The site rebuild continues apace!
So maybe this is a good time to share the broad outline of the plan going forward?
The site rebuild team working with the web developers has been a team of two: John and me. We’ve had considerable input from commenters in the site rebuild threads and via email, input from front pagers on categories changes, consultations with various people here and there as needed, and photo contributions from some of our amazing photographers on Balloon Juice.
Once the developers have finished their own testing and have declared the site completed and ready for viewing, John and I will work with the developers on any changes that are required at that point.
Then front pagers will have a chance to test drive the new site for a day, or maybe two, posting threads and putting the new WordPress editor through its paces, taking a look at the new site and providing input so we can work out any kinks discovered then.
Next up after that: wider testing by the testing volunteers!
Details related to testing will be sent to the volunteers by email. In the meantime, please know that if you volunteered for testing you haven’t been forgotten, and you are already in the testing spreadsheet. We are grateful for everyone who has volunteered!
If you have not yet sent an email, I have no way to include you in the email that will be sent to people who have volunteered for testing. Please send email to BJfestivus at the google mail place – and be sure to include your BJ nym.
After the testing is complete and any required changes have been made… the site rollout!
Ruckus
Looking forward to it!
It amazes me how long I’ve been here, and how much I like to discuss things here. I used to read about 20 sites a day and most of those have either gone monetary or quiet. BJ just keeps slogging on, new people, old people, young people, old people…….
It feels like a small city meeting and yet we have commenters from many parts of the globe. I hope it continues and I can see how hard people work to keep the basic ideas of how it does what it does alive.
debbie
Thanks for your efforts on this clearly very hard work!
cain
sign me up for as a volunteer.. I have very few testing parameters.. mostly I’m interested in making sure that BJ doesn’t suck up computer resources just because it is sitting idle on a tab. Because of the large number of ads on the site – they manage to slow my machine down and also kill battery life.
A Ghost To Most
Good luck!
Ohio Mom
I love hearing good news and I have a deficit of it in real life these days. Thanks for this heartening update and Godspeed.
Baud
I’ll miss the mammoth titles.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: …and the porn.
Suzanne
I am not making any commitments these days, as we are about T-minus two weeks (more or less) until Spawn the Youngest is due to make their grand debut. But I am very grateful to everyone who has given of their time and talents to make the site better! Thank you all!
Also, I just had an ultrasound this afternoon, and miniSpawn (known around here as “Boog”) is clocking in at 7.5 pounds right now. And likely has another pound to go. Holy balls.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
For a minute, I thought I had mistyped “tities”
I never got the porn, so I can’t miss it.
debbie
@Suzanne:
Yowsa! Good luck!
Mary G
@Suzanne: Yikes! Boog’s a healthy sprout. It’s exciting to welcome a new life to the Balloon Juice community.
Watergirl, thanks for what must have been hours and hours of hard labor and Cole-herding.
Jay Noble
I thought kink was part of the BJ culture? ;-)
MazeDancer
While I love BJ, and have signed up to be a Testing Volunteer, cannot imagine donating the enormous time and effort that WaterGirl has. Insanely generous. Seriously, but insanely, generous.
@cain: Learned, myself, that you gotta email WaterGirl as per instructions in post. That’s the official Volunteer Sign-up. (Maybe you already have.)
Gin & Tonic
@MazeDancer: So that’s why my mouthing off in the comments got me no further info about testing.
dmsilev
@Suzanne:
My niece and nephew, added together, were only just a hair above that 8.5 pounds.
Good luck.
dexwood
I hate the new site. Nah, looking forward to it. Thank you, WaterGirl, for stepping up and herding the changes. John always has my gratitude for building this community and allowing it to evolve the way it has. To echo Ruckus, I, too, have stepped away from many sites I visited daily over the years. This is last place I remain faithful to.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Laughing.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: You are on my list!
“I can help out. I have both Windows 10 with Chrome, Firefox, IE and Edge, and Windows 7 with Chrome, as well as two Apple devices with Safari.”
I just need your email address. :-)
Omnes Omnibus
It’ll end in tears.
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: Holy cow-ski, that’s a big baby! I think of her as Spawnette, but I guess I don’t actually know if it’s a girl. May the next two weeks speed by for you.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: I like the juxtaposition of your last line and Omnes’ comment. Is that what they call “found poetry”?
I’ll send my e-mail tonight.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I have read far more dire predictions than yours!
Another Scott
Thanks for your efforts, WG and team. Fingers crossed for a smooth rollout!
Cheers,
Scott.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Come on, everyone knows I am one of Balloon Juice’s congenital optimists.
geg6
I’d just like to thank you (and Cole, of course) for all your hard work on this. I promise I won’t bitch (much) when you launch. And thanks to all the other volunteers, too!
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Of course you are!
WaterGirl
@geg6: If no one bitches, we might wonder if we are in an episode of the twilight zone.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Debbie, I have you on the volunteer list – we don’t have a ton of Chromebook testers, so if you’re still willing, I hope you will send an email to the address in the post.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
Just don’t make us have avatars!
Thanks for all your work. I’ll be happy no matter what (after a little kvetching).
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thank you for the laugh.
I would never have guessed.
Also had to recheck my concept of congenital.
JPL
@Suzanne: So sweet! Happy days ahead for you and your family. Sleepless nights also.
NotMax
Possible to put a notice on the front page after the e-mail for testers to begin is sent out for those of us not assiduous about checking e-mail accounts? Not that I’m a total lazybones, just that the inbox for that account receives one e-mail maybe every other month, if that, so checking it is not anything close to habitual.
(Although the way my life usually goes, testing will take place while I’m away from the home tech on this year’s still unscheduled NY trip.)
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: If we were totally evil, we would have them temporarily add avatars as a joke. I would like to dig out that old thread, though, from that Sunday when Cole thought avatars would be a good idea. I wonder if I can find it?
JPL
So it appears that Kaepernick has a chance to play ball again. The travesty of a president should be tweeting soon.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: He was still drinking then, right?
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
That is one big kid. Best of luck to you both.
May the delivery go smooth and life be wonderful for all of you.
8 1/2 lbs. I can’t imagine. I’m not sure I was that big when I was a year old.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: It was so long ago that i would have to say yes. No way to say for sure, of course, whether alcohol can be blamed for that lapse in judgment!
edit: I could not find the avatar thread. sigh. i bet steep could find it.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
I’m going to say yes he was. It’s the only explanation that makes any sense. And shows how seriously screwed up alcohol can make a person.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl:
Let’s not ask him. Let the dead stay dead.
@Ruckus:
PCP?
WaterGirl
@JPL: Great news, but I haven’t seen a thing about it – just tried to google and nothing came up. Do you have a link or the name of a team?
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: “site:balloon-juice.com gravatar”
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Mum’s the word. That’s probably for the best… what if the thread didn’t turn out to be the way I remember it? Sometimes memory is better than reality.
Another Scott
Interesting…
So, I just updated Chrome on this MBP. And what do I see? The giant header fonts, the different quote boxes, etc., that others have been
complainingdiscussing this week.Hmm….
Fair warning – don’t update Chrome on a Mac if you don’t want to see it!
Cheers,
Scott.
HinTN
For whatever reason, the site presents differently beginning this morning (?). The title of each post is YOOOOOUGE and the text in quoted chunks presents strangely.
This was reported earlier in conjunction with an iOS upgrade. Not me, man. This old S7 android ain’t changed that I’m aware of overnight.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: You are being punished for finding the avatar thread? :-)
Actually, a quick glance through – it did not disappoint. I would put this in block quotes but I won’t do that to you since the quote boxes you are seeing are awful.
Random line from the avatar thread: “I don’t wanna fucking know what people look like.”
JPL
@WaterGirl: It was on a reporter for ESPN, but I looked all over and no other reporting. Probably fake. sad
I don’t normally fall for the fake news but I was excited when I saw it and didn’t research more.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: No porn? I thought this was a full service blog.
WaterGirl
@JPL: bummer. He deserves so much better than he is getting.
Gin & Tonic
From what I can see, my friends in Lviv are still mostly drunk at 0300 after Ukraine beats Serbia 5-0 in the Euro qualifying round.
Gin & Tonic
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Dude, don’t you have to just step outside the cave to be on Pr0ntown, USA?
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: But then he has to wear pants.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Pants are not required in Porntown, USA
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
At least they are not required to be worn as pants.
Two young guys in the takeout lunch place yesterday, both of them had their belts below their crotches. I know because they walked in front of me while I was sitting and waiting and I could see their…….. I know I’m old but I’ll never figure out either how that’s comfortable or why I’d want to be pulling up my pants every 15 seconds.
Barbara
@Suzanne: My last weighed a hair less than 8.5 pounds. The tendency is to get a bit bigger each time. Those last two weeks are hard on the back. Good luck!
Raven
President Donald Trump on Friday night backed down from imposing a 5% tariff on all goods entering the country from Mexico, instead reaching an agreement with the country.
On Twitter, Trump wrote that Mexico “agreed to take strong measures” to “stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border.”
FelonyGovt
You have me as a tester, and I forgot to tell you that I also have a Kindle Fire. I don’t use it all that much, but it is yet another device I have that connects to the Internet.
Gin & Tonic
Is it no longer possible to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in public without ridiculous embellishments on every other note?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: It’s the style, just like the onion on your’s and my belts.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic: No.
Gin & Tonic
@Raven: World-class negotiator, he is. AMLO will probably be laughing himself to sleep tonight.
Suzanne
@Ruckus: Spawn the Elder was 8-2, Spawn the Younger was 7-10. I was really hoping for a wee-er munchkin, as I am already sore AF and (possible overshare) I would like to have a pelvic floor. But apparently I grow big Spawns.
They’re cute, though.
Steve in the ATL
@Raven: just saw your post on Jeff Walls. How sad—he was a great guy. Used to hang out with him at the 40 Watt when I was in law school. We’d met in Virginia when my college played the same festival as Guadalcanal Diary and we bonded over our sea foam green Stratocasters. His wife was great too; lived seeing them together in Hillbilly Frankenstein!
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
I hear the pain only lasts 18 yrs.
If I recall it was my mom that told me that.
I was about 55 at the time and living 2500 miles away.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
Done!
debbie
@Raven:
Yeah, like that’ll last…
J R in WV
@Suzanne:
I was a 10 month baby, AND 10.5 pounds. Mom was always a size 2 or 3 all her life. Don’t know how that worked out in 1950… But here I am~!!~
She was a farm girl, strong, played tennis as a college student… but still. I didn’t realize the implications until much much later on.
WaterGirl
@FelonyGovt: Added that info, thanks.
Raven
@Steve in the ATL: Aw, I was thinking maybe. Did you know Phyllis or Rhett or both. I guess Phyllis was Hillbilly. She was also married to my old friend Ned Bridges back in the day. Tough road.
eta Both were with him when he passed.
Barbara
@Suzanne: Late sono measurements are also more apt to overstate weight. The peri told me baby would be 9.5 pounds and he was off by more than a pound.
Baud
@Raven:
Oh good. I was worried he wouldn’t pull it off.
japa21
@Gin & Tonic: The guy is so easy to con. He wants so badly to be successful at something that he accepts anything. We will hear about how wonderful this deal is, but there will be no specifics and nothing will happen.
different-church-lady
OMG, I had no idea things had gotten that bad for you guys!
worn
@WaterGirl: The avatars showed up in mid-January of 2011. It looks like they lasted all of one day. Unfortunately the site wasn’t crawled by the Internet Archive until three days later, so we are not able to relive the glory of that image-saturated Sunday.
Here is a thread with people commenting on them: balloon-juice.com/2011/01/16/ok-now-you-can-comment/
An interstitial thread where John shows is regretting the decision: balloon-juice.com/2011/01/16/another-maintenance-open-thread/
And here’s the one where John got rid of them: balloon-juice.com/2011/01/16/final-maintenance-open-thread/
It’s kind of weird going back and seeing all the old nyms. Reminds me that I’ve been (mostly) lurking here for a fuck of a long time. And that I don’t miss Matoko Loco’s poo flinging.
Gin & Tonic
This is some ugly basketball.
dmsilev
@japa21: Since a large fraction of his staff (rightfully) regard him as an idiot, I can imagine a coordinated effort to convince him that Big Victory Was Won just so that all the panicked calls from Republican Senators would stop.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Better than the first 5 minutes. Still, it may be DVR and a pre-dawn watch for me. I got youtube tv and put my Dish on pause for 3 months to see if I can hack it. $50 a month for 70 channels is pretty good.
Immanentize
I heart Water girl.
RAVEN
@Barbara: The two groups that reach the peak of human endurance? Extreme athletes and pregnant women
chopper
@MazeDancer:
makes sense.
plato
@worn:
It’s kind of weird going back and seeing all the
old nymssame old complaints about the site fubar.Tazj
@Barbara: Oh yes, one of mine was supposed to be 10.5 lbs.!! , but was 8 lbs. 11oz.
Anyway, congrats to @Suzanne: and here’s to a safe delivery and happy days to follow.
Suzanne
@Barbara: Yes, with Spawn the Younger, the tech estimated over nine pounds one day before she was born, and she was only 7-10. But still. That’s big enough.
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, this game is a slog.
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL:
Guadalcanal Diary.
The Bongos.
Best jangly guitars ever. Regardless of strat color.
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: sea foam green ones are janglier. It’s science.
Barbara
@Suzanne: I have a friend whose two kids were 10 plus pounds and she could barely fit through a door sideways at the end. I always think of her when the subject of big babies comes up, but really, it’s the head that matters.
Immanentize
@Steve in the ATL:
Perfectly Good Guitar Science.
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize: of course you would know that John Hiatt is one of my favorite songwriters! Think I’ll crank up “Slow Turning”….
satby
@Suzanne: my oldest was 9 lbs 5 oz and 22 1/2 inches long. I was 5 ‘1″ and 115 lbs when I got pregnant. He wouldn’t tuck his ginormous melon down the way they’re supposed to so after (xx I’ll tell you after you deliver) hours of labor I had a C -section. This is the kid who grew to be 6’5″ , so it makes sense he was almost 1/2 my height when he was born. I felt so fantastic after delivering him I went home in two days flat.
WaterGirl
@different-church-lady: ha! That made me laugh.
WaterGirl
@worn: Thanks for the links. I have them open in a tab for later.
WaterGirl
Morning note: There are 17 of you who volunteered for testing — taking the time to supply detailed information about your devices — who have not yet sent an email to BJfesticus at the google mail place. I hope to hear from you!