ad's in the comments now???!??!

[Greg_B]

> @easyyy said:

> Two announcements will be coming this week.

>

> -One will be writing an update to what's happening and where are we going in general. Explaining why we had to do all of these software changes and explain a lot more of the specifics with the next weekly enhancements. Timelines for feedback and ClubWRX. General update on where wee are going.

>

> -Secondly we will be announcing and introducing a new rich editor (the box I am writing in now) with a simplified window. This new rich editor is much more than a change in looks and less buttons. It allows you to add images in batches and they remain in order. You will be able to drag and drop most things in and see how they will look before posting. The down side is it will look different and many will be unhappy. The development team says members will love it on mobile and desktop. I didn't like it last spring and very worried the visual change would make members to upset. We believe this editor is better for members and once you get to know it and the capabilities it has you will like it MUCH more.

>

> Before we launch it we will post a editor FAQ's thread in this forum and also have tutorials on how to tap into its capabilities.

 

Richard, thank you for the post along with your previously lengthy explanation. I know this must be difficult for all.

 

The update as to what is happening will be helpful and appreciated. One thing I would suggest: take pains not to promise anything that you are not totally sure of. Saying things like "this will knock your socks off", etc., only to have things either not happen at all or become actually worse is part of what led to the current situation. Which leads me to point #2.

 

The Vanilla "rich editor" is something I would tread very, very lightly with. Another Vanilla site I frequent went to it this past summer and users did not like it, found it confusing, difficult, very sluggish, and erratic, and many people either could not or chose not to post. Then to make matters worse, it broke the entire site after a couple of weeks (ironically, the advertising insertions!) and they had to roll it all back. The site still has not been fixed, and cannot get back to its previous level of functionality as it was before the change, so things that worked before, no longer work (like posting images). It is a disaster. I know this is not something you want to hear after what you have just gone through, but if I were in your shoes I would be looking for an alternative to Vanilla. I am not a fan of Xenforo but at least I have seen forums using it that somewhat resemble what users were used to in the past. I am not at all confident a Vanilla forum can ever get to that stage.

 

 

[Gxgolfer]

> @swizbeatz said:

> Mine on mobile take up the same amount of space as a 10-15 line post, basically bigger than the majority of posts in a thread.

 

Please provide a screenshot

[Gxgolfer]

> @bigmoneyp said:

>

> In thread ads are so big you literally have to scroll thru to get to the next post.

 

Those need to be reported as bad ads as well as any pop ups.

[bigmoneyp]

> @Gxgolfer said:

> > @bigmoneyp said:

> >

> > In thread ads are so big you literally have to scroll thru to get to the next post.

>

> Those need to be reported as bad ads as well as any pop ups.

 

How do we know which ads are to be reported as "bad"?

[Gxgolfer]

Report any ad you deem malicious.

[Hawkeye77]

> @Gxgolfer said:

> Report any ad you deem malicious.

 

Some people will be going crazy on the report button now, lol!

[Gxgolfer]

This is the report link

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/bad-ads/

[nsxguy]

> @Philomathesq said:

> > @Gxgolfer said:

> > I would respectfully disagree with you and read posts from the last 7 months. Patience and understanding is not the issue or feedback. It is when that feedback is colored with uninformed assumptions like a few posts above that become gospel. And yes **threats, like please don’t ban me**, are not considered relevant feedback. Even tongue in cheek takes any response to the extreme.

> >

> > I do take it very personally and people should understand what they post as well.

> >

> > Obviously this is the internet and so there are no etiquette rules. People question integrity and motive is not feedback.

>

> **Well, you need to lighten up and grow a much thicker skin** if you are going to attempt to discuss updates with the users of the forum. The fact that you take a request not to be banned as a threat is unfathomable; to whom was my threat directed, and what, exactly, was the threat?

>

> You seem to ask for feedback, but when people give it to you, you claim your integrity and motives are being attacked. The problem is that you can't have it both ways. If you are truly interested in feedback, you need to stop taking feedback so personally and accept it for what it is; **this would include reigning in your immediate proclivity to jump to the conclusion** that the provided feedback is a personal attack.

>

> At the end of the day, I do not mean to make an enemy. As a person that frequents this site several times per day, I want to see the site succeed. I don't know this for sure, but I presume that most people on this forum are golf freaks (I mean this in the most flattering way) and are likely successful -- it would be hard to be a golf freak and not have disposable time and income. As such, your membership is probably filled with lots of small business owners, consultants, tech guru's, etc., that likely have very good insights into what might help the site, and you get to call on that collective wisdom for free. You can benefit from this collective wisdom if you take a step back and see the comments in that light, rather than assuming people are attacking you.

>

> I'll end by saying nothing I've said above is meant to be a threat, personal attack, or offensive in any way. If it comes off that way, please let me know, because I'm not perfect and maybe I need someone to call me out. Otherwise, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

 

So let me ask you. If *I* had written the above to YOU, would you consider the bolded parts,,,,,, what exactly ? Compliments ? Constructive criticism ? LOL

 

Frankly I'm somewhat amazed that Gxgolfer hasn't banned at least a dozen people. Or has he ? I don't think so as I see a few of the names in THIS thread whining as usual (surprise, surprise). Or at the very least have issued them a "warning" about (overly) criticizing the board owners.

 

Not necessarily you BTW, but there are usernames that have popped up constantly since the changeover complaining about pretty much everything. Personally I think Gxgolfer has the patience of a saint. If it was up to me, with their constant criticism and overall whining, there'd probably be at least a dozen fewer posters around here. And yet, with all their whining about everything,,,,,,,, they're STILL here. LOL

 

And I wonder just how many can't seem to grasp that the same ads were on the OLD board pre-cutover. Adblock just blocked them more effectively.

 

Now I never read the board on a mobile device so I can't comment on that but I do read it on a desktop and to make this much of a fuss over something that can so easily be scrolled right past is just downright silly.

 

Just my $.02

 

[Philomathesq]

> @nsxguy said:

> > @Philomathesq said:

> > > @Gxgolfer said:

> > > I would respectfully disagree with you and read posts from the last 7 months. Patience and understanding is not the issue or feedback. It is when that feedback is colored with uninformed assumptions like a few posts above that become gospel. And yes **threats, like please don’t ban me**, are not considered relevant feedback. Even tongue in cheek takes any response to the extreme.

> > >

> > > I do take it very personally and people should understand what they post as well.

> > >

> > > Obviously this is the internet and so there are no etiquette rules. People question integrity and motive is not feedback.

> >

> > **Well, you need to lighten up and grow a much thicker skin** if you are going to attempt to discuss updates with the users of the forum. The fact that you take a request not to be banned as a threat is unfathomable; to whom was my threat directed, and what, exactly, was the threat?

> >

> > You seem to ask for feedback, but when people give it to you, you claim your integrity and motives are being attacked. The problem is that you can't have it both ways. If you are truly interested in feedback, you need to stop taking feedback so personally and accept it for what it is; **this would include reigning in your immediate proclivity to jump to the conclusion** that the provided feedback is a personal attack.

> >

> > At the end of the day, I do not mean to make an enemy. As a person that frequents this site several times per day, I want to see the site succeed. I don't know this for sure, but I presume that most people on this forum are golf freaks (I mean this in the most flattering way) and are likely successful -- it would be hard to be a golf freak and not have disposable time and income. As such, your membership is probably filled with lots of small business owners, consultants, tech guru's, etc., that likely have very good insights into what might help the site, and you get to call on that collective wisdom for free. You can benefit from this collective wisdom if you take a step back and see the comments in that light, rather than assuming people are attacking you.

> >

> > I'll end by saying nothing I've said above is meant to be a threat, personal attack, or offensive in any way. If it comes off that way, please let me know, because I'm not perfect and maybe I need someone to call me out. Otherwise, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

>

> So let me ask you. If *I* had written the above to YOU, would you consider the bolded parts,,,,,, what exactly ? Compliments ? Constructive criticism ? LOL

>

> Frankly I'm somewhat amazed that Gxgolfer hasn't banned at least a dozen people. Or has he ? I don't think so as I see a few of the names in THIS thread whining as usual (surprise, surprise). Or at the very least have issued them a "warning" about (overly) criticizing the board owners.

>

> Not necessarily you BTW, but there are usernames that have popped up constantly since the changeover complaining about pretty much everything. Personally I think Gxgolfer has the patience of a saint. If it was up to me, with their constant criticism and overall whining, there'd probably be at least a dozen fewer posters around here. And yet, with all their whining about everything,,,,,,,, they're STILL here. LOL

>

> And I wonder just how many can't seem to grasp that the same ads were on the OLD board pre-cutover. Adblock just blocked them more effectively.

>

> Now I never read the board on a mobile device so I can't comment on that but I do read it on a desktop and to make this much of a fuss over something that can so easily be scrolled right past is just downright silly.

>

> Just my $.02

>

 

Given that this thread seems to be back on the track to civility, I don't want to engage in too much of a digression. However, I will say: (1) I understand your point, (2) I would not take offense to the comments in bold above given the context of this thread regardless of who directed them at me; and (3) my comments were clearly not compliments, but they were also not attacks (if they were interpreted that way, please know it was not my intent for them to come off that way).

 

 

[nsxguy]

> @Philomathesq said:

> > @nsxguy said:

> > > @Philomathesq said:

> > > > @Gxgolfer said:

> > > > I would respectfully disagree with you and read posts from the last 7 months. Patience and understanding is not the issue or feedback. It is when that feedback is colored with uninformed assumptions like a few posts above that become gospel. And yes **threats, like please don’t ban me**, are not considered relevant feedback. Even tongue in cheek takes any response to the extreme.

> > > >

> > > > I do take it very personally and people should understand what they post as well.

> > > >

> > > > Obviously this is the internet and so there are no etiquette rules. People question integrity and motive is not feedback.

> > >

> > > **Well, you need to lighten up and grow a much thicker skin** if you are going to attempt to discuss updates with the users of the forum. The fact that you take a request not to be banned as a threat is unfathomable; to whom was my threat directed, and what, exactly, was the threat?

> > >

> > > You seem to ask for feedback, but when people give it to you, you claim your integrity and motives are being attacked. The problem is that you can't have it both ways. If you are truly interested in feedback, you need to stop taking feedback so personally and accept it for what it is; **this would include reigning in your immediate proclivity to jump to the conclusion** that the provided feedback is a personal attack.

> > >

> > > At the end of the day, I do not mean to make an enemy. As a person that frequents this site several times per day, I want to see the site succeed. I don't know this for sure, but I presume that most people on this forum are golf freaks (I mean this in the most flattering way) and are likely successful -- it would be hard to be a golf freak and not have disposable time and income. As such, your membership is probably filled with lots of small business owners, consultants, tech guru's, etc., that likely have very good insights into what might help the site, and you get to call on that collective wisdom for free. You can benefit from this collective wisdom if you take a step back and see the comments in that light, rather than assuming people are attacking you.

> > >

> > > I'll end by saying nothing I've said above is meant to be a threat, personal attack, or offensive in any way. If it comes off that way, please let me know, because I'm not perfect and maybe I need someone to call me out. Otherwise, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

> >

> > So let me ask you. If *I* had written the above to YOU, would you consider the bolded parts,,,,,, what exactly ? Compliments ? Constructive criticism ? LOL

> >

> > Frankly I'm somewhat amazed that Gxgolfer hasn't banned at least a dozen people. Or has he ? I don't think so as I see a few of the names in THIS thread whining as usual (surprise, surprise). Or at the very least have issued them a "warning" about (overly) criticizing the board owners.

> >

> > Not necessarily you BTW, but there are usernames that have popped up constantly since the changeover complaining about pretty much everything. Personally I think Gxgolfer has the patience of a saint. If it was up to me, with their constant criticism and overall whining, there'd probably be at least a dozen fewer posters around here. And yet, with all their whining about everything,,,,,,,, they're STILL here. LOL

> >

> > And I wonder just how many can't seem to grasp that the same ads were on the OLD board pre-cutover. Adblock just blocked them more effectively.

> >

> > Now I never read the board on a mobile device so I can't comment on that but I do read it on a desktop and to make this much of a fuss over something that can so easily be scrolled right past is just downright silly.

> >

> > Just my $.02

> >

>

> Given that this thread seems to be back on the track to civility, I don't want to engage in too much of a digression. However, I will say: (1) I understand your point, (2) I would not take offense to the comments in bold above given the context of this thread regardless of who directed them at me; and (3) my comments were clearly not compliments, but they were also not attacks (if they were interpreted that way, please know it was not my intent for them to come off that way).

>

>

 

Fair enough but I've got to say, if *I* was on the receiving end of your previous post, *I* would have considered those statements, if not to be a "attacks", at least to consider them rather critical.

 

I try to put myself on the other side of an argument and think along the lines as the other person might be thinking. I'm sure I'm not always right but I feel it makes it easier for me to understand where the other guy is coming from.

[deadsolid...shank]

I haven’t posted for quite a while and am not on nearly as much as I used to be. So a lot of this is pretty new for me.

 

I have an ad blocker (safari on an iPad) that seems to work pretty well. I see the WRX advertisement box within the thread, but it’s empty. While it is annoying, it’s not a huge deal for me to simply scroll past them. What worries me is what happened just recently on my college sports forum. They asked you to disable your ad blocker, but gave you the option to continue with it on and not seeing the ads...........twice. Now the big box (that obscures all the content) that asks you to turn it off doesn’t go away. So, instead, I went away. I haven’t been back on, and I won’t be. I won’t be forced to turn off the blocker.

 

While I’m not as active here any more, I still enjoy reading and privately conversing with friends I’ve made here, I really really hope what happened on the other forum isn’t the next step here.

 

Personally, I think thenClub WRX membership should suffice as a paid service to eliminate the ads. Even if it went up a bit in cost.

[Hawkeye77]

> @"deadsolid...shank" said:

 

> Personally, I think thenClub WRX membership should suffice as a paid service to eliminate the ads. Even if it went up a bit in cost.

 

Agree completely - as mentioned above a few times, it's an option several sites offer. Now, I know nothing about the economics of this site in terms of whether that would make sense, but three other non-golf sites I'm on seem to manage okay with "no ads" as an option.

 

Not a deal breaker for me here, but I'd pay for it (if I already haven't in a way through Club WRX).

 

 

[snagy2000]

> @Hawkeye77 said:

> > @"deadsolid...shank" said:

>

> > Personally, I think thenClub WRX membership should suffice as a paid service to eliminate the ads. Even if it went up a bit in cost.

>

> Agree completely - as mentioned above a few times, it's an option several sites offer. Now, I know nothing about the economics of this site in terms of whether that would make sense, but three other non-golf sites I'm on seem to manage okay with "no ads" as an option.

>

> Not a deal breaker for me here, but I'd pay for it (if I already haven't in a way through Club WRX).

>

>

 

You have paid for it through Clubwrx, they are just changing to the rules on us...

[bigred90gt]

> @"b.helts" said:

> As a long time, active member, my $.02 is this:

>

> Scrolling past the ads is no big deal. For those of you with your panties in a wad, I just don’t understand. It’s really not that big of a deal, in my opinion.

>

> The anime ads are disconcerting, yes. But that’s a different subject altogether.

 

I'm with you, man. It amazes me how much people complain about things, and how big of a deal they are making something like these ad posts. I use my iphone and my laptop to access the forums. It is no issue at all to scroll right past the ads. If I see something interesting, I might click on it, otherwise, I scroll past it to the next post and go on with my day. How can it possibly infuriate some people so much?

[Stetson]

This change brought some good to my life. I had never heard of AdGuard or any other Ad blocker, now thanks to Golf WRX I have it on all my devices. Making lemonade here in the 402!

[ewfnick]

Is there any way to disable the "trending now" box that constantly drops to the corner of my screen and is a real pain?

[DatSliceDoe]

Yes, if you use a blocker you can select the elements and hide them. Very annoying "feature" like a cheap blog or UK tabloid news site.

[ewfnick]

Thanks for the tip DatSliceDoe, seems to be working a treat and yes, they are VERY annoying

[BlackDiamondPar5]

The ads in the threads cause all kinds of undesirable aggravation using this site, like scroll jumping, at least on a smartphone with chrome. Recently switched to Brave browser and the ads are blocked and the site works a lot better.