Site is freezing up to often

[DougE]

The people having the freeze problems are non-premium members. Premium members(myself included) pay to not see the ads that otherwise generate income for the site, so we wouldn't expect to have the problem that guests and non-premium members are experiencing.

A few observations, if I may:

1. People browsing the internet despise ads interrupting their perusal of an article, or whatnot.
2. Sites depend on ads to generate revenue.
3. If the ads become so cumbersome as to make the site unusable for guests, they will just move on, rather than becoming members.
4. There needs to be some happy medium where the ads are not so annoying that they turn potential members, who might pay for premium membership away before they even join.

 

[vipgenesis]

I just joined and it makes using this forum unusable. With ad blocker I was able to actually use the site just to finish writing this but on mobile chrome it freezes when the top ad appears and I have to refresh. After having to restart my browser 4 times just to read some old brazos posts why should I even continue....granted I just joined so who cares about me. I had to restart the page just to post this. Seems like a good community but this is unacceptable. Good luck keeping new users like me.

 

[DougE]

granted I just joined so who cares about me.

We do and should care. The whole point of the site is for all of us to learn from each other, and for those completely new to smoking, to learn from the more experienced.

 

[Brokenhandle]

I just joined and it makes using this forum unusable. With ad blocker I was able to actually use the site just to finish writing this but on mobile chrome it freezes when the top ad appears and I have to refresh. After having to restart my browser 4 times just to read some old brazos posts why should I even continue....granted I just joined so who cares about me. I had to restart the page just to post this. Seems like a good community but this is unacceptable. Good luck keeping new users like me.

If you could read the whole post then you'll see the mods are trying to fix this problem. BUT maybe you couldn't read through it all because of the ads, I'm not sure. I was a newbie here once also, and can guarantee this site and it's members want you to stay, as they did me. But weren't having these issues back then so I understand your frustration. I'm sure you know not everything works perfectly...especially websites and computers.

Ryan

 

[TulsaJeff]

As most of you know, we have a new ad company and they are still adjusting ads and trying to find the sweet spot between ad revenue and user experience.

Our old ad company is closing up shop and we had to find a new company. They are a great company with good ads, lots of clients and they are willing to work with us. You really can't ask for more than that.

I have the ads on and off depending on what I am testing and I haven't had any trouble on anything I'm using but I do hear your complaints and I just fired off an email to them letting them know that we have to dial it back more than we have so far.

It is really cheap to go ad-free with a premier membership which is the best way to help SMF as well as help yourself but I don't expect new people do that before they've had a chance to find how great this place is.

Ads are an absolute necessity but we do have to continue to adjust so it's not locking up on people. That's completely unacceptable if it's due to the ads.

Thank you for your patience, we'll see what they say and go from there.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I’m pretty new here, but I gladly paid to support this site. This site is much like an invaluable book on smoking, curing and bbq. The search feature alone is worth every penny, let alone the ability to post a random, mostly redundant question with no researching, and receive some of the most comprehensive and detailed answers found anywhere on the webs by folks who can and will go there with the receipts to prove their knowledge and experience. This place is fantastic.

That said, I really don’t think that the long timers that actually helped write this SMF book of knowledge should have to pay to continue their involvement. If the management doesn’t step back and realize these people‘s contributions to this forum and how their knowledge and interaction is what took this site from where it began to where it is today, then soon all of us will just have the search option, but no real people behind it. Chris, I believe rises to these ranks, and should be rewarded for his years of participation and the building up of the site by not being inundated with ads. No reason to run these guys off, or say “sorry” when they leave. Management needs to go back and reflect on some of these long standing and active posters, make a list, talk it over and reward them with membership. life time achievement, if you will. This site would be nothing without its members, but that older core, at least some of them, helped build this house. Why would you lose them or forsake them? I can think of no reason to watch these long standing members walk away Over money. Most all of them contributed more than 100 bucks worth of experience and knowledge forever now owned by and enshrined in the SMF search function. They gave that knowledge freely.

I‘ll get off my box now.

Eric.

 

[Brokenhandle]

I’m pretty new here, but I gladly paid to support this site. This site is much like an invaluable book on smoking, curing and bbq. The search feature alone is worth every penny, let alone the ability to post a random, mostly redundant question with no researching, and receive some of the most comprehensive and detailed answers found anywhere on the webs by folks who can and will go there with the receipts to prove their knowledge and experience. This place is fantastic.

That said, I really don’t think that the long timers that actually helped write this SMF book of knowledge should have to pay to continue their involvement. If the management doesn’t step back and realize these people‘s contributions to this forum and how their knowledge and interaction is what took this site from where it began to where it is today, then soon all of us will just have the search option, but no real people behind it. Chris, I believe rises to these ranks, and should be rewarded for his years of participation and the building up of the site by not being inundated with ads. No reason to run these guys off, or say “sorry” when they leave. Management needs to go back and reflect on some of these long standing and active posters, make a list, talk it over and reward them with membership. life time achievement, if you will. This site would be nothing without its members, but that older core, at least some of them, helped build this house. Why would you lose them or forsake them? I can think of no reason to watch these long standing members walk away Over money. Most all of them contributed more than 100 bucks worth of experience and knowledge forever now owned by and enshrined in the SMF search function. They gave that knowledge freely.

I‘ll get off my box now.

Eric.

Now that there is a thought! Kinda like it myself.

Ryan

 

[SmokinAl]

Maybe TulsaJeff or bmudd14474 might have some info on this. I'm having no problems with any of that

Do you have an ad blocker installed on your computer?
Al

 

[pineywoods]

Do you have an ad blocker installed on your computer?
Al

No I don't I'm on my laptop with windows10 and edge

 

[motocrash]

I’m pretty new here, but I gladly paid to support this site. This site is much like an invaluable book on smoking, curing and bbq. The search feature alone is worth every penny, let alone the ability to post a random, mostly redundant question with no researching, and receive some of the most comprehensive and detailed answers found anywhere on the webs by folks who can and will go there with the receipts to prove their knowledge and experience. This place is fantastic.

That said, I really don’t think that the long timers that actually helped write this SMF book of knowledge should have to pay to continue their involvement. If the management doesn’t step back and realize these people‘s contributions to this forum and how their knowledge and interaction is what took this site from where it began to where it is today, then soon all of us will just have the search option, but no real people behind it. Chris, I believe rises to these ranks, and should be rewarded for his years of participation and the building up of the site by not being inundated with ads. No reason to run these guys off, or say “sorry” when they leave. Management needs to go back and reflect on some of these long standing and active posters, make a list, talk it over and reward them with membership. life time achievement, if you will. This site would be nothing without its members, but that older core, at least some of them, helped build this house. Why would you lose them or forsake them? I can think of no reason to watch these long standing members walk away Over money. Most all of them contributed more than 100 bucks worth of experience and knowledge forever now owned by and enshrined in the SMF search function. They gave that knowledge freely.

I‘ll get off my box now.

Eric.

Amen Brother.
bmudd14474 TulsaJeff
Here's a good site "Upgrade" - You become an OTBS member on merit for sharing knowledge, why are you not rewarded with an ad free site?
This might help with attrition

 

[flatbroke]

Started seeing them today

 

[chopsaw]

Popping up for me too . They must be working on it .

 

[TulsaJeff]

Okay..we have made some changes to the ad load. You should be seeing better performance now. If you know how to empty your cache, you can do that otherwise the changes will start to show up over the course of the next little while.

I had them be pretty agressive with it so I'd like to hear some good reports

 

[flatbroke]

Hobilit Dodge is having a good sale, where ever that is. The robotussin Naturals looks interesting

 

[cmayna]

As I'm repllying, I see adchoice over on the right. Then it disappears. Then a Vrbo ad, and now another adchoice briefly appears. Where's my dart gun!!

 

[flatbroke]

As I'm repllying, I see adchoice over on the right. Then it disappears. Then a Vrbo ad, and now another adchoice briefly appears. Where's my dart gun!!

0% on dodge though

 

[TulsaJeff]

For you ad-free members, I have let them know that some of you are seeing ads, they will take care of that right away.

 

[chopsaw]

I just cleared my cache , logged out then back in . Haven't had any in the last 5 minutes . It's was constant .

 

[TulsaJeff]

I’m pretty new here, but I gladly paid to support this site. This site is much like an invaluable book on smoking, curing and bbq. The search feature alone is worth every penny, let alone the ability to post a random, mostly redundant question with no researching, and receive some of the most comprehensive and detailed answers found anywhere on the webs by folks who can and will go there with the receipts to prove their knowledge and experience. This place is fantastic.

That said, I really don’t think that the long timers that actually helped write this SMF book of knowledge should have to pay to continue their involvement. If the management doesn’t step back and realize these people‘s contributions to this forum and how their knowledge and interaction is what took this site from where it began to where it is today, then soon all of us will just have the search option, but no real people behind it. Chris, I believe rises to these ranks, and should be rewarded for his years of participation and the building up of the site by not being inundated with ads. No reason to run these guys off, or say “sorry” when they leave. Management needs to go back and reflect on some of these long standing and active posters, make a list, talk it over and reward them with membership. life time achievement, if you will. This site would be nothing without its members, but that older core, at least some of them, helped build this house. Why would you lose them or forsake them? I can think of no reason to watch these long standing members walk away Over money. Most all of them contributed more than 100 bucks worth of experience and knowledge forever now owned by and enshrined in the SMF search function. They gave that knowledge freely.

I‘ll get off my box now.

Eric.

Thank you for your insight, Eric. I couldn't agree more

 

[Winterrider]

Yep just started seeing today. Continuous back to back ads in corner