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**Janet H** · 04-12-2016, 06:03 PM

We wanted to let you know about the new links at the bottom of the home page of the forum and some cool news.

Over the years as AIR has grown, some additional websites have joined the Social Knowledge (parent company) family. Most are RV and recreation related and include some amazing resources. The Vintage Airstream Archives, RV Park Reviews.com are a couple of my personal favorites. Recently RV Life Magazine joined the party and now at the bottom of the page you will see links to articles that may be of interest.

You'll have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find them. If you find them interesting scroll often, if not we understand and have placed them so they won't be disruptive to regular forum browsing. For AIR Supporting Members, as usual, there is a link in your User CP to disable this option (>edit options >> disable recommended articles >>> save).

RVlife is a venerable publication and we are excited to add this resource. Articles cover a variety of topics including maintenance, travel and both new a vintage RVs. Happy surfing

Jim & Susan · 04-12-2016, 06:12 PM

Just noticed those about 30 minutes ago. Thanks for the heads up. Looks intriguing.

Jim

nvestysly · 04-12-2016, 07:39 PM

I guess I'm one of those people who don't like change particularly when it interferes/changes something that I thought worked perfectly well. As a supporting member I'm certainly going to attempt to turn this off.

I'm not particularly upset about them being at the bottom of the page but they are not really at the bottom of the page. They're near the bottom but create an annoying separation of the last post and the quick reply menu. Perhaps they can be moved so they really are at the bottom of the page.

Thanks.

BoldAdventure · 04-12-2016, 09:38 PM

Great marketing copy.

Disabled.

kb0zke · 04-13-2016, 05:53 AM

"They're near the bottom but create an annoying separation of the last post and the quick reply menu. Perhaps they can be moved so they really are at the bottom of the page."

x2

murreywalker · 04-13-2016, 07:35 AM

IMO, this feature is unnecessary and intrusive. The results will be less than you expect.

I post this as one coming from an advertising and marketing background (forty plus years worth).

Just my opinion FWIW.

ROBERT CROSS · 04-13-2016, 07:58 AM

IMHO....supporting members should have an opt-out....it's a PITA.

Bob

**Andy R** · 04-13-2016, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

IMHO....supporting members should have an opt-out....it's a PITA.

Supporting members can indeed turn these off. The instructions to do so are in Janet's post #1 on this thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nvestysly

Perhaps they can be moved so they really are at the bottom of the page.

To be honest, if we put them at the very bottom of the page they would be seen less and thus be less effective.

I founded this forum community 14 years ago. In that time the internet has evolved and we have had to evolve with it. I acquired RV Life Magazine last fall, it's has been published since 1986. The print magazine industry is suffering from ad budgets moving online. Rather than let the brand die we are evolving RV Life to an online magazine with plans to roll out season print publications (ie. annual or bi-annual instead of monthly). The RV Life website simply does not get the traffic needed to sustain the team of writers (RVers) who create the content. That's why cross promoting the articles here on AIR and our sister sites made sense.

We are grateful to our members who choose to support our community and that's why we offer them the ability to disable these and other items on the site to streamline their experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoldAdventure

Great marketing copy.

Disabled.

I don't think Janet was trying to spin things, just lay out the facts and keep everyone in the loop. Thanks for being a supporting member and
I'm glad the disable feature will work for you.

NWGetaways · 04-13-2016, 09:25 AM

If you have by chance ever visited any other websites, you've probably encountered a similar looking "You May Also Like" block similar to this one.

There's a pretty big difference though. Those other ones are usually filled with clickbait items like "9 Celebrities Who Had Wardrobe Malfunctions" or "Chloe Moretz's Dress Drops Jaws" or "Read E-books? Here's The Worst Kept Secret Among Book Lovers". (Real ads I just saw)

The links here are on topic and I have found some of them intriguing enough to want to read.

Really people, how many calories do you think you'll burn having to scroll down a couple more inches to get to the Quick Reply?

**Andy R** · 04-13-2016, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NWGetaways

If you have by chance ever visited any other websites, you've probably encountered a similar looking "You May Also Like" block similar to this one.

There's a pretty big difference though. Those other ones are usually filled with clickbait items like "9 Celebrities Who Had Wardrobe Malfunctions" or "Chloe Moretz's Dress Drops Jaws" or "Read E-books? Here's The Worst Kept Secret Among Book Lovers". (Real ads I just saw)

The links here are on topic and I have found some of them intriguing enough to want to read.

Thanks for noticing. These were indeed inspired with the Outbrain style ads you see on other sites. I'm glad you actually noticed the difference with our RV Life content.

NWGetaways · 04-13-2016, 10:12 AM

FYI: They don't lay out correctly on an iPad.

Protagonist · 04-13-2016, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet

We wanted to let you know about the new links at the bottom of the home page of the forum and some cool news.

You'll have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find them.

You only have to scroll past the bottom thread on the home page, not all the way to the bottom. Scrolling all the way to the bottom is how I first found a link to the Kayaking & Rafting Forum, where I sometimes lurk but haven't yet posted.

I've clicked on a few of the articles before finding this thread. It's unfortunate that most of the "articles" seem to be the text version of infomercials, where you have to read through a lot of text, only to get to a "buy this" portion of the article. And none of the articles I've read proved to be about products I want to buy. If there were more "real" articles (i.e about places and processes) and fewer infomercial ads (about products for sale), I'd be more inclined to read more of them. As it stands, my interest level is not terribly high and I doubt I'll click on many more of them.

But since the RV Life infomercial articles appear below the bottom post on the thread— and because I set AirForums to display "newest first"— I don't find the links obtrusive. And you never know, someday, somehow, another RV Life "article" just might pique my interest.

**Janet H** · 04-13-2016, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NWGetaways

FYI: They don't lay out correctly on an iPad.

Thanks for the feedback - tweaking in progress

streaminwild · 04-13-2016, 11:45 AM

Thanks AndyR, The Air Forums is the friendliest R.V. site on the net. The comradery here is second to none. You have a good thing going here. Don't change a thing....O.K. that popup that makes the screen go black until you click the x. Can you move that to the bottom as well? I support anything that makes R.V.ing easier. Keep up the good work Mod-Gods.

centennialman · 04-13-2016, 11:54 AM

Thanks for the information! It's nice to see the other things available out there. I enjoy this forum, glad it's here and appreciate the Moderators very much! New and more information is always appreciated.

**Andy R** · 04-13-2016, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Protagonist

I've clicked on a few of the articles before finding this thread. It's unfortunate that most of the "articles" seem to be the text version of infomercials, where you have to read through a lot of text, only to get to a "buy this" portion of the article. And none of the articles I've read proved to be about products I want to buy. If there were more "real" articles (i.e about places and processes) and fewer infomercial ads (about products for sale), I'd be more inclined to read more of them.

Thanks for your honest feedback, it's much appreciated. I agree with your opinion about some of the articles and am planning a team meeting with the writers to address that. I want them to be very informative while still helping direct readers to the vast resources we have collected together (forum discussions, campground reviews, Airstream registry entries, etc). For example I could see an article on batteries for a solar setup and linking to discussions on the forums about batteries too.

OTRA15 · 04-13-2016, 01:02 PM

Small matter, but . . .

Can Admins and Mods correct spelling errors in the titles of threads? I know we can't after we start a thread.

Such a correction would be "Recommeded" here . . .

PS -- And ditto to the comments about this being a great site with very helpful Admins and Mods. Thank you . . .

**Janet H** · 04-13-2016, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OTRA15

Small matter, but . . .

Can Admins and Mods correct spelling errors in the titles of threads? I know we can't after we start a thread.

Such a correction would be "Recommeded" here . . .

Yes - my bad. I claim vulkem stuck to fingers...

When you see errors like this just hit the report post button on post one of the thread and ask for "improvement".

BoldAdventure · 04-13-2016, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy R

Thanks for your honest feedback, it's much appreciated. I agree with your opinion about some of the articles and am planning a team meeting with the writers to address that. I want them to be very informative while still helping direct readers to the vast resources we have collected together (forum discussions, campground reviews, Airstream registry entries, etc). For example I could see an article on batteries for a solar setup and linking to discussions on the forums about batteries too.

Random idea, I've seen this done elsewhere. Nuke comments on any articles, post follow-up discussion on approprite forum.

The author will post a thread, that will allow people to comment and discuss the article here or on one of the other properties.

Thus continuing the discussion, exchange of ideas and creating double link juice for your SEO.

**Andy R** · 04-13-2016, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoldAdventure

Random idea, I've seen this done elsewhere. Nuke comments on any articles, post follow-up discussion on approprite forum.

The author will post a thread, that will allow people to comment and discuss the article here or on one of the other properties.

Thus continuing the discussion, exchange of ideas and creating double link juice for your SEO.

Good idea. I'm less concerned about the link juice and more interested in fostering our communities. We'll have to figure out how we could do something like that while keeping the barrier to posting low enough so it's still convenient.