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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
Nah... leave it as it is, It's exactly this level of ineptitude that's always amused me about this place. I still can't believe anyone would actually pay for an ad on a site where the classifieds is hidden away like some dirty secret... well... I can... just not a bike parts classifieds.
That and all the coding pish that the forum ads to folks posts. Especially a really long OP.
You can say what you want about the prioritisation of work on this forum, but at least someone found the time to change the page background from white to black. 👍
Is it in mourning for the old classifieds? 🙂
That and all the coding pish that the forum ads to folks posts.
Sometimes misspelling works perfectly as in this case 🙂
Looks like there have been some tweaks. Pictures are now smaller in list view which makes it much, much easier to browse the whole list :D.
I don’t really understand the objections. I used to scroll down a list of often cryptic titles (such as “stuff” or “clearout”). I gave up opening those after a while as it was hardly ever “stuff” that I wanted. Now I scroll down a list of titles with pictures, which I f8nd much more useful.
Complaining that a site that relies on subscriptions or advertising revenue won’t make life easier for those that don’t subscribe and want to block adverts sounds a bit strange.
I was about to turn off my adblocker to have a look at the classifieds. Then I saw that it'd blocked 26 popups since coming on the site, so nope, not doing that.
I'll just have to sell on eBay from now on.
Oh, and to the poster above, I'm a subscriber, but still get pop-ups if I turn off my adblocker. So that works, eh?
I don’t really understand the objections. I used to scroll down a list of often cryptic titles (such as “stuff” or “clearout”). I gave up opening those after a while as it was hardly ever “stuff” that I wanted. Now I scroll down a list of titles with pictures, which I f8nd much more useful.
So an update on the way it lays out....
On full sized windows on chrome/windows all the ads are foced into a tiny side bar on the right under the paid for ads (again not meant to be shown to P users) formatting is tiny etc. but heh at least I can see something in there.
If I resize the window so the mobile style/more portrait mode engages it does manage to render them into the main body of the page but puts the entire list of categories at the top - something is very broken in there
To answer Ton's thread...
I no-longer look at the classifieds, just doesn't work for me. That's fine, eBay works instead, just means I make a few less impulse purchases which is good for my bank balance I guess.
Will I sell less? Well, see above. I'll still sell stuff, but it won't be here.
And all of this is fine, makes little or no odds to me, I'm sure Mark will lose no sleep whatsoever.
Just been on there and it all seemed ok to me - few too many boosted ads so I had to scroll a bit, no format issues, no weird artifacts or 'blimey there's adverts' (bar 'promoted products which aren't ads from an external server I guess so don;t count but are off on the right so don't catch my eye). Pics in the right places, click on an ad, see the details. I know I'm a sample of one but if this is how it's supposed to work I can't see what else people are expecting.
Full size screen, Firefox, Windows 10, STW whitelistsed on 'that which cant be talked about' but running ghostery.
To answer Ton
At this moment it has, its also stopped me impulse buying and looking to help others in the wanted adds. I think I only ever dealt with regular members for buying, selling and giving stuff away.
Just to add another voice... I'm no longer using the classifieds as its such a mess. Resorted to pinkbike/ebay for now which is a shame as I think the quality is generally much better here and the people are much nicer to deal with!
Oh, and to the poster above, I’m a subscriber, but still get pop-ups if I turn off my adblocker. So that works, eh?
Fair enough, I'd be pretty annoyed if I was still getting pop-ups after paying to subscribe. I don't, but I realise that's not much help 🙂
Is there no way to check the seller's forum and old classifieds history by clicking on their name? That was one of the big advantages of the old system. For example, I might want to know if 'VWMan' who is selling a Transporter at the top of the listings, has had any dealings with the site previously as a regular poster (even just on classifieds), or is just, as the name suggests, a van trader.
To answer Ton's thread:
Yes, I've given up on the new system and won't be wasting any more time on it. The combo of being reminded that you care about my privacy every 2 minutes, having to disable adblock and let my browser grind to a halt with pop-ups and overwhelming ads in order to see anything, and the forum randomly adding <p> and other such bullshit to posts means I'm spending less and less time on here, which is a shame as it used to be a great resource.
Adverts would be fine and I used to have my blocker disabled on here, but when it started making my browser crash and my phone notifications go crazy, it became impossible to use the site without the blocker enabled. The dismissal from the mods/owners of other people reporting similar problems doesn't give much faith that it'll ever get properly sorted.
You lot enjoying shouting into the void? 😉
@martinhutch - none whatsoever.
Whoever did the “upgrade” removed every single of the things that we all have used and that made this forum what it [s]is[/s] was......
You lot enjoying shouting into the void? 😉
I'm sure I saw Chipps manifesting himself into the thread a while back, so it's possible the spirits are receptive.
chipps
Keep the comments coming. I’m making notes…
Oh yeah! 😀
Is there no way to check the seller’s forum and old classifieds history by clicking on their name? That was one of the big advantages of the old system. For example, I might want to know if ‘VWMan’ who is selling a Transporter at the top of the listings, has had any dealings with the site previously as a regular poster (even just on classifieds), or is just, as the name suggests, a van trader.
I asked this question and got this reply, 'If you click a users name in the new classifieds you get a record of their ad history including ads that have expired from the main listing', but I've just tried it and you don't, you just get history from the new ones. If you click someones name in the bike forum you can see their history from the old classifieds. So a right ball ache!
‘Link removed for obvious reasons’
What is the 'obvious reason'?
Is it a dodgy site? If so, why does this site direct to it?
Or is it coz of some advert backhander?
Plus you can only have 3 ads now like being back at school hold site seems to be going to the dogs.
I no-longer look at the classifieds, just doesn’t work for me. That’s fine, eBay works instead, just means I make a few less impulse purchases which is good for my bank balance I guess.
Will I sell less? Well, see above. I’ll still sell stuff, but it won’t be here.
And all of this is fine, makes little or no odds to me, I’m sure Mark will lose no sleep whatsoever.
Same here - just eBay and PB for me now.
Bit of a shame but the classifieds were on the wane anyway along with the rest of the forum, so I'm not gonna get nasty about it or start questioning the STW team's professional competence.
I’ve also dropped my “p” and barely bother with the classifieds or the main site anymore.
Is it a dodgy site?
Well, yes. Including it as a link in the forum just increases the chance of someone using adblocker accidentally clicking it.
What is the ‘obvious reason’?
Is it a dodgy site? If so, why does this site direct to it?
Or is it coz of some advert backhander?
Posting a link to it will increase the chances of it appearing for some, plus someone will of course click on it. If it was backhander leaving it would be better.
A few replies:
like others have said, I imagine if you look at traffic on here it will have dipped significantly since the change
I have. It hasn't.
One of the many points is it doesn’t actually display ads for quite a number of users.
That's because:
Any update from Stw when the new classified site will be fixed from ad blockers?
Ad blockers interfere with the classifieds (because, y'know, they're adverts). As I said a couple of pages back, blocking adverts is in breach of the site T&Cs you all agreed to when signing up, and we can (and maybe should start) suspend your accounts for doing it.
Now, I have no idea whether this disruption is intentional behaviour or not, but I'd expect that making changes to the site so that people who are essentially wilfully stealing the service don't miss out on bits of it probably isn't very high up on the the developers' to-do lists.
If it were my website I'd have had an adblock detector running sitewide by now.
I was about to turn off my adblocker to have a look at the classifieds. Then I saw that it’d blocked 26 popups since coming on the site, so nope, not doing that.
...
Oh, and to the poster above, I’m a subscriber, but still get pop-ups if I turn off my adblocker. So that works, eh?
There is no way, no how that STW should be generating any pop-ups at all (aside maybe from GDPR / cookie consent forms I guess). Not even for signed-out users, let alone subscribers. As a subscriber you shouldn't see any third-party advertising at all.
I'd guess that either the "pop-ups" are actually the classified adverts - which is how it appeared to me in testing, it shows blocked elements generally rather than pop-ups explicitly - or you've got a malware infection which is nothing to do with the site. I suppose either that or it could be erroneously blocking the GDPR request and so the site is retrying?
Plus you can only have 3 ads now like being back at school hold site seems to be going to the dogs.
I really don't understand why people keep raising this up as an issue. You could only have two adverts on the front page of the old classifieds, you can actually have more now than before. Did no-one ever read the old rules?
Ad blockers interfere with the classifieds (because, y’know, they’re adverts).
That's isn't how adblockers work, as I suspect you know
If it were, I would not be able to see the boosted ads. (which are ads) which I can, but I would be able to see the items people have posted for sale (which are posts) which I cannot.
Nor do I see the actual ads even with the adblocker turned off on the device on which I am able to do so.
It all comes down to how the site is coded.
And I get pop up warnings from every combination of browsers I've tried. For some reason this site is suffering from some fairly serious issues presumably related to coding/construction.
Ad blockers interfere with the classifieds (because, y’know, they’re adverts). As I said a couple of pages back, blocking adverts is in breach of the site T&Cs you all agreed to when signing up, and we can (and maybe should start) suspend your accounts for doing it.
At the moment it could be down to how the site is handling the width of the window as it is different when you get to the portrait mode. As said above..... all the ads are crammed into the side bar below the "Promoted shite" or adverts to the rest of us. that is simply bad formatting so that probably needs looking at.
If it were my website I’d have had an adblock detector running sitewide by now.
Seems sensible but as I pay for STW to remove the ads I shouldn't be blocking anything at all here. So no need to enforce that for P users is there.
we can (and maybe should start) suspend your accounts for doing it.Now, I have no idea whether this disruption is intentional behaviour or not, but I’d expect that making changes to the site so that people who are essentially wilfully stealing the service don’t miss out on bits of it probably isn’t very high up on the the developers’ to-do lists.
Well done Cougar, how to go about alienating the user base in one fell swoop.
Clearly those of us that cannot be immediately monetised are of no interest to the powers that be, despite the fact that the forum users have contributed to the current status that this site enjoys.
really don’t understand why people keep raising this up as an issue. You could only have two adverts on the front page of the old classifieds, you can actually have more now than before. Did no-one ever read the old rules?
Because the new classifieds is shocking for clear out listing, where you list multiple items. Like it or not the old classifieds was much, much better for this. If It’s really not an issue lift it to 10 ads per person! Quite the noise down that way.
If it were my website I’d have had an adblock detector running sitewide by now.
and no users.
Are the new Classifieds actually hosted on the STW server? I'm wondering why they are treated differently from normal posts and if that's why there is no connection to the Users Posting History.
alienating the user base
Don't be melodramatic. I'm not alienating the entire userbase. Just the very small minority who are taking the piss.
If someone doesn't subscribe, actively blocks the advertising which would otherwise pay for the site in lieu of a subscription (and boasts about it continually), and then has the sheer brass neck to sit there complaining about how things aren't good enough, then, well. Whilst one may rightfully argue that they're still contributing to the site by deeming us worthy enough to grace us with their orsum presence occasionally, I would respectfully suggest that their net contribution is in deficit.
You know, I might go to the pub tonight. I'll help myself to a couple of pints behind the bar, tell everyone else that they can do the same, tell the owners that I think the pub is shit because I don't like the wallpaper, tell the bar staff that they have a bad attitude, get all pissy when I discover that lottery prizes are only available to people who have bought lottery tickets, and then expect everyone around me to be grateful that I'm in there at all providing a service in offering my pearls of wisdom and attracting a crowd. Then six months later I'll probably be all shocked and surprised when the pub's closed down.
TL;DR: If someone is going to freeload, they could at least have the common decency and humility to STFU about it. They rip off the site - and make no mistake, that's exactly what they're doing - then they waive the right to complain about it. Sorry.
If it were my website I’d have had an adblock detector running sitewide by now.
It's their call. I'm sure the folks behind Bikeradar would share whether there has been any impact on visitors.
If the site provided a stable, ad-light experience to the non-Ps, then I'm guessing most people would be prepared to whitelist it. It is because the user experience was very bad for a long time because of unmanaged ad serving that people feel the need to protect themselves from it. Getting full page hijacks and porn ads popping up at work perhaps makes people a bit wary.
Resorted to pinkbike/
Jeez have things got that bad?
Should invent a code so fellow STWers can distinguish their ads from all the "perfect condition except for cracked dented carbon tube which in no way affects gnar-ability, rrp plus 10% premuim cos I tested it for you" ads on there.
I’ll help myself to a couple of pints behind the bar, tell everyone else that they can do the same, tell the owners that I think the pub is shit because I don’t like the wallpaper, tell the bar staff that they have a bad attitude, get all pissy when I discover that lottery prizes are only available to people who have bought lottery tickets, and then expect everyone around me to be grateful that I’m in there at all providing a service in offering my pearls of wisdom and attracting a crowd.
Lightweight. It takes me at least six pints to get to that stage.
It takes me at least six pints to get to that stage.
I think he's had 6 pints.
So… On the "create an ad" page, boost apparently runs for two weeks. But there's an ad in the boosted section which has been there for three months. Is that supposed to happen?
I'm not sure Bez, iirc it may be if they keep paying but that's a total guess.
If someone pays to drag it out that long, can we have a whip round to buy their ad out of the list instead? 🙂
i think i read on a thread somewhere that this is indeed the case, theyre still paying....
freeloader, waste of space, piss taker, thief here with ad blocker enabled breaching T&Cs and ready to be kicked.
Bye! 🙂
cougar is a mod and not a stealth one. Voluntary position.
As is Drac - who makes that clear quite often...
who makes that clear quite often…
🤔
"Should invent a code so fellow STWers can distinguish their ads from all the “perfect condition except for cracked dented carbon tube which in no way affects gnar-ability, rrp plus 10% premuim cos I tested it for you” ads on there."
Not been on Pinkbike for a while then I take it?
If the classifieds are blocked by Adblockers becuae they are adverts, can you explain why they initially WERE visible to me and then vanished?
My browser plugin hasn't changed, nor have the settings. So I'd humbly* suggest that it was a change on the site.
Deliberate or not - who can say.
* I'm not really humble.
Si
Voluntary position.
The vast majority of them on the vast majority of sites are.
and not a stealth one.
In the sense that there is nothing next to his username or anywhere else on his posts that indicates that he is. Which is a bit unusual.
Not been on Pinkbike for a while then I take it?
Browse there quite a lot. There's less of those than there used to be but there are still quite a lot. Partly depends on what you are looking for.
@cromolyolly - There are user types: administrator; moderator; member; guest; etc. and user permissions. There are predefined permissions for each type of user so if you make someone a moderator then they get those permissions and the forum software will put "moderator" by their name but you can also given those permissions to a member. This means that you can have a member who has moderator permissions without the "rank" of being a moderator, in effect they are stealth moderators unless they choose to advertise the fact.
TL;DR: If someone is going to freeload, they could at least have the common decency and humility to STFU about it. They rip off the site – and make no mistake, that’s exactly what they’re doing – then they waive the right to complain about it. Sorry.
utter horse plop
utter horse plop
Why?
Eight pages! If you want improvements to the site then cough up £1.99 a month and help fund it. I’m probably in the poorest percentile on this forum, struggle some months and even I can afford a sub. It’s still a great place and worth supporting.
I swear I remember a thread where everyone was complaining about how shitty the old classifieds were. Too hard to upload photos, difficult to know what was been sold by thread title blah, blah, blah. Changes are made and it’s not good enough. Boo ****ing hoo
Oh and if the person selling that ****ing Mojo reads this - it’s way overpriced and that’s why it’s not selling. Lower your expectations ya greedy bastard 😉
If you want improvements to the site then cough up £1.99 a month and help fund it. I’m probably in the poorest percentile on this forum, struggle some months and even I can afford a sub. It’s still a great place and worth supporting.
I have a subscription thanks.
And I still cant see the classifieds.*Edit - and the forum still doesn't react consistently to me doing the same thing when posting!!!
Can’t work the quote function either 😉
Have you reported the issue or just had a cry on this thread?
in effect they are stealth moderators unless they choose to advertise the fact.
Agree with everything you said - my response was aimed at tj who said cougar isn't a stealth mod. He makes no secret of it but has no "designation".
Can’t work the quote function either 😉
Have you reported the issue or just had a cry on this thread?
Reported by me and others lots of times thanks.
So you've got no answer to my question then?
I'll make a note that you're just a troll with nothing better to do.
Sad really.
He used to have moderator next to his name before “the event” and why does it even matter? The man volunteers to put up with incessant whining. I’d be ****ing hiding if I was a mod on here.
Why
They rip off the site? Theft?. Because they use it in a way that the tech allows? A bit hyperbolic, no?
If you really want to make sure people are not "stealing" the stuff that is openly available on the internet put it behind a paywall.
Reported by me and others lots of times thanks.
So you’ve got no answer to my question then?
I’ll make a note that you’re just a troll with nothing better to do.
Sad really.
What question? There are no question marks in your previous post to denote a question being asked. That makes it rather difficult to answer a question to be honest.
Have you received an answer to your report? If not, I Cann understand, as a paying subscriber, why you’d be upset.
Reported by me and others lots of times thanks.
A fix came out today.
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/hallelujah/
If you really want to make sure people are not “stealing” the stuff that is openly available on the internet put it behind a paywall.
That works so well for eBay.
That works so well for eBay.
Pardon? Has eBay ever had a paywall? Do they complain about people stealing from them by reading the stuff that's on eBay?
Yes you pay to sell on eBay. Have you heard anyone on here claim that?
He used to have moderator next to his name before “the event” and why does it even matter?
Someone asked what he was because they weren't clear on what/who he is. I guess it only matters in that they had to ask.
I'd contend that if the only way you can browse the site is with an ad blocker there is something wrong. I have pointed this out in two threads now in an attempt to highlight that the issue needs fixing. To date that hasn't been acknowledged by anybody.
Fwiw the ads don't bother me on their own, what does bother me is the script that screws everything else up.
Well my understanding is that you can pay to sell in here. I've never heard anyone from eBay complain that people who browse the site were stealing by browsing the ads, articles and other stuff that eaby outs up on there.
Paying to sell is not a paywall though. And it has worked for eBay hasn't it?
eBay ads make them millions, as do their fees and PayPal cut. You couldn't have picked a worse example.
Just wondering if cougar is just a user with a p, a stealth mod or an employee or owner at stw. I’m not in the clique so I’m unsure. I’m hoping he’s just an Internet warrior and not representing a company.
I'm a volunteer moderator along with Drac, as others have said. We have other moderators who aren't public knowledge, I explained all this earlier.
I'm not an employee or an owner. I don't get any payment or kickbacks beyond a free [P] sub and a Christmas card. I do this, so help me deities, for the love of the forum. Opinions expressed are my own and not representative of STW unless explicitly stated otherwise. I probably am a keyboard warrior if that you helps calibrate your umbrage-o-meter any, I've been on the Internet for far too long to tolerate bollocks. I can't help with your humbridge I'm afraid, I've never listened to the Archers.
If the classifieds are blocked by Adblockers becuae they are adverts, can you explain why they initially WERE visible to me and then vanished?
I've no idea. Like I said, I don't know if it's intentional or if it's just false positives in the adblock software. I'd guess it's the latter, I'd also guess that no-one much cares for reasons as previously posited, but again this is just my opinion.
In the sense that there is nothing next to his username or anywhere else on his posts that indicates that he is. Which is a bit unusual.
Add it to the "broken" list rather than by design. We've been discussing this only this evening. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon.
You couldn’t have picked a worse example.
Err, you picked it, not me. I agree it is not a good example because it doesn't have a paywall, which was what you were addressing.
A paywall is where you can't see any content unless you log in and pay.
Eight pages! If you want improvements to the site then cough up £1.99 a month and help fund it.
How do you think that's working out?
How do you think that’s working out?
Not very well, but look BEHIND YOU!
In all seriousness there probably aren’t enough of us. I must be lucky as I’ve never had issues with any part of the forum. I’d hate to see this place disappear.
^I'd quote your post, but guess what.
Err, you picked it, not me.
Oh so I did. 😂
^I’d quote your post, but guess what.
You haven't enabled the alternative method?
You haven’t enabled the alternative method?
Trans: it's the users' fault that basic forum tools don't work without modifications.
Kool Aid?
No, there's fix that can be enabled for those that the standard doesn't work for.
I’d also guess that no-one much cares for reasons as previously posited, but again this is just my opinion
Still ignoring my point I see. Even subscribers are using them so it is something that needs fixed. I'd turn it off tomorrow if I could use the site but I can't so, easy choice really.
It worked yesterday.
You haven’t enabled the alternative method?
The new, less user friendly works much better for me BTW. It doesn't do the thing where if I want it put several quotes in one post with my response in between, like you just did, it puts all the quotes at the top and all the responses at the bottom. The only way I could do it before was by typing in blockquote etc which is a bit of a pain on a phone. The new default way allows me to point and click and leaves the quotes where I put them.
@Cougar https://help.getadblock.com/support/solutions/articles/6000087914-how-does-adblock-work-
I’ve no idea. Like I said, I don’t know if it’s intentional or if it’s just false positives in the adblock software. I’d guess it’s the latter, I’d also guess that no-one much cares for reasons as previously posited, but again this is just my opinion.
Taking a look, as you would expect adblockers are a tad more clever than that, they rely on knowing whats going on. Based on the description of adblock there it would be really easy to see if the injection into the style sheet is picking stuff up.
Took a little while to get down to the actual classifieds there, I'm sure it wouldn't take long to replicate on a test machine
Windows Chrome Version 70.0.3538.110 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Latest version of adblock running, can send the page source if needed
What is still interesting is how the "Daily Deals" makes it through