Forum list page change and more ads?

[Mike Sixel]

I'm using Chrome, and starting a few minutes ago, seeing the list of threads in a forum is broken. The titles are much larger, and overlap the links and stuff. Also, there now appears to be a popup add at the bottom. Yuck.

[ashbury]

Same experience here, both in Firefox and Edge on my Windows 10 laptop.

 

Likewise on my Android phone when I switch to Full Version.

[ashbury]

[Mike Sixel]

 

0screen.jpg

 

I liked you posted an image, not that you too are having issues.......just to be clear....because, you know.

[Mike Sixel]

Ya, there is a giant pop up (or poop, as my computer tried to type) ad on the right also.....covering a good chunk of the page/navigation.

[ashbury]

I liked you posted an image, not that you too are having issues.......just to be clear....because, you know.

I took it to mean you saw roughly the same layout, and were saving bandwidth by not replying.

 

Then you replied.

 

Then I replied.

 

[Squirrel]

Yep, same problem here.

[Mike Sixel]

Please tell me I'm not now going to get pop up ads at the bottom of every page. 

[diehardtwinsfan]

Lot's of weird rendering in the fourms with the individual topics expanding beyond their border in their table. I've seen it on both Edge and Firefox. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

We changed ad providers and a few things went awry. We’re working on getting it resolved. Expect things to be in a state of flux for a little while as we get it sorted.

[Brock Beauchamp]

The forum topic pages should be fixed now. It may require a cache refresh in your browser to display on your computer. Let me know if any of you find additional errors.

[Squirrel]

 

The forum topic pages should be fixed now. It may require a cache refresh in your browser to display on your computer. Let me know if any of you find additional errors.

Seems okay on a quick look, but the pop up ad at the bottom is really annoying and needs to go away, if possible.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Seems okay on a quick look, but the pop up ad at the bottom is really annoying and needs to go away, if possible.

We’ll be adjusting ads based on performance and annoyance.

 

But remember that almost all the money we make from ads goes right back to our writing community. We’re one of the only sites working under that model and we’re trying to angle an even larger per article payment for them.

 

So a little annoyance can go a long way if it means more and better content from the non-core writers such as Jeremy, Cody, Tom, et al.

[Squirrel]

 

We’ll be adjusting ads based on performance and annoyance.

But remember that almost all the money we make from ads goes right back to our writing community. We’re one of the only sites working under that model and we’re trying to angle an even larger per article payment for them.

So a little annoyance can go a long way if it means more and better content from the non-core writers such as Jeremy, Cody, Tom, et al.

Yes ... I'm fine with ads on the site because I understand what you want here ... but when they get in the way of function, i.e. cover up where I need to click because they pop up beyond their borders, that's when I'd say it's a tad beyond annoyance. But we'll see how it goes and give time for adjustment where needed.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Yes ... I'm fine with ads on the site because I understand what you want here ... but when they get in the way of function, i.e. cover up where I need to click because they pop up beyond their borders, that's when I'd say it's a tad beyond annoyance. But we'll see how it goes and give time for adjustment where needed.

The bottom overlay ad is what's bothering you, correct?

 

What resolution are you running? I'm on a 15" laptop screen most of the time (1680 resolution) and it doesn't bother me in the least. If you're running a lower res screen, it might be more of a nuisance. I'll adjust my res and use it that way for awhile to see what I think of it under those conditions.

[Squirrel]

 

The bottom overlay ad is what's bothering you, correct?

 

What resolution are you running? I'm on a 15" laptop screen most of the time (1680 resolution) and it doesn't bother me in the least. If you're running a lower res screen, it might be more of a nuisance. I'll adjust my res and use it that way for awhile to see what I think of it under those conditions.

It's most annoying when I use my tablet in full version mode. I use my tablet about 75% of the time. It's not as annoying when I'm on my actual desktop.

[gunnarthor]

It may be just me but I'm getting far more intrusive ads from TD now. Usually a banner taking a few inches of space on the bottom of my screen (currently it's a best buy one) and happens every time I open a page. I understand if you need the ads for revenue and I'm certainly not opposed to this as TD is an excellent form of free entertainment for me and others. But, if it is possible, getting rid of the banner ads would be wonderful.

[Squirrel]

 

It may be just me but I'm getting far more intrusive ads from TD now. Usually a banner taking a few inches of space on the bottom of my screen (currently it's a best buy one) and happens every time I open a page. I understand if you need the ads for revenue and I'm certainly not opposed to this as TD is an excellent form of free entertainment for me and others. But, if it is possible, getting rid of the banner ads would be wonderful.

I merged your question into this thread because the new ads were discussed here. The only issue I have with the ads is the pop-up banner at the bottom of the screen as it gets in the way of function.

[jorgenswest]

The new bottom ad causes flicker, takes up too much space and sometimes moves with the scroll on iPhone and iPad.

 

The experience is far worse than any of the handful of places I regularly go.

 

Up until now I have never considered an ad blocker and really don’t know anything about them. Ads are the cost of using the site. That cost is too high now.

 

My options will be not visit this site or figure out how to block them. Status quo is not an option.

[Brock Beauchamp]

What iPad are you using? I haven’t seen any issues on my iPad Air 2 and certainly not any issues on my iPhone XS.

[Squirrel]

What iPad are you using? I haven’t seen any issues on my iPad Air 2 and certainly not any issues on my iPhone XS.

I have an iPad Air ... not sure what generation, but I’ve had it a while so probably the first generation. This is what I’m experiencing with the ads of late:

 

1. It takes time for them to load. And as they change and load, which they do as I’m reading, the width of the banners change causing the page to ‘jump’. So by the time I choose what forum to touch on, or thread, or article ... just as I do, the page jumps and I find myself in the wrong place.

 

2. The bottom screen banner pop-up is the worst. I’m about to click ‘post’ and the bottom banner pops up and I find myself being taken to that ad page. It covers the bottom, hmm 4th or 5th, portion of my screen and I have to actually click it off to get to some of the moderator functionality. Several times. Or have to scroll to click post, or more reply options.

 

3. The banner ads between thread posts ... I didn’t mind that there was one between the first post of a thread page and the rest, but now these banner ads pop up between, roughly, every third post.

 

4. The ads along the right side sometimes flash when I’m scrolling, causing the whole page to kind of flash. It’s very difficult to read content when that happens.

 

I’m all for why we have ads ... to give us all a free site to come to, and have never used an ad blocker, and and even enjoy the shoe ads, but the new ads do hinder how I am able to read and navigate the site, while using my iPad, which I use about 75% of the time.

[Squirrel]

I edited the above post, and this was how far I had to scroll to find the ‘submit modified post button:

 

 

Same with clicking ‘add reply’ on this post. Have to scroll through several screens to get there.

[Brock Beauchamp]

FYI, work is being done on the flickering issue (which I finally saw for myself). These changes have to be made from the ad provider side of things so hang in there for a few days, it could take time for the changes to go through their internal processes and get to their dev team.

 

I will be tackling these other issues in the coming week; right now, I have some other pressing ad issues to deal with that have to be taken care of first.

[diehardtwinsfan]

It's probably worth noting that the new format is crushing my CPU/RAM.  Fan is running constantly when I'm on. I'm not losing sleep over it, but worth a note.

[Brock Beauchamp]

It's probably worth noting that the new format is crushing my CPU/RAM. Fan is running constantly when I'm on. I'm not losing sleep over it, but worth a note.

Noted. We’re going to have to refine this process quite a bit but know that so far, our revenue appears to be rising enough to start talking about how to increase writer pay for the site.

 

It’s not a perfect process, I know, but it’s what makes Twins Daily work and draws writers into the fold. Without an increase in ad revenue, Tom wouldn’t have committed to his game recaps and writer management tasks. Regular writers wouldn’t keep doing MiLB recaps. Etc etc.

 

Everything has a price. We’ll keep trying to improve the experience but this is needed to keep Twins Daily moving forward.

 

Again, to emphasize, we owners take virtually nothing from the ad revenue pot. It’s there for writers, not ownership.

[Squirrel]

FYI, work is being done on the flickering issue (which I finally saw for myself). These changes have to be made from the ad provider side of things so hang in there for a few days, it could take time for the changes to go through their internal processes and get to their dev team.

 

I will be tackling these other issues in the coming week; right now, I have some other pressing ad issues to deal with that have to be taken care of first.

Another issue I’m having with my iPad, which I suspect is related to the constant loading of ads(?), but I’m getting a lot of error messages about pages needing to be reloading because of a problem. Again, this is an iPad issue. Along with the constant jumping of pages, it’s a reading issue. But it really gets annoying when I’ve thought through and written a long post, and that happens before I hit post, I lose everything I’ve written and have to start over. I’m just letting you know the issues as they come up. I do appreciate you are working on things, and have priorities, just giving you the full picture of issues I’m experiencing.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Another issue I’m having with my iPad, which I suspect is related to the constant loading of ads(?), but I’m getting a lot of error messages about pages needing to be reloading because of a problem. Again, this is an iPad issue. Along with the constant jumping of pages, it’s a reading issue. But it really gets annoying when I’ve thought through and written a long post, and that happens before I hit post, I lose everything I’ve written and have to start over. I’m just letting you know the issues as they come up. I do appreciate you are working on things, and have priorities, just giving you the full picture of issues I’m experiencing.

That likely isn't an ad issue, as it comes and goes with my phone on a pretty regular basis and has for a long time. I haven't been able to pin down the issue.

[ashbury]

Maybe useful, maybe amusing, maybe I shouldn't have bothered....

[Brock Beauchamp]

Maybe useful, maybe amusing, maybe I shouldn't have bothered....

0screen.jpg

Hah. That should have been commented out.

[Squirrel]

That likely isn't an ad issue, as it comes and goes with my phone on a pretty regular basis and has for a long time. I haven't been able to pin down the issue.

it’s just happening at a much higher rate recently. Just can’t help but think it’s not a coincidence, but maybe it is.