Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Just want to give everyone a heads up – our site hosts are doing some infrastructure upgrades at the moment, so it’s likely that Balloon Juice will be running slowly as they work through issues related to that.
Nothing to be concerned about, just something to be aware of.
Open thread.
Update:
Balloon Juice went ad-free not quite a year ago. I think it’s fair to say that I am not the only one who is really happy we did that. At least I hope so!
Can we take a quick trip down memory lane, before I suggest some fine-tuning of the process?
2021
If you’re the guy whose name is on all the bills, ditching the ads and losing $1,000 a month would have to feel a bit like jumping off a cliff without a net.
So here’s what it will take for me to feel good about having asked John Cole to do just that:
– $6,000 in one-time donations now – that would sit in an account, unused, as a safety net, to take the uncertainty out of the equation for Cole.
– no subscriptions, just recurring donations every month from those who can afford it, to pay for hosting and subscriptions etc.
– we need about $1,000 in recurring donations every month for that.
Safety net
It turns out that having the safety net has already been helpful, as John got clobbered with a tax bill for most of the PayPal donations. And he surely will again this year.
So it would be super helpful if we could put some money back into the safety net, with one-time donations. Before you ask me exactly how much the tax bill was, I do not know the actual amount and Cole hates to talk about money, so I am not going to press him on that. So if anyone is in a position help build that back up to the original $6,000, that would be great.
You can donate to the safety net with Patreon, Venmo, Zelle, and paper check. And even PayPal if that’s your only option, but please mark it as personal / gift and not payment for services.
Fine tuning
Not everyone can afford even $5 or $10 a month, but this is a community and those of us who can afford that have been helping make the site better for everyone.
If you have signed up for a monthly donation but you’re in a different financial position than you were when you signed up, please feel free to cancel your monthly donation, with our thanks for having supported the site for nearly a year.
If you keep thinking you’ll set up a monthly donation, but haven’t gotten around to it, or if the timing is right for increasing your donation, this would be a great time to do it.
If you have a monthly donation set up through PayPal, please consider switching that to Patreon. Patreon takes taxes off the top before the funds go into John’s account, so there are no surprises at tax time.
If you want to support the site with a one-time check, send me an email message I will send you Cole’s address. (P.O.box)
Memory Lane
In case you want to relive the good times, here’s the post from me on Nov 3, 2021.
Followed by this post from John a couple hours later:
So I Guess We are Going Ad Free (With Venting and Explanation)
If you have any questions, let me know!
Update:
Keep Balloon Juice Ad FreeAre the Site Issues from This Evening Resolved?
Also, open thread.
Are the Site Issues from This Evening Resolved?Post + Comments (47)
We were seeing widespread issues with impossible site-load times, and site hanging, so John set a new policy.
New policy: Until otherwise stated, please do not put more than one or two tweets above the fold, and no more than ten tweets total for post.
As one front-pager put it when John announced the policy: “We have policies?”
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who laughed at that. (in a good way) Cole conceded that that was a fair point, but the policy stands.
It’s human nature that complaints are always louder and more frequent than the “thank you” when a problem is resolved, so please rebel against that tendency. There’s no point in having a policy that makes creating a post more complicated for front-pagers… if it’s not helping and is met with a collective yawn.
So if you are seeing a significant change for the better, please let us know in the comments.
If you are still having site-loading issues, please share the following information:
– is it better, but still not good? or not better at all
– device: computer vs. tablet vs. phone
– OS or iOS version
– browser
– browser version
– front page vs. individual post
– time of day
– if happening in threads: is it just in threads with a larger number of tweets or is it happening in all threads for you?
Open thread.
Update: Test 1.
Test 2.
Update: Site Loading & Hanging (Open Thread)Post + Comments (144)
Sad news about Betty White, who died at the age of 99, but it looks like the rest of us have (fingers crossed) made it through another year.
I know the pandemic and the chaos and upheaval has made the last year super difficult for everyone, but notwithstanding those things, it was a good year. Getting rid of Trump, the covid relief bill and infrastructure bill were both massive, as well as the denazification of many federal government positions and approving judges are very big things. On a personal note, Rosie has finally found some piece after two years of not really being tip top, Lily and Steve are doing well, and my family, of course, is doing well.
On the blog, things are going very well, and in large part much of this is due to the women of Balloon Juice. Beth did an absolutely splendid job with the calendar for the tenth year in a row and there are a lot of animals out there who are much better off because of all her labor. Thank you, Beth.
I don’t remember if you all remember the commericals for Dunkin Donuts in the late 80’s, with Fred the Baker, but here is a refresher for the old and maybe something new for you god damned kids:
The reason I mention that commercial is because Anne Laurie has, for another year, been our resident donut maker, reliably posting threads at all hours of the day, particularly her covid updates, which have provided a reliable structure and framework for the blog. When there is no one else around, there always seems to be Anne Laurie picking up the slack. And I just wanted to say how much I, and the rest of us appreciate that.
Another thanks to Betty Cracker, who on many days is my sister from another mister, because she writes with a style I just love and I have YET see her post anything I disagreed with, and is just a rock star and I am so grateful she is here.
And of course, Watergirl, my taskmaster, who is constantly getting me to do the things that need to be done but I don’t want to do, and always thinking about new and exciting features for all of you. I am glad she has her velvet fist pointed at me because otherwise this place would fall to pieces.
So thanks to all of you, and to the rest of you jackals, and Happy New Year.
Also, I called Watergirl and had her set up a zoom meeting for tomorrow from 5-7pm EST. We had them for the Holidays last year and they just sort of slipped through this year, but I would like to have one to ring in the New Year. The details will be in the comments.
You’ve got questions?
How does the pie filter work? How do I reply to more than one person in a single comment? How do I add a link?
Whatever “how to” question you have, you can ask it on the Zoom we will have if there is interest. You can use video or not – even with your camera turned off, you can watch as I do whatever it is on my shared screen and explain what I’m doing.
To accommodate different schedules, if there’s interest I can do one of these in the evening and one on the weekend.
We still get questions on how to do things on Balloon Juice – let me know if you would be interested in seeing some things demonstrated.
Otherwise, totally open thread.
Open Thread & Small Announcement (How-Do-I-Do-This-on-Balloon-Juice?)Post + Comments (74)
Okay, so the ads are gone. Yay!
If anyone still wants to contribute to the safety net fund, lowtechcyclist still has about $200 of matching funs left for the safety net. So chime in if you want to be matched up to $20 per person.
John and I are both committed to resolving the technical problems once and for all.
So now that the ads are gone, it’s time to talk about technical issues that remain so we can get those resolved.
A. I think Balloon Juice has been loading much faster on my laptop! Is anyone else noticing this?
B. Now that the ads are gone my iPad seems much more usable; it loads better and faster, but I am still getting the white space issue sometimes as I scroll through the front page on the iPad. Is anyone else noticing this? Having issues on your tablet or mobile?
Let’s start with what I consider the top 5 issues, and I’ll have another thread later this week for you to share other issues.
C. I am aware that the 5 items below have been an issue. Are any of these gone, or less of an issue now that the ads are gone?
Please help us take stock now that all the ads are gone.
Please speak up in the comments and let us know your thoughts/experiences in the 3 areas identified above: magenta (loading faster), blue (iPad & mobile issues), teal (top 5 problems).
There are a ton of different devices, different operating systems, different browsers, different browser versions, different ad blockers, and different browser add-ons out there. So it takes really good and very specific information to figure out what’s a site issue and what is a device/OS/browser quirk.
So can you help us out here? The more specific information, the better.
I plan to keep this post around #2 all day to make it more likely that everyone sees it.