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

[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.

[spatch]

Who needs paid help when you can just insult the first guy who comes along telling you what needs to be fixed, and demand he "come down to help" fix it?

This is the winningest thread davis_square has seen in ages.

GRE analogies

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

Somerville Newspaper butthurt is to davis_square what misshapen pizza is to b0st0n.

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

Yes, it has been a while since we got a real good snark fest going. What happened to the good old days?

[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 ;)

[jamesnorton.livejournal.com]

i understand the consulting fee thing, trust me - i get touchy and that probably fueled my fire earlier with ron because we are a small place and i am trying to do a bunch of the back side of the new site myself, so i can tweak here and there - and i have been held up on a few issues that came to a head about ten seconds before i read ron's comment, which sent me over the edge.