Is there a way to turn off the stuff on the right hand side?

[acid_chipmunk]

I must say, the breed reviews are a little irritating to me as well. I do like being able to see if there are other people viewing the thread I'm in, but the other stuff is kind of a bummer.

I, too, am irritated by the breed reviews. Why can't this be an option for everyone? I have had chickens for close to 3 years now and have no desire to get any new breeds, therefore I don't want or need to see reviews on the side of every page.

And, if I want a breed review, I will go to the breeders of the breed I am looking for and ask them specifically.

 

[kstaven]

Just the way this platform was set up and the way the member level system works. Things like this existed on the old byc also.

 

[Gargoyle]

I figured out how to get rid of the right sidebar stuff in Chrome and now the posts are the width of the page. Much better!
eta: figured it out in IE too. No luck in firefox but then it isn't really working at all in firefox anyway.

Firefox has some add ons that let you block out or shut off specific frames or features, I won't have time today to look for it.

 

[The Lazy L]

I figure the advertisements (the right side) help pay for those (like me) that are freeloaders.

 

[Gargoyle]

I know I don't have to pay to come here, but to have a pleasant experience here without headaches or looking out the corner of my eye at all that stuff, I have to pay. I've been using message boards for 12 yrs and have never had to pay and am not going to start now. I get that it costs money to run it but isn't that why the ads are there?

Yes, the sidebar is annoying and distracting. When someone first gets chickens the poop on the bottom of the run is annoying and distracting, but after a week or two you learn to ignore it; after a month or two you actually like seeing it, because it reminds you that everything is normal.

Now here's my "brilliant" idea. Currently it is hard to find people's BYC member page or "my chickens" page. How about putting little vignettes or the first few lines of those pages in the sidebar, for the members who posted on the page that you are viewing. So if I post here, you'd see a link and teaser for my page in the sidebar, and even without clicking it, seeing it there would tell you a big more about me. That would actually build more sense of community, because when someone posts we could effortlessly learn more about the human bean behind the post.

 

[kla37]

GFM and PPM can turn off the ads.

Only PPM can turn off the right sidebar. (reviews etc)

Imp

If only PPM's can turn off the side bar with all the REALLY annoying reviews and ads, how do we get that? All I see in the store is the GFM membership. I don't like the reviews, if I wanted to see it, I'd look it up on my own!

 

[welasharon]

If only PPM's can turn off the side bar with all the REALLY annoying reviews and ads, how do we get that? All I see in the store is the GFM membership. I don't like the reviews, if I wanted to see it, I'd look it up on my own!

Yes I found it. Go up to the top and go to the learning center and keep scrolling down till you find the post on BYC memberships...I found it through there. I think I am going to upgrade as well.
sharon

 

[kla37]

Quote:

Thank you so much! I really don't think I'll mind paying for this. I've gotten such a wealth of information here, my girls would probably not have made it through their first year without it, so I guess I can look at it like a good cause. All the changes have been making me a little wonky, but that's fairly normal for me anyway.

 

[Milk Glass Chicky]

Why should one have to pay just to remove the right column? It ought to be something available to all members, not just paying ones. I'm not talking about removing ads, I understand their purpose (although I wish they wouldn't be on the 'reply to post' page because when they don't load, the rest of the page doesn't load, like the toolbar, which in turn means I have to keep re-loading the page. My browser is not the problem either). It's those 'recent reviews', 'tags', and 'currently viewing' boxes. I don't understand the need for them, they take up space and it makes the page look clunky. Link for reviews is at the top of the page, so why have them taking up more space?

Something that ought to be so simple. I just don't understand it. It may not seem a lot to some, but it's the principle of the thing. You have to pay for the 'friendly' in 'user-friendly'. If it keeps up, one will end up having to pay just to be a member of the site at all.

I have no intention of upgrading my account, paying twenty dollars, just to remove a column. Ridiculous.

I appreciate the owners trying to keep this site up and existing (yes, I do; the confusion passed and I can find my way around and know how to use the features, even if I don't find the design visually appealing as the other and I'll have to cut down on the length of time I spend on here since the main forum and sub forum pages -not the posts- are needlessly bright). But some of these 'changes' seem needless. No, you can't make everybody happy, but why make somebody unhappy and inconvenienced over what should be a simple thing to correct?

 

[kstaven]

The problem here is we change it for you and then another doesn't like that change so we change it for them. Then the next person doesn't like that. And it goes on and on and on through 100,000 plus people. No matter how this is laid out some will be unhappy.