Sadly RMweb has become virtually unusable

[Noel]

Sadly RMweb has become virtually unusable recently with even more popup adds every single click, some cannot be dismissed or closed and obscure 1/3rd of the content area. I'm not paying £5/month for the privilege of generating content for a private enterprise, just to get rid of the adds and make it as useable as it used to be. Wonder what the human page hits are now compared to two years ago before the advertising blitz. Here on IRM and FaceBook groups are so much easier to use and browse.

[Northroader]

I use their “premium” service, which is to me quite reasonably priced, certainly cheaper than getting an “ad-blocker” app. It gives you a reasonably clear screen, although some home site ads still appear, and that repetitive movie in the lower RHS corner has gone. As it does not need all the ads refreshing, it seems to me to be much faster response as well.

[Mayner]

Noel do you view RM Web on a Phone or computer?

No problem viewing RM Web (free) or news media on a Laptop, but phone infested with popups trying to sell me things I don't want tailored to my  age demographics and personal search pattern.

 

 

[Nick]

9 minutes ago, Mayner said:

Noel do you view RM Web on a Phone or computer?

No problem viewing RM Web (free) or news media on a Laptop, but phone infested with popups trying to sell me things I don't want tailored to my  age demographics and personal search pattern.

 

 

I had to stop using my small netbook because the video adverts fills most of the screen which admittingly is only a 420p resolution.

[irishthump]

I view it on my laptop and I don't feel it's a great hardship to close the ad when it pops up. Remember, if you don't have to pay to keep something running then you should be able to accept a slight inconvenience. 

[Noel]

39 minutes ago, Mayner said:

Noel do you view RM Web on a Phone or computer?

No problem viewing RM Web (free) or news media on a Laptop, but phone infested with popups trying to sell me things I don't want tailored to my  age demographics and personal search pattern.

 

 

MacBook with Safari. Video panel took up bottom quadrant of the screen over content, not dismissible, not moveable, not closable. Very annoying. Occasionally an iPad but generally I find a laptop more ergonomic especially for posture compared to using a tablet.

[Noel]

16 minutes ago, irishthump said:

I view it on my laptop and I don't feel it's a great hardship to close the ad when it pops up. Remember, if you don't have to pay to keep something running then you should be able to accept a slight inconvenience. 

Fair enough. Personally I don't need the hassle climbing through hedges of adverts and videos some of which cannot be dismissed or closed. The site already earned revenue from advertising, so it was not free. If only it was 'slight inconvenience'  but unfortunately the balance does not seem right. Will stick to facebook groups and here on IRM and some excellent youtube channels like Chadwick Model Railway and Everard junction.

[popeye]

1 hour ago, Noel said:

Sadly RMweb has become virtually unusable recently with even more popup adds every single click, some cannot be dismissed or closed and obscure 1/3rd of the content area. I'm not paying £5/month for the privilege of generating content for a private enterprise, just to get rid of the adds and make it as useable as it used to be. Wonder what the human page hits are now compared to two years ago before the advertising blitz. Here on IRM and FaceBook groups are so much easier to use and browse.

I keep away from it, there are many other sites that don't have adds all over the screen.

Just vote with your feet and walk.

[Blaine]

1 hour ago, Noel said:

Sadly RMweb has become virtually unusable recently with even more popup adds every single click, some cannot be dismissed or closed and obscure 1/3rd of the content area. I'm not paying £5/month for the privilege of generating content for a private enterprise, just to get rid of the adds and make it as useable as it used to be. Wonder what the human page hits are now compared to two years ago before the advertising blitz. Here on IRM and FaceBook groups are so much easier to use and browse.

Aw god love you, you poor little chicken. 1 candle or 2?

[murphaph]

I also find myself using it an awful lot less recently. It's just too much with the ads on there. A discreet ad between forum posts here or there never bothers me but advertising content being overlaid over what I want to read usually sends me away from any website. 

[jhb171achill]

I rarely look at it. IRM is the “go-to” for matters Irish; quite possibly RMweb serves better those who choose to model the 7ft 5 and seventeen-nineteenths gauge Arbroath to Pembrokeshire line in 1852.

(Not 1853, very obviously)…..

My understanding is that it is administered by a small number of unpaid individuals; if that is the case (and I can’t verify or deny it), one might understand; however, the ads are excsessive, all over the place, and annoying to the most patient.

I made a comment to this nature on it one time and they barred me straight away! They did, to be fair, re-instate me - though I see little content there that isn’t here too.

Life’s too short. I’ll stick with boring people here, rather than both of them!

[Galteemore]

JHB, are you employing ‘boring’ as a verb or an adjective ? 

[Broithe]

6 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

JHB, are you employing ‘boring’ as a verb or an adjective ? 

Possibly both?

 

For many years into the 1980s, the UK's Yellow Pages had a 'Boring' section, which was empty, but had a handy suggestion of where else you might look for boring people.

Somewhere, I may still have the framed cutting that I had above my desk.

Oh, how we mechanical engineers used to laugh about it, whenever there were any stone age chaps to hear us...

Edited December 11, 2022 by Broithe

[Noel]

10 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

I rarely look at it. IRM is the “go-to” for matters Irish; quite possibly RMweb serves better those who choose to model the 7ft 5 and seventeen-nineteenths gauge Arbroath to Pembrokeshire line in 1852.

(Not 1853, very obviously)…..

My understanding is that it is administered by a small number of unpaid individuals; if that is the case (and I can’t verify or deny it), one might understand; however, the ads are excsessive, all over the place, and annoying to the most patient.

I made a comment to this nature on it one time and they barred me straight away! They did, to be fair, re-instate me - though I see little content there that isn’t here too.

Life’s too short. I’ll stick with boring people here, rather than both of them!

Yes its a bit mad Ted. Its like a cheap red top newspaper.

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Noel
mistake

[DJ Dangerous]

Topic already done to death in March, here:

 

 

[mmie353]

Is it worth trying to use Chrome on the MAC OS to see if it helps with the ads? I am not a Mac user but Safari may also have tools built into it to block ads. I do not venture much into rmweb but it would be worth seeing if Chromes built in add blocker would improve things. 

[jhb171achill]

In all reality you’ll see little there which isn’t here too - if anything - in terms of Irish railways. 

For those into British or worldwide stuff, especially the more specialised aspects of it, there is much of interest, though.

[Galteemore]

What RM web ( and similar sites)  does offer is an enormous source of guidance on issues which are more generic - scenics, DCC, wiring, ballasting etc etc. You could pay to be a member, or possibly use that money to join another source of information …..For a modeller who is learning the ropes (and I include myself) I strongly recommend joining one of the scale societies eg Gauge 0 Guild, N Gauge Society, Scalefour etc as appropriate. That will give you an ad-free opening into a world of expertise which will supplement that on here, with a particular emphasis on the scale you follow. These societies all tend to have their own forums. My 7mm memberships have been invaluable in that regard, not least in their magazines etc which advise me of new resources such as useful 3D prints coming out. The Gauge O Guild also organises a number of trade fairs which are my main source of supplies for scratch building.  Many societies also offer special parts and spares to members only. 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Galteemore

[Mayner]

Personally I like RM Web for the modelling and technical content, kit and scratchbuilding, p.w., signalling, modellers musings due to the greater and wider knowledge base than IRM.

The pop-ups are not a problem on my laptop, though both RM Web and IRM are a pain to access on the iPhone.

[Mike 84C]

The pop ups are a real pain on my laptop but I wonder just how many sales/perceptions they generate?  Because it works totally counter intuative with me and makes me far less inclined to buy from anyone that bombards me with pop ups. This a shame because a well known supplier of DCC parts etc is only 14 miles away.

[Broithe]

Whilst advertising does pay for a lot of stuff I use 'free', it remains, mostly, a mystery to me.

An experiment you can try is to wait until an ad break on the telly has finished and then ask someone what the adverts were for. Quite often, people have little actual memory of what has just been presented to them.

Most of the 'targeted' adverts that I get online are sheer madness - I feel sure that just doing it randomly would be better, there might be the odd one of interest then.

Over a period of many months, I was subjected to repeated adverts for a book which promised to help me "Become a Complete Christian Woman" - this seemed quite an ambitious project - but, if this weather continues, then I might make a start...

Whilst it does pay for some sites that would otherwise need to be funded in some other way, it can, as with some newspapers, etc., become a problem which simply results in the adverts getting fewer views than if they were less intrusive.

At one time, I made quite a niche product which was sold locally, pretty much by word-of-mouth and one example in a small shop window - a typical 'cottage industry' scenario. Somebody suggested that I should advertise in the local paper, pre-internet days). I did, and was absolutely inundated with enquiries, to the point that I could do little else than just answer them for a fortnight. These enquiries came in two forms - people who thought they wanted one, but were never actually going to buy one - and people* wanting details to pass on to my competitor about how I made a better one that was cheaper than his. I sold not a single one as a result of that advert.

* It was in the very early days of the 1471 caller identity system and I was able to determine that the calls came from his brother's phone...

[StevieB]

I view rmweb on an iPad and the advert situation is destroying my enjoyment of the site. This has been raised with the powers that be and they are less than receptive. There are some on this site who can corroborate this. Long live IRM.

Stephen

[Darius43]

20 hours ago, Broithe said:

 

 

Hey.  I represent that post!!!

Cheers

Darius (FICE)

[Broithe]

1 minute ago, Darius43 said:

Hey.  I represent that post!!!

Cheers

Darius (FICE)

The ICE made representations about it over several years and, as nobody ever included themselves in the 'Boring' category, however specialised they were in mining, tunnelling or well-drilling, it was eventually abandoned.

[StevieB]

I wonder how many other members of ICE there are on IRM?

Stephen MICE

[jhb171achill]

2 hours ago, Broithe said:

Over a period of many months, I was subjected to repeated adverts for a book which promised to help me "Become a Complete Christian Woman" - this seemed quite an ambitious project - but, if this weather continues, then I might make a start...

 

Superb!!!! 

 

[Broithe]

2 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Superb!!!! 

I'm going to be reluctant to record my progress, or lack of it, on this project, due to the Forum's ban on religious discussions.

[Barl]

15 hours ago, Broithe said:

The ICE made representations about it over several years and, as nobody ever included themselves in the 'Boring' category, however specialised they were in mining, tunnelling or well-drilling, it was eventually abandoned.

I find 'Directional Drilling' sounds far more exciting!

At least we're not as bad as structures!

[Darius43]

I went for RMWeb Gold to support the site when it was first offered, which was before the big database issue earlier this year and the ever worsening advertising issues.  
As such I don’t get any ads apart from BRM related ones. 

Cheers

Darius
 

 

[Mike 84C]

I get the impression that BRM is owned by Warners publishing, if I'm wrong please correct me but a post from one of the moderators gave me the feeling that "pay us money and we can stop the popups" feels a lot like mild blackmail. I'm with Mayner on the width of expertise and like IRM help is so freely given.

[GSR 800]

15 minutes ago, Mike 84C said:

I get the impression that BRM is owned by Warners publishing, if I'm wrong please correct me but a post from one of the moderators gave me the feeling that "pay us money and we can stop the popups" feels a lot like mild blackmail. I'm with Mayner on the width of expertise and like IRM help is so freely given.

on another forum I'm on, in order to generate upkeep money members can donate if they wish. No ads as a result.

Keep in mind said forum has around 80k members, though obviously a great deal fewer active users, but nonetheless twice that of RMweb.

I don't find RMweb a terrible hassle on the laptop, dont look at it elsewhere, but I do think it could have been done better. Don't really understand the point of complaining about it here though.

Edited December 13, 2022 by GSR 800

[skinner75]

4 hours ago, Darius43 said:

which was before the big database issue earlier this year 

Cheers

Darius
 

 

Sounds interesting - care to elaborate?

[Niles]

If you're not paying for the product, you're the product, et al... 

[Darius43]

Errant post

Edited December 13, 2022 by Darius43

[GSR 800]

49 minutes ago, skinner75 said:

Sounds interesting - care to elaborate?

Something about moving over to a new server or something?

A significant amount of images were lost in the process which is very unfortunate.