please remove the new store thing on the sidebar...

[AlTech]

I also happen to strongly dislike this as do some other people who were complaining about it in their status updates.

 

Edit: I've copied over what I said in @Princess Cadence's Status Update.

 

Quote

I also take issue with the links but not for the same reasons.

 

1. LTT Merch Link

LTT Merch shipping prices are awful and even the most loyalist diehard LTT fan isn't going to buy an LTT shirt on the LTT Store website if they live in Europe or Asia or really anywhere which isn't the US or Canada. And so putting that link there without fixing the issues with LTT Store I just mentioned is somewhat insulting. Especially since LMG themselves admit a lot of their audience is international.

 

2. LTT Discord Link

There was already an AD showing on the forum saying to checkout the Official LTT Discord and adding a new one in this place feels a bit desperate. Honestly, if the Discord serves the same purpose as the forum I don't really see the need to advertise it on here.

 

3. Supporting Floatplane Link

The reason why I dislike this should be fairly obvious, Floatplane is an alpha product and is not ready yet. I wouldn't recommend anybody but diehard fans of a creator on Floatplane purchase a subscription. Perhaps if Floatplane had a free version I would feel differently but Floatplane isn't meant to be free and that's a design decision by LMG.

 

4. Supporting the Forum Link

I also dislike this but for completely different reasons than above. None of the subscription options provide meaningful value and don't offer enough features to justify buying. Perhaps if they drastically increase file upload size limit or added a lot more in terms of functionality. As it is right now, if somebody wanted to support LMG then I would always pick paying for Floatplane (with the exceptions mentioned above) or buying merch (with the exceptions mentioned above). The biggest downfall of this is that the subscriptions for the forum offer nothing major in value because by design they were meant to not make non-paying people feel excluded.

 

[Blademaster91]

I don't see any issue with that, and its not really much to complain about because people were complaining about the discord link not being on the front page.

[wANKER]

Never known such precious people in my life lmao 

 

Get over yourselves 

Jesus 

It's a fucking panel

 

As though you all just look for something to bitch about because you can't find anything else to do

[colonel_mortis]

Until now, there hasn't been a link to the merch store or to Floatplane on the forum, and this block fixes that.

5 hours ago, firelighter487 said:

...you have a store page. if i want to buy something to support the forum i will go there.

The store page contains just Bronze, Silver and Gold contributor status, not Floatplane or LTT merch. Having moved the link to the sidebar, and made it more descriptive, I had been considering removing it from the nav.

5 hours ago, firelighter487 said:

i understand a lot of users have adblock on, but i don't. when i had it i always whitelisted the forum, and now i don't run adblock at all to speed my browser up. 

It was not designed with ad blockers in mind - on the contrary, how the site looks when someone is blocking ads is none of my concern (though it probably looks the same as to Bronze/Silver/Gold contributors, which is considered, and whose feedback I have explicitly requested, but how it looks to regular members is the primary consideration).

5 hours ago, firelighter487 said:

but regardless, now on a 1680x1050 screen with my Dock hidden the ad, that new thing and the calendar take up all of the space on the side. i mean all of it. i can't see any recent topics:

Before the block was added, you would have been able to see only the first topic in recent topics. Surely you scrolled anyway to read them?

 

It was designed primarily with 1080p screens in mind (with considerations for mobile too), on my 13" laptop, but 1680x1050 (-browser chrome and dock) doesn't look much different to me.

5 hours ago, firelighter487 said:

again, i understand why you'd want it there, so that the people who run adblock get to see the store instead of an ad, but please get rid of it at least for users like me who don't have adblock/whitelist the forum. 

 

maybe you could rename "store" to "support the forum", or perhaps you could make the new thing appear in the spot of the ad if a user has adblock on. but as it is now IMO i have to deal with an annoying amount of advertising. 

The purpose of the block is to collect LMG-related links, not to replace the ads.

 

As you may have seen, it was initially released as just a discord link, because I was tired of the discord topic being perpetually featured. Once that was released and refined, I figured it made sense as a place to put some of the other links that I had been trying to find a place for (especially the merch store - it seemed like a weird omission, and I suspect, without evidence to support it, that people assumed that the store link would take them there, which is bad UX). Having added the merch and floatplane links, it seemed like a logical extension to add the forum contribution link, so that everything was collected in one place.

 

I do genuinely believe that once you get used to it, as with many changes, you will forget that it was ever an issue. I am open to tweaking it in response to specific feedback, but so far I'm struggling to find any specific changes that I could make that would improve the issue, short of removing it entirely.

 

For those using ad blockers, I'm not going to stop anyone from using an ad blocker to remove the block, but I also make no guarantees that future changes won't screw up any ad blocking rules that are in place - not deliberately, but I won't be actively trying to keep your rules working.

[Cyberspirit]

Eh, it's fine. You can just disable it with an ad blocker. 

[Tsuki]

2 hours ago, colonel_mortis said:

 

Before the block was added, you would have been able to see only the first topic in recent topics. Surely you scrolled anyway to read them?

 

This is the part im not understanding about the complaining.. even before it was there, on that display, theres no way you would have been able to see more than the first 2-3 topics at most, and would have to scroll to see more anyways.  literally one click of the scroll bar is enough to see everything.  this is just bitching because people are scared of change.

 

i like the new block addition. it looks good, gives all the options for supporting the company in one spot(although i think the discord link should be first or last, not in the middle since its the only one that isnt about giving LTT money and it seems out of place in that spot).  its not really intrusive and i dont even notice it anymore unless im looking.

[colonel_mortis]

3 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

Edit: I've copied over what I said in @Princess Cadence's Status Update.

 

I also take issue with the links but not for the same reasons.

 

1. LTT Merch Link

LTT Merch shipping prices are awful and even the most loyalist diehard LTT fan isn't going to buy an LTT shirt on the LTT Store website if they live in Europe or Asia or really anywhere which isn't the US or Canada. And so putting that link there without fixing the issues with LTT Store I just mentioned is somewhat insulting. Especially since LMG themselves admit a lot of their audience is international.

I agree that the international shipping prices are awful, but that doesn't mean the link shouldn't be added for the nearly half of site visitors that are in North America.

3 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

2. LTT Discord Link

There was already an AD showing on the forum saying to checkout the Official LTT Discord and adding a new one in this place feels a bit desperate. Honestly, if the Discord serves the same purpose as the forum I don't really see the need to advertise it on here.

The new link just replaces the old link, because a featured topic wasn't a good long term solution for it.

People had been requesting a chat for a while before the discord server was launched, and it's complementary to the forum. While they overlap in some aspects, the forum is certainly better for some things, and Discord for others.

3 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

3. Supporting Floatplane Link

The reason why I dislike this should be fairly obvious, Floatplane is an alpha product and is not ready yet. I wouldn't recommend anybody but diehard fans of a creator on Floatplane purchase a subscription. Perhaps if Floatplane had a free version I would feel differently but Floatplane isn't meant to be free and that's a design decision by LMG.

The link is primarily there for people who know what Floatplane is and come to the forum to find it. Like it or not, there are people who do want to support LMG on Floatplane, and the link is there to facilitate it.

3 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

4. Supporting the Forum Link

I also dislike this but for completely different reasons than above. None of the subscription options provide meaningful value and don't offer enough features to justify buying. Perhaps if they drastically increase file upload size limit or added a lot more in terms of functionality. As it is right now, if somebody wanted to support LMG then I would always pick paying for Floatplane (with the exceptions mentioned above) or buying merch (with the exceptions mentioned above). The biggest downfall of this is that the subscriptions for the forum offer nothing major in value because by design they were meant to not make non-paying people feel excluded.

The entire point of the contributor tiers is that they are a donation to keep up the forum, not a good value proposition. They aren't meant to justify buying, they are just meant to allow people to help support the non-negligible costs of running this site, if that's something that they'd like to do.

[S w a t s o n]

Personally I dont want ANYTHING on the side, not the block, not the videos recommendations, not an AD, not the random topics suggestions, not the status updates and not the "Upcoming Events" which is usually just wan show, maybe LTX?

[Cyberspirit]

1 minute ago, S w a t s o n said:

Personally I dont want ANYTHING on the side, not the block, not the videos recommendations, not an AD, not the random topics suggestions, not the status updates and not the "Upcoming Events" which is usually just wan show, maybe LTX?

You can disable all that with uBlock Origin for example.

[S w a t s o n]

Just now, Cyberspirit said:

You can disable all that with uBlock Origin for example.

I use ublock origin but I'd rather not have to do all that to just have a clean and more readable site experience

[Cyberspirit]

1 minute ago, S w a t s o n said:

I use ublock origin but I'd rather not have to do all that to just have a clean and more readable site experience

Well, you do you, just wanted to make sure you know about it.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

1 hour ago, Tsuki said:

This is the part im not understanding about the complaining.. even before it was there, on that display, theres no way you would have been able to see more than the first 2-3 topics at most, and would have to scroll to see more anyways. 

my issue was more about seeing my entire right side of the screen filled with essentially advertising. the scroling thing is still annoying but that bothered me more. 

 

4 hours ago, colonel_mortis said:

The purpose of the block is to collect LMG-related links, not to replace the ads.

perhaps, but for me it's now: 

ad

link to donate to the forum (i already run ads so...)

link to floatplane (why)

link to discord (i already joined it)

link to merch (i don't want to buy merch)

end of display

 

i wish i could just say "i'm not interested" or something similar. just be able to click it away. it's an annoying amount of advertising. 

 

4 hours ago, colonel_mortis said:

but so far I'm struggling to find any specific changes that I could make that would improve the issue, short of removing it entirely.

it could all be relocated to the top bar. example: 

this is a quick edit, but still. i left out LTT merch because there is already a "Store". 

 

the top bar is there to house links, and to otherwise stay out of the way. 

[Tsuki]

21 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

my issue was more about seeing my entire right side of the screen filled with essentially advertising. the scroling thing is still annoying but that bothered me more. 

entire right side?  its a 2 inch box thats almost entirely ignorable.. it doesnt even follow you when you scroll like a lot of ads do on other websites.

 

i think you're stressing way too much about something that doesnt matter 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

2 minutes ago, Tsuki said:

entire right side? 

yes. the normal ad, the box, and the calendar (essentially an ad for WAN show)

[Princess Luna]

After much thinking on the subject, I'd say that uBlock Origin really is the way to go if you don't appreciate it, it's a super/easy client side fix that should leave 'every one happy'.

[Tristerin]

I got like 15 posts into this thread...I have to know the ending - is this guy just unwilling to change anything and everything is the sites fault?

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

4 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

I got like 15 posts into this thread...I have to know the ending - is this guy just unwilling to change anything and everything is the sites fault?

this guy has a name. 

 

and i'm not unwilling to change anything. i'm just giving feedback about something i don't like. if you read all of it or just scroll up a little bit, i made a suggestion about how this could be implemented elsewhere. 

[Tristerin]

Just now, firelighter487 said:

this guy has a name. 

 

and i'm not unwilling to change anything. i'm just giving feedback about something i don't like. if you read all of it or just scroll up a little bit, i made a suggestion about how this could be implemented elsewhere. 

@firelighter487 tbh your first "quite a few" rebuttals were based on websites setup not meeting your hardware specifications and your oddly seemed very unwilling to change anything (distance from screen, scaling, blockers, etc).

 

I queried this post because I couldn't spend another 10 minutes finding out if you had a change of heart.  I also made the post I did because I found your responses quite....childish so I wanted to poke and jab a little.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

7 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

I queried this post because I couldn't spend another 10 minutes finding out if you had a change of heart.

next time before you make fun of someone make sure you read all of it. 

 

making fun of something, then being proven wrong and having to hide behind 'i didn't read all of it' makes you look like a bit of a loser. 

[Tristerin]

6 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

next time before you make fun of someone make sure you read all of it. 

 

making fun of something, then being proven wrong and having to hide behind 'i didn't read all of it' makes you look like a bit of a loser. 

Awwwww do you feel better and bigger now for typing that up?

 

Make FUN of someone?  What did I call you?  How did you get made FUN of broseph.

 

Making fun of something, because that something is hilarious is something I will always do - and I don't hide nor shrink.  Ill gladly waste some time with ya.

[LogicalDrm]

27 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

this guy has a name. 

 

and i'm not unwilling to change anything. i'm just giving feedback about something i don't like. if you read all of it or just scroll up a little bit, i made a suggestion about how this could be implemented elsewhere. 

Top nav, right? Imo thats worse. Its fine now when it only takes up space from Recent topic on main site, and covers maybe area of first post in threads. Having all that, even under menu, on top bar is too much. I don't need to see it all the time, and I look at top bar more often than sidebar. Why don't you give it month or two? Change takes time to get used to.

[LukeSavenije]

i got a stupid, yet solving suggestion: make it editable

 

make the ads locked into place, but give us the opportunity to drag the links, topics and everything

[Syntaxvgm]

1 hour ago, LukeSavenije said:

i got a stupid, yet solving suggestion: make it editable

 

make the ads locked into place, but give us the opportunity to drag the links, topics and everything

so... a ton of work?

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, Syntaxvgm said:

so... a ton of work?

yep

[AlTech]

Or just make it look like mobile and place the sidebar at the bottom of the page where nobody will see it and thus we eliminate the issue while the links are still technically there.