Ads really can be annoying...

Cheerio

Yeah it's popping up every few seconds for me even without navigating around.

Cheerio

Not sure the 'if you don't like it get lost or pay' attitude is helpful. If you lose the non-members you also lose the advertising revenue too right?

So if this is the aim then just make it members only, rather than making the experience as unpleasant as possible.

There's a balance and this genuinely feels like a defect as the site it virtually unusable, so it's not unreasonable to highlight it.

Longdog, it's frustrating but it's worth paying for a digital subscription especially with the member discounts.

This is one of the worst sites for adverts and pop ups if you're not a paying member.

Its 25 quid a year for ad free. twenty5****gquidayear. Not paying that has naff all to do with principle.

You go in a coffee shop and sit in youre paying more forr a cup than at home. its because you get to sit in. Same reason applies and its pretty much the same a world over.

Hmmm that’s our adblocker activated pop up. Have you got an adblocker active on your devices?

Not that I'm aware of (chrome on android) and I'm getting the other ads as well.

Was ok yesterday.

Looks like a standard pop site have when they detect ad-blockers.

I see your icon is green. There may be a problem with your membership. We are chatting about this in the staff chat now. I’ll loop Zoe in to check your sub.

Not that I'm aware of any adblocker on my phone either, also chrome android and still get ads anyway.

I'm not interested in the pay or not discussions yet again, just raising it as a new embuggerance that's suddenly appeared in addition to the adds.

I am a free member so I don't have a sub. But the pop up still feels like an issue even for a non member.

Looks like a standard pop site have when they detect ad-blockers.

Something's gone wrong then as I don't have an ad blocker.

It's popping up for me and I don't have an ad blocker.

it’s frustrating but it’s worth paying for a digital subscription

STW = great people but crap forum experience. Lots of it is inherent to the interface and paying wouldn't improve that. So until the interface improves I ain't paying.

Its 25 quid a year for ad free.

If it were, I’d be in. The site’s consent management tool makes it impossible to avoid adtech though, so on that basis I stopped paying. Not sure why you mean by the coffee shop analogy, but a better one is whether you’d be happy to have your television automatically raise the volume every time you lower it for an ad-break. It’s annoying and irksome for to have one’s devices interfered with.

You go in a coffee shop and sit in youre paying more forr a cup than at home. its because you get to sit in. Same reason applies and its pretty much the same a world over.

I'll happily pay for a coffee in a nice cafe but not a run down cafe with sticky tables and crap seats.

Not that I’m aware of any adblocker on my phone either, also chrome android and still get ads anyway.

My mistake then sorry.

I’ll happily pay for a coffee in a nice cafe but not a run down cafe with sticky tables and crap seats.

But you’d happily sit in the cafe to use the facilities.

Hi, sorry folks, looks like we have an issue affecting some free members and the site treating them as if they’re using an ad blocker. It’s been reported. Sorry for the disruption.

Thanks

You aren’t going to attract new members to the site if you can’t get past the ads. I came here a while ago looking for advice on some mountain bike related thing. I stayed for the general chat. If I came here as a newbie now, I wouldn’t be able to find what I originally came for due to the ads.

But you’d happily sit in the cafe to use the facilities.

So this looks the standard 'if you don't like it f-off answer that complaints often get. Firstly, that's a pretty crap business model. Secondly, I'm pretty sure STW wouldn't be getting ad revenues without the free members who see the ads. So its like the cafe is getting paid just for me being there which covers the basic facilities...

As if it wasn’t annoying enough, there are all sorts of formatting typo things in there! Just like a proper cafe, where the menu says’Todays special’s’ 😜

And when you are a member you still get adverts, for the ‘discount’ offers.

Hmmm that’s our adblocker activated pop up

Doesn't seem to be it works for me. It only pops up when I'm logged into my (yes... I know) free account. But if I'm not logged it I don't see it ever. Same browser, same adblocker settings etc
If I'm logged in, I can be hitting esc multiple times on the same thread to get rid of it.

I struggle a little with the paid vs free member finger pointing thing to. I'm not sure the free members bring any less value to the content posted.. equally theres plenty of paid members heavily eroding the quality of the content.

Same here. Just tested that.

Only an issue when I'm logged into my account if that helps diagnose the problem.

Shouldn't speak too soon, but it appears to be fixed. Thanks 👍

Props are due to hamster Anthony who looked in from his holidays to poke something!

So if all the free members F off, the subs aren’t going to go down are they!
A fee based on how positive and helpful your contribution is would possibly have a beneficial impact on the argumentative nature of some posters. 🤣

I struggle a little with the paid vs free member finger pointing thing to. 

I'm a paying member on another forum and never see the sort of attitude that appears on here from time to time. It's just a personal choice based on what you get from the forum.

DT - what happens if you are an argumentative begger but also helpful and positive?  Is there a sliding scale?

*preens*

So this looks the standard ‘if you don’t like it f-off answer that complaints often get.

Trust me if that’s what I meant I would said exactly that.

what happens if you are an argumentative begger but also helpful and positive?

I think you've mellowed. 😉

I’ve tried to but occasionally slip up.

Hi, sorry folks, looks like we have an issue affecting some free members and the site treating them as if they’re using an ad blocker.

I wonder if that means the software can recognize a freeloader when it sees one and knows to treat it with contempt 😆 😆

Maybe if we end up with advanced Ai it will track them down for immediate termination 😯

May i be the other person that complains about the de facto animated ad on the home page?

For context, i signed up because my ancient tablet literally couldn't load this page at all, and my PC's fans sounded like it was about to take off when i clicked here, when i was a 'free member'.

So i payed my dues, i was happy to do so, this place was, and is, worth it.

My PC doesn't seem to suffer for it, but that goddam animated 'Member's Discount' ad-by-any-other-name completely banjaxes my tablet, so the page just will not load.

It's not ad-free if it's your ad.

I'm not going to buy a new tablet as a 'fix' to this problem, because i do not want to do that.

No issue with the Free Member model.

If an ad blocker causes lost advert revenue then Free Member + Ad blocker has got to be a bit of a stretch on what's acceptable. If you come here and get value then be prepared to contribute monetarily in some way either by paying for a a sub or not blocking the ads. Most of us don't post anything that commercially has value and if our content only attracts other people who won't pay for a sub and also block adverts then it's not really doing anything for the business.

I am assuming here that the blocker has the impact of reducing advertising revenue that's paid for by page impression where it's actually visible.

The flip side for STW and other sites is that they need to not ruin the layout with adverts to the point that the content is lost or nigh on impossible to read - something all local newspaper sites seem to be spectacularly bad at.

If an ad blocker causes lost advert revenue then Free Member + Ad blocker has got to be a bit of a stretch on what’s acceptable

Except in this case people that aren't running ad blockers and were not complaining about the adverts were getting interrupted every few seconds by something that was incorrectly detecting an ad blocker, so it was a defect.

So there was no need for the 'put up or shut up' attitude from some members on this thread. It's irrelevant, someone was reporting an issue. Which is a good thing for the site.

No issue with the Free Member model.

Nor have I.

I’ll happily pay for a coffee in a nice cafe but not a run down cafe with sticky tables and crap seats.

Don't forget the surly staff and unruly customers 😉