Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Bark louder, little dog.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The willow is too close to the house.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Let there be snark.

I really should read my own blog.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

You are here: Home / z-Retired Categories / Site Maintenance / Site Redesign and Rebuild

Site Redesign and Rebuild

by | 245 Comments

This post is in: 

Looks like we are targeting this weekend for a redesign and rebuild, so please place your wants, needs, and desires, as well as anything that is broken in the comments below.

Any suggestions on design would be appreciated. I’d like to keep things as close to they are now, BUT BETTERER and NEWERER!

Also, please hit the tip jar if you want to pitch in on the costs of the build.


*** Update ***

Awesome guys. Let’s fill this thread with moronic bullshit so it is impossible for me to make an actual list. Running this site is like trying to drive a clown car on ice.

And let’s clear one thing up. There will never, ever, ever be a ratings system for comments where you vote things up or down. I can’t stand that crap. I can decide on my own whether someone is an idiot or full of shit, I don’t need you all voting on it.

On the other hand, this might not be a bad idea:

Color Coded Terror Alert System that tracks John Coles mood swings.

Reader Interactions

245Comments

  5. 5.

    4tehlulz

    Does this mean we won’t get to play “mobile version lottery” anymore?

    Also, I got a 403 error lol.

  6. 6.

    Yutsano

    Make it so e-mail addresses autopopulate after first entry on the mobile site. If you can. And thanks!

  8. 8.

    Nate Dawg

    Sometimes, probably once a week, the site fails to load new content when I refresh the page. The ‘freeze’ happens for a day or more, and I can only access new posts via my RSS reader or by clicking through the actual posts. Never seen this happen before, on any blog, so if you could fix that I’d hbe happy.

  13. 13.

    wrb

    It would be nice if somewhere commenters were notified when someone responds to a post of theirs on a thread they don’t have open.

  14. 14.

    General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)

    A good dictionary button in the comment bar would be nice, like there used to be. So the ilitterate amung us don’t have to use google for spelling and stuff. Not moi, of course, but fer udders.

  16. 16.

    SteveM

    @Nate Dawg: I get that intermittently — or something like that. Usually it’s the three or four most recent posts just not showing up.

  18. 18.

    Tonal Crow

    1. Multiple-paragraph blockquotes that work as expected.
    2. Fix spam filter so that we can write “soshulist” properly.
    3. Moar Tunch.

  19. 19.

    AA+ Bonds

    I suppose it is completely impossible to allow your average everyday smilies or the Japanese style ones with underscores, my style is crimped

  22. 22.

    Mikeyg

    I don’t get to read BJ every day, and truth is, I like some front-pagers more than others. Is there a way to filter posts by author? For example, could I not visit for a week, but then come back and and ask to view only John’s most-recent posts (without having to rifle thru 10 site pages?)

    Thanks.

  23. 23.

    Gex

    I would like if we could “like” comments if we want it noted without having to clog up a feed with a bunch of “This” posts.

  27. 27.

    TooManyJens

    Eliminated, or at least smarter, keyword filter. Also, I’d prefer to have Recent Posts and Recent Comments above Contact. I would think the latter gets used less often, though with the way Cole complains about people emailing him, maybe not.

    Plus what Davo says below about the color scheme. I love how easy the site is to read.

  28. 28.

    Davo

    Please dont lose the blue-dominant color scheme or change the general appearance of the site. One of the reasons I started coming so often to this site is that it is very easy on the eyes.
    And cuz John Cole doesn’t know it, but he’s my dawg.

  29. 29.

    AA+ Bonds

    I would like if we could “like” comments if we want it noted without having to clog up a feed with a bunch of “This” posts.

    This

  31. 31.

    Ripley

    You’re still having issues with the site loading to the mobile version, front page and comments. Sometimes a reload fixes it, otherwise you need to delete the ‘www.’ from the url and reload. (Chrome on Mac and Windows)

    I work on a lot of WP sites, happy to help if I can. I usually use ‘WP Touch’ for mobile set ups, and it’s never gone flaky on me.

    Also, too. Your sister is hawt! Keep up the good work! (that has nothing to do with your sister, just sayin’)

  32. 32.

    dmsilev

    A spam filter that can tell the difference between cia lis and soshalist? Please?

  35. 35.

    belle

    excellent weekend for it, with basketball all weekend and all anyway.

    here on Tobacco Road, the whole region shuts down. no one works, no one can find anyone, it is worse than a blizzard.

    have fun.

  37. 37.

    geg6

    @Yutsano:

    This, this, this.

    What a pain in the ass that is. Drives me nuts.

    Also, a reply button for the mobile version, please.

  41. 41.

    freelancer

    @demz taters:

    No rating comments (or nesting either). This site has been a safe-haven from that bullshit and I’m not about to give in now.

  45. 45.

    AA+ Bonds

    I do agree that I got here after the glory days of your fat fat cat and I would like to see a lot of the fat pet that you own on the site every third post or so

  47. 47.

    Face

    Links to the John Cole and DougJ Facebook pages?

    I wanna get to know who’s writing these screeds!

  49. 49.

    jacy

    @freelancer:

    No rating comments (or nesting either). This site has been a safe-haven from that bullshit and I’m not about to give in now.

    Seconded. That would piss me off no end. One of the (many) reasons I love this site.

    ETA – or thirded — Southern Beale is faster ‘n me.

  51. 51.

    pragmatism

    remove “poker” from automoderation. since online poker is illegal in US, no longer as necessary.

  53. 53.

    AA+ Bonds

    @pragmatism:

    I just copy everyone’s posts into the Windows scrolling screensaver with a hot pink background and read them with a blender going on the desk next to my screen

  55. 55.

    scav

    Why is it we spend half our time inventing new meme-spellings + nicknyms and wielding them hippishly and then invariably get trapped by socia1ist and specia1ist? To the point, my bias is toward clean, spare, and asfastaspossible. Perhaps a real random mispellingizer so that we could blame that instead of ourselves.

  58. 58.

    AA+ Bonds

    Perhaps you should add a font that is completely made up of jagged lassoed pictures of your cat in the position of various letters

  59. 59.

    pragmatism

    @AA+ Bonds: only thing that would make that better would be a thermomix in the background in lieu of a poor person blender.

  60. 60.

    Peej01

    More Tunch….and pictures of Lily that don’t involve her lying on her comforter. It’s like she’s glued to it (G).

  61. 61.

    Warren Terra

    ABL, Betty Cracker, Sarah Proud And Tall, Soonergrunt, and SteveM added to the “Contact” list of front-pagers in the upper-right corner. It’s actually a bit embarrassing how out-of-date that list is.

  64. 64.

    Rafer Janders

    A fix to the keyword filter so we can discuss words that have, embedded in them somewhere, the name of a popular medication for men that is, unlike contraceptives, often covered by insurance. This would enable me to reference, for example, the army rank above private and below sergeant, or the name of a popular school of economic/political thought that President Obama is often falsely accused of being an adherent of.

  67. 67.

    Dave

    There will never, ever, ever be a ratings system for comments where you vote things up or down. I can’t stand that crap. I can decide on my own whether someone is an idiot or full of shit, I don’t need you all voting on it.

    I would like to downrate this.

  68. 68.

    schrodinger's cat

    I seem to get the mobile version of the site, the problem goes away if I post a comment.

  69. 69.

    Origuy

    How do you search for text in the comments on this site? The “Google Search” in the top left does the same thing as searching in http://www.google.com, as though there aren’t a dozen ways to do a Google search. The next search box down, with the “Find” button, only searches the original postings; it doesn’t look at the comments. There are so many threads each day that I forget where I saw something, or even where I commented.

  71. 71.

    El Tiburon

    Can there be an option on the mobile website to access the standard site?

    I like the standard site on my iPad – really hate the mobile version btw

  73. 73.

    AA+ Bonds

    IDK if anyone uses the Lexicon because at least since I got here none of the currently used categories are explained there and so it was just sort of a weird archaeology exercise to explore

  74. 74.

    Rafer Janders

    Also, too, like so many sites today, please auto-link this to Facebook, and auto-check the “post to Facebook” button, so that everyone can see our real identities, and every single political opinion we ever express can be broadcast far and wide for our families, friends, and future employers to read and file away. That would be awesome, and I know I certainly cherish that feature whenever I find that some site I used to read regularly has enabled it.

  76. 76.

    AA+ Bonds

    @pragmatism:

    Oh I bet she loves that in a deep and abiding way, she seems like the sort of person who has to prove bourgie daily by pointing out to people which of her appliances are “from Europe”

  77. 77.

    Snowwy

    I concur with the idea of a “Like” button, but not a comment voting system.
    Yes please improved keyword filtering.
    And lastly, some sort of permalink section for site tools, like the various pie filters and RSS readers.

  78. 78.

    elisathon

    The only issue I’ve been have that several times in the last few weeks BJ has loaded as the mobile site even though I’m using my macbookpro, on both main page & indiv. posts. I’m using the www. & I don’t have the mobile site bookmarked, and even if I clear my cache & reload I can’t get rid of it. I’m probably doing something stupid & obvious, but can anyone tell my what it is?

  79. 79.

    PeakVT

    1) Search by commenter and/or poster names.

    2) Clean up the HTML so that it’s easy to apply a user-made CSS style sheet. I’ve made a style for myself but the code makes it so that I ended up hardcoding a bunch of stuff for my exact desktop setup. (The problems mostly came from the sidebars.)

    3) Turn off the FYWP add-in that interprets punctuation as HTML markup.

    4) Make a JPEG of FYWP’s spamwords and put in a link to it.

    5) Please leave everything else pretty-much as-is.

  80. 80.

    AA+ Bonds

    @Rafer Janders:

    The best way is to just force people to sign onto Facebook and then ban them from using half the words found in the article like RS does with Matt Taibbi

    I like to call it “Zipf’s asshole”

  84. 84.

    freelancer

    Ooooh Oooh! Instead of crashing servers and slow load times whenever we have high volume days (such as liveblogs or following debates, election results or awards shows or an awesome TV show or whatever because you know how we love emailing you about our very valuable comment and the pigeon inside of all of us gets pissy when we peck F5 and nothing happens.), how about a peripheral site that could be used as an official BJ chatroom?

  87. 87.

    piratedan

    perhaps a weeding of the blogroll would be in order too, how many of those folks are still in bidness and it sure seems like we need to expand the blogs we mock list to include a few more folks (i.e. a list of poniless pundits)

  88. 88.

    Tehanu

    A “Like” button. Or more than one, for comments I really, really, REALLY like.

  90. 90.

    Dave

    A daily feature with BoB ranting about something for one or two paragraphs. But that is all he is allowed to contribute to the site each day. Because crazy is funny in small doses.

  91. 91.

    currants

    @Origuy: THIS.

    Also, first time ever, total weirdness on my laptop–must be the mobile site, only I’ve never had that site when I used my mobile reader, so…maybe not?

  93. 93.

    kindness

    John likes cats he just doesn’t like herding them. I don’t blame him there.

    What ever you do in the changes please don’t link to our facebook accounts. That is getting a bit creepy. Oh yea, that and free beer at the BJ meetups….When is Northern Cals again?

  94. 94.

    General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)

    Awesome guys. Let’s fill this thread with moronic bullshit

    How about a moronic bullshit cleaner. Then it can truly be a blog about nothing.

  95. 95.

    scav

    @schrodinger’s cat: That’s the cat with the smile that fades away to a smile but no cat — so that site bug would vanish but leave traces behind, if I’m thinking along the correct lines. Your site-bug either exists or doesn’t until observed, correct?

    ETA: and, alas, I believe he’s now The Unitary Authority of Warrington Cat. Admin changes.

  96. 96.

    Chyron HR

    How about some sort of banning system whereby “banned” posters don’t, um, continue posting with impunity? Or at least bannings that don’t wear off when the poster in question has “learned their lesson”, when they clearly never do?

    (USER WAS BANNED FOREVER FOR THIS POST.)

  100. 100.

    Mark S.

    @freelancer:

    or nesting either

    Shit, nested comments might make me stop reading this site, I hate them so much. I was reading some McMegan comment thread (I know) the other day and this is how ugly it can get. I’ve actually seen where it just one letter each line.

  101. 101.

    freelancer

    @El Tiburon:

    Can there be an option on the mobile website to access the standard site?
    I like the standard site on my iPad – really hate the mobile version btw

    This has been happening only recently. At the bottom of the mobile site is a “Switch to desktop view” link. You click on that and you get a server error. I find that Safari gets around it if I close that window and then reload the post from my RSS feed a second time. YMMV, but hopefully this little quick goes away sooner rather than later.

  102. 102.

    Librarian

    This may be the same problem that schrodingers cat mentioned, but sometimes this site, both the main and comment pages, appears on my computer in an entirely different format. This has been happening quite often recently.

  103. 103.

    Cris (without an H)

    @Snowwy: I concur with the idea of a “Like” button, but not a comment voting system.

    The one legitimate use of a Like button, for this particular site’s purposes, is to have and easy way to come up with candidates for “comment of the year.”

  105. 105.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    The usual: fix it so we can use the correct spelling of soshulism. And I liked the share on FB button.

  107. 107.

    cathyx

    Other than maybe an auto refresh that takes you to the last comment before the refresh, I like things the way they are.

  109. 109.

    MikeJ

    On the mobile site (no this isn’t a complaint about it popping up randomly) block quotes and hyperlinks don’t show up, so it often looks as if the poster is saying what s/he is linking to.

  110. 110.

    Donut

    I would like to add my voice to the chorus that a reply button for the mobile site would be swell.

    Also, too, a more refined spam filter that allowed for certain words would be super swell.

  111. 111.

    crack

    More rubble, less trouble.

    Something like Kippo for trolls. Make is so they think everyone sees their posts. Intersperse fake posts agreeing with the trolls every 5th comment to make them think they are failing horribly.

  113. 113.

    piratedan

    @PeakVT: I was thinking that we could have it be like a toggle button, i.e. Greasemonkey is active but hey, I’m just spitballing here ;-)

    I like the notion of a positive feedback button, but like is too simple, it should be more along the lines of “OMG You’re inside my skull thinking my very thoughts!”

  114. 114.

    Cris (without an H)

    Oh, also — if you have to have that idiotic “Google Custom Search” in there, please put the actual site search field next to it, clearly labelled as “SEARCH THIS SITE”.

    I hope you get a few pennies from that GCS field, because it’s fucking annoying. If I enter a search term in a text box on this site, it’s because I’m looking for something on this site.

  117. 117.

    Buck

    How about a new coffee maker? That old one looks like it’s seen better days.

    Other than that, John… thumbs up!

  118. 118.

    Tim in SF

    Here’s an actual issue for the coder person:

    In a typical post in which there’s a block quote, the block quote comes inside the paragraph, instead of outside of it, which is wrong. The code looks like this (and I’m using bracers instead of brackets so it’s visible) :

    [p] [blockquote]During the early afternoon hours and because of the request to take down the tents, … [/p]

    [p] To this effect, I am forming a task force made of faculty, students and staff … [/blockquote] [/p]

    This is improper syntax and it causes havoc on some browsers. Consistently, the second paragraph looks like it is outside of the block quote on my reader. The block quote should be outside the p’s. Since it is inside, it is being closed by the closing P in the first paragraph and subsequent paragraphs look like part of the blog post commentary instead of part of the quoted material.

    It should look like this:

    [blockquote] [p] During the early afternoon hours and because of the request to take down the tents, … [/p]

    [p] To this effect, I am forming a task force made of faculty, students and staff … [/p] [/blockquote]

  119. 119.

    TooManyJens

    @Sarah:

    I’d love it if links opened in a new window.

    I’d love it if they didn’t. Sorry, but when links are set by the site author to automatically open in a new window, there’s no way for those of us who hate that behavior to have them open in the same window. Whereas if links are normal, people who want them to open in a new window can still do that.

    I think Atrios has/had a checkbox where the user could decide which way they wanted links to open on his site. That’s not a bad idea.

  120. 120.

    wasabi gasp

    You’ve always had one of the easiest to read comment sections out there, maybe try not to fix that part to much.

    Those javascripty social media button bars that pop out from every edge of the page: don’t do it.

  124. 124.

    different-church-lady

    Running this site is like trying to drive a clown car on ice.

    I thought that’s why you were doing it.

  126. 126.

    MikeJ

    @TooManyJens: Last rebuild they installed this for about 20 minutes until the sane people protested.

    If you want a new window for links either hold the control key while you click or right click and select open in new tab/window.

  127. 127.

    schrodinger's cat

    @scav: It doesn’t exist after I comment, so it fades like the Cheshire Cat, or the act of commenting causes it to go away, both work.

  128. 128.

    chopper

    Let’s fill this thread with moronic bullshit so it is impossible for me to make an actual list. Running this site is like trying to drive a clown car on ice.

    you know those guitars that are, like, ‘double’ guitars? you know?

  129. 129.

    Soonergrunt

    I don’t have any notes myself. I would suggest that we fix the 3 hyperlink per comment issue. Make it five or six, for example. Also if there’s a way for the spam filter to give feeback, for example instead of saying “your comment is awaiting moderation” say “your comment is awaiting moderation because you used the banned word ‘cialis’ you douchenozzle”
    Failing all of that, can I get my email address in the bar with everyone else? It will make it easier for the stalkers and therefore easier on you since you won’t have to keep fielding creepy “what’s his email address and home address and do you know if you can ship body parts in the mail” questions.

  130. 130.

    freelancer

    @Poopyman:

    The ability to actually see the “Reply” button in Safari on my iPad.

    What happens if you click the blue “Link” button next to this comment?

  132. 132.

    Sarah

    Actually I meant I’d love it if links opened in a new tab. I’d hate it if they opened in a new window!

  133. 133.

    General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)

    You want the Seinfeld of blogs?

    Duh, no. I want to keep our moronic bullshit as it is. It is the best anywhere, especially mine mine mine. It’s not my fault the blog owner has a problem with it.

  134. 134.

    gaz

    Awesome guys. Let’s fill this thread with moronic bullshit so it is impossible for me to make an actual list. Running this site is like trying to drive a clown car on ice.

    You should add an app that lets you drive a clown car on ice.

    /ducks

  135. 135.

    schrodinger's cat

    Running this site is like trying to drive a clown car on ice.

    You really love us, don’t you, Thanks!

  136. 136.

    Snowwy

    @Cris (without an H):
    Exactly why I recommended it that way. I suppose the other (crazy) idea is a commenter site reputation score, but that would require a locked-in registration process. I don’t think JC will go for that.

  137. 137.

    TooManyJens

    @Soonergrunt:

    Also if there’s a way for the spam filter to give feeback, for example instead of saying “your comment is awaiting moderation” say “your comment is awaiting moderation because you used the banned word ‘cialis’ you douchenozzle”

    And if it doesn’t go into moderation, the feedback can say “your comment is being posted, you douchenozzle.” Because it’s BJ.

  138. 138.

    different-church-lady

    Wait… wait… I’ve got it… I’ve got it… PHYSICAL REHAB CAM!

  145. 145.

    MattF

    Maybe add a ‘troll’ bit and a ‘responds to trolls’ bit in user profiles. Kinda like a ‘spam’ bit in email.

  148. 148.

    General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)

    That handsome picture of John right where we can see it daily

    Now there’s a winner. runs away.

  149. 149.

    FlyingToaster

    I switched computers (now WindowsXP, Firefox whatever, noscript w/ blogads allowed, yadda yadda yadda) while my previous MacBook is porting to the shiny MacBookPro.

    I get the mobile site (I think) initially, then the correct format on reload. Same when I open a post in its own tab.

    I haven’t the time to analyze it now (will be going soon to bake for WarriorGirl’s boyfriend’s party tomorrow), but I suspect that it’s not loading the proper .css initially. or the browser identification is not completing its roundtrip communication with the server before painting the page.

  151. 151.

    TooManyJens

    Ironically, I am in moderation for having quoted the comment of a front-pager who presumably had to let himself out of moderation. ::hates on the keyword filter some more::

  152. 152.

    Martin

    Straightforward:

    1) Multiline blockquote bug
    2) Get common political words out of the spam filter
    3) Move recent pages up to the top. Move recent posts below that. Move contacts below that. Move categories/archives below that. Blogroll below that. Work in the store, etc. where you feel. But I think people use the recent pages/posts a lot more than many of the other things and having them up top would be nice.
    4) Why are there two search boxes? I’m afraid to use either one as a result.
    5) Jump to top/jump to bottom links. It’s a PITA to scroll so much.
    6) Ads on left/right pretty much dictate the width of those content areas. Don’t have them scale when you widen/shrink the page. They should remain fixed so that resizing the page only resizes the content/comments.

    Niceties:
    1) A per-user hide button for commenters. If you don’t want to ban the trolls (your blog, your choice) just the ability for us to click them off would be nice. Basically a built-in pie filter. It’s just some javascript. Cleek has given you the code. Just hook it to a button and be done with it and a lot of us will STFU about the trolls. And those that don’t you can tell to STFU.
    2) Mobile site fixes. Look at TPM as a decent example.

  153. 153.

    Mark B.

    @different-church-lady: Well, the ‘Ice Road Clown Car Drivers’ reality show proposal was rejected as being to derivative, so it’s just going to have to be done as a blog.

    You should have a ‘like’ system similar to the one on alicublog. When I post something silly that gets 20+ likes, it just makes my day.

  154. 154.

    JGabriel

    John Cole @ Top:

    Awesome guys. Let’s fill this thread with moronic bullshit so it is impossible for me to make an actual list. …
    __
    On the other hand, this might not be a bad idea:

    Color Coded System that tracks John Coles mood swings.

    I ask you, with examples like this, how the fuck are we supposed to know what you’re gonna think is moronic bullshit or not?

    (No offense to DonkeyKong intended.)

    .

  157. 157.

    wasabi gasp

    Slightly modifying one of my previous suggestions: can you make my comments blink?

  158. 158.

    Poopyman

    @freelancer: Yeah, that’s what I have to do. I’m on a Windows desktop at the moment, so I can’t play, but it appears as default on IE & FF, so just looking for some parity, ya know?

  159. 159.

    scav

    Quick bottom takeaway from a thread that instantly filled up with careening clowns in snark fonts is that most seem to be basically fairly content in the ice-rink as is. Put up a giggle, sunlight and watermelon popsicle thread and it will fill instantly with dour discussions of the minutiae of coding fixes.

    ETA but Please, no inline photos in comments, slow slow slow.

  161. 161.

    Karl

    If you’re going to have a mobile version of the site, can you make sure that it shows the complete blog post (or at least everything above the fold on the web version) without 1.5 sentences and some ellipses? 3G takes for ever to load, I’d rather load the page (and ads!) only once so I can read the whole page without having to click each post? The reason I don’t do FDL any more is not their politics, it’s because I can’t read their posts just by scrolling down, I’ve got to click every single post.

  162. 162.

    jacy

    Awesome guys. Let’s fill this thread with moronic bullshit so it is impossible for me to make an actual list. Running this site is like trying to drive a clown car on ice.

    Jeez, Cole, it’s like you don’t even know us. Harrumph.

    And if you could drive a clown car on ice, you would be the de facto Republican nominee for president. Providing you have affidavits proving you’ve never had premarital sex.

  163. 163.

    JGabriel

    @TooManyJens:

    @Martin:

    5) Jump to top/jump to bottom links. It’s a PITA to scroll so much.

    I’d French-kiss a troll for these.

    Guys & Gals, you know the Home and End keys on your keyboard will perform those functions for you, right?

    .

  165. 165.

    Rosalita

    @Cris (without an H):

    I know you don’t believe this is important, but make the logo link to the front page

    this is on my wish list too. not life threatening but would definitely be helpful.

  166. 166.

    Mark B.

    One more thing, I like the ‘plain vanilla’ look of this blog. Please don’t jazz it up with a bunch of pastel colors and busy design elements. Simpler is better.

    One of my favorite basketball blogs (48minutesofhell.com) was ruined with a redesign last year. It’s now a cotton candy nightmare, although the content is still pretty good.

  167. 167.

    LADave

    I like that “read on” button at the bottom of each truncated post on Sullivan’s blog. It shows you the rest of the post without having to reload the whole page.

  169. 169.

    Cris (without an H)

    @JimF: If you click on the slogan underneath the logo it goes to the top.

    I know that, we’ve gone round the block on this a dozen times, making the slogan a link and not the logo is a dopey usability choice. But John (or John’s webmistress) assures us this is UNPOSSIBAL even when examples of how to do it are explicitly provided.

  170. 170.

    Martin

    @JGabriel:

    Guys & Gals, you know the Home and End keys on your keyboard will perform those functions for you, right?

    Laptop. iPad. Not 1992 any more, people.

  171. 171.

    Snowwy

    @JGabriel: Not so much with the Home and End keys on a smartphone. Not that I disagree with you, but this isn’t a completely invalid idea.
    ETA: OK wow, I forget how fast people are here. Didn’t mean to pile on…

  172. 172.

    TooManyJens

    @JGabriel: The Home and End keys on my phone?

    ETA: Like Snowwy, didn’t mean to pile on. Sheesh, you go to the bathroom and the conversation’s already moved on without you.

  173. 173.

    Laertes

    Whatever you do, please don’t go to a nested comments model. There’s no reason to suspect that you would, but every now and then someone does it out of the blue. It’s always a mistake.

  178. 178.

    different-church-lady

    @JGabriel:

    Guys & Gals, you know the Home and End keys on your keyboard will perform those functions for you, right?

    Remember the days of yesteryear when people would actually spend time learning how their computers worked?

    Now, the option to reverse the comment order, with the latest on top… that might be something worth considering.

  180. 180.

    Laertes

    On smartphones, long threads can take an extremely long time to load. It’d be nice if you could see them in newest-first order, with some small numbers of comments per page.

  181. 181.

    RossinDetroit

    My suggestion: Leave it the same and make it more robust to handle election year traffic. Same functionality, but it always works. I like the low tech-ness of BJ and I think it serves as a troll deterrent.
    Why is more complicated always ‘better’?

  182. 182.

    Warren Terra

    I can’t believe no-one has mentioned threaded comments.

    Actually, I’m undecided on them (they seem to sometimes work and sometimes fail), but I know some people have rather intense reactions to the notion, and you’d think people would raise the topic just in order to provoke a spirited response.

    ETA apparently I need to broaden my search terms to include “nested” not just “threaded”.

  183. 183.

    Martin

    @pragmatism: The problem is that there is no ‘hover’ on touchscreen devices because there’s no mouse pointer.

    Add that to the list of things that should change – get rid of any hover interface elements.

  184. 184.

    different-church-lady

    @Martin: Can you do a three finger home-end gesture on the iPad? I can on the trackpad of my anachronism.

  185. 185.

    freelancer

    @different-church-lady:

    Now, the option to reverse the comment order, with the latest on top… that might be something worth considering.

    You’re looking to get garroted, aren’t you?

  188. 188.

    JGabriel

    @Schlemizel:

    one thing I hope to never see here are personal icons – that was horrible

    I seem to remember that my default icon looked something like an upright egg with an insect head — i.e., a surprisingly accurate abstract rendition of my actual appearance.

    Made me paranoid for a week.

    .

  191. 191.

    Martin

    @scav:

    Something the iWonder doesn’t do better than 92? Unpossible.

    Better? Not a matter of better, matter of different. Cars suck at giving your horses exercise. Doesn’t mean they’re worse than buggies, just different.

  192. 192.

    TooManyJens

    @different-church-lady:

    Remember the days of yesteryear when people would actually spend time learning how their computers worked?

    I know how my devices work just fine, which is how I know that Home and End keys aren’t always available.

  193. 193.

    Snowwy

    I give up. You guys are so fast that 90 seconds after I’ve loaded a comment the topic has been beaten into a thin paste on the asphalt. By the time I get done typing my reply you’d never know there was a point there at all…

  194. 194.

    ET

    @pragmatism: Ditto on the sarcasm font.

    Don’t like the ratings concept but do like the John Cole mood alert system and MORE PICTURES OF TUNCH.

  196. 196.

    MikeJ

    @Martin:

    get rid of any hover interface elements.

    The entire idea of affordances appearing and disappearing is insane.

  203. 203.

    scav

    @Martin: Sorry, sister’s a bit of a Thou­Shalt­Worship­Nowhere­Other­Than­The­House­ofJobs and I seem to have developed a hair-trigger.

    I speak Windows/Mac/Unix and prefer command line, your basic digital slut in truth.

  204. 204.

    freelancer

    @JGabriel:

    I seem to remember that my default icon looked something like an upright egg with an insect head — i.e., a surprisingly accurate abstract rendition of my actual appearance.

    Mine was a pic of Jesus cradling a velociraptor, but the dino was kind of hard to see. It made M_C go apeshit as she thought of it as definitive proof that I was exactly the kind of Evangelical Christian Strawman she was accusing me of being.

  206. 206.

    Mark B.

    It’s rumored that ‘the new iPad'(c)* will have the Tom Cruise ‘Minority Report’ gestural interface.

    *Yes, it’s really called ‘the new iPad’. I guess everyone was expecting iPad3 and since Steve’s gone, nobody could come up with something better.

  207. 207.

    MikeJ

    @Schlemizel: The worst part was the privacy problem. The operators of the avatar system got to learn about you from every site you visit that used their system. It didn’t really add any value and it gave one more company an easy way to track you around the internet.

  208. 208.

    Laertes

    Here’s Fred Clark quoting Patrick Nielsen Hayden about nested/threaded comments:

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2011/03/08/design-matters-fred-is-an-idiot-part-xvi/

    Threading is appropriate for online discussions where the objective is to get a particular question answered efficiently and then leave. Without particular software tools which are not built into web browsers (I’m thinking of Usenet reader software, or programs like the old CompuServe Navigator), it’s extremely destructive of the kind of open-ended, wide-ranging discourse for which people come to your site.
    Threading makes it vastly, vastly more difficult to see when new comments have been posted. It causes productive discussions to split into smaller and smaller subgroups, and encourages toxic back-and-forths between a few (or, sometime, only two) people that wouldn’t have happened if the conversation were happening in the presence of all participants.

  209. 209.

    mark

    @Cris (without an H):

    This.

    You can put the image, or even a image table, WITHIN the code for link of the rotating text, so the image reference is static, but the text still rotates as a dynamic code.

  210. 210.

    Martin

    @different-church-lady: No, 3 finger swipe up/down is different. Home is double-tap status bar, but there’s no comparable end.

    Besides, it’d be nice to work for laptop users as well. A link is universal. Put it over to the right of the # of responses for bottom, and over the the right of ‘leave a reply’ for top.

  211. 211.

    freelancer

    @Mark B.:

    This is the dippin’ dots strategy of marketing:

    “Yeah, hi. You guys have been around for more than a decade, so at what point is dippin’ dots no longer ‘the ice cream of the future’?”
    “Look, sir, are you gonna buy some fucking dippin’ dots or not? I have mall-shoppers to stare at, and the girl who works at the RC helicopter kiosk needs flirting with.”

  212. 212.

    Martin

    @scav: Mac/Windows interface/usability/accessibility needs to die a rapid and painful death. Bad habits developed in the 80s that were never corrected because nobody was there to force the issue. The iPad is doing that very thing. Limited as it may be, for the average consumer it’s what the PC ought to be. Simple, foolproof, reliable, accessible, and trustworthy. I’m willing to suffer through the limitations to get to where we should have gotten a decade ago.

  213. 213.

    AA+ Bonds

    @Martin:

    1) A per-user hide button for commenters. If you don’t want to ban the trolls (your blog, your choice) just the ability for us to click them off would be nice. Basically a built-in pie filter. It’s just some javascript. Cleek has given you the code. Just hook it to a button and be done with it and a lot of us will STFU about the trolls. And those that don’t you can tell to STFU.

    This doesn’t sound very “Balloon Juice”

  214. 214.

    JGabriel

    @Snowwy:

    I give up. You guys are so fast that 90 seconds after I’ve loaded a comment the topic has been beaten into a thin paste on the asphalt.

    Don’t give up! (Suddenly I feel like Kate Bush.)

    It’s just a very fast moving thread. Not all of ’em are like this.

    .

  216. 216.

    different-church-lady

    @Laertes:

    it’s extremely destructive of the kind of open-ended, wide-ranging discourse for which people come to your site.

    What’s that got to do with Balloon Juice?

    OK, actually, what might really address the desire is if one could navigate to one’s own comment and see a quick list of links to any direct replies, while still keeping the entire comment list unthreaded. Yeah, probably easier said than done.

  218. 218.

    Poopyman

    @Laertes: That’s absolutely true, and would deprive us of the kind of threads that unfailingly remind me of those scenes in Westerns where one guy in a saloon throws a punch and instantly everyone in the place has paired off into a fistfight. They’re hilarious to read and I can never resist the temptation to throw a chair into the mirror behind the bar. I’ve noticed I’m not the only one, either.

  219. 219.

    Rathskeller

    strongly want:

    – PREVIEW BUTTON. goddamn, son.
    – optional way to disable the “helpful” mobile version that slows me down 100x. I have a high-end Android with a gig of memory, I do not need a dumbed-down version of the site that requires that I load each page individually. however this is done, it should set a cookie and be permanent for any user that wants it.
    – reply button in mobile context

    mild preference for:
    – nesting comments
    – comment-voting. I know John specifically doesn’t want it, but fuck, he was going to boot Rosie out of the house at one point. The man can change his mind.
    – a toggle to show comment times in relative ways, “3 minutes ago”.
    – bigger subset of html permitted for comments. for instance, I have no idea if this post will be formatted, but if I knew I could use list markup, then I would do so.
    – a means of showing when someone first commented. just a timestamp, not a history of comments.
    – hiding comments by user. the pie filter is great, but I use four browsers on two laptops plus my phone. cannot possibly configure them all to hide the trolls.

    do not want:

    – no picture based avatars. please, please, please. do not want cartoons, cat pics, or historical figures, much less anyone’s actual face.
    – font control.
    – color control. the site’s black, white, and light blue color is sleek and soothing. if you let people add colors, then you re-create myspace.
    – actually the common theme here for all three do-no-wants is: most people are imbeciles if you let them control their UIs too much, especially if you let me add something that affects how you see it.

  220. 220.

    scav

    @Martin: iPad works for certain markets and users, no arguement. Don’t presume to speak for all contexts though. I tend toward the data creation-juggling end of the market so have those biases and preferences. Crazy enough to think I could maintain them I guess.

  221. 221.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    A way to get notified if/when someone replies to you.

    And I much prefer threads, though they do seem to be out of fashion. (It’s sad that the text-based newsreaders of 20 years ago had more (and better) features that even the best comment-oriented websites today).

  222. 222.

    different-church-lady

    @Martin:

    No, 3 finger swipe up/down is different.

    Having no iPad nor iPhone, nor other mobile device to play with, I find the following in the iPad manual I just downloaded:

    Three-finger flick up or down: Scroll one page at a time.

    Which, within BJ, ought to effectively function as a end button, since it’s all one page?

  223. 223.

    jimmiraybob

    a clown car on ice

    A Zamboner? [cue yakety sax]

    Don’t blame me, you put it out there.

    [slinks to idiot time-out corner]

  224. 224.

    General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)

    On a more serious note, change nothing, except maybe a bigger server for election year increase in traffic. If you want.

    edit – and why is there no Personal Beauty donation button. I want to give till it hurts.

  225. 225.

    Soonergrunt

    @john cole, top

    Running this site is like trying to drive a clown car on ice.

    That’s why I never did one of my own, and why I’ll always be grateful that you do all the work.

  227. 227.

    MikeJ

    @scav:

    iPad works for certain markets and users, no arguement. Don’t presume to speak for all contexts though.

    When you make an idiot proof system, only an idiot will want to use it.

  231. 231.

    Martin

    @different-church-lady:

    Which, within BJ, ought to effectively function as a end button, since it’s all one page?

    I think that means one screen at a time, not the whole page. The web really has no concept of ‘pages’ as such.

  232. 232.

    dance around in your bones

    I do not like ‘like buttons’ OR green eggs and ham…. I am quite capable of ‘liking’ a comment w/o a bunch of other ‘likers’ chiming in.

    I WILL shill for the old and most elegant number style/font that used to be standard on this site – those old-fashioned, rounded, gray color numbers that sat fatly on the left/middle side of the comment. I felt it gave this site a unique and artsy-fartsy look.

    I may be alone in this sentiment, however. I’ve brought it up multiple times with ♫ No Reply-ay-ay-ay ♬

    When I have problems with the site, I just click the ‘tagline’ under the Balloon Juice logo and all loads well.

    Plus, use Firefox 10+ plus NoScript + AdBlockPlus and 99.999% of yer troubles will be over. Just my 2 cents.

    Sorry about the ad revenue loss. Once I get some dough, I’mma gonna send some your way, Mr.Cole. Your site is my home page and pretty much where I hang out all day long for the info and the belly-laughs.

    ¡Gracias, Señor!

  233. 233.

    Rafer Janders

    @different-church-lady:

    Remember the days of yesteryear when people would actually spend time learning how their computers worked?

    Eh, I don’t know how my TV, DVR, radio, iPod dock, coffee machine, toaster, air conditioner etc. really work. Rough idea, sure, but other than that, no real sense of the specifics and no ability to repair or engineer them. Why should I know how my computer works? It’s not my job, I don’t get paid for it, life is short and I have other interests.

  234. 234.

    Martin

    @MikeJ:

    When you make an idiot proof system, only an idiot will want to use it.

    The only people that actually believe that are ones that want to lord their superiority over others. But you’re right, that whole movable type revolution really was the downfall of society. We’d be a proper society again if only we could limit our written word once again to proper calligraphy – on vellum.

    Well miss you when you depart from our idiot-strewn world.

  235. 235.

    Gordon, the Big Express Engine

    A list of wedding crashers like rules for the site…

    Rule #23: post like a champion

    Rule #32: if it exists on Balloon Juice, there is porn of it

    Rule #45: face West Virginia and pray 5 times per day

  236. 236.

    scav

    @Martin: Where you all drive the identical car and don’t have garbage or pickup trucks or sedans, or buses or etc. because you have the one true interface, imen. I retract my Sorry from above.

  237. 237.

    Snowwy

    @JGabriel: Oh I promise I’m not going anywhere. But alas I am not a self-made internet billionaire Galtian superman, so I actually have to spend time working.

  238. 238.

    grape_crush

    (WARNING: DECADE-OLD SEMI-OBSCURE REFERENCE AHEAD]

    More Cowbell.

    …

    Actually, a means to keep a featured/popular post at the top so I don’t have to get carpal tunnel from scrolling and scrolling to find something more interesting than doggie and kitty pics.*

    Also may require someone to make a judgement as to what’s being featured, so more work and whining to deal with.

    Still unsure as to whether or not the comment form needs to be moved to the top of the comments section underneath the post. For longer threads (like this one) it might be nice.

    (*heresy, I know)

  242. 242.

    kindness

    Change the code so that troll users post and immediately get deposited to RedState, or some other god forsaken wilderness.

  244. 244.

    priscianusjr

    I would like to see a feature that makes it easy to track comments and replies to comments. As of now it definitely isn’t. Thank you. Over and out.

  245. 245.

    Dream On

    No avatars/personal icons – I’m tired of other sites – people’s interesting words are undone by their dorky pictures. A guy could quote shakespeare – but if he has a Big Lebowski icon, don’t mean ‘nuthin’.

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