concerned. Moved to STW after many days on the bikemagic and the late MTB-Wales forums. A wealth of knowledge intertwined with argumentative pedants that have a knack for pulling together in the most spectacular ways when one of the clan needs help.

the mag isn’t bad either. Still about riding bikes without getting too up itself.

if it keeps that alive then I’m a subscriber

(destiny’s child in my head now….)

A wealth of knowledge intertwined with argumentative pedants

I disagree.

No you don’t.

You wouldn’t say that if you could see my manly form in the flesh.

What makes you think I can’t 🔭

I was thinking off stopping my subscription until they can be bothered fixing the cookie problem, or at least add a reject all button instead on making me untick so many options.

I’ve spent the last 10+ years deliberating about whether to subscribe, I am extremely loathed to do so just because the user experience is poor without a subscription – that’s the wrong reason to spend money IMO.

Agreed. I’ve dabbled in the past. The inability to remain logged in negated the benefits of no ads so I didn’t renew.

I agree. But is 10+ years of free use not a more compelling one? 🙂

Ah the myth that people who don’t subscribe are using the site for free. We are the bloody product! And, as it seems to consume crazy amounts of power at the very least are paying higher electricity bills for the privilege! The fact this is the only site that does that, its been like this for years on and off and nobody seems to care makes me very suspicious that actually there is a cryptominer or similar running somewhere making someone (possibly not ST) some £££. For what its worth – I don’t have a major issue with distributed computing rather than Ads being used to make money for site hosts, so long as people are open about it and write code that doesn’t lock up my phone/browser so I have to force kill.

However in answer to the OP’s question – your experience will improve if you enjoy looking down on others.

The site does run a lot better when you’re logged in as a paying member, still a lot more resource-hungry than most sites but a lot better!

This place can be filled with a lot of bollocks, arguments and bad stuff but when you least expect it it’ll switch to being:

A wealth of knowledge intertwined with argumentative pedants that have a knack for pulling together in the most spectacular ways when one of the clan needs help.

For the amount of use this place gets from me and the random usefulness it throws up it’s well worth the £20 or whatever it is now. That’s regardless of whether you like the mag or not! I subscribe to Cranked for my reading hit but if I’m inclined to I will buy a copy of STW to read too.

makes me very suspicious that actually there is a cryptominer or similar running somewhere

My guess is that the site has been built on a platform (WordPress) that isn’t really designed for the number of users and number of ads, runs inefficiently and so struggles to cope. But I might be wrong.

I subscribe partly to avoid the ads and the problems they create, and partly because I think STW is a worthwhile thing to support. I don’t like the ad-supported nature of the internet and am happy to pay a small amount for things I value.

Ah the myth that people who don’t subscribe are using the site for free. We are the bloody product!

yes, but a really shitty product though, like that chicken-in-a-can or some Tesco value bog roll that your finger goes right through 🤣
STW have said many times that it’s the subs that keep the lights on, not the paltry ad-revenue from freeloaders 😃

STW have said many times that it’s the subs that keep the lights on, not the poultry ad-revenue from freeloaders 😃

Ftfy

Well I have subscribed, and it seems to be smoother already 😀

£10 well spent.

Word of warning. When you get the Bunga Bunga party invites just make your excuses.

The digital sub made the trail come alive for me.

The Members Forum will change your life – it sometimes gets two posts a week. Bloomin’ marvellous, saves you having to hit refresh every few minutes. 🙂

I have a sub and occasionally buy other stuff from them as I want the Magazine to exist and the forum to continue.

for me it’s pretty simple

Ah but without the adverts how would you know what Maserati to buy 🙂

Look if your rich enough to spend £10 on a meagre year of entertainment the answer is obviously all of them isn’t it

STW have said many times that it’s the subs that keep the lights on

I forget exact numbers now, but Mark once told me how many subs it’d take to simply turn off the ads completely and I remember it being a surprisingly low number.

If you subscribe you just reduce the ads not the amount of distributed crytomining that you are supporting…….. Allegedly

Allegedly

By you. Only you. At every opportunity.

He’s just disappointed he didn’t receive his there was no dividend this year

I forget exact numbers now, but Mark once told me how many subs it’d take to simply turn off the ads completely and I remember it being a surprisingly low number.

But would the ads be turned off, or would the powers that be just take the additional revenue and pay themselves a nice bonus? (as you can tell, my experience comes from corporate America, not small business)

No you don’t.

Have you come for the full 10 minute argument sir or just contradiction?

EDIT @Bazz you’re all ready looking hotter.

But would the ads be turned off, or would the powers that be just take the additional revenue and pay themselves a nice bonus?

Taking Mark at his word, and I have no reason not to, there is nothing he would like more than to be able to turn off the advertising networks because they are a (unfortunately necessary) monumental pain in the bollocks.

But would the ads be turned off, or would the powers that be just take the additional revenue and pay themselves a nice bonus?

Or employ more staff, or pay the existing staff better, or move to a 4 day week etc