Somerville News web site becomes nearly useless

[ron_newman]

The Somerville News has made a big deal about converting from Typepad to their own custom website, but .... geez:

- There is no obvious way to find articles older than four days ago
- There is no indication of which articles have recent comments
- Clicking on "Contact Us" results in "There are currently no articles in the section"
- Clicking on "Write Letter to Editor" results in "There are currently no articles in the section"
- Clicking on "Submit Calendar Item" results in "There are currently no articles in the section"
- Clicking on "Advertise" results in "There are currently no articles in the section"
- Clicking on "Legal Ads" results in "No Display Ads Found"
- If you submit a comment, they now require your e-mail address and phone number

I gotta wonder who approved this change, and why.

Comments

[jamesnorton.livejournal.com]

so what's it going to be ron? you coming down to help out? instead of going on this site and being a nerdy little nitpicker - why not give a buzz or send an email with your observations? 1. there are plenty of articles in their sections older than 4 days 2. the dead links arent there on the side anymore (temporarily) 3. the company that is hosting the site is working on the advertise, classified ads and legal ads section as i type this 4. could care less about recent comments - that was nice under typepad, not so much important today like we did when we shot out of the box with the original typepad site, it was trial and error. nobody is perfect. you don't have to be proactive in bashing us though ron - that's just crappy of you - and foolish. any other observations? any other comments?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if you're really involved with the paper, you're doing an A+ awesome job.

Of convincing me to never pick it up.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

Are you really with Somerville News and does the paper know its employees are such assholes to their customers?

[mrboboto.livejournal.com]

he's the editor! explains a lot about the tone of various sections, esp. newstalk.

[ron_newman]

As a matter of fact, I did stop into your office around lunchtime and politely point out the links that did not work (after trying and failing to figure out how to submit a calendar entry).

I would have preferred to send e-mail or use the contact form, but as noted above, the contact form wasn't there, and the page no longer displays an e-mail address.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

As the kids say these days:

PWN3D!!

[firepail.livejournal.com]

It is foolish of you to try to take Ron in his own dojo.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

This!

[ifotismeni]

BAD IDEA.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

WE KNOW WHO IS KING HERE!

[firepail.livejournal.com]

I would say "hail to the king, baby", but Bruce Campbell isn't in town for another couple of weeks.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaambulance: it's on its way. don't panic.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

I have no polite response for you, and so I deleted my previous comment.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

I hope this person is just impersonating someone that works at the paper. I can't believe someone would be as unprofessional to call someone names because they rightfully point out the problems with the web site. They should be thanking Ron, not bashing him.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

I'd considered that possibility, but still behaved badly. I don't have much of an excuse for that.

[ron_newman]

But Mr. Norton still saw it, because LJ automatically e-mailed it to him.

[jamesnorton.livejournal.com]

certainly no need call me Mr. Norton today Ron. LOL - sorry about that, again.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

Indeed; I'm not proud of my first impulse, but I had it, and I'l lhave to deal with the consequences thereof.

[visage.livejournal.com]

so what's it going to be ron? you coming down to help out?

Sorry, being willing to fix someone's problems is not a prerequisite for pointing out that they exist.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

The is an especially amusing suggestion given that the poster allegedly works for a newspaper.

"Cross Street fire leaves 9 homeless (http://www.thesomervillenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=25&TM=62550.25); jamesnorton to come down to help out."

[fefie.livejournal.com]

Looks like the Somerville News might be needing volunteers to QA the new site, but it is an odd way (and odd time) to ask for such help.

[warlord-mit.livejournal.com]

so what's it going to be ron? you coming down to help out?

Hey, I'll come down to help, if you're willing to pay my consulting rates. For this kind of emergency my rate is $400/hr. When would you like me to start? Of course I'll need a deposit up front and a signed contract.

Ron, I suggest you offer the same ;)

If you're soliciting comments. . .

[shana-lyons.livejournal.com]

Hopefully, you'll take this as a constructive comment. Enabling RSS would dramatically improve the situation. I used to read your Typepad site via Google Reader. It doesn't look like that's possible with the new site. Frankly, if it's not, I can tell you my readership will go way down. I do hope you'll consider it soon.

Also, the phone number for commenting is a bit over the top. No one is going to give you a real number. If the New York Times doesn't need my phone number to post my comment, neither does the Somerville News.

Re: If you're soliciting comments. . .

[ron_newman]

And I agree with Shana -- why does the News want a phone number from commenters? I can't think of any other news site with such a requirement. If you want to prevent forgeries (a big problem at the old site), perhaps you should implement a registration system.

Re: If you're soliciting comments. . .

[jamesnorton.livejournal.com]

yes i am soliciting all commentary at this point.

yes i agree the rss thing says its enabled on my screen, but it doesnt seem that way on the public side

the phone number thing is stupid - i have multiple emails into the designers

thank you - very good points