New site ads, missing up/down arrows at scrollbar and buttons at the bottom of page in mobile

[Zman]

Is anyone else missing the quick move up/down arrows that appear at the vertical scrollbar ? Mine aren't there today, but I never know if its a site or pc issue.

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Added by Amin on 3/13/20: I have edited the thread title to account for the fact that this thread has become the place for feedback about the new site advertisements.

 

[pc009]

I’m missing those as well as the buttons at the bottom of a thread that is opened (back, etc)

 

[Amin]

Is anyone else missing the quick move up/down arrows that appear at the vertical scrollbar ? Mine aren't there today, but I never know if its a site or pc issue.

I’m missing those as well as the buttons at the bottom of a thread that is opened (back, etc)

Both of those are intentional site changes related to a new ad platform I am testing on the site. The buttons at the bottom of the thread still show for subscribing members since there is no possibility of conflict with ads for those members. Thanks for your patience while I work on the site.

 

[aKilter]

Both of those are intentional site changes related to a new ad platform I am testing on the site. The buttons at the bottom of the thread still show for subscribing members since there is no possibility of conflict with ads for those members. Thanks for your patience while I work on the site.

Amin, I’ve been on this site for many years, but will be leaving soon if this new ad platform continues.

I’ve never seen anything so intrusive! Ads between almost every post, ads at the top of the page, the right hand column, and worst of all...a banner ad at the bottom of the page, that I must manually close. And, of course, these all load first. Frankly, the site is almost unusable. Sorry, but this is just unacceptable.

 

[Amin]

Amin, I’ve been on this site for many years, but will be leaving soon if this new ad platform continues.

I’ve never seen anything so intrusive! Ads between almost every post, ads at the top of the page, the right hand column, and worst of all...a banner ad at the bottom of the page, that I must manually close. And, of course, these all load first. Frankly, the site is almost unusable. Sorry, but this is just unacceptable.

User experience is very important to me. The new ad system is complex and uses machine learning by testing a variety of ad types and locations. I will be looking at the data and making adjustments in the coming weeks to see how I can reach a good balance.

 

[Erich_H]

Amin, I’ve been on this site for many years, but will be leaving soon if this new ad platform continues.

I’ve never seen anything so intrusive! Ads between almost every post, ads at the top of the page, the right hand column, and worst of all...a banner ad at the bottom of the page, that I must manually close. And, of course, these all load first. Frankly, the site is almost unusable. Sorry, but this is just unacceptable.

I, for one, agree wholeheartedly!

Ads inside posts. And, if the ad at bottom of page is closed, the screen estate is still taken by the "Ad closed by Google"! That means no more site navigation buttons at the bottom...

Well thought through, not.

Thanks/Erik

 

[kinlau]

User experience is very important to me. The new ad system is complex and uses machine learning by testing a variety of ad types and locations. I will be looking at the data and making adjustments in the coming weeks to see how I can reach a good balance.

Thanks for working on this and keeping the users in mind.

I appreciate the thought and work it must take to keep this site free and still pay the bills.

I think we all owe you some patience while you work things out.

 

[Erich_H]

Thanks for working on this and keeping the users in mind.

I appreciate the thought and work it must take to keep this site free and still pay the bills.

I think we all owe you some patience while you work things out.

I agree, but do keep in mind that we're all paying by providing content that draws traffic to the site.
Thanks/Erik

 

[Zman]

My scrollbar buttons are back. Thanks Amin.

 

[Amin]

According to the folks who make this ad system, it should automatically adapt in certain ways such as showing certain types of ads to visitors who are passing through and not to members who visit more often. But it takes time to learn.

 

[Erich_H]

According to the folks who make this ad system, it should automatically adapt in certain ways such as showing certain types of ads to visitors who are passing through and not to members who visit more often. But it takes time to learn.

I was just thinking that the machine "learning" is blatantly sexist.
Why no male dating ads?
Remember Harvey Weinstein!
It's not OK to grab users by the pu**y in 2020...
Thanks/Erik

 

[994]

I agree, but do keep in mind that we're all paying by providing content that draws traffic to the site.
Thanks/Erik

I've been on this site for a decade. Amin has kept this up as a labor of love. He has a super busy life, kids, a demanding career, and he was even contemplating converting this site (in 2018??) to a more broad photog site to increase traffic. He asked our opinion, and the bulk of voices asked to keep it a dedicated m43 site, which he did.

Please stick around and continue to contribute, but also know that Amin has done amazing work to provide a friendly place for m43 shooters, who want to share the m43 platform without the DPR crud.

 

[Erich_H]

Some of us pay a bit more than others - money, time and content. I've been on this site for a decade. Amin has a super busy life, kids, a demanding career, and he was contemplating converting this site to a more broad photog site to increase traffic. He asked our opinion, and the bulk of voices asked to keep it a dedicated m43 site, which he did.

Erik, please stick around and continue to contribute, but also have some grace. Amin has done amazing work to provide a friendly place for m43 shooters, who want to talk the platform without the DPR crud.

I agree with you, and I'm going to stick around, but:

A) It's hard to see valuable content between the ads, as is. Yesterday it was ok, but today I thought my fire wall had died.

B) Sorry about my quips, but I can't resist it. Nothing personal. Just gallows humour...

Thanks/Erik

PS. What's DPR crud?

 

[994]

PS. What's DPR crud?

DPReview forums, m43 forum specifically. For years, it was full of trolls bashing m43. Then it turned to an endless argument about equivalence and photons. It's improved a bit now, but the crowd here is still generally more congenial.

 

[Erich_H]

DPReview forums, m43 forum specifically. For years, it was full of trolls bashing m43. Then it turned to an endless argument about equivalence and photons. It's improved a bit now, but the crowd here is still generally more congenial.

Ah, thanks for explaining!
But there's nothing like a good argument about aperture equivalency, complete with mathematics formulas and growing irritation, now is there?

Thanks/Erik

 

[994]

Ah, thanks for explaining!
But there's nothing like a good argument about aperture equivalency, complete with mathematics formulas and growing irritation, now is there?

Thanks/Erik

I agree "there's nothing like it" for sure. Except for maybe dental surgery. Yeah dental surgery is a lot like that.

 

[Erich_H]

I'd also want to say thank you to @Amin Sabet, for putting all this time and work into this site! Sincerely!

Just be glad you're not in the health industry, where bugs within IT systems kills people, for real.

I'm sure the proponents for this new AI ad placement system sold it as a genuine work/time saver.
They usually do, and it never is...

Thanks/Erik

Addendum:
Switched to desktop site on my phone.
Ads are much less intrusive. Easier to ignore, that is.

 

[aKilter]

I was just on a page with 6 ads and 4 posts!! The bottom of the page banner ad is the worst. It takes up lots of real estate on my iPad.

I would have posted a screenshot, of the page, but it wouldn’t all fit.

 

[aKilter]

This is really becoming a joke, at this point. All I do is scroll through ads. Another page with 8 ads & 6 posts, including the super huge top page banner ad & the ever present bottom page banner ad.

 

[Equable]

Never had scroll buttons until this morning! However, they keep coming and going and work only intermittently. No big deal for me, always navigated with trackpad on MacBook Pro and finger or thumb on iPad. Never had an ad appear, guess it was a U.S. only thing?