The detailed overtaking data is now only available to Participating Members

Brogan

Legend
Staff Member
The detailed overtaking data is now only available to Participating Members (http://cliptheapex.com/help/member-status).

That applies to the database (http://cliptheapex.com/overtaking/) and forum (http://cliptheapex.com/forums/overtaking/).

We get so many people registering just to access the data; they copy and paste it, without permission, to other sites, and we are very rarely credited.
None of those who register have any interest in the site, other than just getting access to free data, which has taken thousands of hours to collate, over many years.
Not to mention all the custom development to create the interface.

So I decided to make the data available only to people who show a passing interest in the site.

It is also possible to gain immediate access to the data by purchasing an Account Upgrade.
Purchasing a Contributor or Premium Contributor upgrade will automatically change the account status to Participating Member, granting immediate and permanent access to the overtaking data.

If those people stop visiting, it will make zero difference to the site, so we're not losing out on anything.
 
Brogan

Isn't the only reason this site has been mentioned in the media, radio and TV wholly down to the enormous amount of stats that it provides and is how I came to join and become a contributor on a yearly basis.

But I agree it is a massive shame that other sites poach these stats without giving recognition of the effort to the people who have produced them.

I realise that there is no easy way of preventing copy and paste on a web site apart from converting the text to an image and then disabling copy and paste of that image but this is no good as the stats are in Excel format I believe and they are interactive, but I'm fairly sure there is a way of turning off copy and paste in Excel before publishing...
 
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I have made further changes.

Now the overtaking data for both the database and forum is only available to "Participating Members".

The criteria for becoming a Participating Member are a minimum of 50 posts and registered for at least 60 days.

This has been done to stop people signing up and then just spamming the site to reach the old (new) criteria of 25 posts or more.
 
The access requirements have been further refined.

Making 50 posts and being a member for 60 days is still required to gain initial access to the data.
However, to keep that access, regular participation is required otherwise access will be automatically removed.

The criteria for the "regular participation" is not going to be published, as that would defeat the point of it.
 
I dont know if this is a direct result of these changes, however, there are quite a few new contributors to the site over the last few weeks, its really quite pleasant to see!
 
So does this mean the end of our stats been announced on the live TV & radio feeds or will Crofty or any other Sky or BBC bod have to get their fingers out of their arses and actually start to communicate with us?
 
The former I suspect.
Regardless, it hasn't really benefited the site anyway, apart from a very short term spike in visits.

Long term traffic, visitors and members hasn't really changed much for the last five years.
if anything, it's lower now than it has been for several years.
 
Personally I think 50 posts could be a bit daunting for new people on here. We're a friendly bunch but our familiarity with each other especially the more long term users can make us like a tough group to bond with initially.

25 posts and at least a week should be enough for people to get to know us and want to post more. I've not been on the site much for the last week but I've not really noticed any repeated spamming just to get the post count up.
I have seen a lot more new posters though which is a good sign.
 
There was immediate spamming when it was 25 posts, hence the increase to 50 and 60 days.

The "let people access it for free just by registering" approach hasn't worked for the the last four years so it's time to try something different.
If people can't be bothered to get involved to get free access to data which isn't available anywhere else then **** them.
 
I've noticed a few new members simply posting one liners which add nothing to the discussion. Not sure if that's really what you want.
 
Well the alternative is just to stop doing the data altogether or make it available as a paid subscription only.

To be honest, the one liners are no worse than half the other crap which is posted.
 
I am getting the following message when I try to access the detailed overtaking data:

"You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action"

As I was able to view this data earlier, wanted to check whether there have been any changes in the site policy or something to do with how regularly I post messages?

Thanks
 
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