Ron Newman ([personal profile] ron_newman) wrote in [community profile] davis_square2008-10-15 04:22 pm
Entry tags:

Somerville News web site becomes nearly useless

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.

Re: If you're soliciting comments. . .

[identity profile] jamesnorton.livejournal.com 2008-10-15 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
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

Re: If you're soliciting comments. . .

[identity profile] glen-highland.livejournal.com 2008-10-16 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Seconding the RSS feed request. There are plenty of local news web sites, and many, including me, will just ignore the ones without RSS feeding the articles directly into our brains. :-)

Re: If you're soliciting comments. . .

[identity profile] jamesnorton.livejournal.com 2008-10-16 03:08 pm (UTC)(link)
it will actually be done within the hour...

thanks much for the input

jn