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mshu7 said:
Add me to the "highly annoyed" list.
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I wish they'd get rid of all the advertisement ads from the autopia.org forum. keep them on the home page and such, but when I click on the forum tab, I want it to be clear of ads. Too much to ask for?:nono
 
C. Charles Hahn said:
.



If you want a hugely successful website or forum with a high level of active traffic, overall browsing experience is right at the top of the list of factors to be paid attention to (alongside SEO, atmosphere/culture, quality of content). No different than in any other customer service setting.
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Charlie just saved this site the expense of conducting a marketing research study on this topic that I am confident would yield more or less the same findings :bigups:
 
Is there any update on this David?? I was away from the forums for a little while and like Charlie, I had gotten used to just clicking the arrow once and the side bar went away.

It's just a total PIA....



In fact, it's been sending me over to the Autogeek forum now more than ever...I have to say, I absolutely LOVE their layout.
 
David Fermani said:
Charlie - Thanks for voicing your opinion and don't think it's not going unnoticed. Keep in mind that I am indeed this forum's Marketing Manager and one of the Moderators, but am not the Administrator or Owner so I do not have the power/ability to change this. I will however forward this thread over to someone for additional consideration. Please remain patient in the meantime.
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David,



I've been away for a long time. Overall, I think the forum changes have been VERY positive and the dicussion quality has gone up with the discussion rules changes. However...



That auto-popup sidebar HAS to go. As an ex forum admin, I understand that advertisements are necessary to cover the cost of the forum. And if the forum owner makes a profit, that's OK by me. BUT... That kind popup sidebar falls into the category of spam. It is EXTREMELY irritating!



What's worse is the impact it has on you and your job as the forum's marketing dude...



First, I make it a policy of never, EVER buying products listed in spam. Products listed in spam marketing are typically junk. That's why they use spam marketing. Therefore any product that shows up in that sidebar is automatically on my S*** List.



Second, spam marketing like this drives people away from the forum. If someone smacks you in the head with a baseball bat every time you enter a room, after a while you'll stop entering the room. If it is painful to come here, why come here?



Think about it.



Regards,



Dan.
 
Dan, thanks for bringing this back up -- it hasn't gone unnoticed that this issue is being ignored; it seems to me that getting this resolved should be fairly simple: either changing an option in a configuration file on the server, or submitting a help desk ticket to vBulletin support to look into the software bug.



Since neither of those things has been done, it does lead me to believe the sidebar's intrusion is an intentional decision by the forum management which they have no plans to change. Would be nice to hear this acknowledged and confirmed if nothing else.
 
I hope for the day when autopia.org's layout will be less clogged with all these bars. There's always a better way to more effectively market products and keep the users happy at the same time.
 
C. Charles Hahn said:
Dan, thanks for bringing this back up -- it hasn't gone unnoticed that this issue is being ignored; it seems to me that getting this resolved should be fairly simple: either changing an option in a configuration file on the server, or submitting a help desk ticket to vBulletin support to look into the software bug.



Since neither of those things has been done, it does lead me to believe the sidebar's intrusion is an intentional decision by the forum management which they have no plans to change. Would be nice to hear this acknowledged and confirmed if nothing else.
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To be fair the admin, this may be a problem with the latest update to vBulletin 4.x forum software. I hold a vBulletin 4.x license and have a fair amount of experience with V3.x and 4.x. I also have experience with the company that owns vBulletin - most most of it bad. The original company was purchased a few years ago and most of the senior developers left. The new developers were pretty young and didn't understand that most customers wanted stability much more than "cool" features". So the software went down hill for awhile. So the problem may be related to the forum software and not the admin.



OTOH, the issue may lie with the forum owners and/or admin. Or more specifically their misunderstanding of how much this is hated by the user base. Let me relate a quick story...



Many years ago my current wife and I had marital problems after we first married. So we saw a marriage counselor. During one session, it became obvious to the counselor that my wife and I were badly miscommunicating. So he picked up a small magazine and a 3" thick phone book from a side table and said, "Here's what you just said..." And dropped the magazine on the floor - "plop". "... and here's what your spouse heard..." Then he dropped the telephone book on the floor - "WHAM!" (We both jumped.) "You need to understand how your words are perceived by your spouse, even if you don't mean them that way."



I suspect that the owner/admin sees the marketing benefits of those damn popups but completely fails to understand that forum members see "WHAM!!!. If this keeps up, I may take another multi-year hiatus from the forum.



Dan.
 
Everyone's points are clear (to me). I will reach back out to the powers that be to make them aware of everyone's discontent with the sidebar. My hands are tied for the time being.
 
Dan, that was a fantastic illustration! WHAM is the true sentiment felt by many, as reactions to so many forms of marketing, whether on Autopia or beyond.
 
David Fermani said:
Everyone's points are clear (to me). I will reach back out to the powers that be to make them aware of everyone's discontent with the sidebar. My hands are tied for the time being.
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Can't be soon enough. This forum is now officially the most irritating web site of ALL of the sites that I visit daily.



I hang in there and hope for the best...
 
I have to agree with what's been posted. I've dropped the frequency of my visits to the forum, mainly because of that side-bar - when I read in a window (usually half the width of the screen) - the sidebar takes up half of the browser, which means I see a long, thin column of text, which really does look rather ridiculous:



Autopia.png
 
After about 2 weeks away from the site I came back thinking the side bar HAS to be gone by now.



No such luck.



Really???? Come on.....just get rid of the thing already!!!



I am SO getting sick of the newbies on the Autogeek forum.
 
GREAT NEWS!!!



I spoke to the powers that be and we are all in agreement that the sidebar needs to go (be able to be collapsed long term). It is on the list of things to do so please be patient. Ben has his plate full right now with the new launch, so once he gets a chance he will look into a fix. Thanks for being patient with this issue.
 
David Fermani said:
GREAT NEWS!!!



I spoke to the powers that be and we are all in agreement that the sidebar needs to go (be able to be collapsed long term). It is on the list of things to do so please be patient. Ben has his plate full right now with the new launch, so once he gets a chance he will look into a fix. Thanks for being patient with this issue.
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:rockon: :woot2: :bow
 
Sorry guys, the last month or so has been a blur - new products, new labels, new store, new website, new posters, new decals, new clothing, etc...



It is a bug that hit a lot of custom skin vbulletin forums when they patched to the version we have(and a newer patch which I need to implement). This fix is not the same for all forums and will need a bit of recode/test/tweak. I do hope to have time by the end of this week to look into it.
 
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