Site Becoming Unusable

yip...id say for the fiver ive more than got my moneys worth - not from a monetary standpoint but from peoples knowledge..thats been invaluable...

 

Hey, I have 2 Yamaha's on the road for Ducati breakdown times

 

Pay it or lose it. It’s a valuable resource and the people running it are doing so for not much more than a poke in the eye.
£5 is hardly disposable income territory, this isn’t the war!

 

We see things very differently on this occasion old pal.

I honestly don’t have the energy to go in to this at the moment though.

 

IMO there’s a better (less confrontational) way of expressing this...

DucatiForum is a very active forum, with a membership who have a willingness to share their knowledge about Ducatis of all ages, some (e.g. @chrisw) have very specialist knowledge that they generously share. There’s a lot of chit-chat here that at least gives you something to read each day, which is either about Ducatis, or motorcycling or life as it’s experienced by people with diverse backgrounds and a common interest.

DucatiForum is not free to operate, and relies on the contributions of a few people who give up their time to moderate and run the site, and revenue derived from advertising that helps to cover the costs (e.g. software, development time, hosting, bandwidth etc) of operation.

Ads are annoying (especially for users who are accessing the forum from their mobile devices) and some people find that this can impair the enjoyment of the site, but costs need to be covered. So there are three choices...

Value proposition 1) Pay GBP 5.00 and be a subscriber - benefit is an ad-free experience
Value proposition 2) Pay GBP 15.00 and be a premium subscriber - benefit is as per subscriber PLUS you get a Halfords trade card which if you use Halfords for motoring / cycling / camping / tools gives you the possibility to save hundreds of pounds a year.
Value proposition 3) Pay GBP 0.00 and allow the adverts that are served to you to deliver revenue to DucatiForum to allow users who do not wish to become subscribers to use the forum

In those three choices there should be something for everyone, and IMO 2) presents the best value. I bought a battery for the GSXR and saved more by having a trade card than premium subscription cost me. I will use Halfords maybe half a dozen times a year and can save lots of money this way. So this option works for me very well (I.E it’s effectively free, and in fact earning me money and I don’t need to look at adverts).

 

The Ads are particularly bad on this forum though, regardless of the arguments about paying. I just stopped using the forum for six months because I wasn't doing much Ducati stuff and the adverts were too intrusive. I only came back because of saving so much money with the Halfords card made it right to buy the subscription agian even though at the time I was considering getting rid of the bike. My opinion is that the ads should be made less intrusive so people who dont want to pay get a worthwhile experience. Their contributions are good for the forum in general anyhow.

 

I’ll pm my bank statement it’s faaarked...I’m looking forward to receiving my Halfords card and maybe not losing it before I use it, I just popped out to the pub Guinness £3.90 I had 2, kind of puts the subs into perspective as I look on here a lot and enjoy it, it’s a cheap do.

 

Its tricky to reconcile the logic that Forum conversation -of whatever type you read or participate in- is so compelling and worthwhile that you don't want to give it up (indeed will write comments praising it) yet at the same time is worth less than a ten pence per week.

Odd that though it is so enjoyable here, its too much to contribute the price of a beer per year or view some annoying ads to ensure it remains available to everyone.

 

I blame Pornhub as it sets a high bar for free usable websites, hell, even the adverts are 'usable' when you think about it

Hang on, perhaps thats the answer?

If Ducati forum advertises Pornhub then surely its a win win? Obviously unless your wife's sat next to you in bed whilst your browsing the Multistrada section comparing lap times, and up pops a massive pair of norks

Fastest A to Divorce bike on the planet

 

Its funny how you build a mental picture of a Ducati less then 12 months old, full termi system, carbon fibre wheels, CNCd rear sets, stickiest of stivky rubber on (1000 miles a set) , full Ohlins (with bespoke rebuild) taking advice (from this forum) on where and how to ride it, and the guy's bitching about a fiver.

I almost want to let him have some of my OAP money to help him out.


TB

 

Some of the US sites are terrible for this, by the time the site and ads have loaded I'm bored and exit, so I imagine this can go on with visitors here.

 

Another site I use is free to use, has no adds but to access the tech help and sales/wanted/etc etc there is a £5 year membership purely to cover just costs. Last time I joined a well used bmw bike forum it was free of charge but £12 a year to have access too the sales/wanted, discount section, use messaging service etc

I only mention this as this forum is not the only site that has a way to pay for the services we all use. I do chuckle though, some will spend more than a fiver ringing their dealer and then ducati u.k. saying "why isn't my effin multistrada fixed yet?"

 

I see Brads point in this. It isnt about the fiver. Prior to logging on, its a mess. The page jumps about and you go to click on login and it jumps and youve clicked a fucking ad. Drives me nuts.

But I now use Mozilla and DuckDuckGo exclusively. My ads are much reduced and Im no longer tracked. I got really fucked off getting those sheffield ducati charlatans ads all the time.

If i didnt know the site, it would put me off. I understand its need but its a tad overbearing at times. Especially on a phone. Especially now Im on my ancient and tiny Iphone5 temporarily whilst mine gets a new battery.

 

Why can't we all just drink beer and be happy?

 

That’s hilarious AC, I had almost exactly that said to me recently. (Although sadly I don’t have 3 bikes)