Simply put, I hate it.
The ticker tape slows down the site - loading time etc, is an eyesore, and is annoying.
I don’t like how commercialized Forumosa seems to be getting too and all the little extra frilly things - like the facts quiz after you post something…hate that too.
Why try to fix something that isnt broken? This place was great before - simple, clean, well organized. Now its just getting to be too frilly.
May i ask what the “ticker tape” is?
it’s that stuff you used in high school physics class… duuuh!
Ticker Tape usually refers to the scrolling messages accross a screen. Like they have on CNN and BBC. But I haven’t seen any of that on f.com. :s
You could buy a faster PC.
Or upgrade to ‘superfast’ Hinet ADSL …
[quote=“Quarters”]Simply put, I hate it.
The ticker tape slows down the site - loading time etc, is an eyesore, and is annoying.
I don’t like how commercialized Forumosa seems to be getting too and all the little extra frilly things - like the facts quiz after you post something…hate that too.
Why try to fix something that isnt broken? This place was great before - simple, clean, well organized. Now its just getting to be too frilly.[/quote]
Yeah, I’m not crazy about it either - but until I figure out how to just put a simple list there, it stays. Oddly enough, it seems to have succeeded with you - 1 out of 6 posts here. That is - it got your attention.
I have a few technical problems with it: the start up delay is too slow plus I’ve never been a fan of tickers, at least the Blog feed doesn’t update often enough to justify it. But as long as it draws more attention (even a little) to the changes that continuously happen to the website (and there have been changes as long as I’ve been around here) then it’s all good
What are the little frills you object too? Recent changes include:
The Move Notification alerts
The Social Bookmarking links
The latest Taiwanted Ads - which was long sought after by Forumosans
The Charity Ad block next to the Sponsor Banners
The Become a Sponsor Link - because we’ve learned the hard way that we need to pay $500 a month for a server fast enough to handle a discussion database this big, and potential sponsors email us telling us they don’t know where to find information
The Blufr Quiz - which proves we can finally make that space more useful - probably for links to a User Survey
I don’t deny a touch of whimsy here and there. Heck, I celebrate it. And I am unconvinced all of this gets in the way in any way at all.
You think it slows down the website? Please expound on this. After all the modifications I have made here over the YEARS, the only proven factor that slows down the website are more people using it at once. We do seem to be getting more looks thanks to our Taiwanease magazine - at least, according to our Google Analytics
But make your case - I’ll be reading it.
The ticker doesn’t display for me (not that I’m complaining 
).
The ticker runs publicly in 2 places - The Feedback Forum and the Full Login Page. There is a 3 or 4 second delay which effectively defeats its purpose, imho
However, installing it gives us TWO bonuses:
A deeper level of Forum control - I re-learned how to add forum specific content - so with the guidance and advice of a forum’s moderators and regular users, we can add links and feeds (and sponsor ads)
More feed options - Forumosa has several ways of presenting information from outside and a stable RSS input was something missing. Few may ever appreciate that the Taiwanted links at the bottom of every forum page involved a bit of coding savvy that is nothing short of remarkable - at least for a couple of guys who did NOT have a programming background. Credit for this goes entirely to Malc. The Taiwanted links below are NOT RSS, but PHP includes that pull from customised CRON-driven writes. It is a stable way to bring in external content without crashing the forums - my earlier attempts at embedding RSS feeds worked, but crashed certain pages when certain characters were used (which is inevitable when 30% of Forumosans use Chinese encoded operating systems)
So in my twisted little world, unpopular hacks like the Blufr Quiz or a ticker tape (remember, even I don’t like tickers), have a silver lining. These are moonshot efforts that bring about unexpected but necessary learnings
Just a reminder - its obvious we are not shy of making changes to the website. Suggest changes to us and we will take them seriously
[quote=“Quarters”]Why try to fix something that isnt broken? This place was great before - simple, clean, well organized. Now its just getting to be too frilly.[/quote] 
[quote]Quarters
Joined: 03 Jan 2006[/quote]…and it shows.
Hoary old longtimers like me have learned to put up with this stuff. As long as the basic functions of the site are still there, I try not to complain about the fripperies. And I don’t even notice them half the time now. I didn’t notice those quiz things until someone pointed them out – just assumed they were advertising and skimmed over them.
Use Firefox+Adblock. You’ll never see them again.