• 10Oct 08

  Rebellion Update *UPDATED*

  Good News People... We have been heard...There is a plan and our "Top 5 Things To Fix" Blogs are part of it...
  

  There is now a timeline to start making changes and confirmation that the FIRST thing they will address is the background Color/Font Size issue... As always you can go to Glenn's Blog for more details on all of this...

  And for regular updates on bug fixes keep an eye on Jaxiecracks's blogs... As well as the Official Redesign Bug List that Newbie has beenworking tirelessly on...

  ---

  Onto the Main Event... Danmods latest blog reads...
  

  Addressing the Fixes You Asked Us to Address

  Hey everybody,

  First off, let me thank you all personally for being patient (yeah, I know you're sick of hearing that but my mother raised me right, what can I do?) with us while we get these bugs sorted and fixed. Your feedback has been a huge help and we're doing our best to prioritize and plan and ultimately get the site working up to pre-redesign level as soon as possible. Glenn11523's blog, and the others we've seen like it (yes, we've seen those too) has not escaped our attention, and we are taking your "5 Issues" very seriously. The Community Team had a sit down with our new and fantastic CBSi Dev. Team, and progress has been made. Here's what I know so far:

  Next week, mid-week, we'll be tackling the text color and size so it's consistent throughout the site and black! That's the first change you'll be seeing, it's the easiest to address and a great place to start.

  After the text fix, we'll be looking into what it will take to fix the Tracked blog problem (showing more Tracked Blogs), Level Bar and Submission Stats module. I can't give you an ETA on these because they require the services of more than one department. Keep in mind that adding/removing modules can be a big deal because they affect the overall layout of the page in which they reside. We haven't decided to eliminate them, we just need to find out how to accommodate everything that needs accommodating and remain uncluttered.

  The WYSIWYG problems, the broken "Next" button for comments - these are bugs, and have been reported and are being worked on. Check Jaxie's blog for information about the current fixes, she's doing a great job of organizing all that happy news.

  Also - good idea to check out the awesome work of our newest Mod, More_NCIS_Now in THIS thread. She's outlined all known bugs and their status. Many mad props to her and the work she's done.

  Finally, thanks again for being patient and for caring enough to bring these things to our attention. To those of you who are trying to work with us to fix the site we appreciate it.

  ---

  In other news...

  My vacation to South Carolina was fantastic... I am so blessed to have family that I actually like to hang out with... We went to the Shrimp Festival, Went cruising around on the boat, spent an afternoon in Charleston, ate BBQ, ate more BBQ... Now that I am home I am trying to get caught up on some much missed TV... Here's some thoughts on the Fall season so far...

  BONES - I was really disappointed with the premier episode... It was very disjointed and hard to follow, there was way too much plot jammed into 2 hours... But all the eppys since have been fantastic!! They are handling the break up way better than I thought they would... LOVE that Zack is not a killer, but won't admit it, I am really looking forward to how that plot plays out.

  DIRTY SEXY MONEY - I really like this show and the premier episode was GREAT... The characters are so compelling... I think shows like this have a potential for the characters to become over-exaggerated, but DSM manages to take everyone right to the edge and then reel them back in just in time... I'm looking forward to this season as they all struggle with their inner demons and conflicting desires for material vs. emotional gains.

  CSI - I watch them all, but Las Vegas is my fav and I was kinda let down by the opener... After the super shocking season finale I was looking forward to more than an episode where you already knew what was going to happen... We knew Warrick was gonna die, we knew who shot him and we knew the team would figure it out... But it all happened so orderly and neat and there was no drama or suspense or the usual road blocks that I expect in this show... And just for the record I am not looking forward to Laurence Fishburne coming on board, but more on that when it happens.

  SUPERNATURAL - Frakking Great - Everything about this season so far has been above average and I can't wait to see how the Good vs. Evil Sam vs. Dean saga plays out...

  HEROES - So word on the street it that people are not diggin' season three... To them I say Patience Grasshopper... Shows like this need time to set things up and layout character motivations... It's like reading a really good book... In order to really enjoy the journey you first have to take the time learn where the Heroes have been... Anyway I've liked it and I'm sticking with it, even if Mohindar is becoming a gross version of Jeff Goldblum's The Fly...

  SMALLVILLE - This might not be the greatest season so far, but they are re-inventing the wheel a little with all the new characters so I'm going to cut them a little slack... And as long as they keep showing Justin Hartley with his shirt off I'm going to keep watching

  TWO AND A HALF MEN - This one was starting to lose its shine last season, but this season so far has been the best in years... If anyone used to watch and gave up on it I urge you to give it another go this season, it's laugh out loud funny again!

  ---

  And finally with 21 days left until Halloween What will you all be dressing up as this year?

  I'm thinking the Joker as Nurse Dent from Dark Knight... That was just my favorite part of the movie...

  • Posted Oct 10, 2008 2:32 pm PT
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• 1Oct 08

  Top 5 Changes

  First a note to the naysayers regarding forms and submissions and other bugs on the site... Those things WILL be fixed... They are bugs and WILL be addressed... Patience my friends, patience... Our blackout was and is not concerned with all things technical... It is concerned with the user interface and the interaction between users... That said picking five thing is hard so I will stick with my original list from my last blog...

  The five things that are still driving me CRAZY are:

  • Why "My Feed" and "My Tracked Blogs" are the same thing... what is the point of that really?
  
  • Why the News in "My Feed" is from 2007... Really one of my news feeds is "CW Bids 'Gilmore Girls' Goodbye"... Really?
  
  • Tracked Blogs... We know you can allow more in the list as every other list (ie Favorite Shows) has more than 4... Would you do us a solid and put it back to 10?

  • See all blogs page... maybe you could truncate these to show up the way our list of personal blogs does so that we could see more on a page (Some of us are rather wordy you know)
  
  • Top Contributors list needs to include more people... Again this site is based on community and it's important to recognize the community as a whole, not just the top dogs... Having the full list of contributers makes more people feel included and connected to the site.

  The site has become much more stable for me... PMs are working, I was able to reorder cast for one of my shows, I have submitted trivia and episode info okay, I can moderate my Q... I still can't use Next and Previous buttons in my subs page or blog comments, but as I said above I think those are bugs that will get worked out.

  ---

  I am leaving Friday at the crack of dawn for my vacation to visit family in South Carolina and may or may not be around during that time and will try to get caught up when I get back... Everyone have a fantastic weekend!

  • Posted Oct 1, 2008 7:56 pm PT
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• 26Sep 08

  An Open Letter To The Editor

  Dear TV.com,

  I want to start by saying that coming from a web design background I understand how difficult a complete re-design of a site can be and that you cannot anticipate all that can go wrong. I understand that bugs will arise and they have to be handled one at a time and they cannot all be fixed overnight. I understand that all involved have put incredible amounts of time and energy into making this re-launch of the site a success.
  
  I personally like the new design. It feels open and airy, less closed in then it was before. The white is a bit surprising given all the options that were available to you, but I can live with it. Some things that I especially like include the Special Features links at the top of the page and my very favorite is the Trivia Guide feature, although it is a little buried for a "new" feature, but it's great to see all the trivia for ALL the episodes on one page.
  
  But you all really missed the boat on a key element of this site... This site has always been about COMMUNITY.
  
  Here we can submit info to our favorite shows, talk about them in the forums, track our friends and their blogs... I have always felt that here I am part of a special community of like minded people that I don't have access to in my everyday Silicon Valley life. I have always felt like that reason I come to TV.com for my TV info was for this community of people. There are several places I can go to find info on TV shows, but I don't get the interaction with others that I get here.
  
  That being said TV.com has all but crippled the COMMUNITY aspect of this site.
  
  Where before right from our profile page we could see a list of 10 blogs and, more important, see if there were new comments to those blogs. We all as a group communicated through those blogs comments daily. I would look forward each day to checking my blog for new comments, responding to them, debating them, defending them and enjoying a good laugh on most days. Now I have to wade through so much to get that info. Most of us have day jobs and don't have the time to re-click every blog every day.
  
  If the community here is indeed important to TV.com please address this issue... many have complained... And frankly we feel ignored... We are the community that this site depends on and it would be great to be acknowledged... At minimum a featured Staff Blog letting people know what is being worked on and what we can expect in the future, and I don't mean the bug fixes, we know those are getting fixed.
  
  But we want to know we are being heard. We want to know that all of our time and effort spent on this site matters. We take great pride in our work here, and want to know the staff appreciates us... And being locked out of the planning for the new site we feel un-appreciated...
  
  You claimed "You spoke - we listened"... Well we are speaking again and we want to be heard!
  
  Some additional things we would like to see addressed are:
  
  • Why "My Feed" and "My Tracked Blogs" are the same thing... what is the point of that really?
  
  • Why the News in "My Feed" is from 2007... Really one of my news feeds is "CW Bids 'Gilmore Girls' Goodbye"... Really?
  
  • Tracked Blogs... We know you can allow more in the list as every other list (ie Favorite Shows) has more than 4... Would you do us a solid and put it back to 10?
  
  • See all blogs page... maybe you could truncate these to show up the way our list of personal blogs does so that we could see more on a page (Some of us are rather wordy you know)
  
  • Top Contributors list needs to include more people... Again this site is based on community and it's important to recognize the community as a whole, not just the top dogs... Having the full list of contributers makes more people feel included and connected to the site.
  
  • People here LOVE their emblems... I understand removing the passed contributor milestones, but we work hard to earn editor and trusted contributor status and those emblems are the ones that matter to most... This, again, goes back to community.
  
  Maybe these things are possible, maybe they are not, maybe you are already planning to do some of them. Whatever the case just let us know, keep us in the loop, even if the answer is a firm No, Never, Quit Dreaming at least we'll know, and Knowledge is Power as they say.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Lisa Graham

  ---

  
  For all my friends reading this:

  I hope I have addressed a good chunk of the issues we are all having with the 3.0 design. I wrote this for me as I am one of those people that always needs to get things off my chest... Even if if no-one on staff sees it I stil feel better for having voiced my opinion... In the off chance that this does get in from of eyes that have more power than we do please post comments noting anything I missed... But not site bugs, this is intended to be about purely cosmetic and User Interface realated issues.

  Also, on the COMMUNITY aspect I mentioned above... I am encouraging everyone to participate in the Sept. 30 blackout... I know some do not think it will do any good... I disagree, I think this blackout will shine a light on the power of the TV.com COMMUNITY... I am hoping this will show TV.com that we value our ability to interact with each other and that this community of people is strong and deserves to be listened to.

  I feel like since the re-design we are all losing touch with wach other and that makes me sad... Especially as it's TV premier season and we are missing out on chatting about our favorite returning shows... I am going to try to get back in touch using MovieTome and/or Gamespot to follow everyone's blogs and hope you will all do the same untill we have a better solution.

  I'm way behind on premiers and plan to hunker down this weekend and watch TV till my eyes bleed Then I'm looking forward to seeing all your opinions!!

  Special note to Shazz regarding Supernatural - I was thinking about last night when I watched Supernatural and wanted to say that I'm sorry they are going the whole Bible route you so feared... But I for one thinks it's Fantastic... Last nights episode was GREAT... After Dean going to Hell it just seems logical that if there's Hell there is Heaven and that has to be explored. But more on that later...

  Everyone have a GREAT weekend!!

  • Posted Sep 26, 2008 11:06 am PT
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