I have no idea what is going on with the ads- I tried to disable them all by removing the widgets and they are still showing up. I am working on this. I feel like Barry Corbin in WarGames- I’d piss on the god damn spark plug if I thought that would stop WOPR.
Between the angst and anger and divisiveness in the comments over the rebuild I am ready to just take a blow torch and kerosene to the god damned website.
I’m having the ad people fix this shit asap.
germy
I must have missed all the drama.
The site redesigns look excellent and I’ve experienced no problems recently with the old site.
The Moar You Know
“I Don’t Know What the Fuck is Going On”
John, you should title all your posts with this.
Edith Head Gave Good Gown
I know you are just venting, but yeah the arguments over the rebuild are a bit much. It’s your joint, man. Decorate it how you want.
Ruckus
John
I wonder if there is actually anything that you can do. Everything seems to have ads or have become paying sites these days. It’s like the pod people have landed. My gut reaction is that someone or ones are clogging up the entire internet and demanding money. And plan on getting it one way or another. Either you can pay them or they will take it, makes no difference to them. Whomever them turns out to be. I suspect that Rupert M has something to do with it. But then I always suspect that end of the spectrum.
Gin & Tonic
I’ve missed the “anger and divisiveness.” Anybody got a link? All I’ve read is the normal whining.
John Cole
@Gin & Tonic: I’m talking about myself.
dmsilev
Yeah, Internet ads have gone all nuts over the last several years. Your ad network farms out chunks of things to other vendors, who embed code blocks from still other vendors, who pull data from yet another set of companies, etc. It’s like going down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland, except at the bottom, the cake says ‘Bite me’.
gvg
I am going to repost myself from below on how to make the you have won popup go away in ipads and presumably Iphones
@The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion: I get those on my ipad. The way I found to get rid of them is in settings open safari 1) clear cache 2)open advanced and turn off javascript.
I usually wait awhile then turn java back on because lots of sites don’t work without it, but the pop up does away for awhile usually for days or weeks. Its annoying to have to reenter logins to all other websites but I don’t want Cole to go crazy and hope the new version fights them better.
When it happens on Android, I have a lot more trouble getting rid of it.
I learned this version on the internet but several suggestions didn’t work until this one did and I don’t remember where I found it.
rikyrah
Hi Cole. Sorry things aren’t going well.
Baud
I remember when this blog was about the ISSUES, man. Before it went all corporate.
John Cole
@Baud: This will all change with Baud/Cole 2020.
Who is with me?
Luthe
You’re doing more than most sites. I’ve had the same thing happen on the Washington Post site and they should have better standards. You are actually trying to do something about it, so you get all the points.
MobiusKlein
Nuke it from space.
It’s the only way to be sure.
dr. bloor
@John Cole: “I don’t know what the fuck is going on” would be a fine bumper sticker indeed.
Baud
@John Cole:
I’m not sure our fragile electoral system can handle that much machismo on one ticket.
John Harrold
Is there an amount you could raise to completely disable ads after the rebuild?
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Don’t worry about it. Everything is going all right. It’s your house, so to speak, and you’re entitled to take it easy.
Aleta
@John Cole:
I’m so there.
(But waiting for the polling.)
seaboogie
@Baud: you fellers made me laugh.
NobodySpecial
Sorry to hear you’re getting a ton of ALL CAPS letters, Cole. People need to figure out that the ad problem is exactly why the site needs updating.
feebog
@John Cole:
Putting the band back together are we?
FreeThinkingRedneck
I blame the willow tree. It’s to damn close to the house.
OzarkHillbilly
Fuck ’em, John. It’s your place and you get to do any damn thing you like with it. If somebody doesn’t like what you do, they know where the door is.
seaninclt
this is why most sites don’t ask for input from users during rebuilds.
SG
Cole, I love you and I love your site. I just left for an hour til the ad shit calmed down and I knew all would be good because, man, it’s Balloon Juice. It’s one of the few places, like Linus’ pumpkin patch, where there’s nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see or the heart can feel. Or mostly. What’s a few fucking spam ads between friends?
In the meantime, how are the birds doing? Do you check on the Cornell Labs bird cam sites or use their bird ID app?
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: exactly!
@gvg: I did that but they came right back. And Kindle has a pop-up/redirect blocker enabled. Even updated and scanned with Malwarebytes, which didn’t id any malware.
But now that you’ve turned them off it seems to be gone.
Mike J
@dmsilev:
Users install ad blockers, which is an excuse for scum to make the ads worse and more intrusive, which causes more people to install ad blockers, which is an excuse for scum to make the ads worse and more intrusive, etc.
different-church-lady
I don’t know a ton about this stuff, but I don’t think it’s your sanctioned ads acting up, I think you’ve been digitally hijacked — I seem to remember that this is shit that can happen at the domain-name level or something. It may have nothing to do with your widgets, it may be that somehow anyone who hits the site gets redirected to a mal-page.
Amir Khalid
@Mike J:
The ads started it. We users were just defending ourselves from the onslaught.
MomSense
@different-church-lady:
Yup, I think that’s what is happening because that has been the explanation at other websites where I’ve encountered the invasive ad problem.
I’m staying out of the blog redesign controversies to the point where I didn’t even know there were any. Whatever Cole and the redesign team line is fine with me.
Mandalay
@Ruckus:
Speaking of vile assholes, Newscorp’s initial response to complaints about putting the image of a female politician in the cross hairs with the headline “You’re Next” was GFY:
They eventually issued a non-apology apology after a compliant to the Press Council.
For someone who is not a politician, and has never been to prison, Murdoch has to be near the top of the list of people who have willfully brought misery and suffering into the lives of others.
Jeffery
Joe. My. God. Has been under the same attack for several days. He had to rebuild his site. It seems to be aimed at anti trump sites.
Aleta
Sorry John, worrying about a bunch of people like you do.
You’re humping too much stuff, troop.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
NOOOOOOO! God! No! Not the Allison Stokke ad!
Major Major Major Major
@Mike J: @Amir Khalid: I didn’t have an adblocker on my phone until the Taboola ads started here, which made participating in the comments so irritating that my options were to stop commenting or download an adblocker.
Unfortunately for y’all, I chose the adblocker.
Aleta
Sorry John, worrying about a bunch of people like you do.
You’re humping too much stuff, troop.
Fleeting Expletive
OT little bit: every D cndidte tell it–DJT=..loozer … luuzer…l00zer!
not typing right b/c wet keybord —
#1 letter, & no next to it either bc wter on keyz. Hope to dry out forthwith. How much cn I type legibly w/o 2 letterz?
Too,cn u fix memory of mym & emil on commenting form pleeze? regret for ugly writing.
dexwood
Echo others here, John. Thanks for this great place, but it’s yours to run as you see fit.
The only device ads show up here for me is on my Kindle Fire 10 which forces me to use that fucking Silk browser and prevents me from using adblockers. Last night, BJ was completely hijacked by a goodluckday pop up. I turned the machine off and opened a book.
Eric U
seems like you can sideload chrome onto a Fire. I have done other apps, but don’t browse on my Fire enough to make it worthwhile
Leto
@John Cole: I’d be down for that ticket. If that doesn’t work, @MobiusKlein: this is the only correct answer.
chopper
john cole, driving down the information superhighway in a 1970’s orange hatchback with bald tires and a brown door.
chopper
@John Cole:
now that’s a ticket
John Cole
@chopper: with a cloud of weed
Leto
@Major Major Major Major: Not just unfortunate for us, but then they made you a front pager!!! The horror! /s
Edit: @chopper: final destination? A cow pasture. Where all good things must end.
chopper
@Fleeting Expletive:
grblb blabt unt mipt speeb!! oot piffoo blaboo!
Walker
That hijack ad was particularly pernicious. Usually they go away when you clear your cache, but not that one. Hijack ads are one of the reasons that I don’t really do a lot of mobile browsing. I have no idea how the youngs put up with it.
different-church-lady
The thing I’m finding most depressing about the 21st century is discovering just how many supposedly ordinary run-of-the-mill people are actually totally shitty, and how technology gives them an ever-increasing number of ways to shit up life for the rest of us.
Gretchen
I was getting the ads last night but they’re gone this morning, so something is going right.
John, thank you for thinking of this site and all you and the others do to keep it going. Even we lurkers are deeply grateful.
different-church-lady
@Walker:
The youngs are stimulation junkies, and they don’t care where the stimulation comes from.
I blame Monster Energy Drink.
Middlelee
I’m beginning to feel neglected and completely left out of all the fun. It’s been years since I’ve had any ads. I remember with loathing the one with talking that I had to mute, every single time. I’m on an iMac running Firefox. Rarely look at the site on my phone because I rarely use my phone for anything when I’m away from the house. I just checked and there are no ads on the phone which runs Safari.
gene108
@germy:
I’m on Safari and all I got was jumping to different spammy websites this morning. Seems to be an issue with Safari, at least.
Miss Bianca
Has there been angst over the site rebuild? Guess I haven’t been following it. Just grateful someone is taking care of it, I guess, and that from what I can see it looks very nice – a combo of classic old look and shiny new functionality. Go, team!
Leto
@different-church-lady:
I blame the olds who made/marketed Jolt! Cola to my generation. There’s always a way to bring it back to the Boomers /s :p
zhena gogolia
We’ve been watching over a robin’s nest since we saw the mother build it right outside our window. This morning I heard a racket and looked out to see a crow eating one of the young birds alive in our driveway. I’m in despair. Not just about the birds, but about everything. The bird episode is just the icing on the cake.
Mike in Pasadena
Nobody knows WTF is going on. The site and the rebuild are fine. Baud/Cole 2020!
different-church-lady
@Leto: The only thing that sucks more than Millennials is Boomers. And vice versa.
Fleeting Expletive
@chopper: illegible, rite? # 1 & #2 letter on left of keybord. will dry, right?, I hope. Loozer theme iz funny & true & will bring fury to the big lunk nd will echo w/ deplorble 27%, reduce turnout bigly.
scav
Ah, that fresh smell of current marketing, where provoking immediate associations of anger, frustration and annoyance with brand names is deemed best practice.
If only all that thought anf money actually went to improving the actual good or service.
Not that any actual good or service is involved in this instance. Pure annoyance and scam vaporware in a malicious disruptive package — the magnificent quintesence of Trumpian ‘Merkan Greatness!
different-church-lady
@Mike in Pasadena: I know WTF is going on. I’m just too depressed to talk about it.
brantl
@John Cole: I’m curious, how did you make your comment blue?
Middlelee
My first complaint. I just posted a comment that seems to have been disappeared. Is it against the rules to say something nice about the site. Like, I don’t get any ads.
different-church-lady
@brantl: He threw in a bunch of curse words.
Middlelee
Never mind. A bunch more comments showed up and there it is. I’m going back to fucking lurking.
different-church-lady
@Middlelee: Known bug — you hit the post button, but the comment doesn’t appear until you manually refresh the page. Does not happen on a consistent basis.
Major Major Major Major
@Middlelee: if you haven’t commented in the last (some period of time I forget), all your comments go into moderation until a FP’er OK’s you.
@brantl: just a thing Cole gets to do.
different-church-lady
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah, but I’ve had it happen when I’m deep in the middle of a commenting binge.
Leto
@different-church-lady: I’m glad Gen X’ers are escaping this hate ❤️
Major Major Major Major
@different-church-lady: there are any number of reasons you might have to refresh the page to see a comment, especially if you’ve been posting a lot of comments. I don’t know enough about this particular implementation to tell you which.
Rob
No problem here; I refreshed for the first time in a couple of hours and even the Billboard TV (?) stuff is gone from the front page. 6 year old MacBook Pro with High Sierra, most recent Firefox with tracking content blocker turned off, and uBlock Origin and Adblock Plus. Plus I clear cookies out several times a day.
Cheryl Rofer
Just saying that I am seeing more trolls in the comments but will wait to do more until we get a site policy on such, which should be coming along with the new site.
Bumper
@different-church-lady: thank goodness I am just a slacker Gen Xer!
Cole: please keep your blue.
Skepticat
Not only have I seen no problems (my VPN, private windows, and blocking of ads and cookies probably get the credit), but I’m also interested only in the content rather than the appearance. It’s your blog, so dress it up, down, or sideways however you choose. P.S. None of us know what the fu*k is going on, and that has absolutely nothing to do with the site design.
Amir Khalid
@chopper:
Right on!
The Moar You Know
@Cheryl Rofer: I, for one, hope it involves the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Or an auto-redirect for 30 days to the “Baby Shark” song. Either is acceptable, although I’ll admit that both are probably war crimes.
raven
We went to this birthday gig last week and they have a live band with friends doing the singing. This year the theme was “One Hit Wonders” and it was mostly stuff way out of my wheel house/ I vaguely remember “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blonde but the crowd wen nuts and the ladies singing it did too!
What’s Going on!
Apparently it is a gay national anthem too!
ReplyReply
cwmoss
@MobiusKlein: Pedant here. Um, I believe you meant to say nuke it from orbit, not from space.
As you were.
Major Major Major Major
@raven:
And we are all continually gobsmacked that it’s called What’s Up instead of the obvious title.
RAVEN
@Major Major Major Major: I am soooo clueless! I FB live’d part of it and my brother in LA just wrote “Prince”. I had no idea what was up with that either!
Litlebritdifrnt
Just got back from voting in the European Parliament elections. Voted Green. Not only do I like their politics but they are pro-remain so suits me. Second time I have voted since I have been home and it feels quite empowering. I like it.
FlipYrWhig
@Major Major Major Major: I thought that was because the obvious title was taken first by Marvin Gaye.
Ksmiami
@Edith Head Gave Good Gown: I love this blog and it’s host. Thank you
Major Major Major Major
@FlipYrWhig: I feel like after twenty-plus years it’s okay to reuse a song title that’s also a very common phrase.
Scout211
We have found an influx of browser redirect malware being loaded onto (mainly) my husband’s Macs, especially using chrome. You all may already know this, but check the settings on your browsers (all of the big main browsers can be affected) and see if there are added extensions or added search engines in your preferences. Then reset the browser to the original settings. I have none of the issues with crazy ads now. On my iPad with Chrome, I had to delete the whole app and start over with a clean version when the pop-ups happened a couple of years ago.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major:
Blue – A Perfect Circle
Blue – R.E.M.
Blue – First Aid Kit
Blue – Lucinda Williams
Blue – Beyoncé
Blue – The Jayhawks
Blue (Da Ba Dee) – Eiffel 65
EthylEster
I’d just like to get on record here.
I have never vented about any version of the website for the last 14+ years.
I have also never contributed a cent for any rebuild.
I can live with it, whatever version.
Some people need to get a life and I’m not talking about JC.
ronno2018
I had to help a friend the other day with a simple WordPress site and ouch, I cannot imagine a big site with years of data. Good luck!
Omnes Omnibus
@EthylEster: If everyone was like you we’d be cursed with threaded comments by now.
RAVEN
@Omnes Omnibus: Joni.
Omnes Omnibus
@RAVEN: Fine Young Cannibals too. That list was not exhaustive.
EthylEster
@dexwood wrote: I turned the machine off and opened a book.
And still you continue to function! Bravo.
Eric S.
@different-church-lady: FWIW, I’ve been dealing with the pop ups for a couple weeks on my Android phone, using Chrome, when not connected to WiFi. It has made for some sad commutes not being able to read Balloon-Juice on the El.
Ruckus
@Jeffery:
Gee, I can’t imagine……..
Martin
Cole, all redesigns are hated. It’s why Apple doesn’t focus group, they just ship and everyone can fucking deal.
As for the ads, I block pop ups and let the rest through so you can cover costs.
satby
The Mayor is kicking ass.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I love Nancy Pelosi.
Re Kellyanne Conway:
dnfree
So far I like the rebuild and it seems very thoughtfully done, if that helps any.
Steve in the ATL
@different-church-lady: and overuse of “literally”!
Never mind. Can’t start that again.
Gin & Tonic
@Steve in the ATL:
I got 10 bucks that says you can and will, it’s just a matter of time.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: I thought I requested that that last one be stricken from reality.
Steve in the ATL
@Gin & Tonic: would you prefer your $10 by Venmo or PayPal?
Ohio Mom
I escaped southwest Ohio for a few days, and haven’t had much time to spend here or elsewhere on the internet. Not sure if I should interpret this post as “Boy, I am missing a lot of important developments on my favorite blog!” or “I see everything continues to chug along as usual on Balloon Juice.”
Ohio Mom in CHO, soon to be Ohio Mom in LGA.
geg6
@Eric S.:
Yup, I’ve been having the same problem with my iPhone. And it keeps happening no matter what I do. I’ve tried all the fixes I (and our campus IT director) can think of but it just keeps happening. Can’t wait for the rebuild.
Bex
@satby: Don’t know if you saw it, but I listened to the NYT podcast linked here this morning. I recommend it. You don’t have to listen to Dumbshit. He’s in the obligatory both-sides commentary at the end. You can skip it.
Gin & Tonic
@Steve in the ATL: Just send it to Cole. Maybe if he gets enough contributions, he’ll be able to afford a modern commenting system like Disqus.
mrmoshpotato
@Ohio Mom: Community Hospital of Ottawa (Illinois)?
Leto
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Lol, she called KAC “the little people”! Nancy SMASH indeed! :)
mrmoshpotato
@Gin & Tonic: Threaded comments are the work of the devil. And by devil, I mean Robot Devil.
Major Major Major Major
@mrmoshpotato: by which you mean, get my coat?
mrmoshpotato
@Major Major Major Major: YES! *cheers*
karen marie
@John Cole: Good, because I would personally take a blowtorch to anyone giving you a bad time about anything but especially the rebuild. You are a god damned delight. Remember that.
PS Is there an address to which one might send you a present?
WaterGirl
I have been too busy with the redesign for the past 3 weeks to actually read Balloon Juice. Could someone kindly point me to threads where there has been angst and anger and divisiveness in the comments over the rebuild?
The only one I am aware of is the “we fucking HATE the new front page” thread — and since we’ve changed the front page in response to the feedback, I wasn’t aware that people were still unhappy about that.
I did a goole search for “site”, “rebuild”, and “redesign” and didn’t find anything noteworthy.
If someone would kindly point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.
NotMax
No idea what blog you’ve been reading. The direct request was for feedback and that’s what there was. Sometimes curt, so as not to yatter on and on, but delivered dispassionately as far as anything which showed up on my screen went.
Chigail
I knew you were aware of it problem and that people were working to fix it. I trust your competence. I am a jackal with good manners.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Look at the bright side Cole, Flickr had an outage scheduled for 5pm PDT yesterday to 5am PDT today, they’re still down. Things could be much worse.
@WaterGirl: I saw your comment in OTR this morning, I’ll send you an email.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Chigail:
Unpossible.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: That was a quote from Cole up top, and I am trying to figure out what threads he has been reading, besides the one I mentioned, where there is angst and anger and divisiveness over the rebuild.
AnonPhenom
@John Cole:
What’s up with your twitter thing Cole?
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Exactly. My comment was in response to what’s up top, not directed to you, with whom I’m in 100% agreement on having no friggin’ idea what the quote refers to.
Ohio Mom
@mrmoshpotato: Charlottesville, VA, where I saw the alley named after Heather Heyer.
There are makeshift flower arrangements hanging from signposts, she is not forgotten.
Mostly I visited with a BFF. Now I am stuck in delayed flight limbo on my way to Queens.
cain
Man all the comment said what is in regards to the connections to Facebook. Sheesh!
frosty
@Leto: There aren’t enough of you to bother with. //s
Kristine
@gvg: Thanks!
mrmoshpotato
@Ohio Mom: Ah. Glad she’s being memorialized. I’m still in awe of her mother’s strength.
Mart
What happened to the pop-ups? I wanted to get me that $1,000 Wal-Mart gift card. I am greatly informed by this blog, and appreciate the management that gets abused for doing their best with no compensation.
BE BEST EVERYBODY!
EthylEster
@Omnes Omnibus wrote :
I doubt that given how much JC hates them.
EthylEster
@dnfree:
I may be wrong but I don’t think the rebuild has been rolled out.
OR….
if it has, it looks a lot like the old one. I mean, what has changed?
EthylEster
@Mart:
Fuck off, Melania.
NC Soder
You said almost the exact same thing last rebuild. This too shall pass.
Anouthouse
It was weirdly unusable this morning. Apparently I won something which was some junk internet thing. Everytime I tried to see Balloon Juice it was interrupted by the fact I won that thing. It was like going to raw story.com.