Styleforum User reports and questions on technical issues

[Adsky Luck]

The issue was that Google was starting to find issues with the site that we needed to remedy.

Google is pretty dumb. As dumb as they come even. I have had enough of Google's antics even on my inconsequential blogger blog.
Far better policy is to overburden goog with complaints and requests to double-check issues than to actually remedy them.

 

[LA Guy]

Is there software that can block images of ugly clothes?

Yes, your posts are set to “hidden from public”.

 

[zippyh]

Hmm… could you please hit me up with a screen shot and then as much information as possible, including your IP, device, browser, etc… so that we can pass this on and try to get it fixed? Thanks.

I’m running an ad blocker but the ad space is still there. Page will initially load with no ad space after first thread. But do anything in the page and it’ll rerender with the ad space. iPhone 13, ios15.1.1, Safari. Happens with att wireless or Wi-Fi.

 

[LA Guy]

I’m running an ad blocker but the ad space is still there. Page will initially load with no ad space after first thread. But do anything in the page and it’ll rerender with the ad space. iPhone 13, ios15.1.1, Safari. Happens with att wireless or Wi-Fi.

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Yeah, sorry, but there’s really nothing that we can do about that. I understand why people use Adblockers, but they nearly always take longer and confuse systems more unless the site’s ads are ill configured. Basically, on your side, each call to render is being considered before deciding to render or not. Would you perhaps consider white listing Styleforum?

 

[zippyh]

The same kind of twitchyness occurs without ad blocker. Here’s Firefox no ad blocker. Page renders then the ads load and shifts contents.

 

[LA Guy]

The same kind of twitchyness occurs without ad blocker. Here’s Firefox no ad blocker. Page renders then the ads load and shifts contents.

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We’ll talk to the provider and devs/designers about this. Honestly not sure what is the issue. Also, honestly, this will not be fixed or likely even read before next week.

 

[Cause Moe]

The same kind of twitchyness occurs without ad blocker. Here’s Firefox no ad blocker. Page renders then the ads load and shifts contents.

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Yes, it happens without an ad blocker. The "watched threads" page loads, showing the threads, and initially, no ad displayed. But if I click on anything other than the top thread, the click goes to a different link that's under the click-point after the ad finishes loading. If I click on the second thread, the click goes to the ad that hasn't loaded yet, which makes me suspect that it's intentional on the part of the software requirements. Hijack the click, crediting the advertiser with a click that the user (me) did not intend to be clicked.

 

[LA Guy]

Yes, it happens without an ad blocker. The "watched threads" page loads, showing the threads, and initially, no ad displayed. But if I click on anything other than the top thread, the click goes to a different link that's under the click-point after the ad finishes loading. If I click on the second thread, the click goes to the ad that hasn't loaded yet, which makes me suspect that it's intentional on the part of the software requirements. Hijack the click, crediting the advertiser with a click that the user (me) did not intend to be clicked.

lol. No, trust me, that is not it. That's not it because our designer figured all of that out (how to get the ad spaces correctly displaying), and he has no contact with our ad providers, and has no reason to do that in any case, as third party contractor. He gets nothing from it except for us asking him to figure this out. As for the ad provider, they have filters on ad networks whose ads render too slowly, as that negatively influences site performance statistics.

And if it is so, you have to wonder why anyone would put it on a page that is only seen by our members - aka visitors who visit lots of pages, and makes it more difficult for them to visit said pages.

Conspiracy theories in general attribute way much to malicious agency, and not nearly enough to completely motivationless human error/poor 2 second decision.

 

[brokencycle]

Homogeneous

 

[Cause Moe]

lol. No, trust me, that is not it. That's not it because our designer figured all of that out (how to get the ad spaces correctly displaying), and he has no contact with our ad providers, and has no reason to do that in any case, as third party contractor. He gets nothing from it except for us asking him to figure this out. As for the ad provider, they have filters on ad networks whose ads render too slowly, as that negatively influences site performance statistics.

And if it is so, you have to wonder why anyone would put it on a page that is only seen by our members - aka visitors who visit lots of pages, and makes it more difficult for them to visit said pages.

Conspiracy theories in general attribute way much to malicious agency, and not nearly enough to completely motivationless human error/poor 2 second decision.

Well, I wasn't implying any "conspiracy".

I didn't know that it was designed by a contractor hired by SF. I speculated that it was an "off the shelf" system from a commercial provider of such software. I have personally known of such a case, where the software funneled unintended clicks to advertisers, by design. We dumped that software, for this very reason. I am happy to learn that it's a bug, rather than a feature.

 

[LA Guy]

Well, I wasn't implying any "conspiracy".

I didn't know that it was designed by a contractor hired by SF. I speculated that it was an "off the shelf" system from a commercial provider of such software. I have personally known of such a case, where the software funneled unintended clicks to advertisers, by design. We dumped that software, for this very reason. I am happy to learn that it's a bug, rather than a feature.

Yeah, fair enough. There are three parties here. A designer who is an expert on the forum software system, who helped with figuring out the ad placement and works on a set rate the ad providers, who we have contracted to do manage our adtech and works on commission, and then us, who need help with both, since having an in-house expert would make us a much bigger company, I suppose that there is a fourth party, the designers of the forum software, and then nth number of add on designers. None of these parties are really in touch with each other, and have no real reason get click throughs. Also, that is a super short sighted strategy that makes no sense for a company that has managed to survive and thrive over 2 decades. I mean, frankly, if we wanted to make a LOT more money over short time, we would just allow in content video, screen takeovers, and other ads that pay 10-15x as much as the ads we do allow. That would probably increase our display revenue temporarily by maybe 1.5-2x for a bit, maybe even more. But it would wreck our UI/UX, alienate our core members, etc... makes no sense, unless I hate myself.

 

[otc]

Yeah, I'd add that my complaint had nothing to do with ad blocker. Pages jumping around on Android Chrome (Pixel 3) as the ads load.

I guess it doesn't really matter as long as they pay their bills, but I've been getting horrible ad targeting lately. Either stuff I would never in a million years intentionally click on (but maybe an accidental click when the paged jumped) or products that I have recently purchased (I get why the advertisers might think I am interested, but I'm certainly not buying the same pair of boots twice).

 

[LA Guy]

Yeah, I'd add that my complaint had nothing to do with ad blocker. Pages jumping around on Android Chrome (Pixel 3) as the ads load.

I guess it doesn't really matter as long as they pay their bills, but I've been getting horrible ad targeting lately. Either stuff I would never in a million years intentionally click on (but maybe an accidental click when the paged jumped) or products that I have recently purchased (I get why the advertisers might think I am interested, but I'm certainly not buying the same pair of boots twice).

1) We’ll ask our providers about render times, though if much of the problem is this week it ought to be temporary. If not, we’ll audit the networks in our stack.
2) Retargering is its own animal. You’d think that it’d be smart, but look behind the curtain, and it’s mostly a jumble of wires.

 

[dieworkwear]

This is a very small issue and not even really an issue, but StyleForum's censoring software continues to amuse.

I can type ****.

But I can't type *******.

The censored word here is **** + it. Apparently the "it" is what does it for the software when it sees "****"

 

[ValidusLA]

All my notifications emails abruptly stopped last night and have not returned.

What could cause this?