Whitespider

18 hours ago, coxyhog said:

We still have a chance of making the world test championship final so I think we should be playing our strongest team.

I hope I'm wrong but I don't have much faith in Moeen.

I thought the same. But Kohli’s face from that clean bowl was worth it alone.

So much spin he reviewed a clean bowled as he thought Foakes must have knocked the bails off. 

2 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Good point about the notifications email. And yes I do see them, but as I had opted out of the other stuff never see anything that would constitute spam.

Also a good reminder there are costs associated with a lot of things related to the forum that a lot of the users don't realize. Email being just one of them. I'm guessing here, but I imagine other costs are software, website hosting, server storage for photos, and perhaps even a bandwidth cost if the user community is large enough.

PA sent out the massive total of 5 Newsletters in the last 12 months. Even in good times it didnt exceed 1 a month. Spam is email that is “not requested”, nothing to do with “volume”, although that’s a common misunderstanding. The fact we have “opt in/out” options available effectively means spamming isn’t really possible. The bottom line is members have full control over what they get, not us.

On the costs you have it pretty correct, software, support, plugins/apps (for some reason this small forum uses a lot), hosting, image hosting and email. People are generally aware of “hosting” but things like the noti emails most seem unaware and don’t consider it. 

Looking forward to watching this thread. I’m a cricket fan, well test or international I am. It’s the Yorkie Pud in me probably.

Series wins in India are like the proverbial rocking horse poo. The Indians will be totally galvanized now, not least due to the massive expectations placed on them so the next test could be a cracker.

6 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Not going to quote our newest pretend member, but not sure where the concern is coming from in regards to spam and the monetarization of forums we use for free.

Regarding the monetarization, seems a fair trade to me as I'm getting something of value in return. A platform that allows me to communicate with others and share information and experiences.

As for spam, if that's a concern, and it is for me, just register with an email account that you never read.

Always surprised by the few that get wound up over something that is no big deal.

I am NOT meaning to pick on you bud, just using you as an example because you raise the subject but it could be anyone really.

One of the reasons we ask members to use a “valid” email address is because the vast majority have at least “some” notifications turned on. You, for example, have 3 of the 8 set to “on”. This does NOT refer to the “newsletters” which is a simple on/off checkbox.

Believe it or not we have to pay for those notification emails to be sent. If they are all landing in a dead mail box that is simply money wasted. It won’t be a lot here, for now, but it all mounts up and it’s something I would bet 99% of members never even consider.

5 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Not going to quote our newest pretend member, but not sure where the concern is coming from in regards to spam and the monetarization of forums we use for free.

Regarding the monetarization, seems a fair trade to me as I'm getting something of value in return. A platform that allows me to communicate with others and share information and experiences.

As for spam, if that's a concern, and it is for me, just register with an email account that you never read.

Always surprised by the few that get wound up over something that is no big deal.

Or even easier. Use a correct email if you want “notifications” but click the opt out option to not receive newsletters etc.

Even those currently opted IN would only get one email if they didn’t want them as each email has an opt-out link at the bottom which instantly removes you from the email database. This entire “spam” argument is rather bizarre really. You guys have the control over what you get and what you don’t.

Yes, we will use the newsletter. Don’t want them? Just opt out, there’s no rocket science involved let alone any conspiracy.

23 minutes ago, Chappo said:

good luck with the forums - hope it doesnt change (not a fan of ad's on a forum :()

Fair enough but it’s got to pay for itself somehow. This forum had ads, they are still there but currently invisible.

As I mentioned before it’s a pretty simple thing to turn ads off. You have the control over that.

5 minutes ago, Sea-Hawks said:

Yes, hopefully the existing mods stay.

And, secondly, it would much more beneficial for us to have only new mods that come from within this group  back when Lanza was still with us.  Not liking the idea that outside mods coming into this forum....regardless of what you shout-out about keeping things the same, over time things will change and be integrated into the business plan of flowers.  

 

It’s certainly something we will consider. It’s not as simple as you might assume tho - we have had some horrendous experiences with Mods, although not for many years now thank goodness. It’s absolutely vital we know, and trust, them to avoid repeating that. 

We now have confirmation two, of the three, are staying. Hoping to hear from the last guy today.

Just now, Nickrock said:

I agree yesterday it was like trolling through molasses

But then it might have just been my old tablet

It was slow at some points Tuesday and Wednesday due to the DNS propagation. As the transfer proceeds along it will vary again but the good news is once done it should be faster than ever.

Lol gotta chuckle.

I haven’t had cheesey beano for decades. Guess what I’m having for tea now tho 🙂 🙂 

11 minutes ago, fygjam said:

I don't know if it's a plug-in but updates to the post count appear to have gone missing. From your last 4 posts in this thread.

As far as I am aware the post count is “in built” but it may cache which may resolve when the move completes. It’s surprising how many things “fix” on reindexation - which happens after the move finishes. Annoying things like images not showing, the Search function etc all just restart.

That said there are many plugins here that I’ve never even seen before, let alone used. Every forum/admins use different ones to suit them.

Will keep an eye on this and thanks for pointing it out.

1 minute ago, Pumpuynarak said:

I could'nt GAF who owns the forum, as long as it keeps ticking along until tourists are allowed to return when we can hopefully get some interesting boots on the ground posts. I'm finding the forum as "boring as batshit" at the mo but that is only to be expected, all the other forums i'm finding are the same, maybe its just me lol

My opinion guys FWIW, long live 247.

You won’t be alone. It’s a tough time from that perspective. How the future pans out we just don’t know, that’s a gamble we took. 

31 minutes ago, Jambo said:

I wouldn't know if Addicts has declined because I never liked it and have not posted on it for years. I think I only joined originally to go "Balloon chasing" free food and beer at TQ2. 🤣

Non-posting guests contribute nothing to the quality of a forum now do they?

 

No, I agree, but they make up 99% of the “value” and why the forum had a sale value too. See my previous post in explanation.

1 minute ago, maipenrai said:

I am really not bothered with the change as long as we are not inundated with piles of advertising pop-ups and such - and I do agree that it is hard to keep good content flowing when most of us are stuck in our corners of farangland....but all we can do is hope for the future and keep the interest going in the meantime. 

This forum has  adverts. They are currently invisible but they are there. I make no excuses for the fact we will need to cover costs in some way. $350 a month May not be a fortune but it has to be covered somehow.

Worth remembering you can easily turn ads and pop ups off (we don’t use pop ups btw)! You have control over what you see, we can’t force it. Think about it this way, from an advertisers perspective - 

If you were an advertiser what would you prefer?

1. your advert showing to the exact same 100 members day in day out?

2. Your advert showing to 100 NEW “guests” every day.

Its not rocket science, number 2 is the obvious answer. While we would always put members first, it’s those guests that have the value. So if members choose to turn ads off that is both understandable AND what we would actually expect anyway.

22 minutes ago, Jambo said:

There are two main reasons for it (the forum) being quiet.

The first one is that nobody has been able to travel to Thailand for some considerable time and it is highly unlikely that will change this year. Even if it does open up to some degree it is not going to be those visitors that traditionally frequent "OUR" entertainment venues.  So interest has declined because basically what do we have to talk about other than noting which venues closed yesterday? Endless photographs of the outside of empty bars are only adding to the misery because it only makes those desperate to get back wonder what are they eventually going to return to in Pattaya?

The other main reason is that the days of forums to keep in touch is in terminal decline apart from us few diehards who never took to Facebook and the like. In my opinion relaunching this forum in a somewhat different manner is just a dead cat bounce. The only surprise is that the owners must be congratulated for managing to actually sell it for real money. 🤗

 

 

I would agree with the first part certainly. 

the 2nd point you would be surprised I think. People are often saying Addicts has “declined” but the reality is it hasn’t. It hit its “peak” in July 2018 with 7.4 million page views that month alone. That remained fairly constant until March 2020 and yes it is down since then.
 

There’s a lot of people “returning” to forums in the last few months as Facebook in particular clamps down more and more. the “anonymity” factor is also quite key.

PA new registrations are approx 30 per day. Not the 100+ of the early days but still worthwhile.

One key fact here is that “guests” make up the vast majority of users. Posts and Members are just a small part of the big picture. Even this forum has more “guests” online at any time than members. See screenshot of “right now”.

Lastly, I repeat, we are NOT looking to “relaunch in a different manner”. We like it how it is, which is why we took it on.

28 minutes ago, Stillearly said:

Before there was a green mark by the avatar to show if posters were online at the moment, not that important but was a "nice to have" imho 

That’s a Plug-in yes. Should be one we can use again, thanks.

35 minutes ago, forcebwithu said:

Might be useful to see a screenshot of the list of plugins that have been turned off. The back to top arrow is definitely one that people notice quickly when it's deactivated, but there may be other plugins that are used infrequently and not quickly noticed when gone, but still ones that are worth keeping around.

I can’t show that sorry. Basically everything is off as leaving things on while moving causes problems. We learnt this from PA before

3 hours ago, bob lt said:

Thanks for your response. No offense meant and look forward to the return of 'arrow' 

No offense taken at all Bob. Your comment was exactly what I asked for. I just took an opportunity to clarify something 🙂 

The “back to top” button is a super little plugin, and I love it even more as it’s a very cheap one too 555

The forum has an unusually large number of plugins and we need to find out which ones people really value. Many need to be renewed and it’s a bit pointless paying to renew those people don’t really use.

2 minutes ago, johnpat said:

ok..  Tapatalk still works fine for me.   I didn't know it was broken for some.

Tapatalk is not broken on Addicts. It works fine on Addicts IF we turn it on.

But it fucks up so many other things it wasn’t worth it so it’s turned off there until they make it compatible. They are aware of the problems, it affects thousands of forums, they are just incredibly slow fixing it.

5 minutes ago, johnpat said:

 I hope you keep Tapatalk access.   It makes it easier to keep track of what's going on than using a web browser on my phone.  

  When Addicts removed Tapatalk access the end result was that I hardly ever look at Addicts any longer unless I find myself on a desktop machine (like now).

 

We’ve been through this so many times bud. We will put Tapatalk back on Addicts when they fix it. Last update was July 2020. Last email from them was January in which they say “we are working on it”. 

44 minutes ago, roobob said:

Actually... why not let some back who have been removed...after all it is under new management and I am sure if they play up again ...they will be removed. As said...new management... fresh start..so why not let them post again.

When this forum first started... it was a breath of fresh air...the only reason some thought it as a vanilla version in comparison to Secrets were the ones who tried to turn it into a new proxy Secrets forum and when they were pulled into line... a few spat the dummy and went.. and really they were not missed.

Secrets was a good forum.... no denying that.... but it reached it's use by date and most moved on.

cheers   

To be clear, it’s under new ownership. The “management” hasn’t changed and is currently the same Mod team although we haven’t had 100% confirmation all are staying.

Bryan and I do not get involved in Moderation decisions, although we may be party to discussion on them so the particular issue you raise, at this moment in time, remains with the existing 4 Mods.

40 minutes ago, bob lt said:

Not sure if a plugin but the back to top arrow seems to be first casualty in any update.  ⬆️

Yes thats a plugin

Currently turned off. Thats a useful one we will deffo put back when we can.

To be clear there is no "update" involved here. We are moving server and have to turn off ALL 3rd Party Apps and Plugins.

22 minutes ago, Yesitisdakid said:

Well I don't have a horse in the race but I think Tommy has done the right thing. I had lunch with Tommy couple of weeks ago and I asked him the question if he knew what kind of traffic the board was seeing. I told him I had been monitoring the counts for a few days which were between 100 and 130 post a day. Of those posts Thailand related posts were only about 50% at best. The Forum lacks traffic it had become stagnant.

Traffic equals money to Forum owners in one way or another and it's hard to draw interest from advertisers and the such when they look at your production and  your traffic is the way it has been here.

I am not a Soi 6 / Nightwish fan or hater it will be interesting to see where the board goes white spider said the board won't be changing I think that's silly sorry Andy but I'm pretty sure this board will change Some will see it for the better Some will see it for the worse. 

I'm not a big poster here I got burn out all the years On the secrets forum I'm not leaving this forum because of the ownership change I'm interested to see what direction it takes good luck to white spider and Brian on the Takeover. 

Lol fair enough.

In my defense I didn’t say it wouldn’t change I was at pains to explain that we had no plans to change what’s already here I.e Clubs, the simple layout, the different “ethos”, the fact politics is allowed, the Mod team etc etc. 

One thing I could say is the first thing we found yesterday was that the last new member joined on 14th October 2020. The “registration” function was screwed due to an out of date App. 

That’s now fixed, or we hope it is, but it goes some way to explaining why it’s been a bit quiet. We won’t know for sure until we can turn 3rd party apps back on after the transfer. For now they are all turned off.

25 minutes ago, roobob said:

Thanks for the reply.

cheers 

Very valid points mate, certainly something we will look into.

18 minutes ago, thegrogmonster said:

I have been accessing this forum using Tapatalk from the begining. Today is the first time I have had issues using it and it is mainly photos not loading.

Ok I will ask Tommy. It was off when we took over yesterday. If it’s compatible here we will put it back.

Theres an “announcement” already about the photos, they take about 48 hours to migrate so they will start to reappear literally one at a time.