NOTICE Tapatalk Usage Poll and Opinions

[nywaw]

Apologies for the length...but it's an important topic!

TLDR;  I need your opinions on Tapatalk, but I'm not removing it right now (but may in the future).

Votes are PRIVATE (only myself and mods can see in order to follow up and discuss if you want to privately rather than in the topic)

 

So I'm personally not a big fan of Tapatalk and I'll explain why shortly.  I do understand its appeal to many members in terms of convenience and having a single app that connects them to many forums easily, which is why I've always had the plugin installed for members on this site and the NJ site.  However, that's pretty much where I see the benefits ending for Tapatalk, so much so that many of the website owners and webmasters I've spoken to have taken a hard line on removing it.  I'm trying to be flexible, but the more I look into the nuances of Tapatalk's practices, the more I'm considering pushing to get rid of it.  With that said, I don't make big decisions that potentially impact many members without first tabling it with them and trying to figure out a best course of action.

Below are some PROs and CONs to consider when answering the poll questions (please reply with any additional ones that I may not have considered).

PROS:

• Convenient single app members can use to connect to many different forums they belong to

CONS:

• Tapatalk takes all of the media (images, videos) you post on here and stores it on their servers instead of this website.  The only option for a site to override Tapatalk storage and use their own is to pay Tapatalk a monthly fee to do so (i.e. I have to pay them to store what you all intended on posting here).  This is a pretty shady practice in that it should be the site's content and in safe harbor with the site's chosen storage platform.  Instead Tapatalk effectively takes ownership of it by forcibly hosting it on their servers.   Further, if Tapatalk goes under, fails, etc then all of the media tied to them disappears (perhaps unlikely, but a risk nonetheless)
• Tapatalk is riddled with bugs and has terrible support.  I try to serve as a facilitator for members and open tickets with Tapatalk on issues experienced, but rarely receive a response.  The last Tapatalk plugin update took over a year and it broke the entire login process here, so I had to back it out.  The old version allows spammers to circumvent security checks the website software has, and while we (mods and myself) can mitigate it by being active, it is just another strong indicator of security concerns in general
• Tapatalk is not very robust, it is a forum-only app and really short changes the experience for members.  Many members may not care however and only be interested in the forums of the site, so this has always been a consideration
• Tapatalk has it's own ads and shares essentially nothing with the hosting website (pennies).  So for those members who post through Tapatalk, the net effect is virtually all of the revenue your activity generates goes to Tapatalk instead of the site.

 

There's probably some other CONs, but the ones above are the top concerns IMHO.  With that said, I just wanted to get a feel for those of you using Tapatalk and what your thoughts around it are.  Please feel free to chime in here so I can get some valuable feedback.  Honesty is very much appreciated because I want to ideally figure out a best path for everyone, and it's possible we can address whatever gaps there are to make the website in your device's browser a better experience.

In the interim, I may pay to have the ability to store your media here just so I can guarantee its here and not on Tapatalk servers where I have no control over it.  Then I'll have to explore recovery of everything that's already been stored over there, as they don't offer porting history over.  

Looking forward to the responses!  And rest assured, I won't just disable Tapatalk out of nowhere on you guys and gals who use it!  Let's kick it around in the topic and see what we find.

[Bucksnbows]

11 minutes ago, nywaw said:

Apologies for the length...but it's an important topic!

TLDR;  I need your opinions on Tapatalk, but I'm not removing it right now (but may in the future).

Votes are PRIVATE (only myself and mods can see in order to follow up and discuss if you want to privately rather than in the topic)

 

So I'm personally not a big fan of Tapatalk and I'll explain why shortly.  I do understand its appeal to many members in terms of convenience and having a single app that connects them to many forums easily, which is why I've always had the plugin installed for members on this site and the NJ site.  However, that's pretty much where I see the benefits ending for Tapatalk, so much so that many of the website owners and webmasters I've spoken to have taken a hard line on removing it.  I'm trying to be flexible, but the more I look into the nuances of Tapatalk's practices, the more I'm considering pushing to get rid of it.  With that said, I don't make big decisions that potentially impact many members without first tabling it with them and trying to figure out a best course of action.

Below are some PROs and CONs to consider when answering the poll questions (please reply with any additional ones that I may not have considered).

PROS:

• Convenient single app members can use to connect to many different forums they belong to

CONS:

• Tapatalk takes all of the media (images, videos) you post on here and stores it on their servers instead of this website.  The only option for a site to override Tapatalk storage and use their own is to pay Tapatalk a monthly fee to do so (i.e. I have to pay them to store what you all intended on posting here).  This is a pretty shady practice in that it should be the site's content and in safe harbor with the site's chosen storage platform.  Instead Tapatalk effectively takes ownership of it by forcibly hosting it on their servers.   Further, if Tapatalk goes under, fails, etc then all of the media tied to them disappears (perhaps unlikely, but a risk nonetheless)
• Tapatalk is riddled with bugs and has terrible support.  I try to serve as a facilitator for members and open tickets with Tapatalk on issues experienced, but rarely receive a response.  The last Tapatalk plugin update took over a year and it broke the entire login process here, so I had to back it out.  The old version allows spammers to circumvent security checks the website software has, and while we (mods and myself) can mitigate it by being active, it is just another strong indicator of security concerns in general (maybe not a big deal in terms of some of you, but what access could a person potentially gain to the site that might otherwise compromise it?)
• Tapatalk is not very robust, it is a forum-only app and really short changes the experience for members.  Many members may not care however and only be interested in the forums of the site, so this has always been a consideration
• Tapatalk has it's own ads and shares essentially nothing with the hosting website (pennies).  So for those members who post through Tapatalk, the net effect is virtually all of the revenue your activity generates goes to Tapatalk instead of the site.

 

There's probably some other CONs, but the ones above are the top concerns IMHO.  With that said, I just wanted to get a feel for those of you using Tapatalk and what your thoughts around it are.  Please feel free to chime in here so I can get some valuable feedback.  Honesty is very much appreciated because I want to ideally figure out a best path for everyone, and it's possible we can address whatever gaps there are to make the website in your device's browser a better experience.

In the interim, I may pay to have the ability to store your media here just so I can guarantee its here and not on Tapatalk servers where I have no control over it.  Then I'll have to explore recovery of everything that's already been stored over there, as they don't offer porting history over.  

Looking forward to the responses!  And rest assured, I won't just disable Tapatalk out of nowhere on you guys and gals who use it!  Let's kick it around in the topic and see what we find.

As @Rustywill tell you, I’m the one that uses all the words normally. Matt was extra talkative tonight. 

Bottom line as a reformed Tapatalk user is Tapatalk sucks.  It took me awhile to come around. But in the end, I should have made the move sooner.  This site will run much better if you lose Tapatalk. 

[mowin]

I tried Tapatalk for about a week.  Did not enjoy it at all.  

Hopefully those that use Tapatalk will continue to contribute to the site if it's axed. 

[crappyice]

So I only access via tapatalk mostly because I am inept at technology! When I open tapatalk, I get in the site. When I try to access on the computer, I can never get in or I need to click pictures with wheels or tractors or cars since I'm not a robot.
After reading this post I tried to access the site via the web and am now blocked due to too many failed attempts after trying all my normal passwords.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nywaw]

1 minute ago, crappyice said:

So I only access via tapatalk mostly because I am inept at technology! When I open tapatalk, I get in the site. When I try to access on the computer, I can never get in or I need to click pictures with wheels or tractors or cars since I'm not a robot.
After reading this post I tried to access the site via the web and am now blocked due to too many failed attempts after trying all my normal passwords.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I sent you a PM to work through it. Let's see if we can figure out what's going on. 

[crappyice]

First message sent from the Google...I think

thanks for your help- never had help form HuntingNY forum before!

[nywaw]

13 minutes ago, crappyice said:

First message sent from the Google...I think

thanks for your help- never had help form HuntingNY forum before!

Did you get my PM?  What first message are you referring you? 

[nywaw]

Oh wait I think you posted from the site!  Yeah? No Tapatalk signature.  

[crappyice]

Yeah...I'm just playing around with the internet version vs Tapatalk. Been a long time looking at it via Tapatalk and this looks real different-not terrible but you know what they say about teaching an old dog new tricks

[nywaw]

1 minute ago, crappyice said:

Yeah...I'm just playing around with the internet version vs Tapatalk. Been a long time looking at it via Tapatalk and this looks real different-not terrible but you know what they say about teaching an old dog new tricks

It's awesome that you've got it figured out now!  Do some tinkering around and see how you like it!

[518BowSlayer]

I've always used Tapatalk and can't remember ever having a problem with it personally but the cons you listed seem pretty legit. I'll try the regular internet version

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Cabin Fever]

I just logged in for the first time on the website (on my phone). I've always used Tapatalk, but I could care less if you pull the plug on it. It'll just take some getting used to... No biggie.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Ive always liked and used Tapatalk but am using the phone browser now and can get used to it. I don't understand the Tapatalk hate though, I like it a lot

[Versatile Hunter]

I’ve never used tapatalk. I can do without another app that will track my activity and monetize my content. 

[Moho81]

The old site was awful on a phone web browser so I used Tapatalk and it was great for a while. It seems to have gone down hill a little though. It's glitchy, slow and sometimes freezes up. 

I started using this forums website through the phone and it honestly works great. I saved it as a favorite so all I have to do is tap the browser app then tap the website and I am in. Functions the same as the computer website. Given the cons listed above I'll never use Tapatalk for this forum.