|
|
Post by ganews on Mar 10, 2017 0:35:56 GMT -5
I've been busy all day, so I've only just seen. I didn't have to adjust my Adblock for the comment button to work. It's pretty bad. I wouldn't mind if it expanded to the whole screen, but squeezing the bar so that each line in comments is only 5 words long is pretty awful. At least TV Club reviews are still normal, as that's 95% of my AVC commenting these days.
I wonder what change will finally drive people away, if any? Certainly there have been great splits that drove away many long-time members, but I wonder what it will take from the average number of Newswire comments (say, 100) to drop to the average number of GJI! comments (say, 50). This seems like it could make a serious play. I'm very thankful that I got a job that takes my attention more before this happened, so I've already been reading far less Newswire.
I didn't think the Newswire explaining this was too mean. Not more than I would expect, anyway.
|
|
Dellarigg
AV Clubber 
This is a public service announcement - with guitars
Posts: 7,632 
|
Post by Dellarigg on Mar 10, 2017 6:08:48 GMT -5
I don't mind it, really. The comments bar expands and contracts okay on the iPad and on the PC (where I have ad blocker). True, it might've knocked off my skype connection last night when I shrank the comments back down, but that could've been a coincidence, twice.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ben Grimm on Mar 10, 2017 6:42:08 GMT -5
I didn't think the Newswire explaining this was too mean. Not more than I would expect, anyway. It was less the newswire itself and more O'Neal in the comments section. |
|
Dellarigg
AV Clubber
This is a public service announcement - with guitars
Posts: 7,632
|
Post by Dellarigg on Mar 10, 2017 7:40:16 GMT -5
Anyone notice this in the comments, from Laura M Browning:
'Commenters form one-half of 1 percent of our total readership'
O'Neal ups it to 1.5%. Looks like we should know our place. (I don't mean that snarkily, either.)
|
|
Invisible Goat
Shoutbox Elitist 
Grab your mother's keys, we're leaving
Posts: 2,643
Member is Online
|
Post by Invisible Goat on Mar 10, 2017 8:06:28 GMT -5
Yeah when the changes first appeared someone actually said "you fucking KNOW that commenters are a large portion of your readership, and you treat us like this?" I didn't engage because I didn't have any data myself, but I figured it was a lot closer to those numbers. We're dirt to them and they could ditch us at any time. And now that Teti doesn't seem to be in a decision-making role anymore I wouldn't be surprised if that happened eventually.
|
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Mar 10, 2017 8:40:25 GMT -5
Anyone notice this in the comments, from Laura M Browning: 'Commenters form one-half of 1 percent of our total readership' O'Neal ups it to 1.5%. Looks like we should know our place. (I don't mean that snarkily, either.) On the rare occasions when I check the comments on a different site running Disqus, I see that there is very little upvoting. Which tells me that most places don't build a commenting community as strong. All the people who say they stuck with AVC because of the comments (like me) are the only ones reading them. Even when guests could vote, it's not like there were that many of them. |
|
|
|
Post by Dr. Rumak on Mar 10, 2017 9:06:43 GMT -5
On the rare occasions when I check the comments on a different site running Disqus, I see that there is very little upvoting. Which tells me that most places don't build a commenting community as strong. All the people who say they stuck with AVC because of the comments (like me) are the only ones reading them. Even when guests could vote, it's not like there were that many of them. Maybe it's just me, but my upvotes went way down when they disabled guest voting. And I've never had a comment go over 120 upvotes since then, whereas before I had several over 300. |
|
|
|
Post by haysoos on Mar 10, 2017 11:29:35 GMT -5
I haven't been able to comment reliably at the Old Country for several years now. But I would still enjoy reading the comments of others. Now that Newswire comments in particular are essentially gone for me, I think I may be completely out on AV Club.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2017 11:48:23 GMT -5
It's always been a mixed bag when it comes to author-commenter relationships. Obviously, Rabin has really worked to cultivate his readership. TVDW (as we see here, on the Dissolve group, elsewhere) clearly interacts, and it appears from the Phipps/Tobias era that they really encouraged their writers to engage with the regulars. I think it's a large part why what we'd consider the "classic" period of the site took on such a glow for us. Some writers still engage, but there is definitely a different vibe as to how it plays out. Sean may have never really been on board with the Phipps/Tobias/Rabin approach, not because he despises the comment section, but because he prefers to be left to his own work. For how confessional many of the pieces are for their individual writers, Sean has written very, very, very few of those. It's comes across as an overall personality thing. O'Neal has written some confessional pieces, publicly admitting to both Family Guy and heroin. I know society has come a long way regarding the stigmatization of certain behaviours, but holy shit Family Guy was a shocker.
It's pretty easy to piss O'Neal off, and that's largely what we see from him in terms of interactions with commenters. I don't pretend to know whether he also enjoys the commentariat sometimes. He strikes me as the kind of guy who tries to keep a straight face.
|
|
|
|
Post by Floyd Diabolical Barber on Mar 10, 2017 12:31:32 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Powerthirteen on Mar 10, 2017 12:32:16 GMT -5
There have been notable exceptions, but on the whole the staff, O'Neal in particular, has made no bones about the fact that they loathe the commentariat, even back in the "Golden Age" post-registration, pre-Disqus era. I just plain don't get this. What are they annoyed at us for, existing? Having fun with their otherwise oh-so-serious site? |
|
Dellarigg
AV Clubber
This is a public service announcement - with guitars
Posts: 7,632
|
Post by Dellarigg on Mar 10, 2017 12:44:30 GMT -5
There have been notable exceptions, but on the whole the staff, O'Neal in particular, has made no bones about the fact that they loathe the commentariat, even back in the "Golden Age" post-registration, pre-Disqus era. I just plain don't get this. What are they annoyed at us for, existing? Having fun with their otherwise oh-so-serious site? The only times I've seen O'Neal appear to be genuinely annoyed (rather than maybe just bustin' balls) is when he feels people jump straight to the comments without reading the articles. He brought it up with someone yesterday, in fact. I can see why he would be annoyed by that, in fairness, even though I do it a lot myself. |
|
|
|
Post by Powerthirteen on Mar 10, 2017 12:56:35 GMT -5
I just plain don't get this. What are they annoyed at us for, existing? Having fun with their otherwise oh-so-serious site? The only times I've seen O'Neal appear to be genuinely annoyed (rather than maybe just bustin' balls) is when he feels people jump straight to the comments without reading the articles. He brought it up with someone yesterday, in fact. I can see why he would be annoyed by that, in fairness, even though I do it a lot myself. Given that the comments on everything he writes are 50% "Sean is so funny!" that seems disingenuous. |
|
Dellarigg
AV Clubber
This is a public service announcement - with guitars
Posts: 7,632
|
Post by Dellarigg on Mar 10, 2017 12:58:26 GMT -5
The only times I've seen O'Neal appear to be genuinely annoyed (rather than maybe just bustin' balls) is when he feels people jump straight to the comments without reading the articles. He brought it up with someone yesterday, in fact. I can see why he would be annoyed by that, in fairness, even though I do it a lot myself. Given that the comments on everything he writes are 50% "Sean is so funny!" that seems disingenuous. The vanity of the writer has many rooms. |
|
ayatollahcm
TI Pariah 
The Bringer of Peacatollah
Posts: 1,689
|
Post by ayatollahcm on Mar 10, 2017 15:04:46 GMT -5
Sean also appears to dislike when people make cracks about how he must be an alcoholic. Or really any "keep Sean drinking" variation.
Which I find amusing, but for someone who's admitted being an addict in the past, could be a sore spot.
Between that and the comment-memes that take on a life of their own, I think Sean has a distaste for things that he feels takes away from the work. There's a level where I also feel he has a natural distrust of "communities". Maybe he's the AV Club's John Swartzwelder?
|
|
|
|
Post by Pastafarian on Mar 10, 2017 15:51:40 GMT -5
On the rare occasions when I check the comments on a different site running Disqus, I see that there is very little upvoting. Which tells me that most places don't build a commenting community as strong. All the people who say they stuck with AVC because of the comments (like me) are the only ones reading them. Even when guests could vote, it's not like there were that many of them. Maybe it's just me, but my upvotes went way down when they disabled guest voting. And I've never had a comment go over 120 upvotes since then, whereas before I had several over 300. I once got 54. *begins crying softly.* |
|
|
|
Post by Desert Dweller on Mar 10, 2017 22:49:46 GMT -5
I just tried it out. It worked okay for me, even with AdBlock enabled. I actually hate the scrolling Newswire more, but now that I know I can just click for comments, I can probably avoid scrolling past the piece I want to see.
I haven't commented nearly as much since the big Disqus change away from pagination. I find it nearly impossible to interact on comments that just endlessly load with no way to keep track of where anything is.
|
|
|
|
Post by Powerthirteen on Mar 10, 2017 22:57:53 GMT -5
Sean also appears to dislike when people make cracks about how he must be an alcoholic. Or really any "keep Sean drinking" variation. Which I find amusing, but for someone who's admitted being an addict in the past, could be a sore spot. Between that and the comment-memes that take on a life of their own, I think Sean has a distaste for things that he feels takes away from the work. There's a level where I also feel he has a natural distrust of "communities". Maybe he's the AV Club's John Swartzwelder? "Take away from the work." God I hope no one at the AVC is actually that self-serious, but I wouldn't bet money on it. |
|
|
|
Post by Ben Grimm on Mar 11, 2017 7:07:29 GMT -5
Cirion contacted me - he apparently got banned from TOC because he was complaining about the comment change too much.
|
|
Dellarigg
AV Clubber
This is a public service announcement - with guitars
Posts: 7,632
|
Post by Dellarigg on Mar 11, 2017 8:21:06 GMT -5
Cirion contacted me - he apparently got banned from TOC because he was complaining about the comment change too much. Mr Greene's been banned too. They're talking about it on the 5 Things To Watch ... thread: www.avclub.com/live/5-things-watch-listen-and-read-weekend-251776/entry/187 He was complaining at length about it, too, but no one's quite sure it's that yet. He was all right, Mr Greene, by which I mean he was generous in upvoting yours truly. |
|
|
|
Post by ganews on Mar 11, 2017 11:45:37 GMT -5
Bans have been accidental and rescinded before upon appeal, but if they did get banned for just complaining about the new system that is impressively petty.
|
|
|
|
Post by MrsLangdonAlger on Mar 11, 2017 11:53:50 GMT -5
If people are indeed being banned for complaining too much about the change, it's really going to remind me of the old days of SuicideGirls, making it extra ironic that O'Neal has the same first name as the dude who founded SG.
I will say that if I was O'Neal I'd get really sick of the drinking jokes too, especially considering his huge confessional article about losing friends to addiction recently.
|
|
Invisible Goat
Shoutbox Elitist
Grab your mother's keys, we're leaving
Posts: 2,643
Member is Online
|
Post by Invisible Goat on Mar 11, 2017 12:01:09 GMT -5
Yeah the drinking jokes always seemed weird to me, like they were trying to bust his balls like you would a friend, but like...you're not friends with him.
|
|
|
|
Post by Powerthirteen on Mar 11, 2017 12:14:39 GMT -5
Yeah the drinking jokes always seemed weird to me, like they were trying to bust his balls like you would a friend, but like...you're not friends with him. Where did they even come from? They predated his drug-use confessional by years. They were always of the same class as the jokes about Barsanti being chained to his desk. |
|
|
|
Post by Buon Funerale Amigos on Mar 11, 2017 12:19:21 GMT -5
Yeah the drinking jokes always seemed weird to me, like they were trying to bust his balls like you would a friend, but like...you're not friends with him. Where did they even come from? They predated his drug-use confessional by years. They were always of the same class as the jokes about Barsanti being chained to his desk. I seem to remember that they were largely based on his name and the stereotype of the drunken Irishman. |
|
|
|
Post by Powerthirteen on Mar 11, 2017 13:01:48 GMT -5
Where did they even come from? They predated his drug-use confessional by years. They were always of the same class as the jokes about Barsanti being chained to his desk. I seem to remember that they were largely based on his name and the stereotype of the drunken Irishman. I should go back to that piece of his and read the comments. I remember everyone being apologetic and wondering if they should stop and Sean commenting something along the lines of "you think I give a shit what you say down here?" |
|
|
|
Post by Pastafarian on Mar 11, 2017 14:48:52 GMT -5
Cirion contacted me - he apparently got banned from TOC because he was complaining about the comment change too much. Thanks Trump O'Neal. |
|
|
|
Post by Pastafarian on Mar 11, 2017 16:10:25 GMT -5
Silver lining to the new format on Newswires, a lot less of those click-baity grids of stories to look at.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2017 20:15:26 GMT -5
It does appear that they finally posted a newswire about it. Also, I have adBlock set to "Allow some non-intrusive ads" and that seems to allow me to use the comments while also blocking the sort of things that would hang my browser. I'm going to go ahead and say that Sean is really being an asshole about this. When hasn't he? |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2017 20:17:41 GMT -5
God forbid anyone have fun on the site or try to engage with it. I think there's a reason Starwipe didn't have comments. Also, there's a reason Starwipe died. I just wanna make sure we are on the same page in the reason being starwipe was terrible and not funny. Nothing to do with not having comments. |
|
