META NEGBANG: 502s and Heartbreak

Submitted by OwenGoBlue on

There are two goddamn active things on the board and the hamsters are kicking it with Freddy P. Soft

Let the backend hate out of your hearts. Please for the love of God don't make it about 17/18 year olds (for the adult babies in the room). 

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1VaBlue1

January 8th, 2017 at 6:11 PM ^

I would be happy to donate to a kickstarter that upgrades the site architecture and puts it on Amazon, or Azure, or something like that.  A hosting architecture that can scale with demand.  That is why Amazon never delivers 502 errors - it scales with demand.  Yes, ISPs will charge for that, but that's why we see so many banner ads.  Charge a few dollars to see premium content, if need be.  We would all pay that happily.

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 127367

I Like Burgers

January 8th, 2017 at 6:21 PM ^

They raised like $80k for a magazine.  Surely they could easily raise the $100k-150k or whatever it would take to modernize the site (FYI, I have zero idea of what it would cost).  I'm on this site everyday.  Without hesitation, I would donate $50 if it helped improve the site drastically.

They should just skip HTTV this year and devote that time and money to improving the site.  Focus on something that'll have value over years instead of just a season-preview magazine.  Honestly kinda dumb they foucs on that instead of improving the site anyways.  Like, you're a website.  What the hell are you spending tons of $$$$ and time on a magazine for?

Joined: 10/06/2012

MGoPoints: 30575

Bigku22

January 8th, 2017 at 8:36 PM ^

I've never bought the HTTV and never will, I don't see value in pre-season previews when sports information, injuries, predictions, is all so fluid. It's basically a way to say I predicted X, now look at me if it happens to come true. 

Also, as much as I love this site, why is it on the consumer to pay for basic maintenance and improvements? I hope the site fixes the issues and performs better, but I won't be spending a dime of my money on it. 

 

Joined: 05/23/2013

MGoPoints: 3019

1VaBlue1

January 9th, 2017 at 8:05 AM ^

All of the content this site provides is free of charge, so you - 'the consumer' - doesn't pay for anything, anyway.  Thats why Beveled Guilt is there...  But, because of unapologetic douchebags like yourself, I hope Brian does charge a small fee for content if he ever upgrades the site.  Then we won't have to deal with unappreciative dickheads, like yourself.

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 127367

Bigku22

January 9th, 2017 at 11:12 AM ^

Let me explain the business model of websites. Traffic = clicks. More clicks = more ad dollars. I spent time on this site daily and my traffic/clicks = more revenue for Brian. Because I don't want to make independent donations that makes me an "unappreciative dickhead". Do you read articles on ESPN.com then feel the need to PayPal ESPN a contribution? How many other sites do you know that ask for reader donations to finance infrastructure upgrades? Because I can't name one. You're free to do what you want with your money, it's not my place to tell people how to spend their's, obviously you don't share that level of courtesy.

Joined: 05/23/2013

MGoPoints: 3019

jabberwock

January 8th, 2017 at 7:00 PM ^

& they're old skool.

I'd be happy to do one or more of the following:

donate $ for projects (server upgrades)
pay a subscription fee for message board membership (provided backend was stable)
possibly pay for content that has promises more depth than "front page news".

I donate occasionally, but for the amount of feedback/communication we get it seems like any more $ is just a possible waste.  There are plenty of ads on this site, so they're selling my eyeballs to the highest bidder anyway.

Joined: 07/04/2008

MGoPoints: 51146

jabberwock

January 8th, 2017 at 9:23 PM ^

we will never acheive our shared dream of becoming elitist snobs with out some sort of gated community that keeps out the riff raff.

As a founding member, you'd get to blackball WD!

(now go change your shorts)

Joined: 07/04/2008

MGoPoints: 51146

KC Wolve

January 8th, 2017 at 7:04 PM ^

Yeah, this is what puzzles me. I'll admit to freeloading for a few years, but I threw Brian a few bucks this year via the PayPal link. There is no doubt in my mind that if he put something up about a server upgrade or whatever would fix the issues, it would be paid for in a day or 2. I know that people say if you do that you feel like you owe people. In normal cases that makes sense but we are here for the content and just want the current site to work. I won't speak for everyone but I can't imagine many people would expect anything more than he already gives us.



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Joined: 10/09/2010

MGoPoints: 12679

543Church

January 8th, 2017 at 6:45 PM ^

MGoBlog is the king of UM football/basketball content.  Until somebodity can come up with a better blog content-wise there is no real competition and no real incentive to invest heavily in rearchitecting the site. 

Yes it looks like an old site and sometimes it is not able to handle heavy traffic but I don't really get upset about it.   Why should I?  Does that reflect badly on UM?  No.

 

 

Joined: 03/09/2012

MGoPoints: 10554

Bambi

January 8th, 2017 at 6:53 PM ^

The fact that this site continually fails at every semi-major news story, has done so for years, and hasn't been fixed is ridiculous.

MGoBlog is the only site that this happens on. To the point where other sites (ie r/cfb) will comment " And MGoBlog crashes again" when any Michigan related story is posted. The fact that other sites/users recognize how terriblely this site operates should be a concern to Brian and Co.

There are two things that really bother me about it too. One is that Brian, the man with a CS degree from Michigan, can't fix the damn site. He and Ace have no problem ragging on other sites for a variety of issues, but this sites often struggles with the basic function of being accesible, and there's no fix. The second is that no matter how often this topic is brought up and users express their concerns, Brian and Ace never comment on it. This topic will come up on a fairly regular basis, and Brian/Ace/Seth don't even take the time to come in and comment and explain their situation. If any attempts are being made to fix the site or what the timeline for the fix is. That's just terrible business.

And before the "stop complaining about a free site crowd" comes stomping in. Yes this is a free site, and I appreciate the fact that it's free, as well as the time and effort Brian and co put into it. I'll be the first to say how great the content on this site is and how no other Michigan site matches it. But this a business for them, this is how they make money, so criticisms from the user base are very warranted.

More importantly, that line of thinking is just ridiculous anyways. Watching/following any sporting league is free as well. You don't have to pay a single extra dollar to watch Michigan football or the Lions or Tigers, etc. All the money you need to follow these teams you put into cable/internet regardless, same with internet for MGoBlog. Yet people here have no problem criticising these free businesses.

The worst part is you know that if Brian asked, the users from this site would help fund whatever costs for a new server in a heartbeat. And if the costs are that high that the users can't help fund it, then just comment once telling us that, and we'll shut up and stop complaining.

Joined: 10/12/2013

MGoPoints: 23158