Wednesday, April 28, 2010

RE: vim.wikia.com is a poor user experience

Lloyd Budd wrote:
> My Google search ended at
> http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Switching_case_of_characters
>
> I couldn't even read the text with the nauseating animated
> banner ad pushing the text right.
> screen shot:
> http://skitch.com/lloydbudd/dbnhh/switching-case-of-characters
> -vim-tips-wiki

Yes, the adverts can be a pain. I actually checked the other day
(that is, I browsed a couple of pages as an anonymous user on a
system with no ad blocking software) and the adverts were OK.
They were plain and not unattractive, with no animation.
However, I know they also have animated adverts including Flash.

There is not much we can do because Wikia provide not just the
base system, but they also maintain the software and provide
quite good support (I've only had to ask for help a couple of
times, and the response was good). Someone might be able to
donate a base system with no ads, but the maintenance and
assurance of continuing availability would be a problem.

Anyway, for an individual user like yourself, there is an easy
way to avoid the adverts (but adverts will still be visible on
the main page, and will be seen occasionally due to a glitch
which sometimes shows an advert when it is not supposed to).

At vim.wikia.com click the buttons to register an account. When
logged on, there are no adverts. You can stay logged on for 30
days (if cookies enabled).

When making an account: Enter a bogus date of birth making your
age over 13 (Google COPPA to understand this requirement). I
recommend you enter a valid email address so you can be notified
if someone leaves you a message on your user talk page. In three
years I have had no spam.

John

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