[Closed] I miss the old days of the STW classifieds jumble sale

Wagon Wheels used to be bigger too

"I want my classifieds back"

How much for a keyring?

Would you swap it for a PS3?

Careful they will hear you.

Big brother doesn't like this sort of chat.

The men will be sent round .

Thing about the old classified is that the simplicity of posting (no harder than this message to write) meant that there was just more stuff on it, and it was easier to find.

Now it's like trying to find a tweet in amongst items that are being promoted because someone paid more, or a shit search engine that can't work out what brakes are. You also have no idea what is new and what is old, and so every time I see something I like I'm the third person there just by luck.

They're shit, we all hate them. STW just needed some money (not an ignoble pursuit, but it sucked for us)

I do miss a good Friday night slightly tipsy wading through the old classifieds purchasing stuff I would need or even stuff I might need, or something that might start a project or just something that interested me. I probably got more out of it than I did the main forum. Now I rarely even click on them.

They’ve gone just like Texan bars they’re not coming back.

They’ve gone just like Texan bars they’re not coming back.

You sure they’re not more like a Wispa bar?  Wispa bars came back

I've got used to the new classifieds now (took a while). They are easy to use and view and I like having photos so I don't have to ask for any.

Just scroll past the campervans to get to the new ads.

The only issue I have is people refusing to use it because they preferred the old system which means there's not as many items advertised as there should be.

This is partly due to how the change was managed and f u attitude shown to us all. It could have been handled better.

I think I'm heading towards integration now but it's taken a while

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You sure they’re not more like a Wispa bar?  Wispa bars came back

Exactly like that. They came back different certainly not like the original some people don’t like them as they changed, others got on with the change.

I like Wispas.

Wispa gold

****ing hate Wispa. Always thought the chocolate had a strange taste to it.

I've got some items I need to get rid of but just can't be arsed to go through the process of putting them on the classifieds.

I’ve got some items I need to get rid of but just can’t be arsed to go through the process of putting them on the classifieds.

Its really easy. Click the link to sell. Fill in the options, add a description and attach a photo.

Try it, you might like it.

You are also less likely to get idiots and scammers selling and buying on stw in my experience.

I miss actual bike jumble sales, even in the rain.
#olddays

I have used both systems and they both work. The problem is that people fell out of the habit of listing here during to he changeover and the volume has dropped off a cliff edge and not recovered.

miss actual bike jumble sales

Rumour is that the Bristol bike jumble is back very soon

people fell out of the habit of listing here during to he changeover and the volume has dropped off a cliff edge and not recovered.

Believe that if you want but it's not the reason.

The biggest bugbear I have with it is the lack of correlation between the sales users names and forum user names.
it
I habitually used to check buyers or sellers forum use when using classifieds. Without that I might as well used eBay or another place that functions fully.

Seems pointless to keep harping on about, but **** it, let's keep harping on about it.

I've taken a salient lesson in UX/product development from it anyway. Don't introduce new barriers to the use of a successful product, or you risk stopping your "hook" from working.

I habitually used to check buyers or sellers forum use when using classifieds. Without that I might as well used eBay or another place that functions fully.

100% agree. If I ever bought something id always add a comment after to say if they had been a good seller or not and always asked people to leave a comment about purchasing from me. You get to recognise names eventually.

I really struggle to navigate it now. Private messages are not great but far better than they have been.

I'm sure drac or cougar said that they were working on fixing this for the next update.

volume has dropped off a cliff edge and not recovered.

Last time we asked we were told the numbers are no different, they still get the same amount of traffic and now they get paid ads too.

I can't see how that can be true but we have to trust what we are told! They have no reason to lie! 🤔

'They' might not be lying, 'they' could just be plain wrong.

Anecdotally, there's nothing like the levels of activity there was and everybody hates it.

That's disregarding the 10k people using it industriously/silently and turning over £20k each p/a - maybe.

I'd really like to believe 'they' were mining a rich seam of income from the screw up but I suspect 'they'll' never admit what's actually happening just as 'they' won't admit the test/release process was utter dog shit and the only way 'they' can placate us freeloaders is by promising lots of jam tomorrow.

Looking forward to Bris bike jumble. New classifieds not as good as the old, though if everyone just used the clear out category it could be similar.

I preferred the old Status Quo.

I think it was the simplicity of the old interface that made it work.

There could be say 20 lines of things for sale and a time since last reply so it was really easy to see what was fresh and also what had already had some I interest (no of replies).

Really easy to scan and most things on page 2 were out of date.

I still don’t like it, every time I have posted there is some kind of bug.  I don’t get notifications as to comments or PM’s anymore.   I have told my in-laws not to buy me a sub for my Birthday this year, sad as I love the mag.  But I see/saw my sub as support for the greater business, the classifieds in its old form I found was a real nugget.  It helped me keep my garage relatively clear, it helped me try new (old) things by building obscure bikes, it helped me help others by giving away obscure bits not worth selling, but too good to through away.  It also helped manage some of the spiralling cost of the sport! More importantly it added value to the STW community.  New version is just a shitter version of pinkbike.  As a consequence I have found I use the website and main forum less and less, it’s a shame. I would’ve paid if asked to use the old classified forum, If revenue was the key factor.

I would’ve paid if asked to use the old classified forum, If revenue was the key factor.

There was a big donation button no one ever bothered with it except a tiny few.

I preferred the old Status Quo.

You could buy Whatever You Want.

There was a big donation button no one ever bothered with it except a tiny few.

Big difference between mandatory and voluntary.

Big difference between mandatory and voluntary.

Yup which is why it changed.  One promoted add pays pretty much more then was ever made from those who loved the old classifieds so much they wouldn’t contribute.

Yup which is why it changed. One promoted add pays pretty much more then was ever made from those who loved the old classifieds so much they wouldn’t contribute.

You seem happy with it so there's obviously no need to listen to user feedback.

You seem happy with it so there’s obviously no need to listen to user feedback.

They have listened it is going through some changes that people have asked for but it’s not going back to the old one.

One thing for me is the classifieds don't work with my setup on phone, computer or tablet. Now I know that's my setup but it's an additional layer of faff to get to a difficult to navigate classifieds without much in it so I gave up

TJ they won’t work if your browser has an Ad blocker.

You seem happy with it so there’s obviously no need to listen to user feedback.

You see that diagram I posted up there 👆

The trick is to provide something that is desirable for users and viable for the business (feasibility is moot here because the tech is readily available).
Viability is around generating more income (directly or indirectly - though that's harder to quantify) than it costs to build and maintain.
User feedback, hopes and dreams are all important, but not at the expense of providing a service which is too expensive to run.

I know that drac but I prefer anonymous browsers. It would mean using a different browser just for the classifieds and I can't be bothered

I preferred the old Status Quo.

You could buy Whatever You Want.

Very good! 🙂

🤟

It does seem to have put off some people who would just be passing on a few old bits for a few quid to make some space and help someone out. But requiring pictures and location is a plus, and it's probably stopped me acquiring some tat I don't need so I'm calling it a draw. Though hypothetically if we were offered the old ones back I'd probably vote for it.

Thanks for the reminder, I'm off for a browse.

As I've always said I prefer the new version, actually having pictures to see what you're considering is a huge bonus.

It's the implementation that seems to be problematic, permanent sold ads, janky uploads and no PM or forum crosslink make for a reduced experience. But that's not really exclusive to the new classifieds, sold items were never cleared from the old board which was, in all honesty, a bloody mess. If you wanted to sell something obscure then as soon as it was off the first page it was game over, at least now its sectioned and you have half a chance!

I preferred the old Status Quo.

You could buy Whatever You Want.

*Doffs cap*

It’s the implementation that seems to be problematic, permanent sold ads, janky uploads and no PM or forum crosslink make for a reduced experience.

Those are being looked into being fixed.

Not that I use it, but I remember when it changed. It was brilliant initially for a few days, pictures and other such witchcraft.
Then it was purposely crippled by requiring blockad (I think it's called) to be disabled or your saw no results.
Turn off blockad? Yeah, nah mate, you've seen the state of the internet when not using this?

Turn off blockad? Yeah, nah mate, you’ve seen the state of the internet when not using this?

Singletrackworld is an ad supported website. As a non-premier, registered user you are accepting that the displaying of ads in your browser is the cost of being a registered user and you agree that you will not block these ads. If you block the ads we reserve the right to suspend your account and/or block our content from displaying in your browser. In addition you agree not to promote the use of ad blocking on our site in either story comments or forum posts.

The ads in a very real sense do allow you to use this site without having to hand over cash for the content. If the ads were not there earning us money for the time we spend keeping this site running and filling it with content then we simply would not bother with a website at all or we would severely strip it back to just being a promotion site for the mag. It simply would not be economically viable without the ads there.

^We all get that ads pay for the site, but they do seem to be far more intrusive here than any other site I use.

Guys - don't start this one again. The ads are to monetise the forum to support the rest of single track. Like it or not thats the way it is.

How about a compromise?

Each category has a default picture that's used if you dont upload your own?

That way the jumble sale fans are happy they don't have to upload a photo and more people would use it which makes me happy as there's more stuff to look at.

It's the weekend and it's been 17 hours since the last "Classified" posting, paid or not.

In the days of the old classifieds if you posted on a Sat am, by the evening you could be on the dreaded page 2....

Guys – don’t start this one again. The ads are to monetise the forum to support the rest of single track. Like it or not thats the way it is.

I get that. My point is that when ads are detrimental to the site's usability, they become counter productive.

Just given up posting an ad for a towball rack I'm selling - pics just wouldn't load for some reason

Anymore information Stevemorg I’ll see if I can help? Was if timing out?

Dra, Thanks - not timing out - just kept on spinning!

Ransos - I agree but that is not the view of STW.

Its their playground, they make the rules

Cheers I’ll take a look that fits in with some other issues today, reporting posts has been slow so it could be something about uploading to the server. Sorry you’re having issues.

You and Ranos may agree but the ads generate money to keep the forum going. They recently changed providers at loss to their income to make the sight a better experience. I’m wondering if it’s time we actually acted out the warnings of facing a ban for those that openly admit to blocking ads.

You and Ranos may agree but the ads generate money to keep the [s] forum[/s] magazine going.

FTFY

I pay for STW but still use an ad-blocker - as soon as I see a ‘Martin Lewis made me millions’ or some other scamming click-bait advert that web-page gets closed down. I bet a lot of money comes from accidental clicks.

You’ve fixed nothing Scotroutes as no magazine no forum.

Classifieds not working currently, pics wont upload

Anyone want some 2018 27.5 boost sids dm me 🙂

You and Ranos may agree but the ads generate money to keep the forum going.

Are you being deliberately obtuse? I've already acknowledged the need for the site to generate income.

Only if those in charge decided to shut it down. The forum makes money does it not? It would be viable stand alone but obviously running a forum neither is the skilled jobs STW want nor does it do anything but be a forum

Guys - sorry I should not have posted again. this conversation just ends up in folk getting cross.

Yup, best not stray into those woods.

I must admit the ads are less problematic than they used to be, a lot happier to let them be.

Thought I was doing it wrong! Trying to put a WTD ad for a rear 650B 12x142 wheel. Picture thing was stopping me #stealthad

Cheers guys I’ll bang a report probably why we’ve had ads today.

Are you being deliberately obtuse? I’ve already acknowledged the need for the site to generate income.

No, just clarifying.

Guys – sorry I should not have posted again. this conversation just ends up in folk getting cross.

Unfortunately you’re right.  I can’t believe I allowed myself to post again.  I’m afraid how this has been handled from the start is enough for me to not renew my subscription.

Those who has problems uploading yesterday have you had any luck today?