# Update on PetForums



## HannahPetForum (Jan 17, 2020)

_Today marks a special day for Petforums. In a short time, we will be announcing to the Petforums community a change in the site ownership.

As of today Petforums will be owned and operated by the good people at VerticalScope. Unlike us, VerticalScope's core competence is operating forums. In fact, VerticalScope today already operates 600 forums globally, of which some are pet forums such as www.dogforums.com. We are confident that VerticalScope will be able to give Petforums the resources and attention that it deserves rather than our hands-off approach.

In the short term, other than some new admins doing the behind-the-scenes work, and some very necessary software updates, very little else will change. The biggest change you might expect is better access to resources and a dedicated team of community management staff around to help out if you bump into issues.

We are all incredibly excited about this new direction as it will secure the community with a world-class organization that excels in running forums and keeping their platforms safe, secure, and stable._


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

Hello everyone!

On behalf of the Community Management team, we'd like to offer you the warmest of welcomes to the VerticalScope family of forums! Our team helps manage the site administration and maintenance duties of keeping Petforums operational, and we wanted to take the opportunity to not only say hello, but also to share a little bit about what to expect.

*Who Are We?*

VerticalScope is a network of forum communities around the internet. The community management staff on our team help make the work of the forum moderators and administrators easier.

*What Do We Do?*

Community means a great deal to us - we're all community people, and so continuity and stability are our primary aim. We bring reliability, support, and the infrastructure required to ensure that this community will be able to thrive for many years to come. It is our goal to work with the volunteer moderators/administrators to provide the resources required to increase reach, attract new members, increase engagement, and better the community experience overall.

*What Will Change?*

From a cultural side, next to nothing, you will eventually see our TOS and Privacy Policies in place but you'll find they're the same as you already work with. From a technical standpoint in the coming months you will see some necessary software updates and a change in the look and feel as we have a platform we've built up that should improve performance. Apart from that you'll now have access to better resources as well as community management staff for support and forum-related technical issues. Community is the focus here, and we know that the members of every forum work to keep things going awesomely. You're a huge part of that success, and we're here to ensure that the lights stay on, upkeep is tended to, and the infrastructure gets the attention it needs.

If you have any questions, ask away!

We're looking forward to working with the members, mods and admins here, and we're incredibly happy to be with you.

Warm Regards,

The VerticalScope Community Team


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

Um... this is a weird way of introducing yourselves. 
Did the moderator team get any heads up about this? 

We don't know who you are from Adam. Anyone can join a forum, claim to be a moderator or admin and post whatever they want. 
This just feels odd. 

If it's legit, apologies, and yeah, carry on, but as much as this current ownership has completely ignored the forum side of things and kept us uninformed, this doesn't feel genuine.


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

O2.0 said:


> Um... this is a weird way of introducing yourselves.
> Did the moderator team get any heads up about this?
> 
> We don't know who you are from Adam. Anyone can join a forum, claim to be a moderator or admin and post whatever they want.
> ...


We seem to have been advised at the same time as the general membership, with the same posts.


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

lymorelynn said:


> We seem to have been advised at the same time as the general membership, with the same posts.


I'm guessing on moderator threads? 
So this is legit?


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

O2.0 said:


> I'm guessing on moderator threads?
> So this is legit?


It does seem to be.


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

Verticalscope owns many forums, from pets, to cars, to whatever. So yes, likely to be ligit.


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## £54etgfb6 (Dec 25, 2020)

Is this connected to the *GIANT* banner ad that now appears on every page of the forum when using mobile? It takes up half the page and remains for a while even if scrolling down. Pressing "X" does nothing. The site is unpleasant to use like this


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## Arny (Jul 29, 2017)

bmr10 said:


> Is this connected to the *GIANT* banner ad that now appears on every page of the forum when using mobile? It takes up half the page and remains for a while even if scrolling down. Pressing "X" does nothing. The site is unpleasant to use like this
> View attachment 486941
> View attachment 486943


Just popped into this thread to see if anyone had commented about this yet.
So annoying!


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

I was just about to say the same thing. These adverts are intrusive and annoying


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## Tiggers (May 27, 2014)

Hate these adverts. They are annoying and a nuisance


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## Lilylass (Sep 13, 2012)

bmr10 said:


> Is this connected to the *GIANT* banner ad that now appears on every page of the forum when using mobile? It takes up half the page and remains for a while even if scrolling down. Pressing "X" does nothing. The site is unpleasant to use like this
> View attachment 486941
> View attachment 486943


Same here & it comes up on every page ☹


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## Teddy-dog (Nov 2, 2017)

Yep advert is v annoying!


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## mrs phas (Apr 6, 2014)

I don't care who own the forum, (as I cant do anything about it) as long as the 'new brooms' make no hugely sweeping changes
I, also, only hope (having gone and looked for most of the afternoon, as an outsider) that not many dogforum.com members travel to our, normally, peaceful pages, with their overbearingly aggressive attitudes
Nor
That the new owners decide to merge the two
We have very different attitudes to owning, and very different morals to breeding, here, that won't be improved by those people or pages 
The adverts and size of them are abominable again 
I get you want to make money but really!


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## SbanR (Jun 16, 2017)

Two adverts, and they fill up the WHOLE PAGE!!!!!!!!!:Shifty


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## HarlequinCat (Nov 29, 2012)

I was just about to say the same. They're blooming annoying on a mobile


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## Jobeth (May 23, 2010)

I had a look at the other forum. It has the same issue with adverts so it isn’t going to get better.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Oh groan. In my experience when people say things like



HannahPetForum said:


> We are all incredibly excited about this new


It doesn't bode well for anyone else but the conglomerate who has bought the place out.

It's just too bad. I've seen forums die over this kind of change. We've lost many members over other "very exciting" changes, and I expect we'll lose even more after this.

Including our old threads. Can you guarantee our threads will remain? How long before you merge us with one of your other "exciting" forums?

This forum must be generating a huge ad income to catch the eye of all these giant companies.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

mrs phas said:


> I don't care who own the forum, (as I cant do anything about it) as long as the 'new brooms' make no hugely sweeping changes
> I, also, only hope (having gone and looked for most of the afternoon, as an outsider) that not many dogforum.com members travel to our, normally, peaceful pages, with their overbearingly aggressive attitudes
> Nor
> That the new owners decide to merge the two
> ...


Oh but they will. Every new guy has to make his mark don't you know.
And I expect a merge will be coming. It's just such a shame.

We'll all have to migrate to the FB page I guess. I hate FB.


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## cheekyscrip (Feb 8, 2010)

Grrr… hate it.


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## £54etgfb6 (Dec 25, 2020)

Jobeth said:


> I had a look at the other forum. It has the same issue with adverts so it isn't going to get better.


Oh dear, this would essentially render it a desktop-only website (not sure if the ad issue affects tablets). A bit annoying.


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

Using an adblocker easily stops adverts showing, I don't have anything on my screen at all (nor when browsing the other forum they linked to)


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## PawsOnMe (Nov 1, 2012)

spotty cats said:


> Using an adblocker easily stops adverts showing, I don't have anything on my screen at all (nor when browsing the other forum they linked to)
> 
> View attachment 486975


What ad blocker are you using? (if you dont mind me asking) I've tried 2 different ones for my Samsung internet and neither have worked to block PF ads.


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

I have ad blocker on the iPad and it works well, ot seeing these awful adverts anyway


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## spotty cats (Jul 24, 2012)

PawsOnMe said:


> What ad blocker are you using?


adblock plus on iPhone & Samsung tablet. Hope you can find one that works for you


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## LittleFox (12 mo ago)

Those ads on iPhone are ridiculous. Are we really doing this again?

*Sigh*


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

bmr10 said:


> Is this connected to the *GIANT* banner ad that now appears on every page of the forum when using mobile? It takes up half the page and remains for a while even if scrolling down. Pressing "X" does nothing. The site is unpleasant to use like this
> View attachment 486941
> View attachment 486943


We haven't touched ad layout yet, just switch to our sever using the same laout, nor do we tend to use anything that big, how long have you been seeing this?



mrs phas said:


> I don't care who own the forum, (as I cant do anything about it) as long as the 'new brooms' make no hugely sweeping changes
> I, also, only hope (having gone and looked for most of the afternoon, as an outsider) that not many dogforum.com members travel to our, normally, peaceful pages, with their overbearingly aggressive attitudes
> Nor
> That the new owners decide to merge the two
> ...


We try not to merge forums unless one is more general and the other is well and truly dead (or they've literally shared databases with just different urls) I can't personally speak to the dogforum community's attitudes, though I am curious about the morals two breeding statement, do tell. I got my chocolate lab from a breeder a year ago and it wasn't a great experience but certainly not horrible, we wanted a rescue but my region had no rescues available due to the pandemic.



Jobeth said:


> I had a look at the other forum. It has the same issue with adverts so it isn't going to get better.


 Which other forum is this? The screenshots in this thread are alarming and I'd like to report it if it's on our server.



lorilu said:


> Oh groan. In my experience when people say things like
> 
> It doesn't bode well for anyone else but the conglomerate who has bought the place out.
> 
> ...


Income isn't my department so I can't say, but as above we don't merge sites unless they're dead or already technically the same sites but with different skins.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

vsadmin said:


> Income isn't my department so I can't say, but as above w*e don't merge sites unless they're dead or already technically the same sites but with different skins*.


Appreciate the answers, thank you.

Yes, but even if THIS site isn't dead, you could potentially drag it into a dead site, same thing.

And you didn't answer my question about *whether threads will be lost. *And photographs, both of which have happened before in this forum during major changes*.*


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

lorilu said:


> Appreciate the answers, thank you.
> 
> Yes, but even if THIS site isn't dead, you could potentially drag it into a dead site, same thing.
> 
> And you didn't answer my question about *whether threads will be lost. *And photographs, both of which have happened before in this forum during major changes*.*


We wouldn't though, it would be counter-intuitive to our business model to unnecessarily kill a site like that. Same with content loss; it can happen during server and system upgrades, kinda like how you can get into an accident getting behind the wheel of a car, but we would never kill content deliberately as it would damage the site it was lost from. You lose content, you lose users. You lose users you lose traffic. You lose traffic you lose money.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

vsadmin said:


> We wouldn't though, it would be counter-intuitive to our business model to unnecessarily kill a site like that. Same with content loss; it can happen during server and system upgrades, kinda like how you can get into an accident getting behind the wheel of a car, but we would never kill content deliberately as it would damage the site it was lost from. You lose content, you lose users. You lose users you lose traffic. You lose traffic you lose money.


Well I remain skeptical but I appreciate you responding anyway.


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

lorilu said:


> Well I remain skeptical but I appreciate you responding anyway.


That's valid, I hope you're pleasantly surprised in time.


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

To be fair, they are pretty hands-off on the other forum and leave day to day things mostly to mods and members.

You may find offers for ”premium membership” to remove ads (or of course you could just use an ad blocker).


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

The large adverts have been appearing since your takeover @vsadmin so it seems logical to surmise that it is something that you've done, whether intentionally or not.


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## Bertie'sMum (Mar 27, 2017)

TBH the ads showing on my desktop are the same size as previously - if memory serves me correctly we have been seeing ads since about July 2020 and there were a couple of threads started up complaining about them. I've found this one but there were others.
https://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/advert-on-pf.529627/


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

Scrolling eventually slides the ad off the screen.

I’ll do that for the time being until I get an ad blocker on my mobile.

If anyone knows another forum they prefer, we could all try that, of course.


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## SbanR (Jun 16, 2017)

@vsadmin a screenshot from my mobile









ETA it's not much better on my tablet


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## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

Well, I’d like to “congratulate” VScope on the “successful” takeover of this forum.

By resigning as Moderator.

To the other Mods, it has been an honour working alongside you all and I apologise to you for letting you down now, but I can’t remain a moderator on this forum under the new owners.


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

LinznMilly said:


> Well, I'd like to "congratulate" VScope on the "successful" takeover of this forum.
> 
> By resigning as Moderator.
> 
> To the other Mods, it has been an honour working alongside you all and I apologise to you for letting you down now, but I can't remain a moderator on this forum under the new owners.


I'm sorry to hear that Linz.


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## Bertie'sMum (Mar 27, 2017)

LinznMilly said:


> Well, I'd like to "congratulate" VScope on the "successful" takeover of this forum.
> 
> By resigning as Moderator.
> 
> To the other Mods, it has been an honour working alongside you all and I apologise to you for letting you down now, but I can't remain a moderator on this forum under the new owners.


I can understand your feelings but would ask you to reconsider - the forum is so much more than who owns it. It's the members that make it a successful and informative place to be. None of us like change for change sake but I, for one, am willing to give the new owners and their plans the benefit of the doubt and take a "wait and see" position. At least the new owners have had the decency to keep us informed as to what is about to take place which is more than can be said for the previous lot 

I moderate on another forum (for a charity) whose forum is about to undergo major changes which no-one, other than the Management Administration team, is very happy about but, again, until the new version is in place no-one can predict whether it will be a success or a disaster !


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## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

Bertie'sMum said:


> I can understand your feelings but would ask you to reconsider - the forum is so much more than who owns it. It's the members that make it a successful and informative place to be. None of us like change for change sake but I, for one, am willing to give the new owners and their plans the benefit of the doubt and take a "wait and see" position. At least the new owners have had the decency to keep us informed as to what is about to take place which is more than can be said for the previous lot
> 
> I moderate on another forum (for a charity) whose forum is about to undergo major changes which no-one, other than the Management Administration team, is very happy about but, again, until the new version is in place no-one can predict whether it will be a success or a disaster !


This isn't the only VScope forum that I currently moderate, so I don't need to wait and see, unfortunately. I know what we'd be up against.

Thanks for the kind words.


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

I'm sorry to hear that Linz


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## ForestWomble (May 2, 2013)

I am sorry to hear that Linz. I hope we won't loose you completely?


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

LinznMilly said:


> Well, I'd like to "congratulate" VScope on the "successful" takeover of this forum.
> 
> By resigning as Moderator.
> 
> To the other Mods, it has been an honour working alongside you all and I apologise to you for letting you down now, but I can't remain a moderator on this forum under the new owners.


I love all our mods and I am sad to read this but it only reinforces my skeptical opinion of what we are going to be faced with here.


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

Wouldn't it be amazing to start our own forum? Does anyone have the skills and commitment necessary? I can provide support.


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## Happy Paws2 (Sep 13, 2008)

I'm sorry to hear that Linz, hope your still staying with just as a member, I'd to loose you completely


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## JANICE199 (Feb 1, 2008)

*I hate to ask what some might see as the obvious. But doesn't / didn't Mark still own this forum, and if so why hasn't posted anything? *


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

JANICE199 said:


> *I hate to ask what some might see as the obvious. But doesn't / didn't Mark still own this forum, and if so why hasn't posted anything? *


Mark sold out about 3 years ago sadly, to some media company.


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## JANICE199 (Feb 1, 2008)

SusieRainbow said:


> Mark sold out about 3 years ago sadly, to some media company.


*WOW! That's a shock to me, i had no idea, Thanks for your reply. It will be interesting to say the least to see how this all pans out. I have to admit, i don't like change very much.*


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## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)

SusieRainbow said:


> Wouldn't it be amazing to start our own forum? Does anyone have the skills and commitment necessary? I can provide support.


To run something like PF it costs money I'm afraid because you need to buy the domain name and pay for a host which doesn't come cheap.
There are ways to set up free forums but they restrict the amount of traffic and are FULL of adds.

I ran a forum a few years ago but it wasn't cost effective so after they increased the price of our server I decided to walk away


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

JANICE199 said:


> *WOW! That's a shock to me, i had no idea, Thanks for your reply. It will be interesting to say the least to see how this all pans out. I have to admit, i don't like change very much.*


The sell-out caused a lot of unrest,the main problem being the use of advertising. The adverts are,at times,very intrusive and completely inappropriate to the forum ethics ( eg, adverts for bark collars and marmoset monkeys!)
Many of us are not optimistic.


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## Happy Paws2 (Sep 13, 2008)

OH has put an adblocker on my laptop so I don't get ads.


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

StormyThai said:


> To run something like PF it costs money I'm afraid because you need to buy the domain name and pay for a host which doesn't come cheap.
> There are ways to set up free forums but they restrict the amount of traffic and are FULL of adds.
> 
> I ran a forum a few years ago but it wasn't cost effective so after they increased the price of our server I decided to walk away


At this point trying to buy the petforums url would be prohibitively expensive for any one individual.

The other option is starting a whole new forum and hoping we get enough members to come over to it which in turn would drive enough outside traffic to it, which is all a big gamble even without considering the initial and continuing expenses.

It might be worth considering if there are a pool of us who might want to try it, but as you say, it's a big gamble...


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## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

Thank you, everyone, for the support, it means a lot. 



ForestWomble said:


> I am sorry to hear that Linz. I hope we won't loose you completely?





Happy Paws2 said:


> I'm sorry to hear that Linz, hope your still staying with just as a member, I'd to loose you completely


Thanks, no I'm sticking around as a member. . You don't get rid of me that easily.


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## Happy Paws2 (Sep 13, 2008)

LinznMilly said:


> Thanks, no I'm sticking around as a member. . You don't get rid of me that easily.


Thank goodness for that, I'd hate to loss you.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

O2.0 said:


> At this point trying to buy the petforums url would be prohibitively expensive for any one individual.
> 
> The other option is starting a whole new forum and hoping we get enough members to come over to it which in turn would drive enough outside traffic to it, which is all a big gamble even without considering the initial and continuing expenses.
> 
> It might be worth considering if there are a pool of us who might want to try it, but as you say, it's a big gamble...


I've seen it tried a number of times and it has only worked once (that I have seen), and that was in 2005. A group of us split from the CompuServe pets forums, and we made it work for 16 years. It only closed last year. None of the other forums (that I was a member of) that tried it ever got anywhere. Most members just went somewhere else (including here by the way  ), or stuck to FB.


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

lorilu said:


> I've seen it tried a number of times and it has only worked once (that I have seen), and that was in 2005. A group of us split from the CompuServe pets forums, and we made it work for 16 years. It only closed last year. None of the other forums (that I was a member of) that tried it ever got anywhere. Most members just went somewhere else (including here by the way  ), or stuck to FB.


Well, I'm pleased we've now found ourselves the FB group, we can make that work for us and it's private. Not the same though.


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## PawsOnMe (Nov 1, 2012)

For anyone on an android phone I've had success with the Brave browser in the play store, no adverts or pop ups on PF. I hadn't realised how slow and laggy PF had gotten, seems so much quicker now at loading pages.


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## ForestWomble (May 2, 2013)

LinznMilly said:


> Thank you, everyone, for the support, it means a lot.
> 
> Thanks, no I'm sticking around as a member. . You don't get rid of me that easily.





Happy Paws2 said:


> Thank goodness for that, I'd hate to loss you.


Ditto to this ^

Pleased you are staying around Linz


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## PawsOnMe (Nov 1, 2012)

SusieRainbow said:


> Well, I'm pleased we've now found ourselves the FB group, we can make that work for us and it's private. Not the same though.


Its definitely a relief knowing the fb group is there should PF become unusable. I was thinking could there be subgroups set up within the PF fb group so we can still have dog chat and cat chat etc without it all being on one group where posts/threads might not be seen.


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## JANICE199 (Feb 1, 2008)

PawsOnMe said:


> Its definitely a relief knowing the fb group is there should PF become unusable. I was thinking could there be subgroups set up within the PF fb group so we can still have dog chat and cat chat etc without it all being on one group where posts/threads might not be seen.


*Is there a link to the FB group please? Although i can't see it being the same.*


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

JANICE199 said:


> *Is there a link to the FB group please? Although i can't see it being the same.*


deleted


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

PawsOnMe said:


> For anyone on an android phone I've had success with the Brave browser in the play store, no adverts or pop ups on PF. I hadn't realised how slow and laggy PF had gotten, seems so much quicker now at loading pages.


I've managed to get rid of the ads with ad-blocker


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## mrs phas (Apr 6, 2014)

PawsOnMe said:


> For anyone on an android phone I've had success with the Brave browser in the play store, no adverts or pop ups on PF. I hadn't realised how slow and laggy PF had gotten, seems so much quicker now at loading pages.


Thank you 
I have ad blocker and pop up blocker but neither worked for PF 
Thanks to you, no more ads 
Really don't know why forum owners haven't cottoned on to the fact that ads popping up every 5 mins, or full screen ads, just drive people away or force them to install blockers, no one clicks on them, so no extra revenue or income anyway


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## Bertie'sMum (Mar 27, 2017)

I shall probably get "shouted" at BUT why is everyone so keen on immediately "jumping ship" when



HannahPetForum said:


> _
> In the short term, other than some new admins doing the behind-the-scenes work, and some very necessary software updates,* very little else will change*. The biggest change you might expect is better access to resources and a dedicated team of community management staff around to help out if you bump into issues.
> 
> We are all incredibly excited about this new direction as it will secure the community with a world-class organization that excels in running forums and keeping their platforms safe, secure, and stable._





vsadmin said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> *What Will Change?*
> 
> From a cultural side, next to nothing, you will eventually see our TOS and Privacy Policies in place but you'll find they're the same as you already work with. From a technical standpoint in the coming months you will see some necessary software updates and a change in the look and feel as we have a platform we've built up that should improve performance. Apart from that you'll now have access to better resources as well as community management staff for support and forum-related technical issues. Community is the focus here, and we know that the members of every forum work to keep things going awesomely. You're a huge part of that success, and we're here to ensure that the lights stay on, upkeep is tended to, and the infrastructure gets the attention it needs.


Surely it's better to wait and see before passing judgement ?

Being a pragmatist I expect the Ads to stay as the owners aren't a charity but a business which at the end of the day has to make a profit (I may be wrong but I believe it is the advertisers who pay the owners for space to advertise so they're the ones that lose out if we ignore the ads ) - besides which we've coped with the ads for the last 18 months without too much bother haven't we ?


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

The problem with FB is that it's hard to replicate the format of a forum. 
I'm on several FB groups of varying topics and questions get buried easily, they're hard to retrieve, and it just doesn't lend itself to longer discussions. 
And of course not everyone wants to do FB either, despite how you set your settings, it's still less private and a little scarier for those who really do need that anonymity.


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

Bertie'sMum said:


> I shall probably get "shouted" at BUT why is everyone so keen on immediately "jumping ship" when
> 
> Surely it's better to wait and see before passing judgement ?


I'm very happy to wait and see, but I'm using past behavior as a predictor of future behavior which is not a bad policy


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## urbantigers (Apr 13, 2014)

I use an ad blocker and get no ads. The forum is unusable on a mobile without the ad blocker. 

I will reserve judgement on the new ownership until I see how it pans out. Does this mean the forum no longer has any link with pets4homes? That would be a welcome aspect imo.


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

The last sell-out lost us lots of well established members, the buyers of the forum ignore our questions and requests, the ads have been intrusive and unsuitable. 
I am in no doubt that this situation will worsen with the new ownershp.
That's why @Bertie'sMum.


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## 3dogs2cats (Aug 15, 2012)

urbantigers said:


> I use an ad blocker and get no ads. The forum is unusable on a mobile without the ad blocker.
> 
> I will reserve judgement on the new ownership until I see how it pans out. Does this mean the forum no longer has any link with pets4homes? That would be a welcome aspect imo.


I was just about to ask if Petmedia no longer own any part of petforums? Is so agree at least one positive aspect of new owners would be PF is longer been associated with pets4homes.


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## 3dogs2cats (Aug 15, 2012)

Tha


PawsOnMe said:


> For anyone on an android phone I've had success with the Brave browser in the play store, no adverts or pop ups on PF. I hadn't realised how slow and laggy PF had gotten, seems so much quicker now at loading pages.


Thank you for this, i have just installed Brave Browser, the adds are gone


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

For those of you with advert problems, I use Firefox and run Adblock Plus, Privacy Badger and Facebook Container extensions. Haven't seen an advert in ages 

Some sites won't let you in if you have an adblocker running, but I usually take that as an indication that they are a site not worth bothering with as profit comes first


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## Arny (Jul 29, 2017)

Bertie'sMum said:


> besides which we've coped with the ads for the last 18 months without too much bother haven't we ?


The banner at the top of the page is fine, in my view, but this has gone back to the issue of the thing following you down the page. 
Its very difficult to see any of the top posts on a mobile, once you've scrolled down a while it disappears but comes back when you scroll back up.
They implemented this when they first brought in the ads but it did get rectified, I hope the same can be done again.


----------



## Bertie'sMum (Mar 27, 2017)

SusieRainbow said:


> The last sell-out lost us lots of well established members, the buyers of the forum ignore our questions and requests, the ads have been intrusive and unsuitable.
> I am in no doubt that this situation will worsen with the new ownershp.
> That's why @Bertie'sMum.


But we haven't given them the chance yet to prove otherwise have we ?

I have contributed to (and moderated on) a number of different forums over the years (still contribute to some but not all) and no one forum has been/is perfect - but it's the quality of the membership (and moderators) that keeps me coming back, not the people who own it.

I would be very sad to see established members/moderators leave as in the time I've been a member I've come to look on lots of you as cyber friends and will miss your company.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

bmr10 said:


> Is this connected to the *GIANT* banner ad that now appears on every page of the forum when using mobile? It takes up half the page and remains for a while even if scrolling down. Pressing "X" does nothing. The site is unpleasant to use like this
> View attachment 486941
> View attachment 486943


No, I don't get that, but every time I try to log on, they ask me if I am a bloody robot and I have to say how many cars/planes/boats I can see. It's been happening for some time and is very irritating and time-consuming.


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## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)

Ok I've been having a bit of a play between my phone and my partners.
Anyone having issues with add blockers I highly recommend installing the browser *Brave https://brave.com/*
It blocks all adds without an extra add blocker and for the first time I don't have adds when I load the forum up on my phone.


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## Happy Paws2 (Sep 13, 2008)

I hope things don't change to much, I have never used FB and not sure how it works, fingers crossed we keep our forum.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

LinznMilly said:


> Well, I'd like to "congratulate" VScope on the "successful" takeover of this forum.
> 
> By resigning as Moderator.
> 
> To the other Mods, it has been an honour working alongside you all and I apologise to you for letting you down now, but I can't remain a moderator on this forum under the new owners.


 I am sorry to hear that and hope you will reconsider; but you must do whatever you think is appropriate. I hope you will remain a member at least?


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## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

Calvine said:


> I am sorry to hear that and hope you will reconsider; but you must do whatever you think is appropriate. I hope you will remain a member at least?


Thank you.

Yes, I'm staying as a member.


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## ForestWomble (May 2, 2013)

There have been a few changes in the time I've been here, PF used to run on a different server(?is that the right word?) and we lost lots of members to that, then ownership changed and the adverts started appearing and we lost members to that, now we have another ownership change which from what I've read from some of you doesn't sound good, but for myself, for as long as the promise is kept that nothing will change for the most part, I'm willing to wait and see, hopefully these new owners will be better than the ones they are taking over from, we won't keep having the forum crash/be slow etc, if not then I hope we can find a way to carry on somewhere else as I'd hate to loose this place.

May the concerns people have be unwarranted. (or else )


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## mrs phas (Apr 6, 2014)

vsadmin said:


> attitudes, though I am curious about the morals two breeding statement, do tell. I got my chocolate lab from a breeder a year ago and it wasn't a great experience but certainly not horrible, we wanted a rescue but my region had no rescues available.


I have nothing against good ethical responsible breeders, the same as probably 90% of the members here(obviously you get the rabid fanatics on both sides of the breeder/rescue fence)
What I was referring to is the morals of back yard breeders/puppy farms, who chuck two breeds together and brand them with a fancy name, make ridiculous statements about health, longevity, hybrid vigour and being hypoallergenic
Also this horrific trend towards breeding 'bully dogs' the most deformed being the toad like minis upto the aggressive end of the 'xxl bullies'
Not a breed, not recognised anywhere except made up, by greeders, registries, not regulated for form , temperament or health, sold to unsuspecting first time buyers or macho chavs as status dogs 
I'm a bull breed fanatic, I love them to death, but the out of control breeding of these 'bullies' frightens me
Give me a pittie anyday, over one of those frankendogs
But 
this could also be anyone who breeds, and makes the same claims, for anything that has -oodle or -poo at the end of its *cough* breed name 
Or 
Anyone who breeds t-cup anything

Pocket profit
Or
Healthy stable pups

There's the difference


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

lymorelynn said:


> The large adverts have been appearing since your takeover @vsadmin so it seems logical to surmise that it is something that you've done, whether intentionally or not.





SbanR said:


> @vsadmin a screenshot from my mobile
> View attachment 486987
> 
> 
> ETA it's not much better on my tablet


 Ok I've flagged this to our AdSense team with the screenshot



LinznMilly said:


> Well, I'd like to "congratulate" VScope on the "successful" takeover of this forum.
> 
> By resigning as Moderator.
> 
> To the other Mods, it has been an honour working alongside you all and I apologise to you for letting you down now, but I can't remain a moderator on this forum under the new owners.





LinznMilly said:


> This isn't the only VScope forum that I currently moderate, so I don't need to wait and see, unfortunately. I know what we'd be up against.
> 
> Thanks for the kind words.


 I'm glad you're staying on as a member at least from your other responses. I'm happy to discuss next steps with you and if you want the other site you're having problems with.



Bertie'sMum said:


> I shall probably get "shouted" at BUT why is everyone so keen on immediately "jumping ship" when
> 
> Surely it's better to wait and see before passing judgement ?
> 
> Being a pragmatist I expect the Ads to stay as the owners aren't a charity but a business which at the end of the day has to make a profit (I may be wrong but I believe it is the advertisers who pay the owners for space to advertise so they're the ones that lose out if we ignore the ads ) - besides which we've coped with the ads for the last 18 months without too much bother haven't we ?


That's all we ask but from what I've read so far I get that we're starting from the bottom of a steep hill so I have no issues with those who want to leave. You're free to, I will invite you to come back some time and see whether or not we've burned the place down etc. 


SusieRainbow said:


> The last sell-out lost us lots of well established members, the buyers of the forum ignore our questions and requests, the ads have been intrusive and unsuitable.
> I am in no doubt that this situation will worsen with the new ownershp.
> That's why @Bertie'sMum.


I slightly addressed this above, that said, unsuitable on a content/philosophical level or in the sense of the screenshot where everything is covered? I can't speak to our style versus those who came before us as I haven't dealt with them much personally. So if you believe we will be worse I won't make some speech about give us a chance. We haven't earned that yet so it's your choice to give us one or not. But I will be plain with you, our job is to keep the site thriving, it's how we get paid at the end of the day. Reducing it to a useless adhusk is not in that description. 


mrs phas said:


> I have nothing against good ethical responsible breeders, the same as probably 90% of the members here(obviously you get the rabid fanatics on both sides of the breeder/rescue fence)
> What I was referring to is the morals of back yard breeders/puppy farms, who chuck two breeds together and brand them with a fancy name, make ridiculous statements about health, longevity, hybrid vigour and being hypoallergenic
> Also this horrific trend towards breeding 'bully dogs' the most deformed being the toad like minis upto the aggressive end of the 'xxl bullies'
> Not a breed, not recognised anywhere except made up, by greeders, registries, not regulated for form , temperament or health, sold to unsuspecting first time buyers or macho chavs as status dogs
> ...


I can get behind that thank you


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

vsadmin said:


> unsuitable on a content/philosophical level or in the sense of the screenshot where everything is covered? I


As I said earlier,we've had adverts for bark collars, sites selling monkeys as pets etc. I don't like being associated wth such advertising, it gives a very bad impression of the forum.


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

SusieRainbow said:


> As I said earlier,we've had adverts for bark collars, sites selling monkeys as pets etc. I don't like being associated wth such advertising, it gives a very bad impression of the forum.


That we can work with regarding adsense filters but they also need to be reported as they are seen so we can improve the filters.


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

vsadmin said:


> I slightly addressed this above, that said, unsuitable on a content/philosophical level or in the sense of the screenshot where everything is covered? I can't speak to our style versus those who came before us as I haven't dealt with them much personally. So if you believe we will be worse I won't make some speech about give us a chance. We haven't earned that yet so it's your choice to give us one or not. But I will be plain with you, our job is to keep the site thriving, it's how we get paid at the end of the day. Reducing it to a useless adhusk is not in that description.


Well, you're already interacting a lot more with the general members than the old lot ever did, which could be seen as a positive thing. A lot will depend on retaining the goodwill of the knowledgeable (and long serving) forum members, as their wealth of knowledge and experience is what keeps attracting new users.

Speaking as a professional IT admin specialising in the psychology of how people use computers/the internet, I would suggest if you want to prevent people from installing adblockers then the adverts displayed need to be liveable with. Anything that takes up half a page, follows you around, flashes, can't be minimised, plays video with sound without being asked or indulges in other annoying behaviours is going to result in either people leaving or adblocking. Relatively unobtrusive inline adverts and banners a few lines of text high most people can live with.

Likewise, the content of the advertisements is going to be important. Obviously this is a family site, so the usual no-nos apply (porn, lotteries/gambling, alcohol etc.), but there are also plenty of animal/pet themed adverts that the majority of people hear would be unhappy to see - electroshock collars, gumtree listings for animals, exotic pet adverts and other unethical things. My advice for this would be to have a place/mechanism for reporting unwelcome adverts, and to take any complaints seriously (asking for wider feedback if necessary).

Anyway, that's my advice. I won't tell you how much I'd usually charge for this level of input, as I'm very fond of this place and want to see it continue much as it already does


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

vsadmin said:


> That we can work with regarding adsense filters but they also need to be reported as they are seen so we can improve the filters.


Myself and other members reported all the inappropriate advertising,nothing changed to the point that most of us gave it up as a bad job..or installed ad blockers.
Sorry if I'm sounding sceptical.


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

SusieRainbow said:


> Myself and other members reported all the inappropriate advertising,nothing changed to the point that most of us gave it up as a bad job..or installed ad blockers.
> Sorry if I'm sounding sceptical.


By all means, you have every right to be, I already have the ad team limiting the size of the top unit on mobile so you should be able to actually see things again. While I'm not sure about bark collars as I know they are a divisive topic, things like monkey pets are something we'd flag.


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## Arny (Jul 29, 2017)

vsadmin said:


> I already have the ad team limiting the size of the top unit on mobile so you should be able to actually see things again.


Thank you, that's much better.


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

vsadmin said:


> By all means, you have every right to be, I already have the ad team limiting the size of the top unit on mobile so you should be able to actually see things again. While I'm not sure about bark collars as I know they are a divisive topic, things like monkey pets are something we'd flag.


Just an update to this, we have breeding blocked on our network but it doesn't give us granularity to specific species. Also, the unit spacing should be improved now.


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

@vsadmin, it's quite reassuring to see you here adressing our concerns. Can I ask if any changes will be made to moderation, and will you contnue to be as responsive to us as you are now? I was given admin status by the previous owners,will that continue?


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

mrs phas said:


> I have nothing against good ethical responsible breeders, the same as probably 90% of the members here(obviously you get the rabid fanatics on both sides of the breeder/rescue fence)
> What I was referring to is the morals of back yard breeders/puppy farms, who chuck two breeds together and brand them with a fancy name, make ridiculous statements about health, longevity, hybrid vigour and being hypoallergenic
> Also this horrific trend towards breeding 'bully dogs' the most deformed being the toad like minis upto the aggressive end of the 'xxl bullies'
> Not a breed, not recognised anywhere except made up, by greeders, registries, not regulated for form , temperament or health, sold to unsuspecting first time buyers or macho chavs as status dogs
> ...


All of this, as mods we've worked hard to discouraged backyard breeders & puppy farmers on here, with the help of many PF members, if we're going to see an influx of those sort of people & they're going to be allowed to big each other up & share their unethical breeding practices without challenge then I'll be off I'm afraid.

I'm currently on the fence about stepping down as a mod, I'm exhausted as I'm having a very busy work week & still have all my animals to see to, so haven't had much time to weigh it all up.

I'm well aware that I'm not the most popular of mods due to speaking my mind & at times being an opinionated so-and-so on quite a few subjects


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

simplysardonic said:


> if we're going to see an influx of those sort of people & they're going to be allowed to big each other up & share their unethical breeding practices without challenge then I'll be off I'm afraid.


To be fair, VS don't really get much involved in the day to day content of the forum, That's still left to members and moderators.


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

simplysardonic said:


> I'm well aware that I'm not the most popular of mods due to speaking my mind & at times being an opinionated so-and-so on quite a few subjects


I like opinionated mods  Even if you don't agree, at least you know where you stand  
And frankly I think this forum needs it - the speaking your mind part


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

O2.0 said:


> I like opinionated mods  Even if you don't agree, at least you know where you stand
> And frankly I think this forum needs it - the speaking your mind part


You know me, never done pink & fluffy, 'cos I can't stand pink, & fluff just gets up my nose


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

simplysardonic said:


> You know me, never done pink & fluffy, 'cos I can't stand pink, & fluff just gets up my nose


I agree with you about the fluffy! I don't know why you insist on having those fluffy dogs! You can't even show off a pretty collar


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## Jim40 (Apr 2, 2020)

urbantigers said:


> I use an ad blocker and get no ads. The forum is unusable on a mobile without the ad blocker.
> 
> I will reserve judgement on the new ownership until I see how it pans out. Does this mean the forum no longer has any link with pets4homes? That would be a welcome aspect imo.


I'm like you. I use duck duck go and can't remember when I got an ad on my mobile. I'll reserve judgement.


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

SusieRainbow said:


> @vsadmin, it's quite reassuring to see you here adressing our concerns. Can I ask if any changes will be made to moderation, and will you contnue to be as responsive to us as you are now? I was given admin status by the previous owners,will that continue?


Inevitably it will not be me, when the time comes to upgrade the software that will result in another person looking in for a warranty period and then it will be moved into a ticketed support team where questions posted in one of a few areas that we can discuss and layout later will get answered in queue. Usually about a 24 hour turn around at most (aside from weekends) however much faster more often than not. Your admin status will continue, again when the time comes that the software changes I cannot promise that your powers will carry over 1-to-1 but your status will remain. 


simplysardonic said:


> All of this, as mods we've worked hard to discouraged backyard breeders & puppy farmers on here, with the help of many PF members, if we're going to see an influx of those sort of people & they're going to be allowed to big each other up & share their unethical breeding practices without challenge then I'll be off I'm afraid.
> 
> I'm currently on the fence about stepping down as a mod, I'm exhausted as I'm having a very busy work week & still have all my animals to see to, so haven't had much time to weigh it all up.
> 
> I'm well aware that I'm not the most popular of mods due to speaking my mind & at times being an opinionated so-and-so on quite a few subjects


Cool, if they aren't allowed, then they aren't allowed. Works for me. 


JoanneF said:


> To be fair, VS don't really get much involved in the day to day content of the forum, That's still left to members and moderators.


 This, in a nut shell


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

O2.0 said:


> I agree with you about the fluffy! I don't know why you insist on having those fluffy dogs! You can't even show off a pretty collar


There's a US collar maker who I've been stalking for years, but I can'y justify spending so much on something that will just get buried under their hair!


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

SusieRainbow said:


> Wouldn't it be amazing to start our own forum? Does anyone have the skills and commitment necessary? I can provide support.





StormyThai said:


> To run something like PF it costs money I'm afraid because you need to buy the domain name and pay for a host which doesn't come cheap.
> There are ways to set up free forums but they restrict the amount of traffic and are FULL of adds.
> 
> I ran a forum a few years ago but it wasn't cost effective so after they increased the price of our server I decided to walk away


I have the tech but it needs a specific server set up or something off the shelf like Mighty Networks which costs ££. The model then has to be paid members or adverts and neither are welcome so it's a hiding to nowhere and requires a business model like the new owners to keep it going. It would be lovely but impossible as I don't imagine anyone on PF would want to pay.


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

simplysardonic said:


> There's a US collar maker who I've been stalking for years, but I can'y justify spending so much on something that will just get buried under their hair!


I feel the same, consequently Isla has been wearing the same old faded collar for years


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

simplysardonic said:


> I'm well aware that I'm not the most popular of mods


I'm not sure why you think this - I have always thought you were very upfront and at the same time you never take one side or the other when ''discussions'' between posters gets heated. I've always respected your opinions.


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## Oof (12 mo ago)

About the pf facebook group - i havent been on this forum long, but if things go south here could i join it? I like talking with other dog nerds and I'd be sad to see this place go/be ruined. If it came to it of course


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

Oof said:


> About the pf facebook group - i havent been on this forum long, but if things go south here could i join it? I like talking with other dog nerds and I'd be sad to see this place go/be ruined. If it came to it of course


I'll PM you the link.


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

simplysardonic said:


> There's a US collar maker who I've been stalking for years, but I can'y justify spending so much on something that will just get buried under their hair!





Siskin said:


> I feel the same, consequently Isla has been wearing the same old faded collar for years


Feel free to send collar funds my way, Penny will happily model all those expensive collars you can't enjoy!


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## margy (Dec 9, 2018)

lorilu said:


> Oh but they will. Every new guy has to make his mark don't you know.
> And I expect a merge will be coming. It's just such a shame.
> 
> We'll all have to migrate to the FB page I guess. I hate FB.


I was thinking the same thing unfortunately our most loved members aren't on Facebook.


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## Kaily (Feb 8, 2020)

All I know is that the banner at the top of the page is driving me nuts.


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

Thought I was bumped off. Tried to log in 3 times and it wouldn't let me!!


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

rona said:


> Thought I was bumped off. Tried to log in 3 times and it wouldn't let me!!


Maybe it thinks you are a robot like me!


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## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

Personally, I'm more than happy to stay around unless there is a real reason not to.

I think it's fair to at least give the new Owners a fighting chance.


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## 1507601 (Jun 26, 2020)

I can't find the right post again to quote, but @vsadmin , if the majority of members are against these bark collars then there isn't even a point in the ad being shown here.

Can someone PM me a link to the FB group? I tried to find one when the forums went down on that weekend and could only see inactive, public groups - would be good to have somewhere to go if it happens again anyway.


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## tyg'smum (Aug 14, 2018)

Lucy2020 said:


> Can someone PM me a link to the FB group? I tried to find one when the forums went down on that weekend and could only see inactive, public groups - would be good to have somewhere to go if it happens again anyway.


I've PM'd it to you.


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

I can't see any reason why I'd not want to stay so far but sad to see @LinznMilly isn't happy.

I'll hang around and agree, give the owners a chance - I imagine they've inherited a lot of stuff to sort out. I use PF on iPad and ads are okay.

I find Facebook worse and trying to step away from that platform as I detest Meta for lots of reasons.


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## £54etgfb6 (Dec 25, 2020)

vsadmin said:


> We haven't touched ad layout yet, just switch to our sever using the same laout, nor do we tend to use anything that big, how long have you been seeing this?


I have only been seeing the large, following ads for the past day though I will say this evening they have not appeared on my phone! Instead, the banner ad is much smaller and does not follow you as you scroll down the page. I suspect this in relation to your later posts on this thread re: making the banner ad smaller? If so, thank you.

All in all, I'm not really bothered by a different company taking over the site. It may be improved, stay the same, or it may become worse. Only time will tell.


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## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

vsadmin said:


> I'm glad you're staying on as a member at least from your other responses. I'm happy to discuss next steps with you and if you want the other site you're having problems with.


OK. I've thought about the best way to respond to this - PM, or on here. Think it's fair that everyone else knows what they can expect - that is, if the forum I moderate is anything to go by. After all, I've made my resignation public, think it's only fair they know why.

First of all, we'd get to be Supermods. :Couchpotato Sounds cool, but all that really means is that we're moderators of the whole forum - just like we are here. We can ban users, we can move threads around, we can edit or delete threads. But we can't change usernames or delete accounts. So I nominated myself to become Admin, thinking that would solve it. There is a logic to it, after all. It is the Admin page, not the moderator or Supermoderator page, so reserving it for Admin makes a certain kind of sense.

Well, I can change usernames. I get access to the Admin page, I get to see all the pretty graphs about user and forum stats, that I have absolutely no interest in, but I can't delete user accounts (which we'd only do at user request, just as we do here). So our options are, ban them (which sticks in the craw if/when they've done nothing wrong) or turn to you.

And wait.

And wait.

We waited _months_. To be fair, Admin did log in, posted an arbitrary thread asking us about our likes and dislikes, but didn't answer our request to delete this user. When we pulled her up on it, she said hadn't seen it. Said we'd posted it in the wrong forum, that if we'd posted it in another forum, she'd have seen it.

Take a look at the Forum Help section of this site and see how many users have asked for their account to be deleted.

It isn't all bad - most things aren't. I did manage to change the format so that users have a time limit in which to edit their posts before it's essentially locked. That will be invaluable here. Just take a look in the Dog (and possibly Cat) breeding forums to see how many newbies log in, post, decide they don't like the answers, and delete the OP and their own replies, leaving just a dot. Being able to do something about that would be a Godsend.

And yes, you do leave the day-to-day running of the site to the mods and admin. Which I'm fine with. But not if it means we lose half of the self-sufficiency, the autonomy that we have now, and have to wait weeks or months for a response from VScope to do things that we can do now.

So for me, it's either resign, or become Admin, and accept I still won't be able to delete accounts, like I can't on the other forum, and I'm not sure I want to be Admin of 2 VScope forums.


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## 1507601 (Jun 26, 2020)

In regards to what @LinznMilly has posted, @vsadmin , it seems like you need to allow users to delete their accounts. Plenty of forums (at least in the past) had this functionality, and considering all the recent data protection stuff, it seems pretty sensible to simply add that option?


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

LinznMilly said:


> OK. I've thought about the best way to respond to this - PM, or on here. Think it's fair that everyone else knows what they can expect - that is, if the forum I moderate is anything to go by. After all, I've made my resignation public, think it's only fair they know why.
> 
> First of all, we'd get to be Supermods. :Couchpotato Sounds cool, but all that really means is that we're moderators of the whole forum - just like we are here. We can ban users, we can move threads around, we can edit or delete threads. But we can't change usernames or delete accounts. So I nominated myself to become Admin, thinking that would solve it. There is a logic to it, after all. It is the Admin page, not the moderator or Supermoderator page, so reserving it for Admin makes a certain kind of sense.
> 
> ...


That sounds really frustrating Linz. Although I have 'Admin' status here I haven't found any more powers than I had before and didn't find the reply to my query reassuring


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## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

SusieRainbow said:


> That sounds really frustrating Linz. Although I have 'Admin' status here I haven't found any more powers than I had before and didn't find the reply to my query reassuring


One user needed her account and posts deleted and deleted quickly, after over a year of being a loyal forum member. We had to resort to spam cleaning her.


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

LinznMilly said:


> We waited _months_.


As far as I'm aware, there are still outstanding requests from September last year on the other VS forum. Sorry to raise this here, but we don't get much attention on the other forum from VS Admin. This is serious and worrying because of data protection. Data protection laws here say that personal data, including user names, must be removed on request. As Linz says, the only way we can do that is to spam clean, which removes all the user's content. That means threads stop making sense and a lot of valuable content disappears. We need either to be able to delete the member's account (so they show as "Deleted Member 12345") or for VS admin to respond a lot more quickly. @vsadmin, there's no point in telling the users to contact you, as you suggested, because they aren't likely to revisit the site. So all we can do is keep a paper trail to protect ourselves, and leave you to think about the size of the fine you might get for breach of DP and the compensation you may have to pay.


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

SusieRainbow said:


> That sounds really frustrating Linz. Although I have 'Admin' status here I haven't found any more powers than I had before and didn't find the reply to my query reassuring


This, exactly.


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## 3dogs2cats (Aug 15, 2012)

Lucy2020 said:


> In regards to what @LinznMilly has posted, @vsadmin , it seems like you need to allow users to delete their accounts. Plenty of forums (at least in the past) had this functionality, and considering all the recent data protection stuff, it seems pretty sensible to simply add that option?


Agree, the user being able to delete their own account makes sense and stops any concerns about having to wait until request is dealt with.


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

Lucy2020 said:


> I can't find the right post again to quote, but @vsadmin , if the majority of members are against these bark collars then there isn't even a point in the ad being shown here.
> 
> Can someone PM me a link to the FB group? I tried to find one when the forums went down on that weekend and could only see inactive, public groups - would be good to have somewhere to go if it happens again anyway.


 Bark Collars aren't a category on Google AdSense if you see them you have to report them so we can manually block the ads. Likewise the more people talk about bark collars the more it shows up in the site's metadata resulting in more targeting.



bmr10 said:


> I have only been seeing the large, following ads for the past day though I will say this evening they have not appeared on my phone! Instead, the banner ad is much smaller and does not follow you as you scroll down the page. I suspect this in relation to your later posts on this thread re: making the banner ad smaller? If so, thank you.
> 
> All in all, I'm not really bothered by a different company taking over the site. It may be improved, stay the same, or it may become worse. Only time will tell.


 Yes the layout was previously set to allow those bigger ads but it looks like the seller had them throttled. I had the ad team replace the unit completely with a smaller one.



LinznMilly said:


> OK. I've thought about the best way to respond to this - PM, or on here. Think it's fair that everyone else knows what they can expect - that is, if the forum I moderate is anything to go by. After all, I've made my resignation public, think it's only fair they know why.
> 
> First of all, we'd get to be Supermods. :Couchpotato Sounds cool, but all that really means is that we're moderators of the whole forum - just like we are here. We can ban users, we can move threads around, we can edit or delete threads. But we can't change usernames or delete accounts. So I nominated myself to become Admin, thinking that would solve it. There is a logic to it, after all. It is the Admin page, not the moderator or Supermoderator page, so reserving it for Admin makes a certain kind of sense.
> 
> ...


I sincerely want to know what the other forum is as the deletion stuff you're talking about is not remotely inside of our SLA's and that's why I'm asking. I'm not trying to just reassure you about here, I want to see what the heck is wrong with the other site. 


Lucy2020 said:


> In regards to what @LinznMilly has posted, @vsadmin , it seems like you need to allow users to delete their accounts. Plenty of forums (at least in the past) had this functionality, and considering all the recent data protection stuff, it seems pretty sensible to simply add that option?


What's supposed to happen with us is if you want your account removed you email [email protected] and your account will be removed within 5 business days



SusieRainbow said:


> That sounds really frustrating Linz. Although I have 'Admin' status here I haven't found any more powers than I had before and didn't find the reply to my query reassuring


To be fair I haven't even looked at your access yet, if you want to discuss that please reply to the other thread in the mod area.



LinznMilly said:


> One user needed her account and posts deleted and deleted quickly, after over a year of being a loyal forum member. We had to resort to spam cleaning her.





JoanneF said:


> As far as I'm aware, there are still outstanding requests from September last year on the other VS forum. Sorry to raise this here, but we don't get much attention on the other forum from VS Admin. This is serious and worrying because of data protection. Data protection laws here say that personal data, including user names, must be removed on request. As Linz says, the only way we can do that is to spam clean, which removes all the user's content. That means threads stop making sense and a lot of valuable content disappears. We need either to be able to delete the member's account (so they show as "Deleted Member 12345") or for VS admin to respond a lot more quickly. @vsadmin, there's no point in telling the users to contact you, as you suggested, because they aren't likely to revisit the site. So all we can do is keep a paper trail to protect ourselves, and leave you to think about the size of the fine you might get for breach of DP and the compensation you may have to pay.


GDPR requires a turnaround time of 30 days from start to finish. We are supposed to do it within 5, 14 if they require their posts be scraped for PII to remove and they are a high volume poster. 


3dogs2cats said:


> Agree, the user being able to delete their own account makes sense and stops any concerns about having to wait until request is dealt with.


 There are two reasons we don't do a button to delete your account, the first and from my experience most common is that even without the button, roughly 15% of the takedowns we receive result in users trying to do this to circumvent a legitimate ban or other punitive action on the account, another 10% simply change their mind. The second is the functionality would innately flawed, particularly when it comes to GDPR compliance. If it killed the account it wouldn't impact things like posts or PMs, or if it did it would have to kill the posts entirely because you can't create a toggle that understands nuance and context, this results in the gaps mentioned above or if the user is of a high post count more likely the site timing out and the process failing entirely.


----------



## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

vsadmin said:


> What's supposed to happen with us is if you want your account removed you email [email protected] and your account will be removed within 5 business days


But how would people know that? I'm pretty sure I've never seen that other other sites.



vsadmin said:


> GDPR requires a turnaround time of 30 days from start to finish. We are supposed to do it within 5, 14 if they require their posts be scraped for PII to remove and they are a high volume poster.


You have one that we requested on the user's behalf that has been outstanding for over 6 months. We know that you know about it as someone responded to posts about it.


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

JoanneF said:


> But how would people know that? I'm pretty sure I've never seen that other other sites.
> 
> You have one that we requested on the user's behalf that has been outstanding for over 6 months. We know that you know about it as someone responded to posts about it.


The turn around time isn't listed but the email is posted in our privacy policy, as well it should be tied to the contact us page.

The situation you're describing doesn't help me see what's happening as you are not giving me any context as to which site this is referring to. I personally do not know what you're talking about which is unsettling to me as I am also the person in charge of doing said take downs for the privacy address, so if someone on my team has failed to escalate properly I'd like to know so I can take appropriate next steps. I do know that short of a partner or other survivng relation or like power of attorney of a deceased member we, and privacy laws, require that the owner of the account be the person who makes the request as any actions taken otherwise would be treated as without consent.


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

Why did my computer try a download when I tried to come onto this site?


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

rona said:


> Why did my computer try a download when I tried to come onto this site?


Did you happen to grab the message for it? Possibly a bad google ad that needs to be reported


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

vsadmin said:


> I do know that short of a partner or other survivng relation or like power of attorney of a deceased member we, and privacy laws, require that the owner of the account be the person who makes the request as any actions taken otherwise would be treated as without consent.


Presumably though, if a user asks on the forum for their account to be deleted, or messages a moderator, and we draw your attention to it; that should still be actioned?


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

vsadmin said:


> Did you happen to grab the message for it? Possibly a bad google ad that needs to be reported


Ads don't show on mine. I logged out immediately and closed my browser, tried again several times.
I've never ever had anything happen like this before and if it happens again I'm off


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

JoanneF said:


> Presumably though, if a user asks on the forum for their account to be deleted, or messages a moderator, and we draw your attention to it; that should still be actioned?


Actioned no, for the exact reason stated, the member of Community Management who would have gotten the ticket from the mod team should have either directed to the mods to have the user reach out to policy, or reached out to the member directly


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

rona said:


> Ads don't show on mine. I logged out immediately and closed my browser, tried again several times.
> I've never ever had anything happen like this before and if it happens again I'm off


I want to first say, I don't rightly care if you use a blocker at all, but which one do you use? It will help me determine if something is still trying to fire around it, it may mean something important is misfiring around it such as the cookie consent wall we use for GDPR compliance. I assume you did the smart and appropriate thing and blocked the download,


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

vsadmin said:


> Actioned no, for the exact reason stated, the member of Community Management who would have gotten the ticket from the mod team should have either directed to the mods to have the user reach out to policy, or reached out to the member directly


So what's the point of the mods. We may as well go straight to the "community management"?


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

vsadmin said:


> I want to first say, I don't rightly care if you use a blocker at all, but which one do you use? It will help me determine if something is still trying to fire around it, it may mean something important is misfiring around it such as the cookie consent wall we use for GDPR compliance. I assume you did the smart and appropriate thing and blocked the download,


I like many on here are not computer savvy and if this is a sign of things to come.......................


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

vsadmin said:


> Actioned no, for the exact reason stated, the member of Community Management who would have gotten the ticket from the mod team should have either directed to the mods to have the user reach out to policy, or reached out to the member directly


 so a user says "please delete my account", we show you that, but because they haven't emailed you, you don't do it? Is that correct?


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

rona said:


> So what's the point of the mods. We may as well go straight to the "community management"?


Mods do more things around the site than delete accounts, we have no intentions of overriding the day-to-day moderation of the site. 


rona said:


> I like many on here are not computer savvy and if this is a sign of things to come.......................


It shouldn't be, we don't have anything that forces a download in our entire system that's why I'm trying to ask for information so I can see what is wrong. 


JoanneF said:


> so a user says "please delete my account", we show you that, but because they haven't emailed you, you don't do it? Is that correct?


No, again because I don't have the context of the site you're referring to I misunderstood. If the user posts on the site and that's where you flag it to us it should be actioned. Rather, if they sent you a PM or contacted you off-site, that's where the directing I mentioned comes into play.


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## SbanR (Jun 16, 2017)

vsadmin said:


> blocked the download,


I'm quite useless on the internet; no idea how to block a download if I'm even able to recognise when something is dodgy. Rather worrying!


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

vsadmin said:


> Mods do more things around the site than delete accounts, we have no intentions of overriding the day-to-day moderation of the site.
> 
> It shouldn't be, we don't have anything that forces a download in our entire system that's why I'm trying to ask for information so I can see what is wrong.
> No, again because I don't have the context of the site you're referring to I misunderstood. If the user posts on the site and that's where you flag it to us it should be actioned. Rather, if they sent you a PM or contacted you off-site, that's where the directing I mentioned comes into play.


No, it was in a forum post (no PM or off-site contact) that they said they wanted their account deleted, we nudged you, but nothing happened. We also have an outstanding request about how to deal with under 16s. The age restriction isn't a forum rule we have made as mods, it's in the T&Cs. I'm afraid it just feels like you don't give much support to the mods when you are asked.


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

Are the moderators going to be paid? I’m not starting a campaign as it’s not my place but I know of how many posts I’ve flagged over the year. If PF is now able to be sufficiently successful to be bought by an arguably bigger company and presumably at some point must break even or carry a profit, how viable and ethical is it to have members do that for free. I say this with no agenda, I’m not a moderator and wouldn’t want to be but I do appreciate what they do. I hope the new company might factor in this into their revision should our moderators think so too - they may not.


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## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

vsadmin said:


> I sincerely want to know what the other forum is as the deletion stuff you're talking about is not remotely inside of our SLA's and that's why I'm asking. I'm not trying to just reassure you about here, I want to see what the heck is wrong with the other site


I'm sorry I've only just seen this. The forum in question is dogforum.com (not to be confused with dogforums.com which was mentioned in the OP).


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

LinznMilly said:


> The forum in question is dogforum.com (not to be confused with dogforums.com which was mentioned in the OP).


On the back of that point, I looked at the OP.


HannahPetForum said:


> VerticalScope today already operates 600 forums globally


Can I ask, how many staff does VerticalScope employ?

Are you just spread too thin?


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## 1507601 (Jun 26, 2020)

@vsadmin Okay, I guess it needs to be made clearer how to get an account deleted by VS staff. Not just in the privacy policy, as people will forget having read that after a time, and a lot of people will not think to look there when wanting to delete their account; I'd suggest when you take over a forum you make a stickeyed post clearing explaining how to get an account deleted and anything else along similar lines. 
I know it's probably a bit irritating receiving advice you haven't asked for, but this is clearly a big problem that isn't being resolved (and not your individual fault), so I feel the need to make suggestions...


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

Lucy2020 said:


> @vsadmin Okay, I guess it needs to be made clearer how to get an account deleted by VS staff. Not just in the privacy policy, as people will forget having read that after a time, and a lot of people will not think to look there when wanting to delete their account;


That's assuming most people even read the privacy policy in the first place... It's not where I'd look first for info on how to delete an account, either.

There's an easy solution here, though. We already have a forum for Technical Help and Issues, why not add a sticky there on how to request an account deletion, or maybe even a sub forum dedicated to it?


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

JoanneF said:


> No, it was in a forum post (no PM or off-site contact) that they said they wanted their account deleted, we nudged you, but nothing happened. We also have an outstanding request about how to deal with under 16s. The age restriction isn't a forum rule we have made as mods, it's in the T&Cs. I'm afraid it just feels like you don't give much support to the mods when you are asked.





LinznMilly said:


> I'm sorry I've only just seen this. The forum in question is dogforum.com (not to be confused with dogforums.com which was mentioned in the OP).


 Are you two on the same forum? As I'm about to audit it to see just what is happening here as all of our pet sites are in their own direct queue and have a dedicated community manager. Regarding Age and the TOS that's currently under revision and based on requirements of Californian law. Under 18 we are required to record proof of age and consent of a guardian. Sites aren't built for that anymore if they still want members to join efficiently and comfortably. But that's a whole other conversation.



JoanneF said:


> On the back of that point, I looked at the OP.
> 
> Can I ask, how many staff does VerticalScope employ?
> 
> Are you just spread too thin?


I don't have an exact number but the CM team is 20 people across different verticals not including some contractors. Regarding daily support if you'd asked me a year ago I'd say absolutely we were spread too thin. Last summer however we overhauled our team, processes, and hired several more people. With the exception of a weekend, we rarely don't at least acknowledge a ticket on-site within 24 hours or less. So after I post this message I will be going over to dogforum to see what's happening there.



Jesthar said:


> That's assuming most people even read the privacy policy in the first place... It's not where I'd look first for info on how to delete an account, either.
> 
> There's an easy solution here, though. We already have a forum for Technical Help and Issues, why not add a sticky there on how to request an account deletion, or maybe even a sub forum dedicated to it?


Sticky thread I will consider, subforum while I appreciate the impetus of helping people out gives a bad image unless the subforum were members only, but then older users who locked themselves out over time and want to be removed wouldn't see it.


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

vsadmin said:


> Sticky thread I will consider, subforum while I appreciate the impetus of helping people out gives a bad image unless the subforum were members only, but then older users who locked themselves out over time and want to be removed wouldn't see it.


 The help forum might be members only anyway (can't remember), if it is sub forums in there wouldn't be seen either. Looking at the Help forum, a lot of posts in there are already related to deleting accounts.

Perhaps a sticky along the lines of "Guide on deleting your account" would reduce those threads, too


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

Jesthar said:


> The help forum might be members only anyway (can't remember), if it is sub forums in there wouldn't be seen either. Looking at the Help forum, a lot of posts in there are already related to deleting accounts.
> 
> Perhaps a sticky along the lines of "Guide on deleting your account" would reduce those threads, too


Still getting our ducks in a row here before I get that posted.



JoanneF said:


> No, it was in a forum post (no PM or off-site contact) that they said they wanted their account deleted, we nudged you, but nothing happened. We also have an outstanding request about how to deal with under 16s. The age restriction isn't a forum rule we have made as mods, it's in the T&Cs. I'm afraid it just feels like you don't give much support to the mods when you are asked.





LinznMilly said:


> I'm sorry I've only just seen this. The forum in question is dogforum.com (not to be confused with dogforums.com which was mentioned in the OP).


Dogforum has been looked at and replied to. If you see here first I've also reset our account's follow settings and the queue because no ticket had been generated much less answered in months.


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## JANICE199 (Feb 1, 2008)

*OMG! Just reading through this thread has filled me with dread. How i wish things could be how they were when i joined in 2008. ( i hope i got that right. )*


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

When we could talk to Mark..........

Not like now when everything seems to be the users fault and we are meant to sort our own problems or leave............even if it's a set up error that lets though unsolicited downloads........and Mods aren't even told the rules.................

Honestly, I don't know what to do about this. I don't want to lose touch with some of you but I also don't want to stay here


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

rona said:


> When we could talk to Mark..........
> 
> Not like now when everything seems to be the users fault and we are meant to sort our own problems or leave............even if it's a set up error that lets though unsolicited downloads........and Mods aren't even told the rules.................
> 
> Honestly, I don't know what to do about this. I don't want to lose touch with some of you but I also don't want to stay here


To try to be reassuring, we find on the other site that Verticalscope is really quite hands-off. So, in that respect, it means you aren't likely to see any great change in the day to day running of the forum. The other side of that coin is that when we do need their input, it's frustrating trying to get their attention. But that isn't a regular thing, it's only once in a while. I hope you get your IT stuff sorted and stay, at least they are looking at that for you.


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

JoanneF said:


> To try to be reassuring, we find on the other site that Verticalscope is really quite hands-off. So, in that respect, it means you aren't likely to see any great change in the day to day running of the forum. The other side of that coin is that when we do need their input, it's frustrating trying to get their attention. But that isn't a regular thing, it's only once in a while. I hope you get your IT stuff sorted and stay, at least they are looking at that for you.


Are they?
Where did they say that?
I thought I had to do all the blocking and investigating!!

Anyway, it hasn't happened since and I'm keeping a very close eye on my downloads incase one sneaks through


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

Sorry, wasn’t following as closely as I ought to have been, I thought they were trying to see if something was interfering with your ad blocker


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

I dont see what the problem is tbh.

It would be nice if there were clearer rules, especially those involving debates/discussions and thread closures. 

In all honesty im surprised anyone would want to take it over as its pretty dead these days. I remember when you could log on and there would be pages of threads with new replies in just a single subforum - now you're lucky if its more than one or two single threads, and loads of threads get zero replies at all.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

WRT all the comments about ads, when I'm at home I don't see them as I have a Raspberry Pi running PiHole and it words for any device using my home network - my phone, my table, my laptop, my PC.

It is a geeks' solution but it is a good one in my view. How it works is every device connected to a network uses DNS - a domain name server. It translates the name of a website into an IP address, so 'google.co.uk' becomes 172.217.16.227. It uses block lists, for those domain names & ip addresses it doesn't return them so the device can't access them. It does need a simple tweak to any WiFi router settings, and if you only use mobile data it won't help you. Then ad blockers on the phone and/or the Brave browser will help.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

Nonnie said:


> its pretty dead these days.


I'd also been wondering what was happening. The only threads that seem to get much ''traffic'' seem to be in ''general'': Covid; Russia/Ukraine; Wordle; women's rights; fuel increases etc. A year or two back it was Brexit and Extinction Rebellion. There's hardly anything happening in the actual pet sections, and quite honestly, there are some posters whom I do not believe I have _ever_ seen on pet threads - not once. I certainly wouldn't buy it as a pet forum.


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

Calvine said:


> I'd also been wondering what was happening. The only threads that seem to get much ''traffic'' seem to be in ''general'': Covid; Russia/Ukraine; Wordle; women's rights; fuel increases etc. A year or two back it was Brexit and Extinction Rebellion. There's hardly anything happening in the actual pet sections, and quite honestly, there are some posters whom I do not believe I have _ever_ seen on pet threads - not once. I certainly wouldn't buy it as a pet forum.


Absolutely.

I would give my opinion as to why i think its that way, but, well......


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## HarlequinCat (Nov 29, 2012)

It seems as though you don't see any ads if you use the DuckDuckGo Web browser


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## Jim40 (Apr 2, 2020)

HarlequinCat said:


> It seems as though you don't see any ads if you use the DuckDuckGo Web browser


I said earlier that I use duck duck go and I have even changed the Google settings in their standard and chrome browsers to using duckduckgo as the search facility. Never had an advert for months if not years now. Each to their own with what they prefer.


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## Blitz (Feb 12, 2009)

Just seen this and cant be bothered to read it so have no idea what it is about but I have never had an ad for all the years I have been on as I have an adblocker


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## HarlequinCat (Nov 29, 2012)

Jim40 said:


> I said earlier that I use duck duck go and I have even changed the Google settings in their standard and chrome browsers to using duckduckgo as the search facility. Never had an advert for months if not years now. Each to their own with what they prefer.


Ahh good, I missed that. I use ducduckgo for our local paper online. Unless you are registered with them you can only read 8 articles within a certain time frame and then they restrict what you view of their stories. Don't have that problem on duckduckgo


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Blitz said:


> Just seen this and cant be bothered to read it so have no idea what it is about but I have never had an ad for all the years I have been on as I have an adblocker


Not about ads, it's about the new owners, PF has been sold again.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Nonnie said:


> I dont see what the problem is tbh.
> 
> It would be nice if there were clearer rules, especially those involving debates/discussions and thread closures.
> 
> In all honesty im surprised anyone would want to take it over as its pretty dead these days. I remember when you could log on and there would be pages of threads with new replies in just a single subforum - now you're lucky if its more than one or two single threads, and loads of threads get zero replies at all.





Calvine said:


> I'd also been wondering what was happening. The only threads that seem to get much ''traffic'' seem to be in ''general'': Covid; Russia/Ukraine; Wordle; women's rights; fuel increases etc. A year or two back it was Brexit and Extinction Rebellion. There's hardly anything happening in the actual pet sections, and quite honestly, there are some posters whom I do not believe I have _ever_ seen on pet threads - not once. I certainly wouldn't buy it as a pet forum.


Guess it depends on where you look. I seem to find plenty of threads on pets to read and respond to if I feel like it every time I visit. 

All forums fluctuate.


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## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

Nonnie said:


> I dont see what the problem is tbh.
> 
> It would be nice if there were clearer rules, especially those involving debates/discussions and thread closures.
> 
> In all honesty im surprised anyone would want to take it over as its pretty dead these days. I remember when you could log on and there would be pages of threads with new replies in just a single subforum - now you're lucky if its more than one or two single threads, and loads of threads get zero replies at all.


Yes quieter but a lot nicer! I was warned the forum was "lively " but flipping heck 

Decisions about debates and closures. We do have rules . I dont always agree but I support the Mods because modding really can be a nightmare.


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## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

lorilu said:


> Guess it depends on where you look. I seem to find plenty of threads on pets to read and respond to if I feel like it every time I visit.
> 
> All forums fluctuate.


I think the Dog behaviour forum have been quiet as we have lost members who used to answer. I dont respond as much as I used to because I got tired of answering the same old questions . Often you spend ages answering a post and either the OP never comes back to the forum or they spit the dummy.

However we do get new people joining and it would if they got more replies in the Introductions section.


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## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

kimthecat said:


> I think the Dog behaviour forum have been quiet as we have lost members who used to answer. I dont respond as much as I used to because I got tired of answering the same old questions . Often you spend ages answering a post and either the OP never comes back to the forum or they spit the dummy.
> 
> However we do get new people joining and it would if they got more replies in the Introductions section.


I felt the same about the dog behaviour bit too..I would type answers then just delete before posting stating why should I bother.

Am here but quiet as most things have already been said before I get to a post.

Am just glad that nothing is merging as @mrs phas said about the ethics of other forums is somewhat different


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

kimthecat said:


> However we do get new people joining and it would if they got more replies in the Introductions section.


I almost never read those. I'm more interested in specifics, be it dog, cat or small animal, than generalities.


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

kimthecat said:


> I think the Dog behaviour forum have been quiet as we have lost members who used to answer. I dont respond as much as I used to because I got tired of answering the same old questions . Often you spend ages answering a post and either the OP never comes back to the forum or they spit the dummy.


Oh definitely on the getting tired of answering the same thing or giving a detailed reply for the poster never to return.

But you know, the other thing I find myself doing is reading a question, then I think "oh, so and so always gives great advice on this" and then I leave it assuming they'll come by and post. Like potty training and crate training, I just think of @JoanneF and don't bother posting because I know she will do a much better job than I would. Collie being obsessive? I leave it to @Twiggy cause she will give far better advice than I would, GSD issues? I think of @Cleo38 and @Sairy and don't bother replying because they will and better than I could, and tons of other great posters I haven't mentioned 

Nobody ever asks what to do with a feral swamprat, but if they did....


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## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

lorilu said:


> I almost never read those. I'm more interested in specifics, be it dog, cat or small animal, than generalities.


Yes of course but in order for this forum to survive we need to attract more members and it doesnt take a minute to say hello and welcome.


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## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

O2.0 said:


> Oh definitely on the getting tired of answering the same thing or giving a detailed reply for the poster never to return.
> 
> But you know, the other thing I find myself doing is reading a question, then I think "oh, so and so always gives great advice on this" and then I leave it assuming they'll come by and post. Like potty training and crate training, I just think of @JoanneF and don't bother posting because I know she will do a much better job than I would. Collie being obsessive? I leave it to @Twiggy cause she will give far better advice than I would, GSD issues? I think of @Cleo38 and @Sairy and don't bother replying because they will and better than I could, and tons of other great posters I haven't mentioned
> 
> Nobody ever asks what to do with a feral swamprat, but if they did....


:Hilarious I would add you to that list though .


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

kimthecat said:


> :Hilarious I would add you to that list though .


Thanks  
If it's recall or leash stuff I do like to respond. For me it's fun to problem solve recall  
I haven't seen many "my dog won't come" threads lately though. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

kimthecat said:


> Yes of course but in order for this forum to survive we need to attract more members and it doesnt take a minute to say hello and welcome.


Oh well I feel I put as much into the place as I get out of it already, without forcing myself to read and post in sections I have no interest in. Compulsory actions, be they self imposed or forum society imposed, get old very fast. If you like to, that's great. It's not for me.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

O2.0 said:


> Oh definitely on the getting tired of answering the same thing or giving a detailed reply for the poster never to return.
> 
> But you know, the other thing I find myself doing is reading a question, then I think "oh, so and so always gives great advice on this" and then I leave it assuming they'll come by and post. Like potty training and crate training, I just think of @JoanneF and don't bother posting because I know she will do a much better job than I would. Collie being obsessive? I leave it to @Twiggy cause she will give far better advice than I would, GSD issues? I think of @Cleo38 and @Sairy and don't bother replying because they will and better than I could, and tons of other great posters I haven't mentioned
> 
> Nobody ever asks what to do with a feral swamprat, but if they did....


I've been the same, in cats, over the years, especially when Chillminx was still with us. We saw eye to eye on almost everything, and she knew a lot more about some stuff that I had less interest in so if I was tired or short of time if I saw she'd posed I wouldn't even open the thread. I am very little help with, say feral cat populations, or issues like what Bethanjane22 goes through for instance.

And if I read and am interested, but can't help, I don't either though if I can think of someone who can I'll tag.


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## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

lorilu said:


> Oh well I feel I put as much into the place as I get out of it already, without forcing myself to read and post in sections I have no interest in. Compulsory actions, be they self imposed or forum society imposed, get old very fast. If you like to, that's great. It's not for me.


Im sure you do a lot and its not certainly not compulsory. Its not all about you. Im just explaining generally. I don't particularly like doing it. Ive seen to many forums dwindle off and end up dead and it would be a shame if that happened here.


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## LittleFox (12 mo ago)

Nonnie said:


> In all honesty im surprised anyone would want to take it over as its pretty dead these days. I remember when you could log on and there would be pages of threads with new replies in just a single subforum - now you're lucky if its more than one or two single threads, and loads of threads get zero replies at all.


Totally agree - I remember those days! You could just read and refresh and read and refresh and read...

I feel like there used to be so many more interesting threads as well. Of course there's always been the threads about crate training and puppy biting and resource guarding, but these days I find barely any posts interesting enough to reply join in with.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

LittleFox said:


> Totally agree - I remember those days! You could just read and refresh and read and refresh and read...
> 
> I feel like there used to be so many more interesting threads as well. Of course there's always been the threads about crate training and puppy biting and resource guarding, but these days I find barely any posts interesting enough to reply join in with.


Perhaps it's not just that the thread topics have changed, perhaps your interests have changed. 

I've been a member of this forum for almost 13 years. Actually longer, because I had a different handle the first time I joined but there were some members back then (2007-2008) I found so intolerable I left and requested my account be deleted. Later I came back under my current name. Every few years there are threads about "the forum just isn't the same" and they are always different people who start them. Forums fluctuate, it's the nature of the beast.

The real problem with forums is when they are sold and new owners jump in and kill them. THAT'S when forums die, when they are sold. We've survived the first sell out, though we lost a lot of members. Whether we survive this one only time will tell.


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## Sairy (Nov 22, 2016)

Hey popping on here to say pretty pleeeeease can someone send me the link to the Facebook group. I will still be coming on here though unless I find myself not getting on with the new changes. @O2.0 if a post requires a snarky comment and I can't be bothered/don't want to leave one then I know I can usually rely on you or @simplysardonic to do it


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## LittleFox (12 mo ago)

Sairy said:


> Hey popping on here to say pretty pleeeeease can someone send me the link to the Facebook group. I will still be coming on here though unless I find myself not getting on with the new changes. @O2.0 if a post requires a snarky comment and I can't be bothered/don't want to leave one then I know I can usually rely on you or @simplysardonic to do it


I've just PMed you


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## 1507601 (Jun 26, 2020)

I'm seeing an ad for a petroleum engineering guidebook :Hilarious

Anyway, I haven't noticed a lack of pet related threads, personally. Obviously I wasn't around in the 'good old days' though. Bear in mind, back then, ALL forums were more active. As a platform, they're just kind of dying. It's a shame, as I much prefer them to, for example, Facebook groups or discord servers. I've met my best friends and my husband on forums. 

I never really saw a point in introductions sections, to be honest. There's no conversation to be had. I've never felt a need to post in one when joining a forum.


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## 1507601 (Jun 26, 2020)

Why was my post deleted?

Never mind, it's showing now


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## Mojo83 (Jul 10, 2017)

Lucy2020 said:


> I never really saw a point in introductions sections, to be honest. There's no conversation to be had. I've never felt a need to post in one when joining a forum.


I agree there's no real conversation to be had but as someone who's pretty shy I felt really out of place just jumping in and posting with many long time members. I spent ages just reading posts in the dog forum (because I found them interesting) before I started off in the introduction section. Just one or two replies made me feel more comfortable, but perhaps that's just me 

I really hope the forum doesn't die out, I know forums in general aren't as popular these days but I really like it here!


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## 1507601 (Jun 26, 2020)

Mojo83 said:


> I agree there's no real conversation to be had but as someone who's pretty shy I felt really out of place just jumping in and posting with many long time members. I spent ages just reading posts in the dog forum (because I found them interesting) before I started off in the introduction section. Just one or two replies made me feel more comfortable, but perhaps that's just me
> 
> I really hope the forum doesn't die out, I know forums in general aren't as popular these days but I really like it here!


I guess I can understand that. And yes, I hope so too.


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

Mojo83 said:


> I agree there's no real conversation to be had but as someone who's pretty shy I felt really out of place just jumping in and posting with many long time members. I spent ages just reading posts in the dog forum (because I found them interesting) before I started off in the introduction section. Just one or two replies made me feel more comfortable, but perhaps that's just me
> 
> I really hope the forum doesn't die out, I know forums in general aren't as popular these days but I really like it here!


Long term membership doesn't make someone anything special.If you've been here since 2008 or joined last week, you are an important part of this forum.

Anyway, you are a long term member now 
Get posting more


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## Teddy-dog (Nov 2, 2017)

Mojo83 said:


> I agree there's no real conversation to be had but as someone who's pretty shy I felt really out of place just jumping in and posting with many long time members. I spent ages just reading posts in the dog forum (because I found them interesting) before I started off in the introduction section. Just one or two replies made me feel more comfortable, but perhaps that's just me
> 
> I really hope the forum doesn't die out, I know forums in general aren't as popular these days but I really like it here!


I felt the same when I joined.

I think forums are dying out to the likes of other social media platforms which are more popular now than years ago. But I like it hear, it's a bit quiet but I like our boring threads of what everyone's been up to. I don't really like confrontation so I'd find it harder to post more if there were lots of spicy threads :Hilarious:Hilarious


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

Mojo83 said:


> I agree there's no real conversation to be had but as someone who's pretty shy I felt really out of place just jumping in and posting with many long time members. I spent ages just reading posts in the dog forum (because I found them interesting) before I started off in the introduction section. Just one or two replies made me feel more comfortable, but perhaps that's just me
> 
> I really hope the forum doesn't die out, I know forums in general aren't as popular these days but I really like it here!


I was the same when I first came here I was really nervous when I first answered something and then scared witless when I made my first thread. But once you've got over those hurdles then it does get easier. I have a tendency to avoid spicy threads these days perhaps try and calm it a bit or hope to anyway.

With all the other social media platforms forums have become less useful which is a huge shame as I think they are a much better way of dealing with complicated questions and it is so much easier to look back and find other threads on the same subject. 
I have notice that newbies are often brought in to the forum as they have been doing a search on a problem with their pet, find an old thread on the subject and then often join and ask about their particular issue. It's getting them to stay and join in has become more difficult. How many times has someone posted, got their answer, thanked us all and when encouraged to stay and join in say they will, but are never seen again. I wonder if because there is a group of 'friends' who regularly post and have a laugh it can seem off putting to strangers 
Forums to my mind have a big place still, you've only got to Google something and up will pop answers from some forum or other which answers your query, it's amazing what different kinds of forums there are


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

LittleFox said:


> Totally agree - I remember those days! You could just read and refresh and read and refresh and read...
> 
> I feel like there used to be so many more interesting threads as well. Of course there's always been the threads about crate training and puppy biting and resource guarding, but these days I find barely any posts interesting enough to reply join in with.


Logging on this morning, there is only two posts in Dog Chat with any new replies.

Its not normal fluctuation, this place has very little traffic these days, and only a hardcore set of regular posters that mainly stick to GC.

I remember when i was a mod and there would be pages and pages in just one single thread to go through, and you'd have at least 3 pages of threads to sort in DC alone. Now it seems a miracle for any post outside of GC to get more than 4 to 5 replies, let alone pages.

Im not sure FB is to blame as thats just as highly censored, if not more. I use another forum and it has hundreds of members posting on a a daily basis, so im not sure the forum as a platform is dying.

Reddit certainly isnt.


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## Mojo83 (Jul 10, 2017)

rona said:


> Long term membership doesn't make someone anything special.If you've been here since 2008 or joined last week, you are an important part of this forum.
> 
> Anyway, you are a long term member now
> Get posting more


I think it's more just me over thinking things 
Thank you


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## JANICE199 (Feb 1, 2008)

Nonnie said:


> Logging on this morning, there is only two posts in Dog Chat with any new replies.
> 
> Its not normal fluctuation, this place has very little traffic these days, and only a hardcore set of regular posters that mainly stick to GC.
> 
> ...


*Can you remember the numbers of members roughly that were online most days? I know it was far far more than now.*


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

JANICE199 said:


> *Can you remember the numbers of members roughly that were online most days? I know it was far far more than now.*


Active members?

Probably a good few hundred that posted daily and on a regular basis. Maybe more. Been a long time since this place was truly busy.


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## JANICE199 (Feb 1, 2008)

Nonnie said:


> Active members?
> 
> Probably a good few hundred that posted daily and on a regular basis. Maybe more. Been a long time since this place was truly busy.


*Yes active at one time. I thought it was about 300 or more. Mark did put the number up one day. The forum was buzzing back then.*


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

lorilu said:


> Guess it depends on where you look. I seem to find plenty of threads on pets to read and respond to if I feel like it every time I visit.
> 
> All forums fluctuate.


 I could name several members (I won't) who, to my knowledge, have never expressed an opinion, comment or advice on a pet thread.


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## urbantigers (Apr 13, 2014)

Social media has taken over from forums for a lot of people. I don’t really do facebook, although I do have an account, but the format on there doesn’t lend itself to the same kind of discussion as a forum so it’s a real shame. I do hope petforms survives as I consider it invaluable and really appreciate when people taken time to post to help and advise. I learn so much.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

JANICE199 said:


> *Can you remember the numbers of members roughly that were online most days? I know it was far far more than now.*


What is very noticeable, @JANICE199, is: if you look through an old thread, maybe 2015 or thereabouts, you will possibly hardly recognise a single poster, even those who have contributed sensibly and knowledgeably. I think, like @urbantigers, that a lot of people just concentrate on FB - I only use it for information: there are a couple of good groups, the two I use are on HT cats and another on CKD. I don't have 470 ''friends'' with whom I exchange trivia. I find that really tedious.


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## JANICE199 (Feb 1, 2008)

urbantigers said:


> Social media has taken over from forums for a lot of people. I don't really do facebook, although I do have an account, but the format on there doesn't lend itself to the same kind of discussion as a forum so it's a real shame. I do hope petforms survives as I consider it invaluable and really appreciate when people taken time to post to help and advise. I learn so much.


*FB cannot be blamed for the decline of this forum. Yes FB is another ( platform) but this forum in my opinion, had enough active members to ride through that. Members changed and imho to many rules came into place on here.*
*I use both FB and this forum, and take each for what they offer.*
*It's so easy to blame someone else, but until you look at yourself, you will not/ or do not want to know the answer. *


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Calvine said:


> I could name several members (I won't) who, to my knowledge, have never expressed an opinion, comment or advice on a pet thread.


I couldn't, because I mostly read only the pet threads and a few regular in general, like the reading or watching threads. I don't worry much about what "used to be" in a forum, but everyone has their own pet peeves.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

lorilu said:


> I couldn't, because I mostly read only the pet threads and a few regular in general, like the reading or watching threads. I don't worry much about what "used to be" in a forum, but everyone has their own pet peeves.


It is not a ''peeve''; simply a fact.


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

lorilu said:


> everyone has their own pet peeves.


I have a peeve that dates back to 2011, the year I left the forum for a little while and came back.
There were some pretty nasty people about at that time and they haven't all left


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

rona said:


> I have a peeve that dates back to 2011, the year I left the forum for a little while and came back.
> There were some pretty nasty people about at that time and they haven't all left


When I left the first time it was because of some very nasty people, specifically one person and her crony. When I came back a year later and re-joined under another name I had them both on ignore right away and now I think about it they probably still are so I wouldn't know if they are posting or not, but I don't think so. (I just checked she is still on my list along with several others from her little clique, but not other the one I was thinking of, perhaps that one actually left the forum officially)

Both of them came over to another very busy pet forum I belonged to back then but their nastiness was not well received and they didn't stay long. That forum went bellyup after it was sold and too many changes were made.


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## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

urbantigers said:


> Social media has taken over from forums for a lot of people. I don't really do facebook, although I do have an account, but the format on there doesn't lend itself to the same kind of discussion as a forum so it's a real shame. I do hope petforms survives as I consider it invaluable and really appreciate when people taken time to post to help and advise. I learn so much.


Same here. I love the format of forums. They are easier to follow than Facebook etc . 
Back in the day I used to do Google groups and Yahoo groups. These no longer exist. lots of forums like Dogsey and Victoria Stilwell which were huge are very quiet now. The other forums I did , Dogpages the rescue forum and Understanding Animals no longer exist. Some forums I did , don't exist and I cant remember their names.

I think we have too many sections though.

Edited for spelling.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

kimthecat said:


> Sane here. I love the format of forums. They are easier to follow than Facebook etc .
> Back in the day I used to do Google groups and Yahoo groups. These no longer exist. lots of forums like Dogsey and Victoria Stilwell which were huge are very quiet now. The other forums I did , Dogpages the rescue forum and understanding Animals no longer exist. Some forums I did , dont exist and I cam remember there names.
> 
> I think we have too many sections though.


Add me to the list of people who prefer the forum structure over any other.


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

Can someone kill the emojis and replace with ones that make sense? I have no need for a penguin.
_
(copied my post below for the benefit of new owners…
When I mention the emojis it's with all seriousness because we've become used to the standard emoji encyclopaedia and that helps with tone. It's simply a better user experience and as someone for whom UX is a mainstay in my business, unconsciously I think the emojis and design of PF doesn't aid a good user experience. A Penguin emoji is pointless but a care/face palm and diversity emojis go a long way to inclusivity and behaviour because most of us are already familiar with their use.The trouble with anything online as Twitter can attest to, is that it can escalate and that does our people off. A well place emojis whether you love them or hate them (I don't care for them) gives context!_


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

I think a few threads in General Chat might have put people off. @JANICE199 created the Brexit thread in 2018 which is still only dropped to page 3, and lot of people from that time who said _no thanks_ (to discussing) aren't here. The social landscape outside PF does seem have an impact and cliques form in anything political which puts people off. The UK - the world, the planet - has been in a state of change which has created some difficult threads and of course Covid may have created more anxiety and people turned off forums and going online to protect mental health; others came here. I tend to think PF keeps it real and that's not for everyone. It's been extraordinary times and not necessarily comparable to say 2015 when the world was a bit more dull - goodness how I long for a boring world, don't you?

When I was in dog chat I was told to never venture to General Chat as it was vicious!

I no longer post on Dog Chat as I'm not the sort of owner who enters my dog into shows or does much with her now at 11. I was there 10 years ago went my dog knew sit and nothing else so it was really useful then. Now she's trained enough for me, and we potter along just fine and I don't feel I have much to share. But I dare say as we approach my dog's later years, I may go back in much sadder times.

I have little to share here to be fair, but it's nice to be a bit incognito. Those who are on FB must have a different approach in that it's more public by use of real names.


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## TriTri (Oct 31, 2017)

These ridiculous adverts are just too much  :Arghh.


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## JANICE199 (Feb 1, 2008)

MollySmith said:


> I think a few threads in General Chat might have put people off. @JANICE199 created the Brexit thread in 2018 which is still only dropped to page 3, and lot of people from that time who said _no thanks_ (to discussing) aren't here. The social landscape outside PF does seem have an impact and cliques form in anything political which puts people off. The UK has been in a stage of change which has created some difficult threads and of course Covid may have created more anxiety and people turned off forums and going online to protect mental health, others came here but I don't know how support this space was compared to others, I tend to think PF keeps it real and that's not for everyone. It's been extraordinary times and not necessarily comparable to say 2015 when the world was a bit more dull (god how I long for a boring world)
> 
> When I was in dog chat I was told to never venture to General Chat as it was vicious!
> 
> I no longer post on Dog Chat as I'm not the sort of owner who enters my dog into shows or does much with her now at 11. I was there 10 years ago went my dog knew sit and nothing else. Now she's trained enough for me, and we potter along just fine and I don't feel I have much to share. But I dare say as we approach my dog's later years, I may go back in much sadder times. I have sod all to share here to be fair, but it's nice to be a bit incognito. Those who are on FB must have a different approach in that it's more public by use of real names.


*I can never understand why people that are not interested in a topic choose to click on it or partake. There are so many other links they could click on.*
*When i joined this forum i hadn't long got 2 toy poodles which i had every intention of breeding. Thankfully i never did.*
*After that is when i took to GC, and over the years we have had some good debates, some got very heated but that's how we can learn. Some people need to learn to debate, without going all out to get other people to agree with them.*


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

JANICE199 said:


> *I can never understand why people that are not interested in a topic choose to click on it or partake. There are so many other links they could click on.*
> *When i joined this forum i hadn't long got 2 toy poodles which i had every intention of breeding. Thankfully i never did.*
> *After that is when i took to GC, and over the years we have had some good debates, some got very heated but that's how we can learn. Some people need to learn to debate, without going all out to get other people to agree with them.*


I find the bold purple text really difficult to read so if I miss a point it's because long form text wobbles (something we website designers avoids as it's causes eye strain!)

It' not always a good debate because good debate is language and tone or speech inflection is missing. When I mention the emojis it's with all seriousness because we've become used to the standard emoji encyclopaedia and that helps with tone. It's simply a better user experience and as someone for whom UX is a mainstay in my business, unconsciously I think the emojis and design of PF doesn't aid a good user experience. A Penguin emoji is pointless but a care/face palm and diversity emojis go a long way to inclusivity and behaviour because most of us are already familiar with their use.

The trouble with anything online as Twitter can attest to, is that it can escalate and that does put people off. A well place emojis whether you love them or hate them (I don't care for them) gives context!

And in any case, the Brexit thread asked a question (do we want to talk about it?) and people therefore reply to questions! Again how a thread is titled is important. It's just one of many examples like climate emergency, Covid and veganism where polite debate ends up being a bit personal. That can be alarming. I'm not having a go at your thread but it's the one that comes to mind as doubtless being top of the forum for months and getting heated. (I wonder if it was the one which was closed the most for a clean up too?) I think we have all created monster threads!

But from speaking to other online spaces - legit support groups - online use dropped after lockdowns. I genuinely think folk got sick of being online and there is also other media such as streaming tv and podcasts. The forum has a lot more competition now. They all do.


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## Happy Paws2 (Sep 13, 2008)

MollySmith said:


> The forum has a lot more competition now. They all do.


Maybe but I'd hate to see change, I love PF and the people on here, I'd hate to see it change or loss it.


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## catz4m8z (Aug 27, 2008)

MollySmith said:


> Can someone kill the emojis and replace with ones that make sense? I have no need for a penguin.


we really could do with an emoji update. Half of them are pretty useless and dont really do alot. Also why is there an android and a beaver but no dog!?



MollySmith said:


> I no longer post on Dog Chat as I'm not the sort of owner who enters my dog into shows or does much with her now at 11. I was there 10 years ago went my dog knew sit and nothing else so it was really useful then. Now she's trained enough for me, and we potter along just fine and I don't feel I have much to share. But I dare say as we approach my dog's later years, I may go back in much sadder times.
> .


You are welcome to pop onto the Oldies Thread in Dog Chat! Alot of us have been here long enough to see our puppies turn into pensioners so its nice to have somewhere to talk about our creaky old mutts!LOL

(also I havent noticed any real change to the forum for me since its changed hands, so meh.....):Bored


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

catz4m8z said:


> we really could do with an emoji update. Half of them are pretty useless and dont really do alot. Also why is there an android and a beaver but no dog!?
> 
> You are welcome to pop onto the Oldies Thread in Dog Chat! Alot of us have been here long enough to see our puppies turn into pensioners so its nice to have somewhere to talk about our creaky old mutts!LOL


I need to stop by the oldies section, Rogue will be 10 in a few days!


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

catz4m8z said:


> we really could do with an emoji update. Half of them are pretty useless and dont really do alot. Also why is there an android and a beaver but no dog!?
> 
> You are welcome to pop onto the Oldies Thread in Dog Chat! Alot of us have been here long enough to see our puppies turn into pensioners so its nice to have somewhere to talk about our creaky old mutts!LOL
> 
> (also I havent noticed any real change to the forum for me since its changed hands, so meh.....):Bored


Thank you, I will pop by! I hadn't realised it was there (I'm utterly in denial about her being 11.... that means I've been here on PF for 10 years... OMG!!)


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

MollySmith said:


> Thank you, I will pop by! I hadn't realised it was there (I'm utterly in denial about her being 11.... that means I've been here on PF for 10 years... OMG!!)


I've said goodbye to 3 dogs since I joined, & shared the joy of welcoming my current 4, it's gone so fast!


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## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)

Maybe it's just me (probably! I am fully aware that some would be happier if I wasn't a mod), but do find it a little amusing when this same conversation about how the forum runs (read dig at the mods) comes up time and time again... yet the forum ticks along nicely with new posts and threads all the time... granted we don't tend to have the amount of threads where people jump on to take part in the drama but we also don't have as much unrest, which makes visiting the forum much nicer, especially those that find it hard to fit into large groups.

If people want the forum to get busier then those people should answer posts and make new threads to get things moving.

Otherwise we will just tick along as we have done for many years.

I wasn't going to reply but this is feeling very much like "bash the mods" 
I mean if only we hadn't made some of the decisions that stopped threads turning into a free for all


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

StormyThai said:


> Maybe it's just me (probably! I am fully aware that some would be happier if I wasn't a mod), but do find it a little amusing when this same conversation about how the forum runs (read dig at the mods) comes up time and time again... yet the forum ticks along nicely with new posts and threads all the time... granted we don't tend to have the amount of threads where people jump on to take part in the drama but we also don't have as much unrest, which makes visiting the forum much nicer, especially those that find it hard to fit into large groups.
> 
> If people want the forum to get busier then those people should answer posts and make new threads to get things moving.
> 
> ...


I think you're all flippin' amazing, it must be relentless. I've only moderated once for The Open University and it's a tricky thing. I do think we'd all do a lot better if we thought..._mmm, am I making more work for the mods_ before we posted. I hope my comments didn't come across like that, it really wasn't my intention at all. We as users have a part to play in the forum and behaviour.

I still think an update to our emojis would make us all speak a better, universal smiley-faced based language would help. ((hugs))


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

JANICE199 said:


> *I can never understand why people that are not interested in a topic choose to click on it or partake. There are so many other links they could click on.*
> *When i joined this forum i hadn't long got 2 toy poodles which i had every intention of breeding. Thankfully i never did.*
> *After that is when i took to GC, and over the years we have had some good debates, some got very heated but that's how we can learn. Some people need to learn to debate, without going all out to get other people to agree with them.*


This!! I think too many people seem to think you have to win over those with opposing views when it's not about that. There is one dog group I am a member of on FB which is full of many different types of trainers & it is so refreshing that most people can discuss training methods, tools, etc without feeling the need to attack others, to criticise their choices, etc practically unheard of for a dog group 

I think threads are closed down way too quickly now, or content removed when there really wasn't any need for it & then the rest of the thread didn't make sense. General Chat used to be a very lively place & we had some amazing threads on there, things got heated but it was all part of the fun IMO .... but now I am sounding like an old git & looking back with rose tinted specs to the good old days of the forum!!


----------



## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

The only constant in life is that things change. And this forum changing and fluctuating is just as normal and natural as every other thing in life that changes. 

I feel like people in general have lost their appetite for contentious arguing/heated debate, whatever you want to call it. When I first started visiting forums in 2010ish every single one could be pretty rough at times. You could have knock-down drag out arguments over the most innocuous things and the threads would go on for pages and pages with people just going back and forth pretty much saying the same thing with increasing degrees of snark and sarcasm. 

That particular style seems to have migrated over to twitter (which is a cesspool IMHO) and forums in general seem to be a lot more tame these days. 
I don't thing that's necessarily a bad thing. It does mean a lot fewer posts, and less entertaining arguments, but with everything that has happened in the last 4-ish years, I think we're all pretty much tapped out with contentiousness. 

For those of us who use forums to inform ourselves, I also think podcasts have affected things. I love a good podcast and listening to a great discussion, and of course with podcasts you don't get to add your own opinion. I think on some level that has retrained my brain to listen (or read) something interesting without thinking about adding my own opinion if that makes sense. Plus you gain all that information without having to make a forum post. 

But yeah, things change, change doesn't have to be a bad thing, it just is


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

Cleo38 said:


> This!! I think too many people seem to think you have to win over those with opposing views when it's not about that. There is one dog group I am a member of on FB which is full of many different types of trainers & it is so refreshing that most people can discuss training methods, tools, etc without feeling the need to attack others, to criticise their choices, etc practically unheard of for a dog group


Ooh do tell (or PM  ) I've had to unsubscribe to pretty much all my training groups on FB because I just can't anymore with the ridiculous arguments.


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

StormyThai said:


> Maybe it's just me (probably! I am fully aware that some would be happier if I wasn't a mod), but do find it a little amusing when this same conversation about how the forum runs (read dig at the mods) comes up time and time again... yet the forum ticks along nicely with new posts and threads all the time... granted we don't tend to have the amount of threads where people jump on to take part in the drama but we also don't have as much unrest, which makes visiting the forum much nicer, especially those that find it hard to fit into large groups.
> 
> If people want the forum to get busier then those people should answer posts and make new threads to get things moving.
> 
> ...


I totally agree. Last night made for some unpleasant reading and left me wondering why we were even bothering trying to keep the forum peaceful and running smoothly, I'm now feelng that's not what's wanted, many of you want to continue the argument ad nauseam and get upset when we intervene by closing the thread or deleting contentious comments.
To be honest I try to avoid GC as it can turn toxic quite quickly. 
Some days I could just walk away and not look back but overall I love to feel that I HAVE helped someone and made their day just a bit easier.


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

SusieRainbow said:


> I totally agree. Last night made for some unpleasant reading and left me wondering why we were even bothering trying to keep the forum peaceful and running smoothly, I'm now feelng that's not what's wanted, many of you want to continue the argument ad nauseam and get upset when we intervene by closing the thread or deleting contentious comments.
> To be honest I try to avoid GC as it can turn toxic quite quickly.
> Some days I could just walk away and not look back but overall I love to feel that I HAVE helped someone and made their day just a bit easier.


You've made my day much easier many times, promise. I really do value knowing you're there along with a few trusted people who check in on DM. There will always be a few around any forum who think you're too heavy handed and often that says more about them and their boundaries than the ones that you and the moderators set to keep us safe because you've got 'moderator' status for a jolly _good_ reason (even if you may regret that sometimes).


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

MollySmith said:


> You've made my day much easier many times, promise. I really do value knowing you're there along with a few trusted people who check in on DM. There will always be a few around any forum who think you're too heavy handed and often that says more about them and their boundaries than the ones that you and the moderators set to keep us safe because you've got 'moderator' status for a jolly _good_ reason (even if you may regret that sometimes).


Thanks Molly, much appreciated.:Joyful


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

Cleo38 said:


> This!! I think too many people seem to think you have to win over those with opposing views when it's not about that. There is one dog group I am a member of on FB which is full of many different types of trainers & it is so refreshing that most people can discuss training methods, tools, etc without feeling the need to attack others, to criticise their choices, etc practically unheard of for a dog group
> 
> *I think threads are closed down way too quickly now,* or content removed when there really wasn't any need for it & then the rest of the thread didn't make sense. General Chat used to be a very lively place & we had some amazing threads on there, things got heated but it was all part of the fun IMO .... but now I am sounding like an old git & looking back with rose tinted specs to the good old days of the forum!!


Speaking as someone who can see 'behind the scenes', some people request that a thread they start be closed, I do try & avoid having to do it, as do all the other mods, but sometimes it's just not salvageable.


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

O2.0 said:


> The only constant in life is that things change. And this forum changing and fluctuating is just as normal and natural as every other thing in life that changes.
> 
> I feel like people in general have lost their appetite for contentious arguing/heated debate, whatever you want to call it. When I first started visiting forums in 2010ish every single one could be pretty rough at times. You could have knock-down drag out arguments over the most innocuous things and the threads would go on for pages and pages with people just going back and forth pretty much saying the same thing with increasing degrees of snark and sarcasm.
> 
> ...


Definitely. I used to love the debates where comments got more & more sarky ... bloody hilarious at times. I used to be at work & try to keep up whilst hiding the fact I was on a pet forum & not actually doing my work as it was so entertaining!! Especially the people who would say they weren't commenting then couldn't resist coming back to the thread to post as it was just too tempting

But yes, things change & will, they have to. I just miss certain members & their posts regardless of whether or not I agree with them.

Having said that if it wasn't for this forum I probably wouldn't be at the stage I am with my dogs, training/competing in IGP, attended some fascinating courses/seminars & having met some amazing people


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

Thanks to those who have made positive comments. I understand that we're in a period of change and uncertainty and I'm happy to carry on in my role as moderator to help with any transitional changes but Ican only do this with your support. 
Any mod-bashing and I'm gone.


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

SusieRainbow said:


> Thanks to those who have made positive comments. I understand that we're in a period of change and uncertainty and I'm happy to carry on in my role as moderator to help with any transitional changes but Ican only do this with your support.
> Any mod-bashing and I'm gone.


As usual, it's damned if we do or damned if we don't.
Oh and I'd be happy to have some different emojis too


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

TriTri said:


> These ridiculous adverts are just too much  :Arghh.


 What rediculous adverts are you seeing, report them here and we can look into it.



SusieRainbow said:


> Thanks to those who have made positive comments. I understand that we're in a period of change and uncertainty and I'm happy to carry on in my role as moderator to help with any transitional changes but Ican only do this with your support.
> Any mod-bashing and I'm gone.


 Thank you to both you and the other Mods who have spoken up about this. Mod bashing is never ok, especially when it's just being exacerbated by a change like this. If anyone has suggestions about how to improve activity make them, but don't frame them as issues with the past. Mods do what they can to keep the ship afloat and if they aren't supported either by management or the community it's that much the harder.


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## 1507601 (Jun 26, 2020)

vsadmin said:


> What rediculous adverts are you seeing, report them here and we can look into it.


To be honest, all the ads I've started seeing on my phone are ridiculous and utterly irrelevant to the forum's subject matter.

To the mods, I just wanted to say I'm another who thinks you do a fab job and am grateful for what you do. I don't think there's any value in continuous arguments and that's the sort of thing that will make members leave or get themselves banned - not good at all for the overall forum health.


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## PawsOnMe (Nov 1, 2012)

Another here who would love new more relevant emojis, also wondering whether we could get some additions to the Like bar on posts, sometimes it doesnt seem appropriate to 'like' a post and a 'care' (like they have on fb) would be more appropriate plus a 'thank you' would be good additions. Not sure how easy that would be to change though!


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## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

lymorelynn said:


> As usual, it's damned if we do or damned if we don't.
> Oh and I'd be happy to have some different emojis too


 you get caught in the middle and get [email protected] from both sides. I'd never be a Mod again.

It would be nice to have a laughing smiley, its a choice between the green grin and the pink roll over laughing one at the moment . nothing in between.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

<-----------Ardent current PF mod lover. The current batch all work hard to keep things peaceful without overstepping, and are always on the lookout for fairness. PLUS they allow themselves to post as 'regular members' too. I am very grateful for all 4 of them and I don't care if I sound like a suck up. 

(and I HAVE been on the wrong end of moderation a time or two, but have never taken it personally. They are just doing their jobs)


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

Lucy2020 said:


> To be honest, all the ads I've started seeing on my phone are ridiculous and utterly irrelevant to the forum's subject matter.
> 
> To the mods, I just wanted to say I'm another who thinks you do a fab job and am grateful for what you do. I don't think there's any value in continuous arguments and that's the sort of thing that will make members leave or get themselves banned - not good at all for the overall forum health.


Relevance is one thing as we use Google Adsense which does operate based on either your own search and cookie traffic or if you block that as your right per GDPR you will get the random untargeted ads which we filter based on offensive materials etc but that is network-wide so content specific filters on a per-site basis are ineffective. That said if you are seeing things that are truly outrageous please report them.


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## 1507601 (Jun 26, 2020)

vsadmin said:


> Relevance is one thing as we use Google Adsense which does operate based on either your own search and cookie traffic or if you block that as your right per GDPR you will get the random untargeted ads which we filter based on offensive materials etc but that is network-wide so content specific filters on a per-site basis are ineffective. That said if you are seeing things that are truly outrageous please report them.


Aha. I clear all my browser history and cookies on closing my browser, which is done every 1-2 days, so guess I'm getting the completely random ads. (Old habit that I've never given up).


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## stuaz (Sep 22, 2012)

I can’t comment on the moderator situation as personally I haven’t seen any issues but regarding the ownership change, surely it’s “us” that make the content on here, a different company collecting dollars from the ad revenue shouldnt effect that. 

As long as the website remains functional and is essentially “same old same old” then I don’t see the issue….


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

stuaz said:


> I can't comment on the moderator situation as personally I haven't seen any issues but regarding the ownership change, surely it's "us" that make the content on here, a different company collecting dollars from the ad revenue shouldnt effect that.
> 
> *As long as the website remains functional and is essentially "same old same old" *then I don't see the issue….


And there's the rub. It doesn't. New owners like to make their mark. Changes happen, established members don't like the changes and leave. Some of us stick it out and eventually get used to the new things. Some don't even notice differences I suppose. Everyone is different. And new people with no basis of comparison join and stay.

So the forum goes on, and there are threads about how it "used to be". However, like I said before, I've seen good active thriving pet forums run into the ground by the changes new owners make. So any protestations of "you won't even notice the difference" is met with great skepticism, by me at least.


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

I've been on this forum longer than my avatar suggests and I have to say the current batch of mods I think is the best group we've ever had and I'd like to see that part not change out of pure selfishness. I like that we know where we stand, I like that they are always available, and even when I don't agree with the decisions, I like that they will address my concerns. 
And guys, they do all of this without getting paid one cent!!!!

Oh and I personally love the penguin emoji as it sums up my feelings so often. 

"I'm going to breed my doodlepoodleshitzador" enguin
"My dog is unruly and driving me crazy but I haven't done anything to train him" enguin
"You must only feed your pet golden flecked unicorn pellets or you're poisoning him" enguin
Indoor outdoor cat debate enguin
Posting style chastisements enguin
Mod bashing enguin

See? It's perfect!


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## stuaz (Sep 22, 2012)

lorilu said:


> And there's the rub. It doesn't. New owners like to make their mark. Changes happen, established members don't like the changes and leave. Some of us stick it out and eventually get used to the new things. Some don't even notice differences I suppose. Everyone is different. And new people with no basis of comparison join and stay.
> 
> So the forum goes on, and there are threads about how it "used to be". However, like I said before, I've seen good active thriving pet forums run into the ground by the changes new owners make. So any protestations of "you won't even notice the difference" is met with great skepticism, by me at least.


However you are making assumptions though that the new owners will "make their mark" in a detrimental way. I think it would be far more constructive for us to discuss the merits to any changes they choose to make before/when they do but I don't think any have been made yet.

Change will always happen though. New owners or not. People will stay, people will leave. People move on. That's just how it is.

As it stands at the moment from reading this thread I dont have reason to believe that these owners will be any different to the other ones and will unlikely have any major impact on the forum itself.

Time will tell if that changes in the future of course but I am prepared to give the benefit of the doubt at the moment and just carry on as normal.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

stuaz said:


> However you are making assumptions though that the new owners will "make their mark" in a detrimental way.


Yes, I am. I never denied it. As I said, based on experience. I remain skeptical.

Especially when the term "excited" is used.


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## Hammystar (Jun 19, 2019)

Very few people actually like change. We are creatures of habit just like our pets.

I can understand the scepticism. Much like my cats eye a new food with suspicion, even if it's the most expensive, high meat content I can afford, so we are all wondering if the forum will be as good under the new owners. The boys prefer their familiar Felix however much I tell them the new stuff is better. Sometimes they will take to it. Sometimes I have to give up and try something different. We need to be prepared to try the forum under the new management and give it a fair shot before we turn up our noses and walk away. It won't be the same comfort food we are used to but who know, it might just be as good or even better.


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## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

I don't like change, but, let's not condemn the new Owners just yet.

Why not wait and see?


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Rafa said:


> I don't like change, but, let's not condemn the new Owners just yet.
> 
> *Why not wait and see*?


I'm quite sure that is what we are all already doing, but if people want to discuss their feelings, including concerns and fears, about it, which, generally speaking, most of us usually do, this is the place to do it.


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

O2.0 said:


> I've been on this forum longer than my avatar suggests and I have to say the current batch of mods I think is the best group we've ever had and I'd like to see that part not change out of pure selfishness. I like that we know where we stand, I like that they are always available, and even when I don't agree with the decisions, I like that they will address my concerns.
> And guys, they do all of this without getting paid one cent!!!!
> 
> Oh and I personally love the penguin emoji as it sums up my feelings so often.
> ...


Totally agree about the mods. Even tho I said I think some threads are closed prematurely, etc I think the mods now are great. I hope they can continue despite any changes, it would be a shame to disrupt this.

And the penguin emoji is hilarious & very fitting for so many subjects!!! enguinenguinenguinenguin


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## Happy Paws2 (Sep 13, 2008)

stuaz said:


> I can't comment on the moderator situation as personally I haven't seen any issues but regarding the ownership change, surely it's "us" that make the content on here, a different company collecting dollars from the ad revenue shouldnt effect that.
> 
> *As long as the website remains functional and is essentially "same old same old" then I don't see the issue…*.


As you say if things stay more or less the same I'll be happy, I really don't see what they would gain by changing the format we use.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

lorilu said:


> Especially when the term "excited" is used.


''_Extremely _excited'' in fact. Yep - I actually find it very patronising (as if we are a group of nursery children who are going to jump up and down in our seats and squeal, ''Oh, goody''. As far as I am concerned, I have never seen, or indeed heard of, HannahPetForum, despite her seemingly having been a member for two years according to her profile.


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

O2.0 said:


> I've been on this forum longer than my avatar suggests and I have to say the current batch of mods I think is the best group we've ever had and I'd like to see that part not change out of pure selfishness. I like that we know where we stand, I like that they are always available, and even when I don't agree with the decisions, I like that they will address my concerns.
> And guys, they do all of this without getting paid one cent!!!!
> 
> Oh and I personally love the penguin emoji as it sums up my feelings so often.
> ...


My favourite emoji is this


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

MollySmith said:


> My favourite emoji is this


Mine too, by far.


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

SusieRainbow said:


> Mine too, by far.


:Kiss

igeon


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

stuaz said:


> However you are making assumptions though that the new owners will "make their mark" in a detrimental way. I think it would be far more constructive for us to discuss the merits to any changes they choose to make before/when they do but I don't think any have been made yet.
> 
> Change will always happen though. New owners or not. People will stay, people will leave. People move on. That's just how it is.
> 
> ...





Happy Paws2 said:


> As you say if things stay more or less the same I'll be happy, I really don't see what they would gain by changing the format we use.


The change we will be making at some point is a software update, presently the site is running on Xenforo 1.5.2 which is deprecated, meaning no further security or stability patches. We use a custom version of Xenforo 2.1 with weekly updates. I say at some point because migrating softwares is not quick or simple, so I don't have a timeline yet. But that's kind of it. We don't plan on changing rules or content or anything like that unless guided that way by the mods and community at large.


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

MollySmith said:


> My favourite emoji is this


 Mine is definitely a enguin now, thanks for pointing them out :Kiss


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

Cleo38 said:


> Mine is definitely a enguin now, thanks for pointing them out :Kiss


:Troll


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

MollySmith said:


> :Troll


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

SusieRainbow said:


>


:Muted :Nailbiting


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

MollySmith said:


> :Troll


:Trollenguinanda


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## MollySmith (May 7, 2012)

Cleo38 said:


> :Trollenguinanda


:Turtle :Turtle :Turtle (OMG there's a...:Turtle)


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## £54etgfb6 (Dec 25, 2020)

:Cow I love this scared cow and the TWO feet emojis we have ( :Coldfeet and :Stinkyfeet). There seem to be a very limited range that are applicable to discussions on the forum and more so a selection that would be more suitable for very niche scenarios ( :Turtlelayfulandaenguinigeon:Bear:Beaver:Blackeye:Cold:Writing:Blackalien:Android:Spiderman). I struggle to understand what their intended meaning _is_ a lot of the time unless I'm on my laptop where I can hover over them and their meaning is revealed (apparently this epressed is depressed but I would have thought it meant sickness!). At the end of the day though, I love how random and silly most of them are and I enjoy throwing them in my posts for a bit of fun :Mooning

However, if more emojis are going to be added can we please have them separated by type?? It would make finding them much easier but this is a small thing.


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

I’ve changed my browser to DuckDuckGo which doesn’t track or load cookies etc and the pop up ads have disappeared.


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## Beth78 (Jul 4, 2019)

S:Spidermanider man is useful in so little ways.


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## LittleFox (12 mo ago)

I'm another who struggles to figure out what all the emojis are supposed to represent, so I have about 6 that I actually use. My favourite is :Woot but I wish we had a 'love' one.


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## LittleFox (12 mo ago)

Can someone please recommend a reputable ad blocker for Mac? These ads are getting more and more intrusive.


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## Kaily (Feb 8, 2020)

My page is absolutely covered in ads top and bottom. I use a Chromebook, I looked at ad blockers but they said they would change my data/passwords. It all seemed a bit scary.

Really struggling to view pages and very disappointed.


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

Beth78 said:


> S:Spidermanider man is useful in so little ways.


Wow, I didn't know that either! I don't think I've actually paid much attention to all the emoji's in the 10 yrs I've been on here :Spiderman:Snaphappy:Smuggrin:Shamefullyembarrasedompuslayfulenguinigeon


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## LittleFox (12 mo ago)

Kaily said:


> My page is absolutely covered in ads top and bottom. I use a Chromebook, I looked at ad blockers but they said they would change my data/passwords. It all seemed a bit scary.
> 
> Really struggling to view pages and very disappointed.


Yes there's a huge one at the top of my page which follows me as I scroll down and makes it hard to read longer threads. And sometimes one pops up on the side now too which I've never had before.


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## urbantigers (Apr 13, 2014)

LittleFox said:


> Can someone please recommend a reputable ad blocker for Mac? These ads are getting more and more intrusive.


I use Adblocker Pro and get no ads at all on iPad or iPhone


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## LittleFox (12 mo ago)

urbantigers said:


> I use Adblocker Pro and get no ads at all on iPad or iPhone


I can't find Adblocker Pro but I can find Adblock Plus - same thing?


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## urbantigers (Apr 13, 2014)

LittleFox said:


> I can't find Adblocker Pro but I can find Adblock Plus - same thing?


I appear to have both but can't work out whether both are activated! (Leaving well alone since whatever I have works. I'd try that.


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## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

Search box is scrolling down my page now, obscuring posts.

(My favourite emojis are :Bag and  followed closely by :Wacky and :Shifty )


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## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)




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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

vsadmin said:


> The change we will be making at some point is a software update, presently the site is running on Xenforo 1.5.2 which is deprecated, meaning no further security or stability patches. We use a custom version of Xenforo 2.1 with weekly updates. I say at some point because migrating softwares is not quick or simple, so I don't have a timeline yet. But that's kind of it. We don't plan on changing rules or content or anything like that unless guided that way by the mods and community at large.


Is the platform operating system equally out of date?


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

I just use Adblocker (no pluses or anything) on the iPad and it works fine


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## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

LinznMilly said:


> View attachment 487601


Looks like it sorted itself out.


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## 1507601 (Jun 26, 2020)

@vsadmin Oh, will the upgrade include an advanced search function, do you know? As someone asked about search in another thread it reminded me. The current one is very basic.


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## white_shadow (Dec 3, 2008)

Lucy2020 said:


> @vsadmin Oh, will the upgrade include an advanced search function, do you know? As someone asked about search in another thread it reminded me. The current one is very basic.


Here it is, *@Lucy2020* *https://www.petforums.co.uk/search/*

It's been 'hiding' 
.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

LittleFox said:


> I can't find Adblocker Pro but I can find Adblock Plus - same thing?


I use adblock plus. No problems with ads here or anywhere else


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

OrientalSlave said:


> Is the platform operating system equally out of date?


I'm sorry what do you mean? 


Lucy2020 said:


> @vsadmin Oh, will the upgrade include an advanced search function, do you know? As someone asked about search in another thread it reminded me. The current one is very basic.


There is one here as already posted but yes advanced search is a function on the upgrade


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

vsadmin said:


> I'm sorry what do you mean?


I suspect they may be referring to the server software on which the forum software is then installed?


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Jesthar said:


> I suspect they may be referring to the server software on which the forum software is then installed?


Correct. I hope @vsadmin works with some people who would have understood!


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

@vsadmin this is what a petforums page looks like on my laptop without an adblocker:
Notice I can't see any content at all because the format has a banner advert for the Petforums main page, and then each individual page (in this case new posts) _also_ has a banner ad. You need to pick one or the other. Not everyone can install an ad blocker or knows how to. A big majority of users of this forum are not very tech savvy and don't want to mess with anything on their computer. Nor should they have to. There is no reason to have two banner adds stacked one on top of the other like this so you can't even get to any content.


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## 3dogs2cats (Aug 15, 2012)

On my phone I was seeing huge ads until I installed Brave Browser, strangely on my laptop I don`t get the ads yet I have done nothing to prevent them, no ad blockers etc installed. Not complaining of course I love not seeing the ads but just seems odd as appears most users are seeing them on laptops.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

3dogs2cats said:


> On my phone I was seeing huge ads until I installed Brave Browser, strangely on my laptop I don`t get the ads yet I have done nothing to prevent them, no ad blockers etc installed. Not complaining of course I love not seeing the ads but just seems odd as appears most users are seeing them on laptops.


Once in a very great while that big banner ad breaks through my ad block. I can tell it's going to because when I try to open the forum it hangs and hangs. If I wait long enough I'll see that ad, the one O2.0 posted.


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

Although I’m not seeing the ads due to Adblocker I’m surprised that members of forum are being subjected to ads. Forums I have belonged to in the past or have just looked at and not joined usually have the feature that if you are a member you don’t get the ads.


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

VerticalScope may offer a subscription that allows users to pay for an ad-free membership.


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## Happy Paws2 (Sep 13, 2008)

OH put something on my laptop ages ago to stop me getting ads. on anything, only problem is he doesn't remember how he didn't.


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## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

JoanneF said:


> VerticalScope may offer a subscription that allows users to pay for an ad-free membership.


See this is where I don't want to pay. It's been free for so long and that's what I like about it.

Most probably in the minority but I really don't want to pay. Plus if that's the only perk or we have the forum hidden so to speak, I always reply to posts hoping not only help the OP but also those who lurk.


----------



## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

lullabydream said:


> Most probably in the minority


 about paying? I don't think you will be.


----------



## ForestWomble (May 2, 2013)

I hope we don't have to pay, I'll have to leave if we do and I really don't want to have to do that.


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## LittleFox (12 mo ago)

If I position my screen 'right', all I can see is a page of ads!


----------



## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

Siskin said:


> Although I'm not seeing the ads due to Adblocker I'm surprised that members of forum are being subjected to ads. Forums I have belonged to in the past or have just looked at and not joined usually have the feature that if you are a member you don't get the ads.


Usually means a paid membership

Oops didn't realize there were more posts already saying this. No, I won't pay to belong to a free forum either.


----------



## SbanR (Jun 16, 2017)

O2.0 said:


> @vsadmin this is what a petforums page looks like on my laptop without an adblocker:
> Notice I can't see any content at all because the format has a banner advert for the Petforums main page, and then each individual page (in this case new posts) _also_ has a banner ad. You need to pick one or the other. Not everyone can install an ad blocker or knows how to. A big majority of users of this forum are not very tech savvy and don't want to mess with anything on their computer. Nor should they have to. There is no reason to have two banner adds stacked one on top of the other like this so you can't even get to any content.
> View attachment 487637


Thank you! That's exactly what I have on my tablet but I didn't do a screenshot as I do as little as possible my temperamental tablet


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## Jobeth (May 23, 2010)

I use an IPhone and it takes longer to scroll past all the sticky threads than the advert. It stopped bothering me once it became static.


----------



## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

O2.0 said:


> @vsadmin this is what a petforums page looks like on my laptop without an adblocker:
> Notice I can't see any content at all because the format has a banner advert for the Petforums main page, and then each individual page (in this case new posts) _also_ has a banner ad. You need to pick one or the other. Not everyone can install an ad blocker or knows how to. A big majority of users of this forum are not very tech savvy and don't want to mess with anything on their computer. Nor should they have to. There is no reason to have two banner adds stacked one on top of the other like this so you can't even get to any content.
> View attachment 487637


Same here on my PC. We had this problem last time but then the ads became smaller and more bearable but this is too much.


----------



## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

This took up my wholes screen.


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

So where is @vsadmin who promised to address these ad issues? Or was that @HannahPetForum. Either one would do I suppose.


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## £54etgfb6 (Dec 25, 2020)

lorilu said:


> So where is @vsadmin who promised to address these ad issues? Or was that @HannahPetForum. Either one would do I suppose.


They fixed the mobile scrolling ad issue at my (and many other's) request. I'd hang fire for now and hopefully in the morning (assuming they're a british company) they may be able to see this thread and change the ad size for desktop too.


----------



## white_shadow (Dec 3, 2008)

bmr10 said:


> ...and hopefully in the morning (assuming they're a british company)....


"They" are Canadian.......from/in Toronto Ontario.
.


----------



## Mrs Funkin (Mar 12, 2018)

O2.0 said:


> I've been on this forum longer than my avatar suggests and I have to say the current batch of mods I think is the best group we've ever had and I'd like to see that part not change out of pure selfishness. I like that we know where we stand, I like that they are always available, and even when I don't agree with the decisions, I like that they will address my concerns.
> And guys, they do all of this without getting paid one cent!!!!
> 
> Oh and I personally love the penguin emoji as it sums up my feelings so often.
> ...


Ha! I know this is from days ago but it's made me practically spit my coffee out  brilliant!


----------



## urbantigers (Apr 13, 2014)

I don’t have a problem in principle with ads - I know that forums cost money to run and if I don’t want paid subscriptions there has to be another way of raising revenue - but when they are so intrusive you can’t navigate the forum and read content, it’s ridiculous. It also should be remembered that lots of people use phones and tablets for accessing the forum and it can be impossible to view on very small screens when ads are all over the place. Before I installed an ad blocker, there were times when there wasn’t enough of the screen free of ads to touch and swipe.


----------



## Kaily (Feb 8, 2020)

kimthecat said:


> This took up my wholes screen.
> 
> View attachment 487675


This is how mine looks. So frustrating. Just now I had an ad that wasn't even in English showing pics of tiny lacy underwear. Those days are long gone ...


----------



## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

SbanR said:


> Thank you! That's exactly what I have on my tablet but I didn't do a screenshot as I do as little as possible my temperamental tablet


Is that with your tablet upright or horizontal? I was thinking the site had been optimised for a vertical phone / tablet where the screen is taller than it's wide, forgetting about PCs where the reverse is true.


----------



## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Siskin said:


> Although I'm not seeing the ads due to Adblocker I'm surprised that members of forum are being subjected to ads. Forums I have belonged to in the past or have just looked at and not joined usually have the feature that if you are a member you don't get the ads.


I'm surprised that a free membership stops adverts. It costs money to run the site, adverts generate that income.


----------



## SbanR (Jun 16, 2017)

OrientalSlave said:


> Is that with your tablet upright or horizontal? I was thinking the site had been optimised for a vertical phone / tablet where the screen is taller than it's wide, forgetting about PCs where the reverse is true.


I have it horizontal, but upright when looking at photos.


----------



## SbanR (Jun 16, 2017)

I've just checked and when horizontal (which I prefer) the advert takes up the whole page; upright it's very much smaller and less annoying


OrientalSlave said:


> Is that with your tablet upright or horizontal? I was thinking the site had been optimised for a vertical phone / tablet where the screen is taller than it's wide, forgetting about PCs where the reverse is true.


----------



## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

SbanR said:


> I've just checked and when horizontal (which I prefer) the advert takes up the whole page; upright it's very much smaller and less annoying


That probably means the advert is coded to take up all the width available with no maximum size limits set. Hopefully something can be done about that, as well as the dual banners.

It would seem problems with Google auto ads displaying themselves much too big is a common problem on Xenforo (https://xenforo.com/community/threa...autoads-on-your-forum-no-longer-works.179320/). Some have turned off auto ads and gone fixed adverts only (which on average has tripled revenue due to more relevent ad content, interestingly!), others with css modifications, others with serverside addons to manage them better.

For a forum as specifically focussed as PetForums I'd say the fixed adverts approach might be worth a punt for the new owners.


----------



## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

Jesthar said:


> I suspect they may be referring to the server software on which the forum software is then installed?





OrientalSlave said:


> Correct. I hope @vsadmin works with some people who would have understood!


Platform as a term is interchangeable to refer to server, software, and even mobile app and browser. We use Google Cloud as our server system so yes it is up to date.



O2.0 said:


> @vsadmin this is what a petforums page looks like on my laptop without an adblocker:
> Notice I can't see any content at all because the format has a banner advert for the Petforums main page, and then each individual page (in this case new posts) _also_ has a banner ad. You need to pick one or the other. Not everyone can install an ad blocker or knows how to. A big majority of users of this forum are not very tech savvy and don't want to mess with anything on their computer. Nor should they have to. There is no reason to have two banner adds stacked one on top of the other like this so you can't even get to any content.
> View attachment 487637


I'm reporting the screenshot to ad-tagging.


lullabydream said:


> See this is where I don't want to pay. It's been free for so long and that's what I like about it.
> 
> Most probably in the minority but I really don't want to pay. Plus if that's the only perk or we have the forum hidden so to speak, I always reply to posts hoping not only help the OP but also those who lurk.


We are currently overhauling our perks system to be more than just "ad-free" but with that in mind in spite of what is being reported in this thread it is not our goal to choke a site with ads and then introduce premium.



Jesthar said:


> That probably means the advert is coded to take up all the width available with no maximum size limits set. Hopefully something can be done about that, as well as the dual banners.
> 
> It would seem problems with Google auto ads displaying themselves much too big is a common problem on Xenforo (https://xenforo.com/community/threa...autoads-on-your-forum-no-longer-works.179320/). Some have turned off auto ads and gone fixed adverts only (which on average has tripled revenue due to more relevent ad content, interestingly!), others with css modifications, others with serverside addons to manage them better.
> 
> For a forum as specifically focussed as PetForums I'd say the fixed adverts approach might be worth a punt for the new owners.


 Fixed units is something I can discuss, I do know with the upgraded version we use the ad layout is less destructive than what's been reported but it is still autopopulated, even direct vendor banners are run through Google Adsense Manager.


----------



## PawsOnMe (Nov 1, 2012)

Jobeth said:


> I use an IPhone and it takes longer to scroll past all the sticky threads than the advert. It stopped bothering me once it became static.


I feel like some of the sticky threads aren't really used anymore and there are 3 forum rule sticky threads on general chat when it could be condensed into one. Maybe a little refresh of the subsections sticky threads would help the feeling like you scroll for a while before seeing content.


----------



## Gemmaa (Jul 19, 2009)

lullabydream said:


> See this is where I don't want to pay. It's been free for so long and that's what I like about it.
> 
> Most probably in the minority but I really don't want to pay. Plus if that's the only perk or we have the forum hidden so to speak, I always reply to posts hoping not only help the OP but also those who lurk.


Agreed...it was disappointing when the Reactive Dog Group on FB moved to another site and started charging people to use it.


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## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

The desktop ad issue SHOULD be corrected. The ad layout is being assessed for an entire overhaul after the long weekend.


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## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

Kaily said:


> This is how mine looks. So frustrating. Just now I had an ad that wasn't even in English showing pics of tiny lacy underwear. Those days are long gone ...


:Hilarious Same here , I couldnt even get a leg in my old frilly knickers now.


----------



## vsadmin (9 mo ago)

kimthecat said:


> :Hilarious Same here , I couldnt even get a leg in my old frilly knickers now.


Please report those here or in PM so I can flag them to the ad guys


----------



## Kaily (Feb 8, 2020)

The ad problem, thankfully, is much better now.


----------



## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

I've started to get ads that vibrate!!


----------



## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

Yes they are smaller .


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## TriTri (Oct 31, 2017)

I think I’ve taken a week off of the forum because of the annoying adds. I’ve just had a load of adds within a few seconds of each other. Can someone just stop them pleeeeeeease? ‘Can’t stand this for much longer….


----------



## £54etgfb6 (Dec 25, 2020)

TriTri said:


> I think I've taken a week off of the forum because of the annoying adds. I've just had a load of adds within a few seconds of each other. Can someone just stop them pleeeeeeease? 'Can't stand this for much longer….


I believe there are mentions of mobile adblockers a few pages back. They might be suitable in this scenario? (Sorry if you've already read them!!). It would be a shame for members to leave over a formatting issue ):


----------



## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

bmr10 said:


> I believe there are mentions of mobile adblockers a few pages back. They might be suitable in this scenario? (Sorry if you've already read them!!). It would be a shame for members to leave over a formatting issue ):


I'm using 'Brave' on my mobile, it works a treat!


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## TriTri (Oct 31, 2017)

bmr10 said:


> I believe there are mentions of mobile adblockers a few pages back. They might be suitable in this scenario? (Sorry if you've already read them!!). It would be a shame for members to leave over a formatting issue ):


Thank you @bmr10 I'll add looking into that to my (long) to do list.


----------



## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

OK, @vsadmin - please can someone explain how we ended up being a Seat forum for a while?


----------



## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

It appears we had a little glitch, but I'm sure PF members enjoyed the Seat forum that briefly appeared!


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

simplysardonic said:


> It appears we had a little glitch, but I'm sure PF members enjoyed the Seat forum that briefly appeared!


That's not a glitch, that's a car crash...


----------



## Beth78 (Jul 4, 2019)

I have to admit it scared me abit to not be able to find this place.


----------



## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

Jesthar said:


> That's not a glitch, that's a car crash...


:Hilarious or :Arghh


----------



## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

Well, let's hope we don't get that sort of thing too often  I wonder if there were any Seat owners puzzled about being on a pet forum :Hilarious


----------



## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

lymorelynn said:


> Well, let's hope we don't get that sort of thing too often  I wonder if there were any Seat owners puzzled about being on a pet forum :Hilarious


Judging from the forum timestamps, the last activity on that forum was 27th August 2021, so I doubt anyone missed it too much


----------



## kimthecat (Aug 11, 2009)

Jesthar said:


> That's not a glitch, that's a car crash...


:Hilarious I was thinking of joining! :Woot


----------



## HarlequinCat (Nov 29, 2012)

Jesthar said:


> Judging from the forum timestamps, the last activity on that forum was 27th August 2021, so I doubt anyone missed it too much


Hope that's not a sign of things to come!


----------



## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

simplysardonic said:


> It appears we had a little glitch, but I'm sure PF members enjoyed the Seat forum that briefly appeared!


:Muted :Muted


----------



## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

I was not redirected to a random forum. I simply received an 404 error message. I went immediately to the FB page. There was nothing about any down time there, so I started a thread.


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

lorilu said:


> I was not redirected to a random forum. I simply received an 404 error message. I went immediately to the FB page. There was nothing about any down time there, so I started a thread.


You had to click on the top level of the forum to see the Seat forum, every other page did indeed give a 404 error.


----------



## Karl43 (11 mo ago)

TriTri said:


> I think I've taken a week off of the forum because of the annoying adds. I've just had a load of adds within a few seconds of each other. Can someone just stop them pleeeeeeease? 'Can't stand this for much longer….


That was happening to me for a while and was getting on my nerves but it seems to have calmed down


----------



## TriTri (Oct 31, 2017)

Karl43 said:


> That was happening to me for a while and was getting on my nerves but it seems to have calmed down


There's no improvement tonight :Arghh:Arghh:Arghh


----------



## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

TriTri said:


> There's no improvement tonight :Arghh:Arghh:Arghh


Sounds like time to install an adblocker, then  It's very easy to do on most browsers. I use Firefox with Adblock Plus on both phone and PC, and haven't seen a single advert


----------



## 1507601 (Jun 26, 2020)

Where did @vsadmin go? They stopped responding...


----------



## TriTri (Oct 31, 2017)

Jesthar said:


> Sounds like time to install an adblocker, then  It's very easy to do on most browsers. I use Firefox with Adblock Plus on both phone and PC, and haven't seen a single advert


There's another technical problem with me having to keep on signing in time and time again during each visit. I've just spent about 45 minutes replying to a pm and pressed send reply and it happened again and lost my entire (lengthy) message. I'm not mucking about with browsers in fear of losing any important data on my iphone. No wonder we are losing so many members at the moment.


----------



## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

TriTri said:


> There's another technical problem with me having to keep on signing in time and time again during each visit. I've just spent about 45 minutes replying to a pm and pressed send reply and it happened again and lost my entire (lengthy) message. I'm not mucking about with browsers in fear of losing any important data on my iphone. No wonder we are losing so many members at the moment.


Sometimes if I get logged out I forget to tick the 'stay logged in' box when I sign in - might be worth double checking that next time that happens? 

You won't lose any data installing an adblocker extension, but it will make your mobile internet browsing a lot faster and much more pleasant


----------



## £54etgfb6 (Dec 25, 2020)

Lucy2020 said:


> Where did @vsadmin go? They stopped responding...


I think they say that once the forum had been taken over and moved to the new company's servers (vscope??? can't remember the name) it would not be vsadmin who replies, instead it would be other users. The post is somewhere at the beginning of the thread but I'm fairly certain they said it would be a different group of admins assigned to this forum and not the vsadmin account user.


----------



## TriTri (Oct 31, 2017)

Jesthar said:


> Sometimes if I get logged out I forget to tick the 'stay logged in' box when I sign in - might be worth double checking that next time that happens?
> 
> You won't lose any data installing an adblocker extension, but it will make your mobile internet browsing a lot faster and much more pleasant


Thank you @Jesthar that's very helpful to know. I had to sign in at least half a dozen times earlier in the week in a very short space of time, so maybe that was why then. I'll update my browser then, if it's not going to effect any data stored on my phone, so thanks again.


----------



## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

Lucy2020 said:


> Where did @vsadmin go? They stopped responding...





bmr10 said:


> I think they say that once the forum had been taken over and moved to the new company's servers (vscope??? can't remember the name) it would not be vsadmin who replies, instead it would be other users. The post is somewhere at the beginning of the thread but I'm fairly certain they said it would be a different group of admins assigned to this forum and not the vsadmin account user.


Yes. Now let's see how well his team responds. :Muted

I emailed them via DogForum about being redirected to Seat. Got the reply last night. Basically, saying it was my fault "delete your cookies, try a different ISP."

Incidentally, the company that's taken over is VerticalScope. I was the one that called it VScope, pure laziness on my part.


----------



## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

The lack of response is reflected in other forums too. They troop in, in a blaze of glory and fanfare, then when you need support it goes eerily quiet and the tumbleweed blows through.


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

LinznMilly said:


> Yes. Now let's see how well his team responds. :Muted
> 
> I emailed them via DogForum about being redirected to Seat. Got the reply last night. Basically, saying it was my fault "delete your cookies, try a different ISP."
> 
> Incidentally, the company that's taken over is VerticalScope. I was the one that called it VScope, pure laziness on my part.


Try a different ISP?!? How silly a suggestion is that - "We're sorry your forum got replaced with another one for a while, maybe you should change who you have your internet access with?"

That's almost as stupid as the time I caught an agency IT support worker washing a laptop screen under the kitchen tap to try and fix a dead pixel... :Banghead (no, I am NOT making that up, yes the user was made aware - well, the machine was returned to their desk dripping wet - and got ordered a new laptop post haste!)


----------



## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

Jesthar said:


> Try a different ISP?!? How silly a suggestion is that - "We're sorry your forum got replaced with another one for a while, maybe you should change who you have your internet access with?"
> 
> That's almost as stupid as the time I caught an agency IT support worker washing a laptop screen under the kitchen tap to try and fix a dead pixel... :Banghead (no, I am NOT making that up, yes the user was made aware - well, the machine was returned to their desk dripping wet - and got ordered a new laptop post haste!)


Sorry, not ISP (sleep-deprived-brain syndrome - I just couldn't think of the proper word), they suggested I change browser. :Bag

Yes, there a few stupid suggestions going around though.

My personal favourite is: "Have eczema? Move to Aus". Yes, I'm serious. It was by a GP, too.


----------



## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

Well, I'm still getting this crap. Often it will tell me (helpfully) that 'this is taking longer than usual'. I click on all the buses, then I am asked to identify the boats and 'verify'. I have never been asked yet to click on a plane - it probably thinks I am too gormless to recognise one. It started in the week prior to the takeover.


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

Calvine said:


> It started in the week prior to the takeover.


The take over probably happened at least a week before we were told, so it is probably not a coincidence you have been getting these.


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## SbanR (Jun 16, 2017)

@Jesthar I play a game on my mobile and tablet. Will installing an adblocker affect the game?


----------



## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

SbanR said:


> @Jesthar I play a game on my mobile and tablet. Will installing an adblocker affect the game?


Assuming it's an app you have installed, no. Those are separate to your browser.


----------



## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

On my Adblocker (iPad) I can tell it what site I want to block ads in. I have a lot of apps and games and the Adblocker hasn’t affected them


----------



## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

Siskin said:


> On my Adblocker (iPad) I can tell it what site I want to block ads in. I have a lot of apps and games and the Adblocker hasn't affected them


Yes, you can turn it on and off for specific sites if you need to.


----------



## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

JoanneF said:


> The take over probably happened at least a week before we were told, so it is probably not a coincidence you have been getting these


It only happens on PF, so pretty sure it's not a coincidence.


----------



## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

I take it that it isn't a coincidence that the first two pages of Dog Chat are filled with Chinese spam every morning again?


----------



## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

JoanneF said:


> I take it that it isn't a coincidence that the first two pages of Dog Chat are filled with Chinese spam every morning again?


I asked about that too. I'm still waiting for a response.


----------



## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

LinznMilly said:


> I asked about that too. I'm still waiting for a response.


Really? Still waiting? Who'd have thought ...


----------



## Happy Paws2 (Sep 13, 2008)

JoanneF said:


> I take it that it isn't a coincidence that the first two pages of Dog Chat are filled with Chinese spam every morning again?


Didn't that happen before sometime ago, it lasted for weeks if I remember rightly.


----------



## LittleFox (12 mo ago)

JoanneF said:


> I take it that it isn't a coincidence that the first two pages of Dog Chat are filled with Chinese spam every morning again?


Soooo annoying. If I check here periodically during the day (my day) it's so annoying to sort through trying to find the actual threads.


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## Bertie'sMum (Mar 27, 2017)

I usually use the "New Posts" function to check what's been newly posted and I've found the quickest way to get rid of the spam is to (a) report one of the posts then (b) 'ignore' the poster (and then "refresh" the New Posts page) so that they all 'disappear' !! I know that the spam posts are still there until the moderators can clear them but at least I don't have to scroll through them to find new posts.


----------



## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

Happy Paws2 said:


> Didn't that happen before sometime ago, it lasted for weeks if I remember rightly.


Yes, it was every day for weeks.


----------



## LinznMilly (Jun 24, 2011)

Happy Paws2 said:


> Didn't that happen before sometime ago, it lasted for weeks if I remember rightly.


Yes, it did years ago. Mark managed to put a stop to it.


----------



## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

LinznMilly said:


> Yes, it did years ago. Mark managed to put a stop to it.


And always at the crack of dawn.


----------



## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

Just needed to say, the Chinese spam is so annoying! 
As someone who doesn't sleep well and come here random times in the early hours it's so annoying!


----------



## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

lullabydream said:


> Just needed to say, the Chinese spam is so annoying!
> As someone who doesn't sleep well and come here random times in the early hours it's so annoying!


Me too - it used to do my head in!


----------



## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

JoanneF said:


> I take it that it isn't a coincidence that the first two pages of Dog Chat are filled with Chinese spam every morning again?


not just dog chat. Multiple sections are inundated overnight.


----------



## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

lullabydream said:


> Just needed to say, the Chinese spam is so annoying!
> As someone who doesn't sleep well and come here random times in the early hours it's so annoying!





Calvine said:


> Me too - it used to do my head in!





LittleFox said:


> Soooo annoying. If I check here periodically during the day (my day) it's so annoying to sort through trying to find the actual threads.


Put the OP on ignore, then you can browse in peace until the mods have a chance to get rid of.


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

lorilu said:


> not just dog chat. Multiple sections are inundated overnight.


----------



## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

Still getting this crap when I try to sign in. Took me six tries this morning.


----------



## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Have you ticked the stay signed in box? Unfortunately it clears after each unsuccessful attempt


----------



## Happy Paws2 (Sep 13, 2008)

Calvine said:


> Still getting this crap when I try to sign in. Took me six tries this morning.


I get those sometimes, I just tick the boxes and get on with it, it only takes a few seconds.


----------



## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

The irony of course is while we're ticking boxes with boats to prove we're not a robot, every night this forum is flooded with spam posts that seem pretty robotic in nature....


----------



## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)

O2.0 said:


> The irony of course is while we're ticking boxes with boats to prove we're not a robot, every night this forum is flooded with spam posts that seem pretty robotic in nature....


I know, right! 
It's back to the stage of having to delete a ton of Chinese spam before I even think about viewing any threads...it's pretty tedious tbh


----------



## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

Happy Paws2 said:


> I get those sometimes, I just tick the boxes and get on with it, it only takes a few seconds.


You're lucky . . . the point I'm making is that it asks me about six times, then logs me out and have to start again. Does it happen to you anywhere else other than PF?


----------



## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

StormyThai said:


> I know, right!
> It's back to the stage of having to delete a ton of Chinese spam before I even think about viewing any threads...it's pretty tedious tbh


I nearly always miss it, mostly because it takes half the morning for my dinosaur of a laptop to start up.


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## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)

simplysardonic said:


> I nearly always miss it, mostly because it takes half the morning for my dinosaur of a laptop to start up.


I'm up pretty early these days so I try to clear it before I go to work.


----------



## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

StormyThai said:


> I'm up pretty early these days so I try to clear it before I go to work.


Not all heroes wear capes


----------



## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)




----------



## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

O2.0 said:


> The irony of course is while we're ticking boxes with boats to prove we're not a robot, every night this forum is flooded with spam posts that seem pretty robotic in nature....


That is because the spammers use actual humans (slaves, more or less) in chinese IT sweatshops to fill in the Captchas

(not making that up - wish I was...)


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

Jesthar said:


> That is because the spammers use actual humans (slaves, more or less) in chinese IT sweatshops to fill in the Captchas
> 
> (not making that up - wish I was...)



Yes, I know you're not making that up and it's just


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

Calvine said:


> You're lucky . . . the point I'm making is that it asks me about six times, then logs me out and have to start again. Does it happen to you anywhere else other than PF?


I do some admin work for my Church, their site frequently does.


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## Boxerluver30 (Jun 14, 2017)

I keep getting this problem where the page becomes unresponsive and takes ages to reload? Not limited to one browser either, I usually use chrome however its happened on firefox and edge too. Usually if I click to another tab or click the option to close the page that sorts it but its incredibly annoying. I've not got an ad blocker installed , would that help ? Wondering if the ads could be causing it, I use the forum on both mobile and laptop.


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## SbanR (Jun 16, 2017)

Boxerluver30 said:


> I keep getting this problem where the page becomes unresponsive and takes ages to reload? Not limited to one browser either, I usually use chrome however its happened on firefox and edge too. Usually if I click to another tab or click the option to close the page that sorts it but its incredibly annoying. I've not got an ad blocker installed , would that help ? Wondering if the ads could be causing it, I use the forum on both mobile and laptop.


This sometimes happens on my tablet. It Never gets going at all, even to reload. I have to leave PF and then get on again.


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Doesn't happen to me


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## Pawscrossed (Jul 2, 2013)

What’s the parent company green statement please? Are your servers run on renewable energy?


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## Pawscrossed (Jul 2, 2013)

@HannahPetForum tagging you as there's no reply. What's VerticalScope's environmental policy please? I have looked all around the website and can't find any eco credentials or policy that says how your company is protecting the planet.

Thank you.

"*How does the internet's carbon footprint compare to those of notorious polluters like airlines? *One estimate found that the greenhouse gas emissions created by data centres, networks, and our devices-including phones and computers-is as high as 3.8 percent of the global total, and it's expected to grow. The airline industry, by comparison, is responsible for about 2.1 percent."

https://thewalrus.ca/carbon-footprint-internet/


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## stuaz (Sep 22, 2012)

Pawscrossed said:


> @HannahPetForum tagging you as there's no reply. What's VerticalScope's environmental policy please? I have looked all around the website and can't find any eco credentials or policy that says how your company is protecting the planet.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> ...


Your probably better off emailing them directly to get the info from head office. More likely to get a reply as well.


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## PawsOnMe (Nov 1, 2012)

Haven't been on in a week so not sure if this has already been mentioned but just come on and noticed this. Is this a proper notification or an advert?


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

I don’t get the adverts, but have seen the password bit. Apparently the forum is soon to be updated to something more modern and I’ve noticed that most passwords on modern systems require passwords to be 8 letters or more. As far as I know it’s legit


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## PawsOnMe (Nov 1, 2012)

Siskin said:


> I don't get the adverts, but have seen the password bit. Apparently the forum is soon to be updated to something more modern and I've noticed that most passwords on modern systems require passwords to be 8 letters or more. As far as I know it's legit


Ah okay that makes sense, thank you, I can't even remember my password for this site  will have to try to update it.


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## mrs phas (Apr 6, 2014)

Siskin said:


> I don't get the adverts, but have seen the password bit. Apparently the forum is soon to be updated to something more modern and I've noticed that most passwords on modern systems require passwords to be 8 letters or more. As far as I know it's legit


Could one of the mods verify this please 
@StormyThai ,@SusieRainbow ,@LinznMilly or any of the others


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## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)

mrs phas said:


> Could one of the mods verify this please
> @StormyThai ,@SusieRainbow ,@LinznMilly or any of the others


Yes it is legit.

https://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/announcement-new-forum-software-coming-to-petforums.549441/


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

mrs phas said:


> Could one of the mods verify this please
> @StormyThai ,@SusieRainbow ,@LinznMilly or any of the others


We don't have any more insight or info than you. I have logged out and in again to check the validity of my password.


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## Bertie'sMum (Mar 27, 2017)

If you "save" your passwords for the different sites you use and if you've forgotten any of them you can check what they are via your browsers settings.
(On Google chrome that's the 3 little dots in the top right hand corner and then go to Settings; then Autofill; then Passwords - clicking on the little eye icon against each entry will show the password you've got saved.)


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