Citizen Webitor

Saturday, August 2, 2008 12:10 PM EDT

Here's your forum for sounding off on the auburnpub.com Web site. Web coordinator Rich Bellamy will keep loyal site visitors up to date on site changes and troubleshooting efforts through this blog, and he looks forward to hearing from all of you. This will be a great place to report bugs or just ask questions about site features and how they work.

The Citizens' Say

There are 35 comment(s)

Farmer's Gal wrote on Nov 24, 2008 4:58 PM:

" Looks like the graphics problem is fixed -- thanks! "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Nov 20, 2008 10:19 AM:

" There's a problem with your search function. When you mouseover the search box, the pop-up has the "search" button extended across the whole pop-up box, on top of the radio buttons. It's been a minor glitchy problem before (won't let you move your mouse out of the search box to select radio buttons, as that will cause the pop-up box to disappear, so you had to hit "Enter" and forget searching the web from there (not that most people would anyway)).

But it's gotten worse. I'm using IE7 on a PC, if that helps. "

jeanne541 wrote on Nov 19, 2008 10:24 PM:

" How come their is no police report in the Citizen online???? "

jeanne541 wrote on Nov 19, 2008 10:23 PM:

" Hi I would like to know what happened to the Weather Section??? "

Citizen_Webitor wrote on Nov 18, 2008 8:57 AM:

" Currently we don't run the wedding announcements online, sorry.

You can get back copies of the print edition by coming in to the office at 25 dill street or by calling 315-253-5311. "

nature lover wrote on Nov 11, 2008 2:02 PM:

" Hi how can u find wedding announcements online? "

Citizen_Webitor wrote on Nov 6, 2008 9:22 AM:

" New sections:

We have two new sections to the website as of this week.


The first is called Body&More, and it is an often-updated section with all kinds of health-body-fitness-related content. It mirrors the Body&More insert you will start finding in our print edition.
bodyandmore.auburnpub.com


The other section new to the site is called the Ad Vault. We are now keeping online an archived copy of all of our print ads. Did you ever wish you could get back to that sale announcement or coupon you saw in the paper that just went to the curb? Now you can get it back online for up to seven days after the ad ran.
advault.auburnpub.com "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Oct 29, 2008 8:57 AM:

" P.S. Hope your health is improving. "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Oct 29, 2008 8:56 AM:

" The changes all sound good, Rich.

It may have been the original intent that Two Cents be for pot shot comments, but it's taken on a life of its own, and a vibrant and active life it is too.

I always think of the "starter comments" at the top being the one-liners (or two) and below is the space where anyone and everyone can comment about what's above or whatever else is on our minds to our hearts' content. The conversation ranges all over the place, from the most serious issues of our day, to frivlous conversations about stuff in our own lives. It's become a virtual community of real people who don't always fit neatly into little two-liner boxes. "

Citizen_Webitor wrote on Oct 22, 2008 12:11 PM:

" An actual blog entry!!

Faster page loads.

You might not believe it, but here at the Citizen offices we don't exactly have the fastest internet connection. In some ways that is a benefit to our readers because if some aspect of the site is slow, I notice it.

One of the things we are going to be working on in the near future is page loading times. I am going to attack this from three fronts:

1. Content up first: I am going to try to get the content of the page you are looking at on the screen before anything else.

2. Graphic tightening: Changes are going to be made to the site graphics to give them a smaller filesize, aiding loading.

3. Javascript and Ads up last: Ads take considerable time to download, so I am going to make changes to the page that makes the ads load after everything else and then be inserted into the page in their locations.

Look for these changes in the next few weeks "

Citizen_Webitor wrote on Oct 22, 2008 11:20 AM:

" Guys I have been out sick a lot lately so sorry for being more behind than normal.

I think some of you are talking about the web comments at the bottom of all articles (including two cents) and some of you are talking about the actual two cents submissions.

I dunno, I always thought "Two Cents" was supposed to be short for "Two Centences" (that is a deliberate misspelling, Karl).

We don't limit the length of your website comments, that's for sure. "

cm wrote on Oct 20, 2008 9:05 AM:

" mark: I think you are wrong about the' 2 sentence comments' go unnoticed from the longer ones.
I happen to read each and every comment!

depending on the issue--some need more clarification.
on days --we are bored- with the same 'ole news topics, we just gab and yet still bring up other interesting topics! "

mark wrote on Oct 16, 2008 11:36 AM:

" Well Rich, what do YOU think about limiting the amount of text per comment? I would like to hear YOUR response. "

mark wrote on Oct 15, 2008 12:35 PM:

" i like farmer gals maybe? idk. go write a column in the newspaper. from what i read most of you could fair quite well making money with your arguments. instead, it's wasted on here to only last a week (at most). "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Oct 15, 2008 10:36 AM:

" One can make a comment in a line or two, but one cannot discuss the complex issues of our day in any depth that way. And I am not close to being the only person to regularly write long posts to the Two Cents page: Karl, AJ, cm and several of the more conservative posters whose names escape me at the moment all post paragraphs full too -- no, you are just fixated on disliking me personally, for whatever weird reason. "

mark wrote on Oct 15, 2008 8:33 AM:

" I can surely make a comment about something with a sentence or two. Take this comment for example. "

mark wrote on Oct 14, 2008 11:18 PM:

" meow. it's just that you and others write too much and little 2 cents go unnoticed. it's nothing what it used to be. it's 2 cents not 2 dollars. "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Oct 14, 2008 11:10 AM:

" Give it up, Mark -- Two Cents is a COMMUNITY with a life of its own which you can't relegate to a little box of what you think it should be. "

mark wrote on Oct 13, 2008 3:21 PM:

" hi, i wish you could limit the size of the 2cent comments. the two cent is there there to comment on what's above or comment on one another's opinions. I DONT THINK it's for people to talk about making wine and having open houses and go on and on forever on how such a good time it was. it takes away from the whole meaning of the two cents and i miss some key comments, because someone wrote a whole essay vs. someone writing a sentence or TWO (2). "

psychompg wrote on Sep 20, 2008 2:57 PM:

" why has a Helicopter flown over Auburn all day today has someone escaped custody or missing "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Sep 18, 2008 11:12 AM:

" Is there a way to see the page which lists letters to the editor for previous days? I was following a discussion on one the other day, but I can't remember how it was titled or which of the many topics I follow it was -- just that it was on the letters page before it got updated.

I know, you've said before the indexing and search functionality of the system are pretty poor, but maybe from your seat you can find what I cannot from here. "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Sep 16, 2008 12:04 PM:

" Thanks, Rich -- I'm using that link often. "

Citizen_Webitor wrote on Sep 12, 2008 10:15 AM:

" We placed an ad for it on the sports page, as well as a new one that is site-wide in the upper-right corner.

Thanks for the feedback! "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Sep 8, 2008 7:20 PM:

" Rich: Could you put a permanent link to the Football Pick-em contest somewhere on the top page? Right now, I keep having to do a search, but you know how p*ss-poor that search engine is, and once the announcement is 2 weeks old, as the saying goes, you won't be able to get there from here. I could bookmark it, but then if I am in a new location I won't be able to get there. I could use the registration confirmation e-mail, but ditto.

Why not promote the contest by simple facilitation of entry? Put a link on the top Citizen online page.

Thanks!

Farmer's Gal, aka ButkusGirl "

nature lover wrote on Aug 27, 2008 4:53 PM:

" Hi...do u have the story the Citizen must have ran in 1972 regarding the tragic death of Neilia Biden and daughter? Google brought up other publications but not our local paper...wondered if there was an online link somehow...thx was just curious... "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Aug 23, 2008 7:21 PM:

" Seems like these things often happen the thicker the tech is (which is why I'd rather NOT have a computer in my car -- I'd rather rely on good old mechanical parts for something that's flinging my physical being through inner space at 50+ MPH)

Don't get me wrong -- electronic and online technology have made many amazing things possible and are an integral part of my everyday life -- but I still TRUST mechanical parts better. They are simpler, with fewer possible potential points for going astray, and much easier to fix.

Hope it's all coming together, bit by bit, like unpacking my new house! "

Citizen_Webitor wrote on Aug 22, 2008 12:03 PM:

" Farmer's Gal

We had a major meltdown of our in-office IT infrastructure. We were without internet access for over a day and our intranet was just barely limping along but only after many hours of downtime.

We are back to normal now so comments should be picking up.

Also, we are still ironing out some bugs from the morning switch. We are now posting stories online around midnight, and have had a few oopsies with overwriting stories that were posted at 00:05 with tomorrows stories because it is still only 23:55.

I think you will see these issues dissappear over the next few days. "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Aug 20, 2008 3:07 PM:

" P.S. Hope the Mrs. is feeling better today! "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Aug 20, 2008 3:07 PM:

" You may or may not have seen this on the Two Cents page (not any time soon though!)

Is it just me, or are Two Cents posts getting posted a whole lot less frequently (thereby stifling back and forth conversation considerably). Has there been a staff cut or something?

This happened yesterday too -- the last post was around 8:16 AM, and then there were no new posts posted until well into the afternoon. It is now 3:02 PM, and I find it hard to believe there have been no new comments since 8:04 AM.

What's up with that? It really makes it hard to carry on a conversation with other members of the community on issues of interest when you can't see what other people have said in the interim.

I don't see the truncated posts Karl mentions, but rather, I am not seeing new posts until hours and hours later -- in the middle of the day. So, someone says something and 5 people all comment, none of them knowing other people have also commented and it really puts a wrench in the works for discussion and communication.

Are there fewer of those "many people who approve/reject comments" than there were just a few days before? Have their hours been cut back? Have they been reassigned to other work? Whatever it is, it's made things very awkward and difficult for communication and discussion. "

Citizen_Webitor wrote on Aug 7, 2008 2:48 PM:

" karl that is unusual. There are many people here that approve/reject comments, so it's hard to say for sure what happened toy your comment. Unfortunately if they are rejected they are lost forever. Yesterday I was out of the office at home with the baby and my wife who was feeling under the weather.

FWIW, I believe you. Thanks. "

karl wrote on Aug 7, 2008 2:02 PM:

" Well now, this is MOST interesting--yesterday, before FG's comment even posted, I posted an apology to Rich and told him that I didn't see the entire posts previously--and yet that comment isn't posted!?
MOST unusual, wouldn't you agree?! "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Aug 6, 2008 12:11 PM:

" No fair, Karl -- he did say he wasn't the person to ask. He hasn't given us any names for whom we should contact -- maybe because he doesn't want to be responsible for siccing a bunch of unhappy campers on a boss -- but he has referred us to the "Contact Us" link -- and we can now begin a campaign to petition whomever in authority lies behind that curtain to bring back the print version of Two Cents.

Rich may or may not know WHY -- but I am sure he is not authorized to address that sensitive hot-button topic, nor would I, if I were in his shoes. Let's go try to find the right person.... "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Aug 6, 2008 12:08 PM:

" The previous Two Cents column has not indexed correctly -- if you search for it, it's not there. It jumps from the 30 July Two Cents to the 6 August Two Cents -- the missing one was 2 August, I believe, and it's not indexed -- even though it has at least 103 interesting comments I'd like to go back and see again as part of the on-going conversations. "

Citizen_Webitor wrote on Aug 5, 2008 1:30 PM:

" karl,

I am not a spokesperson for the newspaper's policy on printed content; I run the website.

Please note the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of every page on the website.

I responded to "Two Cents" inquiries no less than 4 times last month on this blog, so I don't know why you would claim that I am ignoring questions about "two cents". "

karl wrote on Aug 5, 2008 10:59 AM:

" OK, RIch--why don't you finally break the silence here and tell us the REAL reason for deleting the Two Cents section from print?
Really, we're big boys and girls; we can handle it!
Your constant ignoring of the question is both disrespectful and insulting to the posters here who constantly ask the question, How 'bout an answer already? "

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