adverts are now making it into the forum threads ?
how much can you squeeze before you squeeze the sense out of it ?
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adverts are now making it into the forum threads ?
how much can you squeeze before you squeeze the sense out of it ?
Did anyone else get spam PM's from a guy offering tax avoidance schemes? That I could do without.Quote:
Originally Posted by blackburn mark
is there not a "classified adds" that this kind of thing can go into ?Quote:
Originally Posted by eBay UK
does it really have to show up in latest activity ?
how much are you paying to clog up the latest activity list or is it a free for all ?
is it just me or is anybody else starting to feel the adds on this site are getting tad intrusive?
(iv got two chocolate single flute slot drills and an air guitar for sale if anyone is interested)
Hi guys,
I have moved your post’s to this new thread so I can keep track of your questions/feedback and continue the discussion in one place. I always like to be as transparent as I feel is necessary and I hope to clear up some of your concerns and give you all a better idea of what I have done recently in regards to the eBay ads that have been showing up on the forum.
Yes and no, the eBay ads are classed as new threads yes however they not private advertising arrangements in that sense between the site and a select a few sellers on eBay.Quote:
Originally Posted by blackburn mark
My intention here hasn’t been to “squeeze” what I can from the system; I actually hoped to integrate a cool feature that people would like and find useful when using the market place section of the forum, as this section is a recent addition to our offerings.
I certainly didn’t and this concerns me greatly, at this point in time I have not investigated this but I will be very shortly. This is also the first time anyone has raised such a concern with me on this.Quote:
Originally Posted by bobc
I would appreciate it if you could share any information with me regarding this, particularly the name of the User in question. I can look into this myself by going into your Private Messages, however if you could share the User with me it would help me greatly as I would rather not invade your privacy in that way unless I really have to.
We don’t tolerate any kind of spam and we have taken allot of time on this subject to eliminate it as best we can, sorry for any inconvenience the said user may have caused anyone and you have my word it will be dealt with.
There is Mark and if you look again you will see these ads are located in the MARKETPLACE/Classified Ads, Buy, Sell & Swap/Items On eBay UK section of the forum.Quote:
Originally Posted by blackburn mark
I guess they don’t need to show up in the recent activity page no, however not having them show up in my opinion would defeat the point of having them in the first place. That doesn’t mean to say I am ignorant towards disrupting your user experience, the problem is I can’t please everybody all of the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by blackburn mark
This is the last post I need to reply to so I will give you the inside on what I have setup so you can understand how it’s working better.
Basically I thought it would be a good idea to have Newly Listed items on eBay automatically posted into the forum, I think I have done this the best way I can (ish).
Let me explain...
Obviously we don’t want any old listing/item submitted so I have setup what is known as “Rss Feeds” that are custom search’s of eBay for things like “Stepper Motors” or “Linear Rail”. For the search criteria I have specified listings/items located specifically in the UK, for both “Auction Style” and “Buy It Now” types of listing.
Originally I had hoped that I could make these submissions only come onto the forum every 72 hours with the obvious concern that I needed to also protect the user experience, the problem I ran into was the forum system only allows me to run/check each feed from every 10 minutes up to every 12 hours. So I’ve gone with every 12 hours and placed a spacing of an hour between each feed as that was the best I could do at this moment in time.
Coming back to the question of if or not these submissions need to be in the recent activity list, this is something I thought about beforehand but like I said above in my opinion the number of users who don’t partially care to see those threads is likely to be very small compared to the amount of users who would have an interest in seeing them.
Why?
Well because I’ve recently been in contact with around 3500 users who haven’t made any posts on the forum yet, I asked them briefly if they had any problems using the site and if or not there was anything I could for them to help them along with becoming more active and fixing any problems they may have run into when trying to use the site/forum.
The feedback I got back from those that did get back to me was that actually their accounts are not redundant in this way and at this stage they are collecting the gear required to build their machines and gathering as much information as they can, so browsing, reading and following along with the daily actives that go on. This didn’t include the 200+ guests we have reading the site every day!
Another thing I was hoping would happen is that every now and again a really sweet deal would pop up on a “Buy It Now” or that an auction style listing would come to light for some gear that one of our users had been waiting to see for a long time. Just a hope I guess.
Going Forward...
If I’ve got this wrong and the overall consensus is that actually a higher percentage of you would rather not see the eBay ads in the Recent Activity page and say to me “hey lee I think you got this wrong this time, any chance you could sort this out.” then I will happily hold my hands up and make the change a reality, I’m only trying to look after everybody all of the time.
So now it is all laid out on the table, fire away with your feedback or comments and I will do the best I can to look after you.
Have a Great Weekend!
.Me
Sorry just another quick note: I had to lock this thread while I made my reply; you know how people like to get carried away before I can explain things. Away it’s now unlocked again.
A Note for Mark: Notice the Amazon Ads are no longer present :eagerness:
Thanks.
Personaly I don't like the Ebay Ads or the recruitment wallers showing in recent activity.!! To me the point of the site is mostly for CNC/Machinist discussion not CNC sales ETC and the activity should relate to builds or information related to building.
If I want to buy stuff I know where to find the classified add's section or Ebay, same goes for if I need a Job, I don't want it poping up in front of me all the time and more annoying is it's usually the same stuff.!! . . Bob's and crappy TB based boards.!!
I don't mind the RFQ in recent activity because that's helping someone in need but the rest I can find on my own if needed.!!
He he . . . I'm getting used to you know Lee because when I saw the thread locked it did put my heckles up (you know how much I hate sensorship) so nearly started a protest thread but held fire hoping it wasjust being moved or something similiar to what you've done. . . Good Man.:thumsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Roberts
:) splendid xxxQuote:
Originally Posted by Lee Roberts
as for the adds showing in the activity box.... my take is, the activity box is my line into what's been going on and any "extra" activity bumps the interesting stuff... "help., my hamster's wrapped around my spindle" etc :)
i don't often trawl the rest of site any more, its straight to the activity box to see if i can make any use of myself.
im assuming most of the guys who have been around for a while do the same?
(as a newcomer the activity box meant nowt... i was busy reading up on build logs)
another thing, building a cnc makes you an excellent ebay bargain hunter... iv yet to see an advert that couldn't undercut one way or another
i know this may not be the case for everyone and some people are more willing to throw money at a problem than time
im surprised how many people join and don't post !! to busy reading and hatching the master plan i guess :)
I'm not.!! . . I've had loads contact me that have only 1 or 2 posts and I've never even seen before. (I always look who's reading threads I do.!!)Quote:
Originally Posted by blackburn mark
Unfortunatly often they are contacting me because there brains are mushed from all the conflicting advise and more unfortunate is they have often bought stuff thats not really suitable or ideal.!! . . Usually low volt PSU's and Massive motor sizes .:sorrow:
Lee i personally like it as i am always looking. At the end of the day jonathan came back with a better deal so at least the suppliers if they see the post will get a better idea of what people will pay?. It also helps the noobs get to the stuff that is relevent.
That's true, so long as the searches are done carefully to eliminate the rubbish - for instance add -TB6* to the search and most of the 'unsuitables' are gone! Although I'd prefer them not to clutter the recent threads display, since like Jazz said, if I want something on eBay I'll search for it myself and if someone asks where to get something I'll always include eBay in my reply. Random adverts might cause impulse buying...Quote:
Originally Posted by 2e0poz
Yep they most certainly do.!! . . . And I've been guilty of this on other sites and I'm sure a few of the seasoned on here have done the noob trick of impulse buying at some point on the road to working machine.?? . . And thats just with reacting to posts so if it's in your face then it's even more tempting.?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan
Hi lads thanks for the feedback, few things I can touch on.
No problem I’m the same person I’ve always been, starting a protest just delays me even more. I actually sent mark and bob? A PM letting them know “I’m on it give me an hour” just like I always ask when something crops up. Hats off to them they gave me the courtesy I asked for, sending me a quick email asking what’s going on takes just the same amount of time as posting a protest thread but is a much better way of going about things...being in front of an audience dose funny things to people!Quote:
Originally Posted by JAZZCNC
Hummm, but if you look at this eBay thread: 5-Axis-Breakout-Board the outcome has been that jonnydeen asks:Quote:
Originally Posted by blackburn mark
He's made the same type of request for the support there that you may find in the threads you don’t mind seeing, so if you didn’t see that thread in the activity box then jonnydeen may go unanswered.Quote:
Originally Posted by jonnydeen
I know, a handful of users have said they don’t feel they can ask for help because of the response they may get, I KNOW that brings us back to the whole "individual personalities" thing (and I really don’t want to open that can of worms right now in this thread) but it is still something that should be given consideration.Quote:
Originally Posted by blackburn mark
If what we really care about is helping people then we should also show willing to be flexible, to help aid accommodating everyone, I have to.
I know this to be true as well, (let the cat out the bag time) I’m hoping to put together a series called "The Basics" this will be articles new comers can use as a jump off point before they going doing anything else.Quote:
Originally Posted by JAZZCNC
The way this will work is other users like you can write up an article, screen cast or do a video (whatever floats your boat) and get paid for doing so. To fund this I’m going to reinvest the revenue generated by the site from advertising and so on, so this could mean you spend 1-2 hours writing up an article on let’s say "limit & home switches" where you cover the pros and cons of the two and the best way to implement them on a machine. I’m plucking numbers from thin air here but you could then sell that article back to the site and get £50 for it.
Where the magic happens is that article will not only be a GREAT asset to the site and its users but it will also pull in more interest, interest attracts visitors, every time a visitor reads an article they will help to generate revenue for the site in one way or another. This then pays for your next article if you so wish.
I've talked about money here obviously and I am more than aware it’s not about the money for allot of you but I think this is an acceptable to do, we all know this cnc game isn’t a cheap hobby and I think it all goes hand in hand, why shouldn’t you be able to fund your hobby by helping others who will in turn hopefully help others that come after them.
Making a part for someone because you've got a cnc machine up and running and them giving you a drink for doing it isn’t that much different to you writing up an article for them on how to implement their limit or home switches in the best way.
Dinner time!
.Me
Ermm . . . Ye but I tried that other week and your PM's where OFF.!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Roberts
i like the idea... as long as they really will be kept "basic" and save the rocket science/finer points for open debate.Quote:
I know this to be true as well, (let the cat out the bag time) I’m hoping to put together a series called "The Basics" this will be articles new comers can use as a jump off point before they going doing anything else.
i spent a couple of months working out if i had the skills resorces time and gumption before i started building, a couple of simple articles on how much blood snot and cash a typical build would take would have been a winner (kind of hard to quantfy now i think about it)
Its the way ebay FS ads just bump the interestiing stuff off the ticker not a big help.
Mebbe a seperate marketplace ticker entirely?
I think a seperate section for ebay stuff would be better. The way it looks just now is that if a few more cnc products get posted on ebay then out recent posts section will be full of ebay stuff. Is ebay limited to how much they can "advertise" ?
Erm.!!! . . . . 4 Ebay Ads out of 12 recent acitivity entries is a bit much and it seems to be getting more each time.? . . .If we can't stop or people want the Ebay in recent activity can we have More entries and a limit on the Ebay ads.?
Edit: Or get rid of the Blog section and make an Ebay section.? I never read the Blogs and it doesn't look like anybody else does much because it never changes.!!
Hey guys,
Thanks for all the feedback and comments, this must be one of (if not) the most successful discussions the forum has ever had when it comes to me asking you for your input. Normally I only know about when I do something you don’t like, so thank you it helps me greatly.
I’ve observed something that I think has been seriously over looked, the vBulletin forum software we use to power this forum comes with the “What’s News” navigation button/link/page as standard, while I control what gets populated into that “search” (technically what that button dose) I think we are overlooking the fact that it dose exactly what it says on the tin and that is gives you a summary of “What’s News” across the whole forum!
Now if you look, next to each forum the software allows you to “subscribe” to each and every individual forum, so if you are mostly interested in the Metal & Wood Working forums you would be accepted naturally to subscribe to the ones of most interest to you.
When doing this you are presented with a new page, this new page gives you three new options to manage your subscription:
This would in turn customize your user experience and make use of the product the way it was intended to be used, if at all.Quote:
Select how to be notified of updates. You can choose to only display the subscription in your control panel, or have updates emailed to you. Selection choices: Through my control panel only, Daily updates by email, Weekly updates by email
How many of you watch telly?
When my Mrs watch’s TV she typically go’s to the TV guide and scrolls through the “All Channels” tab, finds something she would like to watch and starts watching it. I however only really have an interest in 2-3 channels, if I’m feeling fruity ill go straight to the “Gay UK” channel (oi oi savaloy) but if I plan to do some pre bed time reading on a mobile device I will go to the “Radio Channels” tab and select the “Classic FM” choice and then in most cases jump onto the forum here.
How many of you have contacted you TV service provider to express your discomfort in seeing a particular channel listed in the “All Channels” section or is it that, like me your well rehearsed at using the TV guide how it was intended?
So I do have to ask the question, what is it we should really be discussing here? because as we know allot of times a solution to a problem is often the correction of a number of attributes that contribute to something we define as “User Error” where User Error translates to "not a problem with the product in question". I have taken everything on board you guys have been saying and made my notes don’t get me wrong, but we really should be using a product how it was intended and then hashing out our discomforts as appose to using it incorrectly and being unnecessarily uncomfortable, if indeed we are using it incorrectly.
Your thoughts,
.Me
ill assume that is a rhetorical question which brings the "disscusion" to a close for meQuote:
So I do have to ask the question, what is it we should really be discussing here?
twas nice while it lasted
xx
Get what your saying but it's not really what I think the issue is here I think.?Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Roberts
If I want to find a a particular interest be that Lathe, Router etc I know where to find them and I'm quite happy to go looking, same go's with looking for stuff on Ebay or other places.
But do like the quick at a glance short cut to recent activity and to me it's being spoiled or overrun with Ebay adverts when I feel it should be reserved for questions or builds etc.
I don't think the software is miss-used or incorrectly used so much has not fully utilised.? Neither do I think there's a problem to over come.?
Too me It's just a case of balance and finding a setup the majority of frequent users prefer.!! . . . Too me this down to us to request what we like or prefer from a site (you). . (which really is what were doing now.!!) but equally it's your site to layout how you feel or need.!! . . . If we don't like what you do or we find the site difficult or frustrating to use can always click on other forums.!
Other than the Ebay ads in recent activity I'm quite happy so keep up the good work.!!
Whist we are talking about what we want to see can i make a suggestion ?
Don't matter anyway here it is .
When I come to this site I see the main forum with the latest posts, latest blog and latest classified on the top. however the latest posts only number 11 posts and when there has been a lot of activity on a day or you come back to do a reply and the header has made no 12 or more it disappears and you have to go trolling around under 37,842 categories looking for it.
Any chance of a page 2 / down arrow / expand button [ delete as required ] so you can see enough latest posts to cover 3 or 4 days ?
John S: If you click on the new posts link (top left) the thread should be there, unless you have already viewed it since the last post. Still, an arrow/button or whatever to display more sounds good to me.
I've got to say I'm getting fed-up with the ebay posts in amongst the unread topics.
If there are any, I just click the ebay forum link (not the individual thread), then mark it all as read as that way I don't contribute to the view counters for any of the ebay threads.
M.C.
Same here it's spoiling this forum, just turns it into another forum full of adverts that Adblock can't handle.
Cheers Lee
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Lee, many thanks for the extended forum posts and the removal of the Ebay ads from latest posts.
TOP BOSS MAN . .:applause::applause::applause::applause::beer::be er::beer:
EDIT: Can I suggest a way those that like the Ebay ads win has well.??
Remove the Blog section because I see very little activity happening there and replace with Ebay section.? . . Win win.!! . . . (Execept a few bloggers like Mocha.!! But who cares about what he's upto in his worldly escapades trying to find cheap CNC bits.!! . . Tight Twat.!! . . :joker:)
Yo, Ok so an update on this!
Right as noted by John S I have now extended the TOPSTATS module above the forums on the forum home page:
Click to enlarge:
Attachment 6350
Additionally I have also implemented an AJAX auto refresh; this is set to automatically refresh the top stats every 180 seconds so three minutes. If you look at the screen shot above you can see the timer highlighted in a red box to the left and on the right of the screen shot you can see a manual “Reload” button so you don’t have to wait for the timer if you don’t want to. These are at the bottom of the screen shot.
With it being AJAX based I was hoping that maybe some of you leave the page open most times while you are doing other things (waiting for a job to finish on the machine, so pottering about in the workshop), so at a glance you can easily see any updates that may have gone on since you last looked - without the need to even touch the mouse!
I can’t control how many “Latest Posts” are shown directly but what I do control is the stats on the left of the module, so I’ve set it to show 10 items for each, anything more and it outputs too many latest’s posts on the right for my liking and any less brings the list on the right down and I didn’t feel it was “enough” of a selection, so hopefully I’ve now got a happy medium that we can all live with.
I’ll come to the eBay ads in a mo everyone!
In light of that idea Dean I thought yea maybe, when I looked I thought well I don’t really just want a Marketplace Nav link/button because it gives too much direction to one particular section, so I thought ok ill put one in for each section we have got, I did that but didn’t like it as it made the Nav Bar to busy in my opinion so I removed them all again.Quote:
Originally Posted by JAZZCNC
Previously admin had no direct tools to manage the Nav Bar in vB, however I updated the forum yesterday to the newest version (4.2), 4.2 is a major feature release and as such contains only feature changes and issue fixes related to those feature changes.
Here is a list of what is new:
· Activity Stream
· Navigation Manager
· Members who have Visited Today
· Cron-based Batch Email Sending
· UserCP Reputation Display
· Reputation Notification
· User Profile Reputation Display
· Who has Read a Thread
· Doublepost Prevention
· Enhanced Reputation Checks
· Updated Readme.
· Integration with Post Release
So now I can manage the Nav Bar properly, nice!
I’ve removed the “What’s New” button/link; this was only a replication of the “New Posts” link in the Nav Bar anyway:
Click to enlarge:
Attachment 6351
What I have done is go on to extend the “New Posts” link, if you look at the image above you can see this is now a dropdown menu as well but also has some AJAX magic to it, those green numbers you can see are showing the number of new posts and in how many threads. This automatically updates every 15 seconds, clicking the drop down menu then gives you a list of the different sections we have on the forum that you can then see new posts for.
This should cater for anyone interested in only one section of the forum. There are some other options there as well.
Additionally while I was there I have also implemented a “Private Messages” link with a menu:
Click to enlarge:
Attachment 6352
This also introduces some other PM Enhancements:
Click to enlarge:
Attachment 6353Attachment 6354
To wrap up while I’m in this section, I also noticed on my travels that there was a permissions problem on the “Donate” system, this has now been fixed and you should be able to view the donations list and make donations like you could before:
Click to enlarge:
Attachment 6355
I’m not going to remove the Blog section this time round, it was an additional feature/cost at the time and while I had doubts over whether or not it would “work” so to speak I have got an idea I may use it for in the future.
eBay Threads...
What I’ve done is condensed the 4 feeds I had into 1 feed, my eBay search now is for “CNC>In The UK>Newly listed items.
Then I’ve told my feed to only bring in 1 “feed item” that contains any of the keywords I have stated:
The feed is still checked every 12 hours because that is the longest duration I can choose at this moment in time, however this brings everything much closer to my original requirements of only having 1 new eBay thread every 3 days. I’m not happy removing the eBay threads from the activity streams all together, I feel I have compromised enough and what we have now is so much better then what it was before.Quote:
"stepper motor"
"linear rail"
"motor driver"
"water spindle"
"rail mount"
"power supply"
"end mill"
"milling cutters"
"spindle mount"
"coupling"
"linear bearing"
"shaft support"
"milling machine"
"cnc lathe"
"carbide"
"breakout board"
"fluted end mill"
"timing belt"
"timing pulley"
"round rail"
"supported rail"
"profile rail"
"guide way"
"kress FME"
"engraving machine"
"router"
"driver board"
"stepper board"
"board controller"
"dial indicator"
"ballscrew floating"
"ballscrew support"
"motor mount"
"lead screw"
"diy plans"
"wood working"
"metal working"
One of the benefits of having the eBay forum is you can submit your items on eBay and know they will be noticed by allot of people, removing them from the stream defeats the objective. I appreciate that still may not be to every ones liking but personally (and this is my own personal ask now) I feel I have given with three hands and only taken back with one, I hope you can understand that.
Cool, i think that just about covers everything, hopfully we can all live with how it is setup now, i think its allot better. There are a few other things new to the forum here and there I won’t go on about them now but may post a new thread for some of them.
Cheers,
.Me
Little amendment, a sweet one though!
The “What’s New?” Nav button/link is now back on the radar for good, I didn’t realise but that button now serves a different purpose and introduces what they are calling an “Activity Stream”...
Go have a look and see what you think; one thing is for sure...there is now easily more than enough ways to find the content that most interests you!
.Me
I was going to say that I cant see the reload button or timer but they magically appeared when I logged in, nice one.
Member features only ;-), your welcome.
yea some nice features lee :)
ill bite my lip on the ebay invasion :(
Who else wants to send and receive attachments in PMs? I certainly do, here's the add-on to do it Lee:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=284138
Yes pretty pretty please. .!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan
Lee thanks for the changes, I can live with the Ebay..:calm:
Np guys, its bugged up wont even install. I wanted/looked into doing this myself anyway so just have to see who gets there first.
IMHO opinion the Ebay/Ads in the 'recent posts' window is just 'white noise' ...also too much white noise & even with the longer/larger window. Posts I am likely interested in iare gonna be 'cuckoo'ed' out too quick (unless I visit every 2hrs!). Whilst I realise a site has to turn a buck to survive & prosper ...such a trend is starting to get a little too 'in yer face'.
WTF ???????????
Thought I'd clicked on Ebay by mistake.
Attachment 6400
Can these adverts/posts not be moderated out? Or; at least reduced in quantity.Quote:
Originally Posted by John S
I think they are in because they earn money ? However the forum was setup for like minded people to meet and get support.
Now for a generic question ? at what point does the forum become useless as the adverts force mainstream users away ?