New site updates for January 1, 2009 - Feedback encouraged

These are gonna be random, so bear with me...

1) I have no idea how difficult this would be, but to reduce clutter in the album lists, if a column (like SOUNDS) contains all "0"s, can it be automatically hidden?

2) There used to be a checkbox for watermarking images within a registry, and there might still be, but I can't find it at the moment. Is it possible to make this a "per-album" or even "per-file" setting?

3) I like the new DND section sorting link at the top, but I'd still like to be able to go directly to DND file sorting within a section, instead of having to wait for the album section to load before I can THEN wait for the album's DND window to load. Some of my albums are VERY big, and it can take a minute or 2, even on my hi-speed connection. Maybe it's my browser settings - IDK. But I'd rather have the ability to change the parent album by DND, instead of having that as a column. And if that function is added to DND, then the arrow columns could also go, removing more clutter. I never really liked the arrows anyway - they're WAY too slow inside big albums or big section lists.

4) What was the reasoning behind making "replace" a subscription-only function? It's not something that anyone would have to do very often - not often enough IMO to justify a year's subscription. I might have a dozen to replace in all my (6?) registries, and then I'll probably have 1/year after that. I've annotated a few that need to be combined (is that part of the "replace" functionality?), but again: not very many. Does subscribing remove EVERY (and I mean every) ad? If so, I'll consider it again, but if even one ad still shows on any page, I'm not.

5) HOW MUCH LONGER are we gonna have to see those disgusting flabby GUT ads on EVERY ****ING PAGE?????? They've gone from being annoying to downright REPULSIVE!!! It's gotten to the point that I actually dread going to a new SMN page because I'll have to see that nasty **** again before I can scroll down & get it off the screen. I posted about it in another thread here a few days ago, but it still seems that ONE ad appears on virtually EVERY page I see. It's sickening.

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1) I have no idea how difficult this would be, but to reduce clutter in the album lists, if a column (like SOUNDS) contains all "0"s, can it be automatically hidden?

I will check and see what we can do on that. It's a more involved modification to make.

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2) There used to be a checkbox for watermarking images within a registry, and there might still be, but I can't find it at the moment. Is it possible to make this a "per-album" or even "per-file" setting?

This is a subscriber-only setting. It's available at the top of the page when you are viewing your album sections in "My Garage." The watermarking is setup to be toggled ON or OFF for an entire registry entry -- we don't have album or photo-specific settings for this.

Since registered users don't pay yearly fees, we want to watermark their images so we can inadvertently promote SuperMotors.net wherever they remotely-embed images. Subscribers can then optionally disable remote image watermarking.

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3) I like the new DND section sorting link at the top, but I'd still like to be able to go directly to DND file sorting within a section, instead of having to wait for the album section to load before I can THEN wait for the album's DND window to load. Some of my albums are VERY big, and it can take a minute or 2, even on my hi-speed connection. Maybe it's my browser settings - IDK. But I'd rather have the ability to change the parent album by DND, instead of having that as a column. And if that function is added to DND, then the arrow columns could also go, removing more clutter. I never really liked the arrows anyway - they're WAY too slow inside big albums or big section lists.

OK - This description finally made sense to me. I've made the change you requested -- you can now access the "drag & drop sorting" directly from the album section list. Let me know your thoughts on this.

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4) What was the reasoning behind making "replace" a subscription-only function? It's not something that anyone would have to do very often - not often enough IMO to justify a year's subscription. I might have a dozen to replace in all my (6?) registries, and then I'll probably have 1/year after that. I've annotated a few that need to be combined (is that part of the "replace" functionality?), but again: not very many. Does subscribing remove EVERY (and I mean every) ad? If so, I'll consider it again, but if even one ad still shows on any page, I'm not.

We really want to continue to add incremental features for subscribers so, when all added up, there's a benefit to the yearly fee. The "replace" option is more of an advanced feature that the casual user doesn't require.

Free account vs. Subscriber account benefits are listed here: http://www.supermotors.net/services/individuals/index.php

Currently, ads are still shown to subscribers. We are in the process of doing an analysis to determine if we can turn off some or all ads for subscribers. Won't have a decision on this until the end of February, though.

It comes down to a matter of financials. Every page viewed on the site costs money, so we need to recoup these costs. If we turn off ads for subscribers, we need to ensure that the yearly fees are enough to cover the "lost" revenue if ads are turned off.

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5) HOW MUCH LONGER are we gonna have to see those disgusting flabby GUT ads on EVERY ****ING PAGE?????? They've gone from being annoying to downright REPULSIVE!!! It's gotten to the point that I actually dread going to a new SMN page because I'll have to see that nasty **** again before I can scroll down & get it off the screen. I posted about it in another thread here a few days ago, but it still seems that ONE ad appears on virtually EVERY page I see. It's sickening.

Ads have been disabled for nichollesweightloss.com across all ad networks.

Thanks again for your feedback, Steve.

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Matt, Thanks for the suggestion. I will add it to the "to do" list -- yes, your list album folders is massive.

Awesome! Looking forward to seeing it.

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we don't have album or photo-specific settings for this.

No plans to add that? Is it too involved?

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I've made the change you requested ... Let me know your thoughts on this.

I see the DND Files has replaced all the DND Section links (thanks!), but the "Change Parent Album" & the sorting arrows are still there. Is that as involved as hiding the "0" columns?

Something else just occurred to me (which will probably involve a LOT of work for you... ). Couldn't "Delete" for sections also be incorporated into DND sections? Like a trash can icon at the top & bottom of the DND sections list? I realize "Rename" section probably can't be done in DND sections, but putting Parent & Delete in there would really clean up the sections list.

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Currently, ads are still shown to subscribers. We are in the process of doing an analysis to determine if we can turn off some or all ads for subscribers. Won't have a decision on this until the end of February, though. It comes down to a matter of financials. Every page viewed on the site costs money, so we need to recoup these costs.

Here's my feeling on this, and it goes back to cable TV...

(rant)
Broadcast TV is free to viewers because it contains advertising. Advertisers pay all the costs because they get the benefit of peddling their stuff to those who get free TV. No problem. The original idea behind cable being a paid service was that the viewers were paying, so there was no advertising. (For a LITTLE while!) Now this is my BIG beef with any subscription service: if you want me to pay, that's ALL you're getting. You've sold the service to me, so you can't turn around and REsell it to someone ELSE who is going to then INTERFERE with my enjoyment of what I'm paying for. I feel like cable TV & magazines are ripping me off - they spend less money to distrubute advertisements than what they take in from advertising, so they're making money on that end. They ALSO spend less on content production than they take in on subscriptions, so they're making money THERE. But when they sell subscriptions, they don't say: "Send us your money, and we'll send you entertainment LOADED with ads for crap you'll never buy, and don't particularly want to see (like nasty flabby guts)"; they only promote CONTENT. So I'm only subscribing to the CONTENT, but they're lying to me - they're sending almost as much advertising as content (MORE in some cases), and expecting ME to pay to expose myself to that advertising. If magazine publishers sent out magazines with NO advertising, they'd still make money since it would take less paper, ink, staff, & postage to deliver it to me.

Now, I don't have much choice with cable because the FCC has let them (& even network news) get away with it for so long that the sheep who watch & pay are used to it. But with websites, I DO have that choice, and I'm just not gonna fork out a penny if it comes back with even ONE ad. EVER. I tried here once (mainly to get all my pics back up after the last big crash), and there were ads. It's not gonna happen again.

That's also why I don't have XM/Sirius - they never guaranteed NO ads EVER on every channel (only on SOME channels right NOW promise no ads, but they don't say how long that will last). If they make the ad channels available free, I MIGHT buy the equipment, but there's no ****ing way I'm paying for the hardware AND the content, while they're re-selling the entertainment time I've bought to advertisers.

(/rant)

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If we turn off ads for subscribers, we need to ensure that the yearly fees are enough to cover the "lost" revenue if ads are turned off.

Is that really how you look at it? I'd have thought it would be sufficient to recoup the "cost" of those pages. And considering that MOST people viewing those pages would still see the ads (generating revenue), I wouldn't expect that cost to be very high for subscriber views. I know my registries have scored close to a million unique hits (probably 10x as many gross hits), and I'm betting less than 25% of those were from subscribers (probably less than 10%). So it seems like you'd be losing less than 10% of the ad hits (just from a BLIND guess) if subscribers didn't see them.

And if the advertisers were able to actually quantify their return-on-investment due SPECIFICALLY to subscribers, I bet that number would be even lower.

Additionally, I can assure you that I (for one) will never ever EVER buy anything because of an annoying ad in a website I use. When I'm posting pics & linking them from BBSs, I'm not shopping. When I'm shopping, I don't go to image hosting sites or BBSs to find what I need - I go to shopping search engine sites, and I already know what I'm gonna buy before I start shopping. If I notice ads (and I rarely do), it only REDUCES the chance that I'll ever consider buying what's being advertised. I'm no beanpole right now, but even if I hit 400lbs & that flabby-gut website was the ONLY place that offered a solution, I'd never give them a cent; purely because of their repugnant ads.

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Ads have been disabled for nichollesweightloss.com across all ad networks.

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Quote: we don't have album or photo-specific settings for this. No plans to add that? Is it too involved?

No plans - to be honest, we haven't had any users ask for this. They either want watermarking turned completely OFF or are fine with it completely on within a registry entry.

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Quote: I've made the change you requested ... Let me know your thoughts on this. I see the DND Files has replaced all the DND Section links (thanks!), but the "Change Parent Album" & the sorting arrows are still there. Is that as involved as hiding the "0" columns?

"Change Parent Album" needs to stay there because that's not a drag & drop function. Sorting arrows can be removed -- will add it to the list. Hiding columns is technically doable, but the time is going to be spent on more frequently requested features that are already on the list of things to do.

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Something else just occurred to me (which will probably involve a LOT of work for you... ). Couldn't "Delete" for sections also be incorporated into DND sections? Like a trash can icon at the top & bottom of the DND sections list? I realize "Rename" section probably can't be done in DND sections, but putting Parent & Delete in there would really clean up the sections list. Quote: Currently, ads are still shown to subscribers. We are in the process of doing an analysis to determine if we can turn off some or all ads for subscribers. Won't have a decision on this until the end of February, though. Delete must remain as its own link as well. We do not have a trashcan-like option for dragging & dropping. Quote: It comes down to a matter of financials. Every page viewed on the site costs money, so we need to recoup these costs. Here's my feeling on this, and it goes back to cable TV...

(Lots of snipping)

I definitely understand where you're coming from on this.

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Quote: If we turn off ads for subscribers, we need to ensure that the yearly fees are enough to cover the "lost" revenue if ads are turned off. Is that really how you look at it? I'd have thought it would be sufficient to recoup the "cost" of those pages. And considering that MOST people viewing those pages would still see the ads (generating revenue), I wouldn't expect that cost to be very high for subscriber views. I know my registries have scored close to a million unique hits (probably 10x as many gross hits), and I'm betting less than 25% of those were from subscribers (probably less than 10%). So it seems like you'd be losing less than 10% of the ad hits (just from a BLIND guess) if subscribers didn't see them.

The features we offer subscribers are only available to them. This is essentially what's being "purchased." Time/effort/money went into developing subscriber-only features/perks, so the yearly fee is our way of recouping these costs.

So to answer your question above: Yes, this is really how we look at it because at the end of the day, if ad revenue and subscriber revenue don't cover the cost of operating the site, then it comes out of our pockets. For this reason alone we have to be very black and white when it comes to revenue/finances.

Good discussion. In February, we'll have better data on subscribers & advertisements.

I have some additional thoughts.
I joined in 2005 in order to be able to post to FSB. I just recently renewed (Supermotors) for 2 years just before the "change". Needless to say I was not expecting the additional ads in the middle of my albums. I am not happy about it as a paying member. Seems like that ought to "buy" something just as it does on FSB and other sites. (I.E. no ads). I was reviewing the benefits to being a member and for me they aren't that beneficial great anymore. Moreover, I was having a terrible time getting my stuff to batch load -it was taking forever. I dont care about the watermark issue. None of the discounts appeal to me.
Perhaps, if possible, I could downgrade to a free acount and get consideration for a pro-rated refund.

Thanks
J. R.

Ads +1
Paid Subscriber -1

The ads are too much....I'm done

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Ads +1 Paid Subscriber -1 The ads are too much....I'm done

J.R.,

As mentioned in previous posts we're currently analyzing the impact to finances if we disable ads for subscribers and we'll have a better idea in February as to what our options are. We have taken a hit due to advertisers pulling out or not spending as much on ads on the site which has forced us to add additional banner inventory to the site with the addition of the 300x250 ad seen on album thumbnail pages and a handful of other pages on the site.

If we don't do this, then the site operates below break-even forcing us to pay cash out-of-pocket to keep the site running. Subscriber fees and advertising revenue both contribute to paying for the cost of operating the site. Banner ad revenue makes up a high percentage of the total revenue, so when advertisers pull out or cut back, the impact is felt immediately.

Historically, subscriptions on the site have been for additional features and services, not to disable ads. We've made an attempt to make all features/benefits/perks for subscribers clearly listed on this page: http://www.supermotors.net/services/individuals/index.php

If you would like a refund, please follow the steps on this page for a refund: http://www.supermotors.net/legal/refund_policy.php These steps need to be followed due to documentation requirements for accounting purposes.

Thanks,

The nasty guts are BACK!!!


http://cdslog.contextweb.com/CDSLogger/L.aspx?q=C~501430~512277~705167~609505~39733~3~116~7~supermotors.net~2~8~1~0~2~1~TiDoGEfNX0BuO7pAIwJJC0wj-RJt5n3o~67~2~kJ0VdGEa~qlKbm0TP~0~1~2~~http%3a%2f%2femmasweightlosssuccess.com%2fadsdaq.php


If this keeps up, I'm gonna start looking for another image host.

I understand you don't want to pay to host images, but whose images do you want to host? Ours, or these advertisers'? Do you (or THEY) really think a repulsive picture is going to net them ANY money? Who would look at that vulgar shit and think, "Hmmm... I need to spend some money!" Do you think anyone uploading or viewing vehicle pictures would?

I genuinely DON'T GET the concept of ANY of these ads. Right now, I'm seeing Intuit (whatever that is) and LifeLock. I will NEVER buy either. Not a chance. So whatever money they're paying to produce & distribute those ads to me is wasted. And I bet a LOT of SMN users would tell you the same thing. Do you (Eric) buy stuff just because it's mentioned on some website you visited? I can't imagine that you OR ANYONE does. That's why I don't understand.

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The nasty guts are BACK!!! http://cdslog.contextweb.com/CDSLogger/L.aspx?q=C~501430~512277~705167~609505~39733~3~116~7~supermotors.net~2~8~1~0~2~1~TiDoGEfNX0BuO7pAIwJJC0wj-RJt5n3o~67~2~kJ0VdGEa~qlKbm0TP~0~1~2~~http%3a%2f%2femmasweightlosssuccess.com%2fadsdaq.php If this keeps up, I'm gonna start looking for another image host.

Ads get blocked by the domain name used and this one is emmasweightlosssuccess.com which is different than the previous site that was blocked. I've now blocked this one. Unfortunately we don't have the option to "block repulsive fat-gut ads". As these ads show up for different domain names, we can keep blocking them.

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I understand you don't want to pay to host images, but whose images do you want to host? Ours, or these advertisers'? Do you (or THEY) really think a repulsive picture is going to net them ANY money? Who would look at that vulgar shit and think, "Hmmm... I need to spend some money!" Do you think anyone uploading or viewing vehicle pictures would?

I'd be happy to discuss the costs of running the site off-line to give you perspective on why we need to run ads. I'm sorry that you don't like some of the ads. In February, things may change if we're able to hide ads for paying subscribers.

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I genuinely DON'T GET the concept of ANY of these ads. Right now, I'm seeing Intuit (whatever that is) and LifeLock. I will NEVER buy either. Not a chance. So whatever money they're paying to produce & distribute those ads to me is wasted. And I bet a LOT of SMN users would tell you the same thing. Do you (Eric) buy stuff just because it's mentioned on some website you visited? I can't imagine that you OR ANYONE does. That's why I don't understand.

You'd be surprised how many people are influenced by advertising. It's a big industry and advertisers would not spend the money on banner advertising if it did not result in sales. Since it's tax time, you'll tend to see more ads from companies like Intuit (they make TurboTax & Quicken financial software) and LifeLock (banking on "fear" that people will pay $10/mo to protect their identity).

I am not a LifeLock customer but I do use TurboTax, and it's a great product. I do not fault them for advertising because the time of year makes sense for them to advertise -- their product is made for anybody; even "car guys."

Since we run this site as a hobby-based business, we don't have a dedicated sales force to sell ad inventory to automotive-only companies, so we primarily rely on banner ad networks to sell the inventory for us.

I'd love to run automotive-only advertising, but until we get more advertisers like Bronco Graveyard, we have to supplement the remaining available ad inventory from ad networks that end up running weight-loss ads and identity protection ads. It's a double-edged sword that we hope the majority of users can tolerate in exchange for the free service and features provided.