Since the new renovation do you frequent Mgoblog less?
I dont know about everyone else but with the new mgoblog site (change and not mobile friendly) do you find yourself frequenting the page less? I know I use to come here everyday numerous times. Now its maybe once or twice a week.
*Could also be slow slow summer months for Michigan sports as well.
Yes, although it’s tough for me to tell if it’s because it’s the summer and thus less coverage of things I care about.
P.S.A. for anyone who has yet to notice: Seth edited the OP of the "3.0 sticky for bugs" earlier today, addressing many of our complaints/concerns and informing us of the progress and priorities in fixes to 3.0.
https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/mgoblog-30-sticky-bugs
While no exact time table was given, at least I sensed hope that this site will undergo improvements prior to the start of the fiitbfoo season.
BTW, "fiitbfoo" is the Russian pronunciation of their word for making American Football great again...
Da. And "Trump" is Russian for "fumble."
Seth should just write a lead story on the subject (instead of this dorky 3.0 Sticky for Bugs) because I think enough of us are OVER this site as is. It's like a bad Shopify site, so flat and void of personality. All of the excess white space, along with the inability to see the Message Board by mobile is just wrong. And that's just scratching the surface.
Why this new site ever launched to replace something I think most of us LOVED, is flabbergasting. Seems wrong to say it, but please bring back the old site.
You speak in absolutes, but yet not everyone liked the old site. It seemed like every other week there would be a post asking when the new site would be launched. While I'm not a fan of the new site because of some functionality issues - white background, post editing, points non functional, etc. - I still am able to get my Michigan related news here. I am still able to use the message board.
I think in this case, patience is key. They preserved all the old content/posts from before, usernames were preserved with points in tact, there is still a message board for us to use, and the folks in charge of this have interacted with us that they are looking to fix these issues.
IMO, it was a bit of throwing out the baby with the bath water. There were issues with the old site, largely having to do with functionality. I think most people would have been fine with basically copying the old site but updating some of the things that didn't work. Don't fix it if it ain't broke.
I'm just holding out that things will be fixed. The old site crashed a lot, looked really dated, and was ready to move to a newer platform with more functionality. I think that they managed to preserve the data and get us all here, but there is a lot of work to be done to get it back to a more user friendly state.
I do agree with you about just updating the old site to a new platform, I think there would be less complaining about the site now, but some minor complaining that nothing really changed.
The thing is, all that effort and years of work and (on top of the functionality issues) it STILL looks really dated.
I'm definitely in this category.
I'm very much grateful for this site and all the free content, but visually the old site worked better for me. The 'It looked dated' stuff never made much traction for me. A site works, or it doesn't. The old site worked in many ways, its just that the internals were creaky. I mean, it almost hurts right now to write this because there is so much damned white space it's blasting my eyes. It's like looking at a light bulb. I have to turn down my monitor brightness.
That said, maybe, given the 'flat' Jony Ive inspired direction of so much GUI design nowadays, it wasn't an option and HUEL was using the tools they have.
I'm with Magnus and JFW. I'm not here nearly as much as I was. I just don't like the new format. It just looks like another SB site. I loved the old site and never got the "It looks dated" complaint. I still use Windows XP (I'm an educator and can get it loaded on new machines) and the Office/Word from 2003. Why? Because they both work perfectly for me and new isn't always better.
I can totally understand not liking the new site design or any sites design/layout. But what mystifies me is how anyone could visit a site who's content they love less, because of the design.
I have to ask, who other than computer programmers cared about the old site looking dated? Internet fads come and go. I must be in the minority, but ever since I first saw a site with this layout a year or two ago I have hated it. “Old” sites were more intuitive to use and were laid out in a manner that made sense: chronologically. I am not complaining about mgoblog, as the content is still second to none (and I’m an addict), but just about this newest trend.
You must have missed the NUMEROUS people complaining about the old site. It was also just not sustainable from a technology standpoint due to the older Drupal framework it was running on. My guess is some of the look-and-feel could have been transported over, but a number of the issues that people had with the old site would have come along, as well as ongoing stability and load issues.
I'm not crazy about the new design, but it's a step in the right direction if they want to make a one-format site and not mess around with apps and the like.
I really do not do not like the new site...aside from the functionality of leaving comments...I know it is offseason but I definitely frequent less often...but in fairness that probably started with the Risk Game nonsense. ?
Agreed with the last part - /r/CFB is very enjoyable for a college football fan in the slow summer months.
Yes. Been here since 08 and came to the blog every day multiple times. Since the change, maybe 3 times a week.
Exact same, fam
same here, I think the board doesnt jump out at you like it did before. It used to call to me and now it seems like I have to look for it and only a few posts show on the main page and if you go sraight to the board page the first 10 things are garbage stickies...
I’ll echo the same comments. I lurked for years, then joined near the end of 2.0. Every day I’d check the site 10-15 times a day. This is the first time I logged into the new site and I only lurk maybe once a day. I was hopeful that this would have been a improvement, it hasn’t.
Either pull the pin on this version and got back to 2.0 or take a step back and redesign this site before football is back.
I did not complain about the old site as it has been free and a great blog for UM fans. However, this new site is not very good for the reasons others have stated. I don't know much about the difficulty or expense in making these blogs look and perform as intended, but I do frequent MGoBlog far less than I did prior to the change. I still hope to see the necessary changes. I am grateful that the site exists, because it has been the premier blog/site for UM football and other sports for a long time.
It’s one of those things where I feel bad complaining since it’s great content during the season and when things are happening, but while the old site looked old and dated this new one seems really outdated as well.
While I know it wasn’t made just for me I wasn’t impressed at the look when this was rolled out. Would be nice to have a notification alert when someone comments back to you, gives you points, negs you, etc. Comparing this site to the layout of 11 Warriors looks like the record of the game over the past 15 years....
Same boat, I was lurker for several years before getting a username 3 years ago. I was check the site 3-4 times per day.
Now.....not so much.
Same. It is really hard to say what about the new website is so bad. It is just so hard to quickly scan through the new info now that I find myself forgetting to come to the website for days at a time. I used to browse around the board and recent main page posts multiple times every day. Now I come maybe every few days ... and rarely ever now on mobile.
Same- for me, losing mobile app access hurts the most.
I'm definitely in the camp that dislikes the site and comes way less. It's just not convenient on a desktop and I'm 95% mobile. I used to check 10-20 times per day when walking somewhere. Now I check maybe once or twice a week. I had been thinking about this and did some web analytics research. here are some thoughts based on web traffic data from similarweb.com and SEMrush.com. These are just estimates and can reportedly be off by wide margins, but I think they still work for trends (e.g. their model is off, but the model is consistently off so a drop in traffic is probably real).
- Traffic is cyclical, but has been steadily increasing. In 2016, traffic would spike to 2 million visits per month but was usually just over 1 million. The loweset month in 2018 was June with about 2 million visits.
- Unique visitors is flatter. There was a spike in the fall of 2016 to about 160k unique users (1 users with multiple devices can count as several, I'm probably 5 or 6 unique visitors in a month). It's been almost flat for the last 24 months now.
- The most damning evidence of the site having issues is visit length. Average visit duration tends to bounce between 10 and 20 minutes over that past 3 years. However, this has been in steady decline. In Nov 2017, duration was about 17 minutes. it's now down to under 5 minutes. May and June 2018 have the lowest durations in the 3 year history.
- wolverineswire has a 50% longer duration in it's first month of existence. It has a fraction of the visits (mgoblog users return, a lot) and a third the users, but after just one month that must/should put some fear into this blog.
1.5% of traffic is referred from owa.mcu.edu (Outlook for the medical college of Wisconsin). This is the 4th largest referring site and 2nd behind only 247 if you remove feed aggregators. Is there a superfan going to medical school in WI that forwards a lot of mgoblog articles? Seems like it.
- The college football risk seems to have been extremely popular. It is the 3rd most linked site for all of 2018 behind 247 and twitter.
- My assumption: Brian et al don't really give a shit about your complaints. Traffic is up and there will always be a number of people who complain so why bother trying to appeal to everyone. However, I think there are signs of a decline and the CFB risk might have been popular enough to mask some very real issues. Wolverineswire is a competitor to watch going forward.
One last comment: I saw some people saying they didn't understand how the look of a site could impact someone from reading content they love. My take is that you are making a big assumption about what is loved. I am here for Michigan football. That is what I love, not the site. The site was the best way I knew to easily consume information I enjoyed. i still love Michigan Football and seek out michigan content, but this site just isn't the easiest for me anymore. I'll probably always come here but maybe only once or twice a week.
Nope.
The only reason why I check in less is because it's the summer and less is going on.
I'm here to read the articles, check the message boards from time to time, and the layout doesn't detract me from those things. So I can't edit my comment, o well.
Seconded.
Yep. This is basically my life right now. Once fall practice starts up, I'll be right back in the swing of things. As it is, even now in the offseason, I still check the forum every time I have a free moment. Just don't spend as much time here since there's less thread buildup during this time.
Exactly....I'm here no less often than I'd expect during the mid-summer period. The site is fine and like anything else new will take some time to get entirely comfortable but that's coming.
This place will be in full force once the season comes around and that is when the real test will come...will the servers hold up their end of the deal when UM rolls into (and hopefully over) South Bend.
Reading the board is much more of a chore now due to formatting. As of course you know, there are issues beyond editing comments.
I open a post and read it. There aren't ads breaking up text or pop ups that make it annoying to read.
Is the site the most aesthetically pleasing and mobile friendly? No. Is it distracting? Maybe. Does it ruin the posts? No.
Yes way less
The site is far more mobile friendly, you are all crazy to think otherwise. Neg away!
Yes. Much less. This new site is not mobile friendly, Mrs. Cook.
You are incorrect. It IS much more mobile friendly using a browser.
What IS correct is that I (and you?) preferred the convenience/feel of using the app vs. going through the browser on my phone. I am learning the new way and adapting, but would love a new blog-approved app that would allow access without using my phone browser (while still allowing advertising for revenue purposes for Brian and Co.)
I don't agree with this. I never used the app and only accessed the site via browser with version 2.0. It is much less user friendly through a browser right now. Scaling/spacing is off and too much effort getting to the board are the two biggest issues for me.
Same boat. I've always used the site on mobile instead of any app. This new version is workable that way, but not nearly as nice as the old site was.
I'd neg, but I still can't vote.
I still check in multiple times daily, but my per-visit stay is definitely shorter, as there seems to be less board content than before. Still read the articles and the quality of those have remained, but there seems to be less going on/less chatter than in past OT seasons, so I'm getting a lot more "check mgoblog, nope no new threads or articles, moving on".
I wonder if the last couple seasons have us collectively tired of preseason chatter.
Perhaps the feeling of "yeah yeah okay, idgaf let's just win" has taken over a bit.
This is where I'm at. We're now in year 9
Apparently you can't edit comments yet but what I meant to say is we're now in year 14 of disappointment under 4 different coaches, so I couldn't care less about any off-season hype until I see actual winning.
Definitely this.
I feel like this reflects in a lot of the football writing on the site as well.
^This. See a to be less to read right now. Even the board posts seem to contain fewer comments, so it takes less time to go through them.
Yes. It just isn’t as warm and cozy looking as 2.0. Avatars too small. They might be the same size as before, but seem dwarfed by white space.
Way less, unfortunately. Losing the app the biggest deal for me - not being able to see the app on the home screen means out of sight out of mind. I think the site looks fine on mobile. Also, I can't pinpoint it but I also find the message board to be less relevent.
You can add a shortcut button to MGoBlog on your phone's home screen. It will look and act just like any other app "button."
Iphone:
Go to mgoblog using Safari.
Tap the share button at the bottom (looks like a box with an up arrow coming out).
Tap on "Add to Home screen" button.
Give name. I suggest MGoBlog.
Tap "Add" button at top of screen.
Android:
Go to mgoblog using Chrome
Tap the three dots button at the top of the screen.
Tap on "Add to Home screen" button.
Give name. I suggest MGoBlog.
Tap "Add" button.
You can have the shortcut go directly to the board rather than the front page by using
www.mgoblog.com/mgoboard as the address for your shortcut.
Thanks for that tip! Much appreciated.
No.
But the site has definitely taken step backwards when it comes to being useable, although multiple people have told me that it's an upgrade for mobile use. I don't hit it on my phone.