2 hours ago, bluebruce said:

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23617466.blackburn-rovers-youngsters-given-chance-impress-tomasson/

Rory Finneran, 15, has taken part in the internal games with the senior team. Also 16 year olds Max Davies and Tom Atcheson, both centre halves.

Anyone have knowledge of any of them?

Finneran’s agent is a pal of mine, and he says he tries to emulate Roy Keane in his style of play.

Personally think he does a solid impression, he’s hard defensively, but equally capable of bursting forward.

I think we’ll be talking about him in a similar vein as we spoke about Jones and now Wharton. Capable of being a generational talent.

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

Some very valid points within that and a good post within a number of replies from mods and admins who should know better (or give up their titles and responsibilities if they want to be snide pricks - I'll take the ban). I'm not implying that the messageboard shouldn't run ads to generate revenue.

I just don't feel that the ads need to be quite as intrusive as they are. Then again, I don't know the full cost of running the site at the moment and my estimates might be miles off.  

Sorry for my reaction last night and earlier today, I get very touchy about this place 😅 Hopefully the following is a bit more measured and might explain (not excuse) my reaction:

I also completely agree with gooz’s post, but imo your agreement with it doesn’t really mesh with the part of your original post with which I took umbrage:

On 26/06/2023 at 11:09, Eddie said:

I don't have a problem with the ads, but I do have a problem with the number of ads and the number of popups. I think it massively impacts the experience on the website and at times makes it almost unvisitable.

Now, you might say that I could just sign up and get rid of them, but I actually feel less inclined to subscribe when the user experience is being placed after revenue.

This feels like stepping back into a website from the early 2000s and it's a real shame.

When asked several times by different members for your suggestions to improve the experience in a different way, you offered nothing but ‘I’ll put a free adblocker on’, which I found to both mean you didn’t want to help the site, nor did you actually mean your original post. It felt to me as if you were antagonising an admin team that works bloody hard, even more so than us mods.

I apologise for getting as wound up as I did and replying to you how I did, but my feelings were genuine when I posted, rightly or wrongly.

7 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

It's been coming with Our Eddy ever since I had the chutzpah to disagree with him a few months back and he flounced off for a month or two, and then after he put his toys back in the pram and returned, when I didn't doff my cap sufficiently after he told us about his glittering legal career. 😁

Not a lawyer I’d want, without any care for detail or nuance. A state prosecutor in the US, per chance?

You haven’t ‘given feedback’, you’ve used a minor quibble to actively have a go at people doing what you used to do.

That’s what grinds. The facade of ‘it’s just feedback’ doesn’t match the snidey judgement that permeates what you say.

IF you don’t believe you’re being snidey, then it’s clear you haven’t actually read any of the initial or subsequent posts on the topic since the ads were first introduced, or you wouldn’t have bothered to start what you did.

4 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Take it you’ve not come across our Edward before? 😁

Disgusting!

41 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Why are you taking such a strong interest in this?

The ads themselves are targeted, but their nature is not. I'm not complaining about the fact that I'm seeing ads for BMWs, cigarettes, or alcohol, I'm saying that the popup ads (which, at times, include full-page ads) negatively impact the visitor experience. 

I just gave my feedback. After 20+ years on the messageboard, I've not exactly made a habit of being critical of admins and policies.

But I think I've explained myself well enough for them to understand the context and everyone involved is undoubtedly tremendously bored by the topic. 

Just as a point of order, could you screenshot these ads for alcohol and cigarettes? They shouldn’t be appearing as far as I’m aware.

I’m taking a strong interest as a mod who gives an unhealthy amount of time to help this site run smoothly.

I don’t think it’s right that you are dying on this particular hill of slagging off an exceptionally hard-working admin team (I couldn’t physically be arsed to do the work that J*B, Stubbs, and the other techies do) for keeping the site alive in the most cost-efficient (not cheapest), morally sound way possible.

I also don’t understand why you think the site has ‘chosen’ to offer subscription for any nefarious purpose, as intimated by the context of your posts.

The crux of the matter is:

We need to run these ads to survive.

If you don’t like them, this is the revenue they generate, so if you can pay for it instead of the ads, you won’t see them.

If you can offer a better solution, offer it instead of being high and mighty.

4 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Which is great, if I only ever accessed the messageboard from a device where I'm logged in (which is maybe 20% of the time).

As I also said earlier, the aggressive nature of the ads actually makes me far less inclined to pay the subscription. The logic of 'we'll make this experience so unpleasant that you will have to pay to get rid of the ads' doesn't compel me to do so.

It's just my bit of feedback. I may well be in the minority. 

Why are you being so nasty about this? The nature of the ads is not a decision our team can make, aside from restricting such ads if they are reported to the relevant admin. Without them being reported, we don’t know what ads you’re seeing, as they’re based on YOUR browsing.

Insinuating the team has done this deliberately is really quite shitty of you.

29 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I think the ad experience is awful. That's separate from the platform used to run the messageboard or their hosting choices.

Those tech stack decisions may impact cost and then allow them to implement a less aggressive ad policy, but the fact that we're dealing with full-page popups and banner/footer ads that you have to click out of every few pages is just an awful experience.

 

So what would you suggest?

32 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I've contributed to the site in the past as an admin and through content and, as I acknowledged in my original post, I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to a messageboard.

If we were talking about a standard CMS, reducing hosting costs, dealing with normal website issues then I could be of some use, but I'm sure that everyone involved knows far more than I do when it comes to the platform that they currently use and other options that might be available. 

And yet you think they’ve not chosen well.

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

I don't doubt @J*B's assessment and I know that this is a world that he's very familiar.

But, as someone who works on helping tech companies optimize their online experience (admittedly not through messageboards), I find it hard to believe that such an unappealing ad experience is the best course of action.

Every visit and new page comes with a new pop-up. I don't believe in adblockers, but this website gets me closer to changing my mind than anything else ever has. 

Have you considered doing something helpful and reaching out to the site with a better solution?

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

I don't have a problem with the ads, but I do have a problem with the number of ads and the number of popups. I think it massively impacts the experience on the website and at times makes it almost unvisitable.

Now, you might say that I could just sign up and get rid of them, but I actually feel less inclined to subscribe when the user experience is being placed after revenue.

This feels like stepping back into a website from the early 2000s and it's a real shame. 

 

Without that revenue there wouldn’t BE any user experience because there’d be no BRFCS.

On 21/06/2023 at 19:23, alex l said:

Another Macron effort, mileage will vary with this one. Looks like they're willing to try something different though. 

Black and grey version of that could look smart.

Christmas fixtures are much kinder to us fans this year at least.

1 hour ago, roverandout said:

Having medals doesn't make u an expert. I don't have to be a fireman to know fires are dangerous 

But being one of the best midfielders of your generation, and winning a few trophies as a manager too, means you can criticise a player.

On 19/06/2023 at 15:19, RoverDom said:

Note that he didn't deny being a robot...

Plus a career in engineering…

9 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Souness talks alot of twaddle

I’d ban you so hard if J*B and K-Hod weren’t holding me back right now!

8 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

we aren't going to agree aren't we? 

I don't see anywhere I go but yet again I don't going looking out for clearly others do

I don’t ‘go looking out’ for them either, but I have enough awareness of my surroundings when I’m out walking to know they’re there.

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

most things in life are bad for you like drinking alcohol or eating cakes or Mcdonalds/KFC but the vast majority of us do it don't we?  

Eating those in bold are not actually ‘bad for you’ at all, as they can contribute to a balanced diet.

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Your streets might be littered with them but not where I live but yet again I don't look out for them when I walk to the shop in car park at the supermarket. 

‘If I pretend they’re not there, they’re not there.’

5 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Rahm and McIlroy were offered £200 Million to join LIV, they turned it down, then LIV ultimately merged with the PGA Tour anyhow. Rahm has spoken about wanting to be compensated, as he’s £200 Million down for staying with a tour that ultimately merged with the rival one anyway. The lad’s got a point tbf.

Completely agree, and that’s the minimum compensation imo. The risk they were taking in their personal and professional lives adds to it.

6 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Don't you value my contributions as a Premier member?

You’re not ’more equal’, you know…

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2023/june/15/sondre-signs-/

Welcome Sondre!

Glenda Jackson, MP, double Oscar Winner, and Morecambe & Wise Show legend!

10 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Watching my team play

So there’s literally no reason for you to go to games. Just stay at home and subscribe to RoversTV, save yourself the travel.

4 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Hoping for Leeds at Ewood opening day of the season

Swag-cap on:

We want a ‘smaller’ fixture for the opening day as it would bring more fans than usual by nature of being the opening game.

Leeds will fill the away end whatever day it is, so hopefully that’s a midweek evening match that’s also on TV.