# Will Creative Loafing get this board working properly? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 26, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246 "2008-02-26T17:48:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/1 "2008-02-26T17:48:54Z")
The timeouts, yet again, like most of the last decade, have been horrible. We have 2 minute searches, still. Wasn’t that supposed to be a temporary thing? I don’t expect anyone involved to actually be able to answer these questions. This is just fucking ridiculous. It’s like trying to drive a beat-up 1964 vw bug with little maintenance around in 2008. This is just yet another bitch post about the performance of this board. I paid my 7.50 or whatever, so I guess I am entitled. And yes, I’ll let the door hit myself on the way out, but I don’t think this shit performance should go without a pitting every once in a while. Is there a CL peep here who can talk to us about board performance? ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/2 "2008-02-26T18:28:45Z")
It’s pretty clear to me that CL has basically set this place up to run itself, and have no interest in what actually goes on here, aside from the subscription money coming in. This thread is a perfect example: > **[Who Picks Your Banners?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=457215)** > > I really must protest the anti-Israel propaganda banner ads at the bottom of the screen (via Google, is that correct). I’m not trying to start a debate. They simply have no place here. Can’t you of the Straight Dope and Chicago Reader simply... Offensive and/or asinine ads are displayed to paying subscribers here, and the people who actually moderate and administer the site are powerless to do anything about it. The people who presumedly can, either don’t know (which would be the fault of the mods/admins) or don’t care. In other words, I wouldn’t expect much to change for a long long time. This site doesn’t appear to be on CL’s radar at all. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/3 "2008-02-26T18:42:43Z")
The board works fine for me, and has for the past few years. I can’t remember the last time I got a timeout. It was pretty bad around the time I signed up (eight years ago, wow) , but I really don’t see anything worth complaining about these days. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/4 "2008-02-26T19:34:44Z")
While responding to this I was timed out. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Wing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@Little\_Wing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Wing)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/5 "2008-02-26T19:55:26Z")
The time outs have been really bad for me the past few weeks. It’s getting pretty sad. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/6 "2008-02-26T20:06:59Z")
Time outs have been really bad for me the last two weeks or so as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/7 "2008-02-26T20:12:47Z")
The short answer? No. I think Slacker nailed it. The owners of this web site don’t actually ever PARTICIPATE or even READ anything here. This leads to situations like the thread Slacker linked to. I’d hate to be in Tuba’s situation, where there is a _technical_ way to address people’s concerns, but she doesn’t have the authority to do anything about it, and the people who do have such authority don’t listen to her. It must be terribly frustrating. And with the time-outs that seem to have been occurring more often lately, it’s the same thing. The owners NEVER access the SDMB, so they quite simply don’t care. Only when (and if) viewership drops off will they possibly take notice, and since they don’t have a clue as to what this place is about, that may not be a good thing. I had hoped that CL would take a more informed interest in this board, but so far it looks like things are pretty much the same as they were before the buy out, and possibly even worse. It’s like watching a vegetarian CEO trying to determine how to keep Burger King customers happy. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/8 "2008-02-26T20:52:14Z")
[QUOTE=Slacker] This thread is a perfect example: > **[Who Picks Your Banners?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=457215)** > > I really must protest the anti-Israel propaganda banner ads at the bottom of the screen (via Google, is that correct). I’m not trying to start a debate. They simply have no place here. Can’t you of the Straight Dope and Chicago Reader simply... Offensive and/or asinine ads are displayed to paying subscribers here [/QUOTE] I didn’t see anything in that thread to convince me that offensive or asinine ads were being displayed. Anti-Israel is not necessarily offensive. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/9 "2008-02-26T21:19:14Z")
I don’t have a problem either. The boards are working fine. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/10 "2008-02-26T21:23:09Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] I didn’t see anything in that thread to convince me that offensive or asinine ads were being displayed. Anti-Israel is not necessarily offensive. [/QUOTE] That’s not the point. The point is _who_ can decide _what_: [QUOTE=TubaDiva] We have no control over Google Ads. (Or any other ads, for that matter.) [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] Out of curiosity, who does? According to Google, [their ads can be filtered](https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=9716&topic=154). Do you mean that the filtering has to be decided from higher up? [/QUOTE] If Tuba had instead said that she was not interested in checking up on each and every ad complaint, that would be a different story. I can well understand that looking at every ad that _someone_ found offensive would quickly become a never ending task that would be almost guaranteed to leave everyone unhappy. But that’s not what she said. She said she had no control over the ads, implying not only no control over their content, but also no control over their placement, and to whom they appear (i.e., members vs guests). As I said above, I’d imagine this must be quite a frustrating position for her to be in. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/11 "2008-02-26T21:30:00Z")
Short answer, “no.” Long answer? “Hah! No.” ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/12 "2008-02-26T21:38:22Z")
[QUOTE=Ponder Stibbons] She said she had no control over the ads, implying not only no control over their content, but also no control over their placement, and to whom they appear (i.e., members vs guests). As I said above, I’d imagine this must be quite a frustrating position for her to be in. [/QUOTE] Maybe. If I were an administrator here, controlling ads would be something I would have absolutely no interest in. I’m not saying that there aren’t some things that I would like to be able to do without supervision from a governing corporate entity, but picking and choosing ads isn’t one of them. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/13 "2008-02-26T22:08:49Z")
[QUOTE=Sitnam] While responding to this I was timed out. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure I believe you. Was your original response that while responding, the board timed out on you? You a time traveler? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/14 "2008-02-26T22:25:57Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] Maybe. If I were an administrator here, controlling ads would be something I would have absolutely no interest in. I’m not saying that there aren’t some things that I would like to be able to do without supervision from a governing corporate entity, but picking and choosing ads isn’t one of them. [/QUOTE] Oh, I absolutely agree with you on that. Just about every ad would bound to offend _someone_, and once you removed one ad, the floodgates would open and you would spend large amounts of time tracking down every complaint, and for every decision you make to either block or not block an ad, someone _else_ would complain that you made the _wrong_ decision. It’s best not to open that can of worms in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Fetchund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/15 "2008-02-27T00:38:27Z")
Define “Board timing out” please. I know that within 15 minutes of opening up SDMB, I will have a period where the pages will not load. I now jump out as soon as I see the slow down, which is why I don’t post much and will probably not renew. No other boards I am on have such frustrating slowages. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/16 "2008-02-27T00:51:07Z")
[QUOTE=Absolute] The board works fine for me, and has for the past few years. I can’t remember the last time I got a timeout. It was pretty bad around the time I signed up (eight years ago, wow) , but I really don’t see anything worth complaining about these days. [/QUOTE] I know what you mean. I’ve never passed a kidney stone, and I can’t for the life of me understand why those stone-passers won’t stop whining about how bad it hurts. I did stub my toe once, but hell. You just have to move on and get over it. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-creative-loafing-get-this-board-working-properly/439246/17 "2008-02-27T00:53:05Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] I didn’t see anything in that thread to convince me that offensive or asinine ads were being displayed. Anti-Israel is not necessarily offensive. [/QUOTE] But what IS _necessarily_ offensive? I’d wager there are all sorts of ads that would offend you but not me, and vice versa.