New BYC death on slow connections, slow computers; site crashes and hangs web browser...

[exop]

Sorry if this has been said before, but but whatever is going on behind the scenes in the new BYC forum web pages... is crippling my computer. The new BYC forums are almost unusable for me - especially message posting or PMíng. It seems to have gotten much worse sinc the advent of large, loud animated flash ads. ...Which, by the way, turn on for me *all* the time, not just when I hover. Whenever my mouse goes near them . Whenever it moves .They are more bandwidth than my setup here is meant to take... I know we are all supposed to join BYC a a sponsorsip level and then after paying the money, we can turn off the ads, but perhaps you haven't seen how these ads are not simply advertisements but are actually crippling people's BYC experience... mine and probably some others as well. for example, right now I am typing a message to be posted on the Byc Website &Forum Feedback board , but all that displays in my message compose window is the letter "S'. For "Sorry" .

I can't tell you how many articles and PM's I have tried to send or post over the past year, only to give up in a state of disbelieving frustration. It has taken me more then HALF AN HOUR to post the message which I have written so far.
... there must be something you can configure at your ened to make the BYC site more digestable for computers which are not the best, newest, or brightest, and are not on the fastest internet connection. A site aimed at chicken hobbyists really shouldn't presume that we all have the setup of a wealthy 25-year old tech hobbyist.

Text input is simply not being handled in a resource sensible way... I know you, the BYC staff did not write your own forum software, but surely you could configure it to be , maybe, a little less resource demanding. Less javascript, javascript, transparent popup windows; use just plain text imput areas instead of whatever unfathomably slow text input processing in being used now. Text input has always been something web browsers do wonderfully well, even the old, primitive web browsers of the 1990s. Never seen it kill a browser up to now.

Total time to compose, wait to read the text, delete typos and post this message: 1 hr and 8 minutes

 

[AmyWho]

I've been on some pretty ad heavy sites before, but none as overpowering as these.
While my experience has been nowhere as traumatic as yours, I do find it to be super obnoxious.

I have blazing fast internet speeds but to have to pause, wait for it to load, then close the ads....I don't know how much longer I can hang before I seek out other forums and resources.

 

[Valk]

I'm not trying to be rude at all, but this free service works really well for me. In the age of the Internet, things change, update and upgrade fast, and everyone should try to update when they're able, not expect technology to lag with them. If you're stuck on a slow connection or machine, type out posts in a text editor, then copy and paste to the website and enjoy BYC.

Again, I'm not trying to be rude, but this is a fine website and no one here is entitled to it, even though it's a very nice, free service. Oh, yes, viewing ads is how we pay to be here, but it's not that bad. I think we should all be grateful for BYC.

 

[AmyWho]

While I do agree with you, I feel like they could choose better ads. Many of the users of this site have awful backwoods internet connections. I would be much more likely to pay if they would try a little harder to help users..well...use the site.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

X2. Read 5 threads and grind to a screeching halt. Installs a lot of advertising cookies on my machine. Even after I leave the site and run Crap Cleaner my machine stays bogged down until I reboot. Running XP on a 54 mbps connection.

 

[Valk]

Where I live, cell phones don't work. It's just a fact of where I live and I don't feel I'm entitled to having them work here either. (Actually, it's quite nice!) If I wanted a cell phone that badly (or if my Internet connection couldn't handle dynamic ads), I would move into town. I'm not saying you fine people think you're entitled, but it just seems like a lot of people think they're entitled to perfection in this world.

 

[AmyWho]

I do feel a little entitled. I click on ads when they're relevant and things I'd like to purchase.
As a member of 10+ internet forums, I can safely say the ads here are the most obnoxious. There are a few other places where ads will auto play and startle me a bit..but they do it in their own little corner of the screen. I occasionally watch them because they are a) relevant and b) small so it doesn't interrupt the whole experience.

Users pay for free sites by viewing/purchasing sponsor ads and products. I'm confident BYC would make as much, if not more, from polite ads rather than huge ones that are hoggin bandwith. Bandwith costs money. Someone is paying for it somewhere.

Grateful for the resources? Yes. Gonna buy dentex dog teeth cleaner or Blackheart rum because of it? No. My 14 year old dog passed away two months ago, and my drink of choice is whiskey.

 

[Valk]

Well, hopefully the ad manager for the site is reading this. I'm sure they do appreciate the feedback and I hope the ads simmer down for people with slower connections.

My drink of choice is whiskey, too. Perhaps we could discuss all this over a glass of it someday.

 

[AmyWho]

Cheers.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

When our machines are too bogged down to click thru to a sponser's ad it defeats the purpose of paid ads. If the sponsers don't get click thrus, they stop buying ad space.
I'm ok with this site being slow but when it messes up *MY* puter so that it won't even work on the rest of the internets, then there is a problem. It may be as simple as the site programers rewriting a little code to fix a bug. Or there may be a faulty server on a hop that only affects certain geographical locations, might not even be BYC's fault. Or maybe they need to say hey chickenlegs you idiot update your java and flash.
I'm not demanding perfection, or really even complaining, just pointing out a problem that admin may be unaware of.