Is anyone seeing this extra text?

[halfempty]

I will repeat - the links have been there for years.
They used to be red and no one liked them so Oliver made them not red.
Right now they are broken.
It has been reported to the tech people but there isn't anyone to fix it right now - they will when they can - people aren't here 24/7.
I'm sorry, but stuff happens - it's broken, but it will get fixed as soon as possible.

Some of the comments in here - wow !
...if you really hate ECF that much - why are you here ?

Something else has changed in the last couple of days. Before the possessed hyperlinking, my system slowed down dramatically on this site. Had to blacklist all scripting coming from Cloudfare. The upside is that the site is a lot quicker and cleaner. The downside is that I can't reply to a post from my computer. I either have to use the phone like I'm doing now, or reconfigure my script blocker. Luckily for me I am primarily a lurker.

If I didn't know enough to work around these issues, I would have had to keep my distance from the site. My loss I know, but maybe antagonizing members might not be the best way of maintaining site growth.

The adminis need to keep in mind that the majority of the users on here aren't 13 year old gamers with the fastest systems out there. There are a lot of oldsters here that don't have the latest and the greatest. Judicious and efficient coding should be taken into account.

Just my $0.02

 

[Marc411]

While I understand the need for advertising the consumer experience is every bit as important. The upgrades shouldn't change the methods I member uses to navigate the site, the site navigation is becoming frustrating.

 

[Alter]

There are a lot of oldsters here that don't have the latest and the greatest.

Its not necessarily an older machine that slows you down. Its all the useless crap that is running in the background, updating automatically or just using precious ram(if your only using 2 or 4 gig ram). Useless background programs is bad in a pre loaded machine from a box store. Bring up the task manager then begin to google the (dot)exe's to find if they are needed or not. My wife's laptop had around 20 useless bloatware programs that once disabled or removed her machine ran good.
Win10 is bad for useless background programs, win7 isn't so bad but still has lots. If your running XP then your really old school.
Name brand storebought machines have their own software in them that isn't needed and most of it can be disabled. Lots of free programs out there to scan for bloatware infested machines. Example....my win7 runs with 42 processes in the task manager but I had my machine put together so I avoided the bloatware that companies install but still had to disable and uninstall some unneeded programs.

 

[stols001]

Linnux. Not that I use it at the moment, I'm stuck with Windows 10. I thought I would hate it a great deal more than I DO, but unfortunately to use Dragon Naturally Speak and some other stuff (and I hate not having a real copy of Word) I really can't go back to it, but when I did, the speeds astonished me, and I miss it sometimes. I know, I know I can run more than one OS if I want but... eh, might as well make it as easy as possible for the Advertisers to stalk me, because they WILL.

I find it most egregious on my phone, actually and I have a rather elderly smartphone that I have no wish to replace, but I think that Verizon is actually trying to kill it with updates, which seem to be daily. When they put MANDATORY ads on it DURING CHARGING, I have to say I get a bit upset..... The amount of ads I have going on.... I almost want to jack with it and install some other OS (well technically, instruct the husband to do that), but it's so old (like, 4 years old, I do really well with phones for some reason) I'm quite sure I'd brick it in the process.....

Also, I will never pay 1K or upwards for a phone. That is so far beyond ridiculous to me.....

Anna

 

[halfempty]

Its not necessarily an older machine that slows you down.

The one I use for forum browsing and checking email is OLD. I always debloat and keep an eye on what's happening in the background. Admittedly this system should have been upgraded years ago but I feel that reading forums and emails, supposedly text based, shouldn't require a multi-core multi-GHz system to run it.

Most people with more current systems probably wouldn't notice the added bloat on the site, but my system cries in pain over it. Disabling foreign scripting on this site, namely ajax.cloudfare.com, easily quadruples the speed. Has its upside and downside, can't have everything.

 

[Beamslider]

No, I wasn't aware that the unreadable stuff AND ads is still going on for visitors to the site, and/or non-supporting members. That would be an issue to fix quickly, I think, because all the ads or hyperlinks in the world won't do much to generate income if new members don't join. So, if that is the case, that's not great. One shouldn't have to be a supporting member for that to happen, and I do agree that too many hyperlinks could be distracting.

It's a difficult balance, trying to maintain a forum and still have it be profitable/self-supporting. The hyperlinks (as I saw them yesterday) ought to be refined, as being redirected to a site which may not have anything to do with the rta or whatever link in question isn't a great plan, and could lead to less excellent outcomes for non-members or new members, and that's not great. Maybe that's something for everyone to think about-- when is too much, when something isn't enough.

I didn't become a supporting member to get perks like being ad free, I do that with forums I know I will frequent for a while, since I want them to be solvent, but any internet forum these days is going to need to find ways to support increased income, it's unfortunately the nature of the best.

I know you spend a lot of time helping new members Opinionated, I like doing that too, and I don't want to have to write some sort of weird text to make my stuff legible. I think I will log out shortly and see how it looks.

I'm not really sure what the answer is, but what happened yesterday wasn't great, that should have happened in the dead of night, JMO, of course. I hope it gets fully resolved soon....

Anna

The links appear if someone isn't logged in. Probably have been there always and since people are logged in they can't see them. So never knew about them until the mess up

 

[halfempty]

I almost want to jack with it and install some other OS

You are far more tolerant than I. Years ago, I think after I upgraded my original Google G1 (I loved that phone), I decided I couldn't handle the carrier bloatware and adware they force down our throats. I figure if they want to control my phone, they can pay for it and give it to me for free. If I pay full price for a phone and then the service only I will decide what runs on it.

I'm on AT&T but they lock down the bootloader on their phones, so I buy T-Mobile phones which have unlocked bootloaders (up to the Galaxy S6). I unlock and root the phone, then disable auto upgrades and bloatware before I put my SIM card in there. I know I'm a stubborn pain in the tush old coot, but I refuse to pay people to annoy me.

 

[Alter]

I always debloat and keep an eye on what's happening in the background.

There are many who don't know, want too or are scared to fiddle with the computer. I spent many hours fiddling then screwing up the OS so much that it became common practice to reinstall the OS just to screw it up again. I was mighty timid the first time I edited registry entries. I ran XP with 2 gig ram for years not wanting to step up to win7 knowing my machine didn't have no where near the knards to install win7 let alone run it. Them grandfathering XP was the final nail in my comps coffin. My buddy is a computer geek so with his help we built a machine enough to get me through the next many years before I would have to upgrade again, somesorta quad core, higher end vid card, 12 gig ram and solid state HD's, for much less than a comparable storebought machine with almost the same specs. I'm computer hardware illiterate but program savy, enough unless I have hardware failure I can keep my comp out of any shop to fix.
My wife's laptop came with win8 and she disliked it but liked the touchscreen, trialed win10 for about a hour before I had to revert it back to 8 then got me wipe win8 off and install win7 and she was happy. That laptop is long gone so her desktop now is win7.
I get my wife's hand-me-down phone and she gets the new one. I have to have a cell for work so as long as it rings and sends texts that's all I require other than that I don't want to have one just cause.

 

[halfempty]

My buddy is a computer geek so with his help we built a machine enough to get me through the next many years before I would have to upgrade again

I used to like playing with computers and building my own systems. Not so much anymore. I have a Win7 quad core in a different room that I use when I need a real computer. This is a single core XP machine that I use for email and basic surfing, enough for what I need to do most of the time. Since I don't enjoy playing with them anymore, it probably isn't getting upgraded until it loses its magic blue smoke.

 

[VictorViper]

Whole lot to think about, especially in light of how raising these complaints was treated. It's fair enough that our mods don't have direct control over this stuff (especially when it starts wigging out), so I can appreciate if it's frustrating to get bombarded by the same complaints. BUT, I find the whole "surprise, you've been secretly shilling this whole time, so pound sand, haters" response disturbing.

Perception is reality. What started out as a mild annoyance has turned into something else entirely. Love it or leave it, I guess? and the mods are cool with that?

 

[Uncle]

You know what is kind of humorous, is the fact that yes - I do remember certain words related to vaping we're always highlighted, however they always seem to limk back to what their specific definitions were - especially if they were abbreviations i.e., YMMV, 510's, etc. Not to a products for sale page. Worse now is the ECF newsletter that highlights important stories and events. When you click on the hyperlink it brings you to the ECF store at vaping ....com . . .about what is being sold there - not an article . . .

 

[Oliver]

OK - nobody's being told to pound sand here. I apologise for the mess up - I've been afk all day and was only able to respond by sending our developer an email.

So, in full transparency mode - we do use a hyperlinking system which links certain words to 3rd parties. This has been in place for years, one way or another, and is one of the ways we monetise. The others are sponsored ads in our emails and banners and promotions (giveaways). We get around 1200 clicks per week going out via these links (from a traffic of around 700k per week). It's not a big earner, but it does bring in income while, I hope, being not too intrusive.

Many forums use 3rd party link systems to monetise. Look them up: viglink, skimlinks etc. We don't - we manage all of ours in-house, and that's what you saw today: we updated the system, and it broke.

As far as I'm aware it's now back to how it's always been - logged in members should not see these links. And no-one should see these links in any sponsors forums. As soon as I told my developer that the old settings had not been ported over he ported them over in under an hour. He's very good like that

As I said in a previous post - I'm trying to do lots of improvements to the site. As I go I will break things. Please don't freak out - I'm trying to improve the site not break it. There's a few things that have happened that shouldn't have - like supporting members seeing ads. This is oversight, nothing more and I'm pretty good at getting stuff fixed quickly.

 

[Oliver]

You know what is kind of humorous, is the fact that yes - I do remember certain words related to vaping we're always highlighted, however they always seem to limk back to what their specific definitions were - especially if they were abbreviations i.e., YMMV, 510's, etc. Not to a products for sale page. Worse now is the ECF newsletter that highlights important stories and events. When you click on the hyperlink it brings you to the ECF store at vaping ....com . . .about what is being sold there - not an article . . .

Hey, can you do me a favour and shoot me a copy of that email to newsletter[at]e-cigarette-forum.com? This should not be the case - newsletters should only ever link to the article and never to a product page.

 

[VictorViper]

Thanks for the update and clarification, @Oliver. Goes a LONG way, thank you.

 

[Oliver]

Thanks for the update and clarification, @Oliver. Goes a LONG way, thank you.

Don't mention it - just sorry I couldn't hop on and clarify earlier.

 

[Opinionated]

OK - nobody's being told to pound sand here. I apologise for the mess up - I've been afk all day and was only able to respond by sending our developer an email.

So, in full transparency mode - we do use a hyperlinking system which links certain words to 3rd parties. This has been in place for years, one way or another, and is one of the ways we monetise. The others are sponsored ads in our emails and banners and promotions (giveaways). We get around 1200 clicks per week going out via these links (from a traffic of around 700k per week). It's not a big earner, but it does bring in income while, I hope, being not too intrusive.

Many forums use 3rd party link systems to monetise. Look them up: viglink, skimlinks etc. We don't - we manage all of ours in-house, and that's what you saw today: we updated the system, and it broke.

As far as I'm aware it's now back to how it's always been - logged in members should not see these links. And no-one should see these links in any sponsors forums. As soon as I told my developer that the old settings had not been ported over he ported them over in under an hour. He's very good like that

As I said in a previous post - I'm trying to do lots of improvements to the site. As I go I will break things. Please don't freak out - I'm trying to improve the site not break it. There's a few things that have happened that shouldn't have - like supporting members seeing ads. This is oversight, nothing more and I'm pretty good at getting stuff fixed quickly.

I'm just being honest here, I feel hit upside the head. But I stay logged in.. even when the system automatically logs me out I'm automatically logged back in simply by coming back to the forum. (Its just easy)

I don't attend sites that use third party hyperlinks, I never have quite purposefully so saying other sites do it is very meaningless to me. Those have always been the type of sites to give you computer viruses so if I open a page and see third party hyperlinks I close the page and don't go back.

I guess I came here any way because I really really wanted to ask that question, and then subsequently forgot about it when I never saw it again after joining.

That said, there are a couple reasons I feel uncomfortable with the hyperlinks here for those who are not members. I have done nothing but use the hyperlinks since this happened to see where they go etc. (Yea! More money. . Lol) I used them since my words are doing the shilling, I wanted to know what all I am shilling for.

I would be happier, if what we typed took people specifically to the thing which was typed.

For instance, typing tanks will take you to all the tanks for sale. Okay, this is fine so long as vaping.com isn't selling people's personal information etc. in the form of customer lists. (I'll do the research on that.. as that is important to me if what I'm saying is encouraging people to buy from them)

But I feel like the word Kayfun should take you to either kayfuns, or a list of mtl rtas, at the very least. It should inform people who might be desirous of a clear picture, or it shouldn't be linked at all. Same with rta, rba, etc. They should either link to a product list of what they are specifically, or not be linked at all, especially in the new member forum. Otherwise its just confusing.

If avocado linked to an avocado for sale for instance I wouldn't be opposed and let people choose whether or not they want to buy one. It would allow another layer of information to someone without knowledge.

But the way it's set up now is shilling half the time, informing half the time. While I'm sure it's better than the type of site I will close and never go back to, it's not what I think is best.

Every other concern I have is my own and nothing this site or its ownership can address.

Also yes - I feel I was called a hater of ECF because, quite frankly everyone in this thread who had a problem with finding out every other word we typed was a hyperlink was accused of being so, flat out and unequivocally so, earlier on. I understand it wasn't you, but i don't think its the most heartwarming way to treat members who are in shock as they are just finding something out.

 

[puffon]

I thought vaping.com is a sister site of ECF.
I've gotten some good deals through them.

 

[stols001]

That is what I think, too. ^^^^

Opinionated, I understand your concerns, and I think I'd like it if the hyperlinks were a bit more specific. I also had no idea about them until now, but I think I didn't lurk long, but I don't recall seeing them when logged out, either? At least not in the past, or maybe there were less of them? I have no idea.

I'm not worried about computer security and whatnot, but I do see your point about being directed from something specific to something general enough to be confusing to a new vaper, and that's maybe something to look at going forward. I think this discussion will be happening for a while because I think many folks weren't aware of the nature and extent of the hyperlinks, but then I don't know how specific they can get, either I am far from a website designer.....

Anna

 

[Opinionated]

I thought vaping.com is a sister site of ECF.
I've gotten some good deals through them.

It is a sister site. I've also personally never bought anything from that site. I'm not a trustworthy sort, especially when it comes to online anything and I never trusted a store that had a discussion forum attached to it in order to suck people into buying from them.

It makes the forum seem like a sales gimmick - and I just wanted to take part in the forum and not get sucked into the gimmick aspect. Snake oil salesmen and all..

That's just me... I don't trust easy...so I never bought from the store.

But, all this is my own naivety thinking I could be apart of the nice gimmick (the forum) without having the reason the site actually exists, (selling products for a vape shop) ever affect me.

In this classwife was probably right. I should have stayed away from the site to begin with due to these feelings. Never had any business here.

 

[puffon]

It is a sister site. I've also personally never bought anything from that site. I'm not a trustworthy sort, especially when it comes to online anything and I never trusted a store that had a discussion forum attached to it in order to suck people into buying from them.

It makes the forum seem like a sales gimmick - and I just wanted to take part in the forum and not get sucked into the gimmick aspect. Snake oil salesmen and all..

That's just me... I don't trust easy...so I never bought from the store.

But, all this is my own naivety thinking I could be apart of the nice gimmick (the forum) without having the reason the site actually exists, (selling products for a vape shop) ever affect me.

I can understand online trust issues.
Since the Equifax breach that released about 150 million US and Canadian names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, driver’s license numbers, I've put a credit freeze at all 3 credit bureaus.