Is anyone else getting as frustrated as me with the Snowheads ads!!!!!!

A snowHead

I dont know whether it is just me or not, but I have become incensed with the problems caused by the ads showing on the right had side of the forum.

1. There isn't a get rid of button

2. It blocks the dates and user name of the person who last quoted

3. You cant make an easy reply because of the ad blocking the reply with quote area.

Come on guys this is a great site but please sort out your formatting!!!!!

A snowHead

Agreed

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Install Adblock in Firefox, Chrome or Safari and you don't need to look at them at all.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Ski Guide, If you become a snowhead you get a button to remove it.

You'll need to Register first of course.

There is a get rid button. Top left corner, with the little dash.

I agree it's Be Nice please!

annoying that they intrude onto the posts though, no need for that at all.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

Ski Guide, I used to get frustrated by this too. But there a lots of ad-blocking options out there: you just need to say what browser you are using and it's likely that someone has a solution.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I think it's pretty simple; if you don't like the adds, stump up the money for a subscription. There is an option to close them, as has been stated; top left corner of the ad.

I try to click on each ad semi-regularly anyway, because I want the site to continue but I'm too tight to stump up the cash to get rid of the ads.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Ski Guide, As already pointed out,there is a close...l/h edge of ad,brings up a hide this ad banner.
However,if the ad is over the quote reply area,you have other issues? It happens to me,but only when I view on my phone.
If it helps,I'm on Firefox,no issues at all...and a 19" monitor.

snow reports

Ski Guide, for someone who is using the forum without subscription,pimping away through your signature, and ignoring the correct advice of fellow snowheads, methinks you do protest too much.

You know it makes sense.

achilles, +1

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Whitegold, I've no problem on my desktop or notebooks but they are downright annoying on my iPhone

A snowHead

A snowHead

bertie bassett, Thanks for that, I've been trying to get that sorted for a while Very Happy

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Voice of Treason, If you pay the subscription there are no ads and you get a nice superior feeling Twisted Evil

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Id never noticed the little - icon Very Happy

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

snowskisnow, You are a noble Snowhead. Some of the less enlightened Snowheads make an active choice not to support the wider aspects of Snowheads, but that is their choice. As Boredsurfing, alluded, you are able to sleep content that you've help make it possible for Ski Guide, and others to enjoy the camaraderie of Snowheads without ever having to think about paying or making a contribution. Maybe as Ski Guide has now seen the light and reaped the benefits of his free advertising he will do the same Embarassed

After all it is free

I thought it annoying too until I found the close button. Didn't mind the advertising simply that it was blocking post info. Close found and all is good with the world and Snowheads

On Android phone the close is easy to use even on the comparatively small screen so no complaints, if it keeps the site free all to the good! Must just be there to curse iPhone sorts Twisted Evil

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Just stump up some cash Smile

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I....I....never....thought...I'd....say...this,...but...

Whitegold +1

Shocked

That's it, I'm going for a lie down...

(Frankly, the ads suck on an iPhone - sufficiently that I've had to stop using my iPhone to access the forum. You close the ad and it randomly reappears. And it reappears if you press start entering a reply to a post or hit "quote".)

snow reports

Happy to have adds but the viewing experience is awful on an iPhone. Add appears and blocks the entire screen. Zoom zoom zoom, scroll scroll scrool, click, pops didn't quite get the super tiny remove button so new window is opening and taking me to the advertised website. Close that. Back to snowheads. Zoom in some more. Click on the close button successfully. Zoom back out. Scroll scroll scroll. Continues reading.

There is no need to totally destroy the viewing experience for those on mobiles!

You know it makes sense.

kat.ryb, Agreed 100%

I class the advertisers as irritants and will now go out of my way to avoid ever purchasing their products and services. As far as I am concerned, their advertising has had the opposite effect.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

What ads?

Seriously though Ski Guide, you have a bold signature in red and underlined advertising your business that I can't turn off and you pay nothing towards keeping snowHeads running. And then you complain and say you're incensed about the adverts!

Pay a donation and then you can have them all turned off. How hard is that? Toofy Grin

A snowHead

A snowHead

Surely there is a win win situation here?

My lap top is a PITA in that I involuntary somehow keep changing the screen size (dont know how to describe that) so that the ads covered the right hand side of posts so i couldnt even make sense of the posts. Thankfully I can see how to close it now. But surely the advertising doesnt need to be that crude?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Shimmy Alcott, the problem is that the snowheads site is held together with duct tape, which admin slaps on from time to time when he has a moment to spare. The forum s based on an obsolete version of phpBB, but it has lots of nice bells and whistles both front of house and behind the scenes. It would be an enormous job to translate these to the new version, so for the foreseeable future an 'upgrade' won't happen. By and large, it works fairly well, but dropping the adverts in has caused problems for small screens. Maybe that will be resolved one day - meantime clicking the '-' symbol seems to work for most. All slightly non-mainstream, and so somehow in keeping with the ethos of sH, IMV.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

I'm a subscriber and I still keep the adverts switched on. I cannot understand what all the fuss is about. Although I can appreciate that it is annoying on a device with a smaller resolution. On my laptop or desktop the adverts are unobtrusive.

Some of the companies advertising are offering a discount to snowheads. This is great for everyone involved and, given that there is plenty of competition for my money out there as it is, I will check out someones website if they offer a snowheads discount.

In any case I see an advert for insurance and I get timely reminder about booking mine. I then use the link as a starting point.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

achilles, Lenghty explaination that, when surely the answer is, if you dont like the advertising simply contribute to the sites costs!

You'll need to Register first of course.

Here's an even lengthier explanation that boils down to pretty much the same Wink

Thanks for your attempt at an explanation achilles but the positioning and function of the ads is deliberate and has nothing to do with what version of phpBB we run. Further, the decision not to go to phpBB3 was centred around the fact that people like the way snowHeads functions as it is and that this particular 'upgrade' is not actually an upgrade but a complete replacement of all the code. Hence, it would take months of work, simply to make the site function as it does now, then leaving me with a system, the detail of which I was unfamiliar with, the mods were unfamiliar with and the users were unfamiliar with and would grump about - so what's the point?

snowHeads is being upgraded, all the time. No, we don't 'Launch the new snowHeads site' every Winter but why would we when it already works? Slowly, new functions and features appear, integrated with what snowHeads already know.
Often new functionality subtly improves the user-experience in ways that are not immediately obvious.
As a simple example: anyone who has been here regularly over a period of more than 12 months will, at some point, have seen a 'significant rise in spammers'. They make a nuisance of themselves for a while and then, hey whatdya know, they're gone again. Did they just get bored? Did they take up mountain bike-spamming instead? No, they're still there, battering at our front door - it's just that after various customisations to the login process, very few are getting through at the moment. They'll upgrade their methods at some point and I'll upgrade our defences again too. Everything from under-the-hood performance improvements to 'obvious' new features like the ignore function: changes are happening all the time

eg. Last night the Username, at the top of the box where user-ignore is, became a link to the user's profile. Hardly a big deal in itself: just another small step in a forward direction.

Ski Guide, the ad sits to the right of the forum content until that content is too wide to allow it, then the ad overlaps it. The width of the content block, and whether the ad needs to overlap it, is determined by the content posted versus the size of your browser window. In the case of this topic, the delimiter is the length of the topic title U have chosen. Shorter title = narrower block + less overlaps on smaller screens. So, your fault after all! Wink

Often, when a topic is wider than normal, the width is dictated by a picture being posted or a long URL.

As has been pointed out numerous times, THERE IS A BUTTON TO SHRINK THE AD - so U have the choice if U can be bothered to a) read the advice people are giving you and b) follow it.
Further, since the ad is only 120 pixels wide, very soon after it overlaps content, a scroll bar would appear anyway because the content would be too wide for the page. I suppose that's frustrating too eh? Next topic: "Is anyone else getting as frustrated as me with having to scroll Snowheads pages when I post an image that's too big for my own screen!!!!!!"

If U subscribe, as little as £5/month or £25/year allows you to switch off the ads entirely and get loads of other benefits too. Your choice!

And, if you're really determined to get it all for free, as Lizzard and RobW have pointed out, there are all sorts of easy ways to 'cheat' the system and neither subscribe nor display adverts so U really can bask in the smug glow of knowing that you're advertising your company completely for free on the back of other people's support for the site. What mugs they all are eh? rolling eyes

PBJ, as a super/mega-snowHead you have the option to turn off ads altogether if they're bothering U.
Top left: User facilities => personal profile (near the bottom of the page)

Whitegold all that considered, I honestly can't see how the ads could be less intrusive without displaying them off-screen altogether. Yes, I know snowHeads is not great on many small mobile devices but aside from that, if you have any constructive views on the subject I'd welcome a PM.

With specific regard to iSsues:
After becoming aware of problems that some of our fatter-fingered friends were having shrinking the ads on their iThings, I increased the size of the shrink button. I don't belong to the iCult myself so have no iThingy to test it on but I did check it out on a couple of Android devices where it seemed fine and also received one or two messages along the lines of "Thanks! sent from my iSomething" so think it fair to assume the change was effective.

I do however, often get empty emails from iUsers to our 'Help me' address, some of whom were aware they'd sent them but many weren't. I guess it's some iNterface problem or maybe it's a PICNIC error specific to that class of user Confused

Anyway, isn't it the Apple policy to discourage the use of their iDevices to view websites, in favour of their licensed bespoke apps? Toofy Grin

And no, we don't have a snowHeads app - just a website rolling eyes

Yes, I would like snowHeads to work better on mobile devices generally but it's a lot of work to adapt it fully and there's a lot of other stuff to do too - all the time! Meanwhile there is a version that works better on mobiles although, I know, it's hardly perfect.
Had every registered user put a fiver in the pot each year since we began, we'd be larfin': I'd have people permanently 'on staff' to do work like that but as it is, a devoted core provide some support while the vast majority [hopefully] click on ads now and then and a few just bitch about how the free service they get isn't good enough for them rolling eyes

Ironically, it's the funds coming in from ads that look most likely to be able support the development of such new user functionality.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

My biggest problem is how the forum doesn't automatically resize photos to the width of your screen so you can end up with the screen stretching off miles to the right after someone has decided to embed an enormous image...

But it's fairly small really given it's a free site and all that.

After all it is free

Like skiing, snowHeads is A Very Good Thing in a World of Pain, Hurt and General Shoite.

Nurture it, feed it ( if you can afford to ski/ride, you can afford a fiver), appreciate it.

I feel a snowHeads Desiderata coming on...

"Go quietly amid the boarders and Russians.

I'm on a 19" widescreen monitor and don't have any problems. Completely fair to have adverts if they keep the site running.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

admin, I have another small bitch (not a pet) with my iPhone use of Snowheads inasmuch as I've not managed to stay logged on permanently for any length of time - is there a workaround or user set of keystrokes that even a bad skier like me can use please?

AND this usually manifests itself when I click on an email altert for a topic that I'm following. Will the sh/mobile page launch or will it/should it just swerve back to the sh.com standard edition?

Help!!

Is anyone else getting as frustrated as me with the Snowheads ads!!!!!!

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