[binand]

Originally Posted by DrAakash

Are those trackers or just plugins? Like i said earlier, i only have a vague idea about trackers being used for targeted adverts.

If websites A, B, C, D and E all load something (say, "a plugin") from a provider P, then P gets to know who the visitors of A-E are and even know who the individuals that visit A-E in any combination or sequence are. And if P makes a living by selling ad space then this knowledge is useful to them.

In other words, the P plugin can be categorised as a "tracker".

[DrAakash]

Originally Posted by binand

If websites A, B, C, D and E all load something (say, "a plugin") from a provider P, then P gets to know who the visitors of A-E are and even know who the individuals that visit A-E in any combination or sequence are. And if P makes a living by selling ad space then this knowledge is useful to them.

In other words, the P plugin can be categorised as a "tracker".

So basically P, in this case the social media sites that you mentioned earlier in your post, can see my history, unless i use something to block the trackers? This is nuts!

[binand]

Originally Posted by DrAakash

So basically P, in this case the social media sites that you mentioned earlier in your post, can see my history, unless i use something to block the trackers?

You just did, by opting for Brave. :-)

[Thad E Ginathom]

This is what UblockOrigin is telling me about this page...

[mvadg]

I was wondering if would be possible to put some sort of a "gate" post (sic) where there is a big jump in time between posts, like on this page:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...-advise-2.html (Four Days-May-Ooty and Around-Pls Advise)
Post #24 was in 2009 and #25 in 2021 - quite a wormhole!
The gate would be a post with a different background color with a warning like - "the prior posts are more than 10 years old". Better still, old posts could have an aged look - font change and background change could signal old posts.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by EightSix

This is what I noticed when I logged into Team-BHP today morning.

Attachment 2117321

This ad opens up the official Citroen.in website when clicked.

Would like to bring this to your attention, mods, since not permitting automobile ads is one of TBHP’s basic principles.

I also noticed something similar today. Although it's not from a mainstream manufacturer and the ad depicts their CV product, but thought that I should anyway bring it to the notice of the mods. Got a Force Trax ad on Team-BHP:

[EightSix]

When asked to comment likes and dislikes on the Birthday thread, I realized I didn't have any major ones. I still pointed out some things that I thought could have been better.

There are more, by the way, that can be better, although I would not call it 'Dislikes', hence I thought that this is the better place to post these observations. Hoping that mods take them as constructive criticism.

Including everything that I thought about. From quality of pictures to an amendment to the rules. Please delete this post if it goes against any of Team-BHP’s rules.

• Quality of pictures in official reviews — The Tata Safari photographs were just not appealing. Especially when you compare them with rival publications. The background or something just didn’t bring out the stunning presence of the car. Kiger's pictures were better. Citroen C5 were just okay.
  
• The layout and site design. If there is one thing common in those TBHP Birthday posts, many people think that the design is outdated. If “content is king” (which is true on Team-BHP), then the design should not make a difference. The design should be kept something simple, but modern. Maybe the mods would surprise us once Team-BHP becomes an adult?
  
• Video reviews need to be out there. Only BHPians like us have the time and interest to read through 7-8 posts of long reviews. Besides, video reviews by other publications get way more interaction than our text reviews do.
  
• A comment section for those BHPians-at-heart (non-members). While we members can share our valuable additions to the discussion in our Forum, we can include a comment section below the Team-BHP news for everyone else. This is my suggestion considering that some thread starters of all kinds in the Indian Car Scene (and not just news) are getting featured on TEAM BHP NEWS. Moreover, unless you develop it in-house, there must be some 3rd party plug-ins that come with moderation too.
  
• A subtopic only for BHPians. - Can we create another topic/restrict the Team-BHP section on the forum only to BHPians who are logged in? One of the main reasons why I don’t have a TBHP sticker on our car (or my car's pictures on Team-BHP) is because of the fear of getting clicked and having my car’s registration number all over the internet associated with me.
  
• More strict rules should be there about image/attachment posting and posting image sources should be compulsory. I admit, even I have done this multiple times in my initial months on Team-BHP but not once a moderator has pointed that out. Chances are, our mods are probably missing this.
  
• The option to tag members. Some members highlight while some use ‘+’ or ‘+’ some link their username with their profile page. But none of this is guaranteed to get the attention of the intended member. I miss quite a few posts because of this.
  
• More reactions to a particular post. Sure, the thanks button helps. But we could have more reactions. This is because BHPians like me use the Thanks button to show that we have read the post. The meaning of the ‘Thanks’ button is too messed up. Something like ‘like’ ‘dislike’ or even more like ‘Meh’.
  
• Keeping the thread about your introduction open forever — that is part of the Shifting gears so it does not affect post count in any way. Why not keep the Introduction thread open all the time. Members can post quick/short updates about themselves that will help the community know more about them. Don’t understand why this needs to be closed. BTW, the introduction can be incorporated in the member profile too.
  
• Things like meet-up details (before they take place) can also be made member only. Introductions can be made private/member-only.
  
• A member-only map of members in your location. So you know whom to reach out to, or meet up with, etc.
  
• Options in the “report post” page. The form to report posts should have various options as to why it is being reported. Then it can be tiered automatically as per priority. When it appears in the moderator’s control panel, the mod would see (for example) posts in the assembly line to be moved out as high priority (it takes more than a day now — I first thought something was wrong and reported it twice or thrice, but later I just learned to be patient - I understand that the mods are busy.)
  
• Interaction on threads - Non-member visitors (like me just a few months ago) rely on the homepage or the hot-threads section. Not many non-members use the forum page, possibly because of the interface.
  
• However much I deserve it, an infraction brings down my spirits, or I refrain from posting for a while due to the fear of making any further mistakes. We have also lost many good members due to infractions (according to some BHPians). So I would love something that would boost the member’s spirits too. Like more badges or stars etc. The problem with the current hierarchy of ‘Newbie - BHPian - Senior BHPian - Distinguished BHPian - Mod/TBHP Support’ is that it is entirely based on post count. This results in unnecessary posts to increase post count and more work for mods.
  
• An integrated spellcheck feature/use of some sort of AI (expecting a lot, I know ) in the posts composer. This will automatically correct posts and give you a writing score. Initially, I would not post on Team-BHP unless Grammarly gave the text a 95+ score. But it was too time-consuming and I am back to proofreading my posts myself with one glance these days. Just think of how much time the mods would save.
  
• More smilies compared to words in post. (This must have been asked before, if I am not wrong. Why was it not granted?)
  If an AI spellcheck etc wouldn’t be feasible, then, a statistic about your post (number of words and similar would be useful). Then, depending on number of words used, the poster could increase the smilies.
  
• Just another wild suggestion here, but can’t you restrict two smilies within the post composer, rather than having a moderator do it after someone reports it? Similarly, even ban $wear words so that the post composer doesn’t accept them at all.
  
• Then, if moderation work is reduced and automated, even getting memberships can be made easy which so many members are complaining about.
  
• An inbuilt photo editor on Team-BHP. We should have an editor on Team-BHP where all posters can 1) Change the dimensions, colors, rotate, flip, etc., and other standard features. 2) Add watermark to scoops. 3) Put the TEAM-BHP.COM on their car’s number plate (that is used in official reviews) 4) Blur faces, blacken confidential info and highlight important info.
  
• An AI that suggests the most important posts to visitors from each thread. (Or an option for mods to pin the few most important posts to the first page).
  
• Social Media presence for Team-BHP - doesn’t exist. We do have a Facebook and Twitter, but nothing like other automotive publications do. A good social media strategy would help Team-BHP grow bigger. Do we even have an Instagram?
  
• Hayek pointed out that Team-BHP has survived in its current format for 2/3rd of the life of the World Wide Web. We need updated measures for security, privacy, etc. to keep up with Team-BHP's age.
  
• The recent posts about trackers etc. in this thread bring more reason to question how secure Team-BHP is. As far as I recall, even the registration process here is simple, with no security features, I believe. (In fact, even passwords don't have any requirements.)
  
• Our rules need to also develop over time. And speaking of rules, they need to be shown to the Newbie somewhere within the website itself instead of the links to the forum post. Somewhat like the user agreement.
  
• From what I have observed here; membership emails have a link to these rules, they are pinned at the top, newbies are pointed to rules even in replies to their intro threads by members, but still we see (some) newbies making mistakes which they wouldn't if they had a glance at the rules.
  

Two rules that I think need to be amended to the existing list -

- Posting of Image Sources. (Mentioned above)
- Against personal attacks at members - (they are getting frequent, as reported on the Birthday thread.) Please note that I love the mostly-civil discussions and debates (better than specialized debate forums) on Team-BHP and don’t want them to be eliminated. They are a great source of info.

Thanks for reading!

[casnov]

I changed my phone and now I am not able to install the team-bhp iOS app.

I get the below error.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I don't think that the app has been supported for ages! Instead, they made the browser mobile skin more usable.

[SilentEngine]

Like few recent posts here, i am noticing these Nexa advertisements quite frequently.

[SLK]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

Like few recent posts here, i am noticing these Nexa advertisements quite frequently.

Ads are personalized by google based on what you've been doing around the web (not on team-bhp), like I see completely different stuff, nothing related to cars often.

[govigov]

I had earlier requested this, but let me request again.

If 'long term car review' && 'new car reviews' were to be merged, to a section simply called, car journals. This sections should have a selection of the car make, and we can see all the reviews / journals of that particular make and model of the car, so that I can read all the reviews from the owners of that car. Sometimes the ownership reviews thread title will have the car nick names like the famous - 'golden goose' or 'kungfu panda' instead of the actual car. So this feature will definitely help.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by govigov

I had earlier requested this, but let me request again.

Sometimes the ownership reviews thread title will have the car nick names like the famous - 'golden goose' or 'kungfu panda' instead of the actual car. So this feature will definitely help.

Your suggestion got me thinking. Can there be a bespoke search functionality where you can search for all reviews of a specific car model via a drop down menu like functionality.

This should be combined with a form like process where someone who does a substantial review on a vehicle gives preset details in a fixed format of Brand, Model, Variant, year, fuel etc (like in Carwale or some car sale sites) to give this search function the right tools at the back end.

Also, if the above is not possible, for ease of search, while you can call the title of a review thread whatever you want, it should perhaps be compulsory to also mention the car make model transmission and fuel type at the very least in the title itself.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

A food for thought. We've had the Seltos and the Thar being crowned Team BHP COTY in the last 2 years. While the Seltos has since then fallen from grace with the reveal of its sub-par safety ratings, the Thar on the other hand has been mired with multiple issues which has got its own separate thread now.

To me personally, it doesn't feel good to have a COTY and then realize that it's a let down somehow. I wonder if we can do something about this.

[swissknife]

It would be nice to have hashtags and to be able to tag usernames. This would help in searches and also be notified.