Flea Market Poll

I thought it might be helpful to find out the general consensus on how the new flea market is working for everyone since there are many posts detailing problems with it loading. This is not concerned with the features but simply with whether it loads or not when you click the Flea Market link in the banner at the top of this page between Gear Shop and Forum. Once we find out how wide spread the problem is or isn't then we might consider another more detailed poll to see if we can find a relationship for those having problems.

mikegalbicka said:

I thought it might be helpful to find out the general consensus on how the new flea market is working for everyone since there are many posts detailing problems with it loading. This is not concerned with the features but simply with whether it loads or not when you click the Flea Market link in the banner at the top of this page between Gear Shop and Forum. Once we find out how wide spread the problem is or isn't then we might consider another more detailed poll to see if we can find a relationship for those having problems.

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Hi mikegalbicka,

Thanks for making this poll! We are looking forward to the results so we can use them to help diagnose the issue that seems to be connected to the custom themes better.

I have gone ahead and subscribed to this thread so please let me know if you have any questions or feedback for me here!

Best,
Niko @ Panjo

panjo said:

help diagnose the issue that seems to be connected to the custom themes

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I suggested turning the custom themes off if possible to test but that idea was not accepted so I thought this might at least let us know how widespread the problem is first. Thanks for wanting to help get this solved Niko.

mikegalbicka said:

I suggested turning the custom themes off if possible to test but that idea was not accepted so I thought this might at least let us know how widespread the problem is first. Thanks for wanting to help get this solved Niko.

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I'm not sure what you mean by "not accepted". I see the "themes" at the bottom left of the Panjo screen...is that what you're talking about? I just went to the Panjo page which, for me, uses the Blau skin. The page loaded as expected. I changed to the VB4 Default skin and again, the page loaded quickly. I think that shows that the skins have nothing to do with this issue.

Seems to me the issue is server response time. If for some reason the page isn't loading fast enough, the software (likely the individual users browser) gives up after a preset amount of time and displays all it can, sometimes only the banner headers. The slowness of load may have to do with that persons general internet connection and how many servers they are having to go through to get to the Panjo database. And those servers may change at will, depending on internet routers. The pages that load are pretty graphic intensive...that only serves to slow the load times down.

For me, seeing the marketplace is unpredictable at best.

20774 said:

I'm not sure what you mean by "not accepted".

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http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/not+accepted

Thanks again for sharing your valuable opinion. I appreciate it. If you read all of my posts regarding this issue you will see I also suggested these same things as potential contributors a long time ago. I am interested in getting this fixed. I am very experienced in troubleshooting these types of problems. If an item can be quickly disabled to test the result it can then be eliminated from the equation. The process of elimination leads you to the culprit. I am only making suggestions trying to help but I am getting the feeling it may not be worth my time.

I clearly get what you're trying to do. But I'm thinking that if the problem exists no matter what kind of forum skin you choose, then it must not be the skins. We can't eliminate the skins...one has to use at least one, and if using the default that comes with VBulletin also has the problem, then it would seem like it's not the skin.

20774 said:

I clearly get what you're trying to do. But I'm thinking that if the problem exists no matter what kind of forum skin you choose, then it must not be the skins. We can't eliminate the skins...one has to use at least one, and if using the default that comes with VBulletin also has the problem, then it would seem like it's not the skin.

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As Niko pointed out in one of his posts we are supposedly the only one using the marketplace that allows "custom" themes. Thus they feel it is the problem and they have developers working on it. If it can be tested it saves everyone time. Perhaps the option for "custom" skins adds enough time to cause a time out. I don't know. I only know if it gets tested it can be eliminated and save them some time in their debugging. If it can't be turned off easily and tested then it is a moot point.

We're not the only one. Look at this Panjo forum:

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/classifieds.php

Notice the themes in the lower left corner. They have something other than the default theme. Maybe Panjo can discuss with them how their classifieds have worked and/or did the themes/skins ever cause any problems.

As I said, you can turn off the "custom" theme by choosing the VB default skin. That would be your method to evaluate if it's the skins or not.

20774 said:

We're not the only one. Look at this Panjo forum:

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/classifieds.php

Notice the themes in the lower left corner. They have something other than the default theme. Maybe Panjo can discuss with them how their classifieds have worked and/or did the themes/skins ever cause any problems.

As I said, you can turn off the "custom" theme by choosing the VB default skin. That would be your method to evaluate if it's the skins or not.

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I have looked at that forum before. The difference between them and us is we have a lot more available and I have no idea which ones are supplied and which ones are custom. If "custom themes" is not a forum selectable option than this discussion is moot. That is all that really needs to be explained. Is there an option in the forum set up that we use that others don't that allow custom themes. If it is a standard default setting in vBulletin to allow custom themes and it is not something that can be turned off then just say so. I assumed there was because of Niko's comment. If there isn't then let's quit beating it to death.

Mike -

Anything except VB4 Default is a custom theme, so that bimmerforum has at least two custom themes.

Yes, there is a way to turn off all of the custom themes/skins. I'm not sure what happens to people who have chosen a custom theme and come back to the forum and it's not there...does it boot them off or not allow them onto the forum? Maybe, maybe not.

But my point is I think the bimmerforum is just like us with the default theme and the custom ones. I had no problems using any of the themes when I went to that forum. If it works for them and they have no problems, then why do we have a problem. I can understand have more to display, but we display only 24 at a time as a default...that's no worse than the other forum. If it because of the large number, then this problem resides not with Panjo but with the servers in question. Still, the model at bimmerforum works as far as I know. What's different between us? Only Panjo can determine that.

20774 said:

Only Panjo can determine that.

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Which is what started this discussion. Panjo said our use of custom themes was different than others. Niko, time for you to chime in. Is it or isn't it?

On another note is this relevant? I am not a vBulletin guru but it looks interesting.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/blogs/abdulla-ashoor/3931893-

From my current location .... I think this has been addressed

Sorry, the marketplace cannot load on Internet Explorer 8 or below.

In our quest to provide you with the best experience possible, the marketplace uses features which Internet Explorer 8.0 does not support. Don't get us wrong, we love Microsoft, but even Microsoft stopped supporting IE 8 in April 2014.

Below is a list of compatible browsers:
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Opera
Latest Internet Explorer

Thanks!

Thanks Bob. It has been discussed. I am sure it is the reason for some failures but not mine. All of my testing is done using the latest and greatest and fully patched versions of different OS's and browsers. I continue to have sporadic but frequent failures to load with all flavors.

Interesting discussion

Satirical legal disclaimer: I am not my no means a software writer or IT novice by any stretch of the imagination. I do, however, fancy myself an analyst. That said, reading the posts I feel that if panjo created/modified/suggested/relabeled the optimal skin that supports their site across multiple OS, or worst case multiple skins for popular OS, it would fix or help the problem. In example, in the list of our many skin options, one would find, "panjo" or maybe, "panjo safari" or maybe "panjo low bandwidth".
Here to help best I know how, hope I haven't hindered.

I don't use the flea market, just try to help members if they have problems- as I can.
Using OS-X, Safari, DSL- launch from the forum a whole page appears as I would expect. Note- this is from a logged into the forum launch.
From a Google type in launch of BMWMOA.Org, home page comes up, with a click on flea market, the same page loads as above. Note- not logged into the home page.
There is a possibility the browser knew I was there, but in any case, I see what I feel that I ought to see.

I have mentioned to Kurt that F/M problems and login problems, but the best description of the complaints, I feel are sorta 50/50 software and members operation of their computer or computer set-up- between the different forum/homepage/F/M areas.

If any of this is going to be narrowed down, it's real important that after posting the complaint/issue, the OP check back to see the advice offered and then let us know if they got straightened out. There was a login complaint the other day, I answered it- nothing back from the OP. As this just leaves the posting of the problem "swinging in the wind", it doesn't help.

If a member does post of a problem and then realizes it was on their end, it's OK post what it was. An OP could also PM a Moderator to remove the thread if they don't want to admit a moment.

Remember most any question asked, when answered, helps many.

Gary

Specific comments

When I launch the flea market from the tool bar, it's not possible to soft the offerings by category...and I cannot get past the first page which is a jumble of all items. When I go to the Flea market through the Forum, it seems to work OK as the categories are already spelled out.

I have the same problem when trying this through my iPad or my Windows based laptop.

Beemer01 said:

When I launch the flea market from the tool bar, it's not possible to soft the offerings by category...and I cannot get past the first page which is a jumble of all items. When I go to the Flea market through the Forum, it seems to work OK as the categories are already spelled out.

Click to expand...

Which "tool bar" are you talking about? The FM can be accessed through links in both the forum tool bar and the MOA homepage tool bar.

From the forum, the link is expressed as - http://forums.bmwmoa.org/classifieds.php?

From the MOA homepage, the link is written as - http://www.bmwmoa.org/?page=marketplace - but that takes you to a page from which you also have to click on another link like the one that is for the forum.

An interesting thing, though, is that from the MOA page, you are actually opening a new tabbed window in the browser. That is different than in the forum....from the forum, you leave the current webpage and go directly to the forum...no new tab. Unless you want to...if you're in the forum, if you right click on the link for the FM at the top of the page, you can select something like "Open in new tab". You will then get another tabbed sheet of the FM but the sheet for the forum will still be there...you can toggle back and forth.

I hope that makes sense. Again, when you say "tool bar", which one are you talking about?

Beemer01 said:

When I launch the flea market from the tool bar, it's not possible to soft the offerings by category...and I cannot get past the first page which is a jumble of all items. When I go to the Flea market through the Forum, it seems to work OK as the categories are already spelled out.

I have the same problem when trying this through my iPad or my Windows based laptop.

Click to expand...

Kurt, I assumed he meant that when he tries to use the flea market as outlined in this post (click the Flea Market link in the banner at the top of this page between Gear Shop and Forum) it is not working for him. But if he accesses it through the forum links (http://forums.bmwmoa.org/forumdisplay.php?109-Member-Marketplace) it works fine.

Mike -

I needed to know. As I've pointed out, different things happen when using one or the other. It could be that using the MOA page approach, bypasses things and it works better. So, I suggest someone who has a problem one way, try the other. The other can be going from the MOA page and another could be right-clicking and opening a new tabbed window.

20774 said:

Mike -

I needed to know. As I've pointed out, different things happen when using one or the other. It could be that using the MOA page approach, bypasses things and it works better. So, I suggest someone who has a problem one way, try the other. The other can be going from the MOA page and another could be right-clicking and opening a new tabbed window.

Click to expand...

I think this is all very confusing for the average user and that helps lead to their frustration. I do not understand myself why clicking the "Flea Market" link in the banner of the MOA homepage does not take you to the flea market but instead takes you to a page that discusses the flea market and then has a link to click that takes you to the flea market finally. Most of the banner links between the home site and the forum site takes you to the same place but not that one. Confusing. They just want to click the link and see it work. Now you also want them to test it by opening a new tab? You may be expecting too much from your users. Personally I also think it is very confusing to be able to access the flea market items through the panjo plug in and through the forum listings themselves. The functionality isn't the same between the two but the users might think it is which leads to more frustration. (For example - you can't tell an item is sold just by finding it in the forum listings but it is marked as such when you find it in the panjo plug in).

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread...inery-footpeg-lowering-kit&highlight=suburban

the last poster thought it was still for sale

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/classifieds.php?listing=suburban-machinery-footpeg-lowering-kit-170914

shows it sold

And the "items without images" option. Wonder how many users (especially the sellers who aren't posting a picture) understand they aren't seeing all of the listed items unless they check that? More confusion.