Ads

I find that it drastically affects the site performance, and here are specifics:

1. The site STARTS loading quickly, as usual, but then the ebay box shows up and everything just about stalls. It will load in "spurts", but the ebay box just keeps getting bigger and bigger--, and everything slows down even more

2. the 'edit' button doesn't go edit anymore, it just puts the 'working' screen in the top right corner as always, but then it never finishes loading the editable page

3. the ebay box itself--when I have clicked on a couple of the items, it didn't actually go to the item--instead, it went to a rover-type of page. From there, it went to another page that finally ended up at the actual ebay item, but I don't like to sign in to ebay after going through all those type of intermediate pages, so I didn't.

4. the ebay box shows up at random spots throughout the site and throughout a page

5. ALL of the above were the same, whether on my home computer or on my iphone---it stalled/froze/skipped/stuttered the same way, so I can't blame it on my dial-up........it also did the same thing on high-speed wifi with my windows 8.1 tablet-----

Now, yes, I think that there IS a use for it somehow...could it possibly be it's own 'forum' that could be accessed IF someone wants to see what's scrolling through, rather than being in front all the time? The catch there might be to make sure that if someone leaves that page, that the 'loading' stops also.

That all being said, I don't have a problem just going to ebay and doing searches for specific items........but it COULD be more convenient if there's a link here.

The old forum had two different ebay things: one would go right to items that were up, the other one would just send you through rovers, too---again, I never liked that and didn't use those links. I just wrote the item title or number down and then went to ebay and typed it in.

Another option might be to make the ebay stuff an 'option' to either turn on or not, in a Preferences setting?

I hope that gives some insight into whats happening out here. I know you're doing a lot of stuff, and its coming around.......I applaud the time and effort. Thank you!

Dave Fox

 

Firefox on my desktop, Safari on my iphone, and Internet explorer on my Surface RT

 

Glad to help. I'll go try editing one of my posts, too, and see if I can now.

dave

 

does implementing this feature somehow benefit the forum? for members that have limited bandwidth, this will be a huge detractor for them and they may limit their interaction as a result.

CN

 

Was able to edit the post almost instantly

Seems the ebay stuff/settings were interfering somehow-- I know others had indicated in various comments that they couldn't edit either, so they should find they can edit again, too. I"ll mention that in the 'shout box' area.

 

Sno - it is important that you get paid for all that you do.
I have to admit, I didn't care for the Ebay stuff and also am not a huge proponent for using them when we have Chacal.

Would it be wrong/ difficult to actually charge members a small nominal fee once a year?

Everyone chips in a little should add up to alot - however it might discourage new XJ owners from visiting/ joining.
Unless it could be set up that your first 10 posts are free (at which time most everyone would agree that a newbie would realize the true value of this site).

With over 16,000 members (not sure how many active ones there are) it could be a rather small fee to keep you and this site in the black.

Another option is to have a 'fund drive' - somehow create awareness of the DONATE button in the upper left and encourage members to help out. I believe last year someone started a thread to that effect and it made me a believer.

Someone also mentioned selling XJ Bikes logo stickers and having some of the earnings go to the Adminsitrator here . . . this sounds good but once everyone gets theirs, sales would probably drop off and along with it so would your maintenance payments . . . .

 

Ads are necessary but this eBay trick is ridiculous. I click on new posts and it's just pages of crap. Half of it isn't even for our era of XJ.

 

All of the Ebay posts end up being mirrored in the New Posts section of the forum. For a lot of us that section is the first thing we look at. It has gone to a page of new posts by members to 5 or 6 pages of Ebay postings. This makes it a bit more difficult to keep up on what is new to the forum. I like the Ebay feed, but is there a way to prevent those posts from being mirrored in the New Posts section?

 

The Ebay feed has been a part of this forum for ages. It went away temporarily during the transtition to the new forum software. Keep in mind that there are many XJ parts that are used on all models, regardless of year.

 

That should work. I'll give it a try and see how functional it is. If that is going to be the best workaround it might be helpful to remove the "New Posts" button from sight if that is possible, or to relabel it to reflect that most of what a person will see by clicking it is the Ebay posts.

 

I have my stuff set up so that the first page I get is the plain FORUMS list, not the "watched", or "new", etc..... The eBay stuff just stays in that particular heading, and doesn't interfere now for me. I just don't click on them unless need be. For me, I just go right to eBay and search for needed stuff now.

 

It is indeed fixed. Thank you for all the work that you do to keep everything shiny

 

Looks like it's back to regular posts now. Thank you.

 

I agree, as long as we don't have to wade through them to keep up with the forum. when I have a need, I look up all my options, starting with len, then on to every other source I can find using google, ebay and on and on. my google fu has saved me quite a bit of coin to spend on other bike parts. it's an addiction. but it's one I can live with.

FU

 

Are any of you seeing Ebay ads filling up your new posts page? I ask because that issue was resolved a month ago.

 

I've been on here for months, and only noticed Ebay ads once. It was a Saturday Morning, and all were posted by SnoSherrif. I just thought he was having a yard sale or something! I use the new posts daily, and there are no ads there except for the "For Sale/Wanted" stuff.

 

Another thought for revenue would be tshirts... perhaps black with a small XJbikes logo! I'd buy that.
PS I was not aware of the "Donate" button until I read this thread. Perhaps something could be done to increase its visibility.

 

Really? The last thing I want to do is to have ads blinking around through what I'm trying to read----

Can they be limited to a particular forum, like the eBay stuff is a particular forum?

 

Meh, they are on the bottom, I don't even notice them.

 

Ok, I notice they are on the bottom on my laptop/desktop, but they show up all over on my iphone. That's the only thing I was on til now........... If they stay that the bottom on the laptop and desktop computers, I guess it's ok.

I'm NOT saying to get rid of ads, I'm sure they help pay for the site. I just found it disconcerting when they'd show up in my signature, on a forum, in a post, etc.......

 

Must be an iPhone thing, or maybe the browser on the phone. I just have them showing up at the very bottom, on my phone, comp, and surface. I run chrome and IE

 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom
this might help, Baldwonder told me about it and it's the best thing since beans in a can

 

Wait, we had shirts? When was this?

 

I know enough about software and programming that you have got to have a great deal of your time invested - you deserve some payback.

So, make that three donations, and my apologies for not doing it earlier. Even if I don't get advice here, I still get a lot of enjoyment just reading what is going on in the XJ world.

 

I think it might be best to emulate NPR and Wikipedia with yearly/semi-annual/quarterly fundraising drives. And the pledges made could be in the form of monthly recurring donations. And part of that would be to let us know what the intended goal is - I honestly don't know what you're paying for hosting, or what kind of hosting this site has been requiring, but knowing what's been collected and how bad the site is hurting would do a lot to drive incentive to donate.

Also, maybe some of us, at our little mini-rallies, could collect donations - though maybe it'd be best to set up a way to text donations to the site instead of collecting cash you may or may not ever see. And you could avoid having to convert currencies, as well.

 

I know the feeling, but it's not bad when it's optional. You'd just be making yourself heard. I liked how on Wikipedia's page it added a header (hard to miss) with a personal letter from the head of Wikipedia (relatable, personable) explaining the need for money, and several options for donating, including saying no. Anyone who decides to be angry with you for asking for help isn't worth keeping around anyway.

 

Also, add your own story to the mix. People get warm fuzzies knowing they're helping out a real person. Write an open letter explaining how you got into XJs and why you started the site, and how much you've put into the site. It's not badgering, it's not bragging, it's just telling the story. Then simply say that you could use help in the form of donations. Throw in some quick figures like "X people visit the site every year, and Y dollars are spent on hosting, so if everyone donated just Z dollars, the site would pay for itself" or something like that, and make it ridiculously simply to click a link and make a payment of their choosing.

 

What about the rest of you guys? Am I right?

 

And on the other hand, here's an interesting article I just came across...
http://www.butlerblog.com/2015/01/3...ed&utm_campaign=Feed:+butlerblog+(ButlerBlog)

 

At the bare minimum you need to cover your expenses. I take it that the donations and advertising don't cover it.

When something is optional it's easy to free ride or procrastinate indefinitely (I'm an indefinite procrastinator). I think you should go to a subscription model. I suspect you could cover your expenses and even put a few Loonies in your pocket for a very modest fee.

The article BaldWonder linked makes a good point. You've got to make something public to get interest (the article calls it trust). I belong to another forum where only subscribers can post but most of the boards are public read. The owner gives 90 days trial upon registration but after that it's $12/year. Every post indicates whether the author is a contributing member or a trial member.

When a trial member asks a question almost 100% of the answers include something along the lines of "You just got your $12/worth, please subscribe so you can keep getting the information". In other words, the members are doing the selling for the owner.

 

My only concern about a subscription is that there quite a few of us who fall on hard times occasionally. I would not want to exclude anyone from continuing to offer their advice because of a temporary shortage of spending money. I like that idea of sponsoring memberships that give additional privileges.

 

Surveymonkey lets you make anonymous surveys up to 10-15 questions for free.

 

What would the other site be about? (crossing fingers it's a topic I know)

 

One thought along the lines of another website. One of the larger motorcycle forums is pretty much wholly supported by an image hosting site that is owned by the same person. A tie-in like that might make sense for you.