META thread of META: Ads fixed/HTTV mail/site issues/complaints box
ADS GONE WILD
I think we have the ads issue resolved. There were a bunch of pop-ups, multiple and wrong-sized ads on the bottom on desktops, multiple and overlarge ads placing themselves at the top of articles, ads that virtually come out of your screen to smash your head with a mallet, and worst of all auto-play ads with sound. We tracked these all to a vendor inside our ads network* that was running some kind of script that got around our anti-mallet rules and paused the vendor. Thank you, sincerely, for everyone who reported these and sent me screenshots. The only thing that doesn't seem to be fixed is some political ads (other than Nick RouMel's) that we didn't approve still get through Google AdSense, but that's a Google-wide issue.
* The network is Didna, which is a collection of indie sports sites put together by the guys behind HuskerMax.
HAIL TO THE VICTORS COPIES STILL IN THE MAIL
If you have ever had mail-forwarding to another address you're already familiar with the way 1st class mail can take forever, because if your parcel doesn't take the most direct route it gets put in a "we'll get to it" bin that doesn't often get got to. I sent out an update today via the Kickstarter to explain that we've been significantly delayed because of recent changes at USPS that affected the post office near our mail house in Minnesota. The short of it is a large number of our books are somewhere in "We'll get to it" bins. The mail house walked me through the process and I'm going to botch this I'm sure but if you don't have your book yet what likely happened is your book didn't make it into its sorting bin before its truck left to get it to you in 10 days, and has probably spent the last 2 weeks in that bin. There was a first class mail sorter at this post office that was recently deconstructed and thrown out, and a recent change in policy that has trucks leaving without entire bins of mail if sorting isn't ready. Please keep discussion for why this is happening out of this thread because it's already going to be a shit show.
SITE ISSUE FIXED
About a month ago we FINALLY found the root problem that was causing 90% of our site problems and blocking us from fixing all kinds of issues. You'll note points started working again as soon as we fixed it. It was the tiniest bit of code on the server side (not HUEL) that was causing it. I'm sure this is going to get everyone to apologize for ripping on the company that saved MGoBlog in an extremely short timeframe, after we had many other companies try and give up over longer timeframes, because it feels so good to point and say "Unacceptable."
NOW THAT'S DONE WHAT'S NEXT?
Some things that sound simple are complicated and vice versa, but we're moving on to other projects and I'm happy to take your input as we do. What's most important to you? I admit I stopped going into the bugs thread because it was too depressing when we couldn't fix the underlying problem. If there's something you really would like however put it here.
EXCEPT AN APP
Trust me that we want one too.
ALL OTHER SITE INPUT
It may not always seem like it because we're a small outfit with an audience of over a million and that makes communication difficult. But I want to reiterate that I am always listening even if I'm not responding, and am always open to what we can do better.
PLEASE NO POLITICS IN THIS THREAD
Including what you think about ours. It's going to get noisy enough.
September 22nd, 2020 at 12:59 PM ^
“Brian has a lot going on in his life over the last several years.”
I know Brian has two kids now, but is there more to this comment?
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:12 PM ^
He joined a Civil War reenactment group. He's making a lot of trips to Gettysburg.
September 22nd, 2020 at 3:42 PM ^
From what I can tell, Seth is as about at the top as you can get. If not mistaken, he is the editor for the site along with many other roles, which means he basically runs the component us users see & interact with.
September 22nd, 2020 at 5:11 PM ^
Technically Brian is the editor, I'm the associate editor and business manager, and ace is the managing editor. We also just took those words because they sound like what our jobs might be called.
September 22nd, 2020 at 10:02 PM ^
I can see why the relationship between you and Brian works. You are too humble and gracious.
You have made enough comments over the years for me to read between the lines on who the real editor is. Thanks for all you bring to this blog.
September 22nd, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
You guys have over a million visitors to the site? That's pretty crazy.
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:46 PM ^
Yeah, we've been around 800,000 all offseason which is about 100,000 over our normal offseasons. We capped 1.2 million uniques one month last year.
September 22nd, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^
This is a very helpful update. The only issue I'd take issue with this is the "communication being difficult" angle. There have been ongoing, vocal complaints about the site, HUEL, etc. for a long time. Maybe I missed it, but this is the first time I remember someone acknowledging that some of these issues are on the server side, etc.
I just think a periodic "Site Update" would be awesome, not THAT hard, and maaaaybe head off some of the complaining. Or maybe people will complain anyway. Ok, probably that.
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:47 PM ^
Fair. I just get so much on my plate that falls to the back of my list. Like, do i do this thread today or finish a recruiting article. I chose the thread today but now I won't get the article done until tomorrow.
September 22nd, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^
Seth for President!
September 22nd, 2020 at 2:26 PM ^
Seth for the Supreme Court!
September 23rd, 2020 at 9:01 AM ^
VOTE!
September 22nd, 2020 at 12:51 PM ^
Happy that you fixed the ad issue
Sad that there's no app yet
September 22nd, 2020 at 12:53 PM ^
" It was the tiniest bit of code on the server side (not HUEL) that was causing it. I'm sure this is going to get everyone to apologize for ripping on the company that saved MGoBlog in an extremely short timeframe, after we had many other companies try and give up over longer timeframes, because it feels so good to point and say "Unacceptable." "
1) Even though it's been happening on and off for months, the fact that it's on the server side somehow excuses HUEL from catching it?
2) Did any of those other companies get to try and then give up on something other than the archaic boat anchor that is Drupal? Or did everyone give up because you were tying them to a Ford Edsel and asking them to produce a modern car?
3) How much of that "extremely short timeframe" was driven by the silly insistence on staying with Drupal?
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:17 PM ^
Nice job Comrade Seth.
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:26 PM ^
The ability to collapse a thread at an arbitrary level would be awesome. Click a minimize arrow and that comment as well as all that are under it get hidden. Would make it way easier to skip the part of a thread that goes into the weeds (politics etc.) and get to the next comment.
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:42 PM ^
Done. Look at the arrow to the right of the timestamp of your comment.
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:59 PM ^
Damn, thats a pretty fast turnaround! Looks like all you really needed to do was fix that little bug! I'm now expecting very rapid rollout of excellent bug-free new features.
September 23rd, 2020 at 9:06 AM ^
Oh man. Now if you can just fix the issue of getting dropped at the end of the tread after every comment, that would take away my biggest gripe. It makes it difficult to stay engaged in an active thread otherwise.
The only other (fairly minor) thing is having some kind of notification when someone replies to you (me), but that's my only other real complaint.
Wait; I lied. It's much more of a PITA to post images now. The old way was much easier. But not having everyone post their super smart and funny GIF's on every thread may not be a bad thing.
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:26 PM ^
Seth thanks for the background on the server-side code issue, and redirecting our agnst from HUEL.
I wasn't commenting at the time; but IIRC probably felt like it... so just in case, my apologies to HUEL!
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:36 PM ^
HTTV gets to you quick when you hand Seth some cash and then he signs it for you.
Posting pics that I took is a problem for me. I’m at Crisler and want to post a real-time update (Isaiah shooting around in pregame) and it’s either to big or not a jpeg and I don’t have time to fiddle wid it. Other times it’s pictures I’ve posted in the past on this site and now it won’t accept it (Jabrill’s first punt return at the open practice in his cute neon helmet beanie).
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:39 PM ^
Right for some reason Drupal makes you load the ENTIRE FOLDER OF EVERYONE'S PICS in order to post one. It's infuriating. When we post to the site we do so to different folders (a new one every month) but I can't grant users access to that because it's on the other side of the great security shield.
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:45 PM ^
Here’s a good one of the forest fire behind UM soccer stadium on Main St.
September 23rd, 2020 at 9:07 AM ^
You can trust us, Seth...
September 22nd, 2020 at 2:33 PM ^
Semi-related, I used to able to embed Tweets in iframe format. There was an icon right next to the image icon on the toolbar that did it, but then it went away, and now I can only post links to tweets. The embed option was better because then people who don't do Twitter could still get the gist of what the tweet was about by glancing at the thread.
September 22nd, 2020 at 3:18 PM ^
You can still embed Tweets, it's just not as intuitive as before.
Find a Tweet you want to embed and copy the URL. For this exercise I'll use the Tweet that's pinned at the top of Brian's Twitter profile. Next, click the "Source" button at the far right side of the comment box toolbar. After clicking "Source," decide where you want your embedded Tweet to go and type the following:
- <oembed>[TWEET URL HERE]</oembed>
For this exercise that oembed string will be <oembed>https://twitter.com/mgoblog/status/774277769769267200</oembed>
Click the "Source" button again to return to the WYSIWYG editor and then "Save."
Profit. (You may need to edit the post to remove extra white space that sometimes is added when switching between the WYSIWYG and "Source" editors.)
September 22nd, 2020 at 4:45 PM ^
Having similar limitation problems too. The folder system for photos sucks. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because I'm the "There are..." guy, but it is annoying that it sometimes has to get to the point of me deleting photos from the past.
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:47 PM ^
Also dropping this question here... I put it in the FAQ a few days ago but admittedly it's buried in the years-ago META, so apologies for the duplicate post...
September 22nd, 2020 at 1:49 PM ^
Nope. It would be too rife for exploits. We bury your emails in a way that if someone broke into our site they wouldn't get very many of them. It's a choice not to have that kind of functionality because we don't have the resources to make it meet our security standards.
September 22nd, 2020 at 2:04 PM ^
I agree.
Though I've got access to email addresses (the legitimate ones, anyway) and in a couple cases have thought I could possibly resolve a problem here and there by directly contacting the particular MGoUser(s), I'm not going to go that route and get my email address in circulation.
The only fellow MGoBloggers I've shared my email and other contact info with are a few I've met personally like XM and ScannerBlue, both of whom I 100% trust, also a few others thru twitter, such as Seth and LSA. That would still be the case even if I wasn't a mod.
September 23rd, 2020 at 1:23 PM ^
Thanks Seth & rob f for the responses & addt'l. context - makes sense!
September 22nd, 2020 at 2:06 PM ^
Grateful for all of this. Thanks, Seth (and team)!
September 22nd, 2020 at 2:25 PM ^
Thanks, Seth. This site has been a daily read for almost 10 years. We appreciate the work you guys put into it - even if we don't always seem grateful.
September 22nd, 2020 at 2:28 PM ^
Just need an "ignore user" function for all the Maizens.
September 22nd, 2020 at 4:58 PM ^
Like the Troll Cave add-in?
September 22nd, 2020 at 2:29 PM ^
It may not always seem like it because we're a small outfit with an audience of over a million and that makes communication difficult. But I want to reiterate that I am always listening even if I'm not responding, and am always open to what we can do better.
I've been around a while, but am just a casual guy with no inside knowledge of the people running things other than the basics...like I know the staff's names. But, I have been active on 11W since Covid last spring due to nothing more than boredom and I have to admit that their site is significantly better...not the content or the writing, just the site itself. It's just a better site with more features and less ads or at least less annoying ads. You can do things like see if anyone replied to your comments without having to scroll through the thread. There's a question coming so wait for it. 11W and MGB are essentially the same age and I can only assume have a similar number viewers/posters. So, my question is why do they come off as a bigger company with a more professional site whereas this MGB comes off as a "small outfit"?
September 22nd, 2020 at 4:17 PM ^
My understanding is because Brian sort of knows how to use Drupal and either won't or can't learn a new system, for whatever reason. He wanted to create the modules to do everything that a basic board should do out of the box, but it hasn't happened.
Maybe things are finally changing as his kids have gotten older. Or maybe Seth finally found the right button to push to make Brian understand that what he was doing wasn't working.
September 22nd, 2020 at 5:24 PM ^
They're more focused on making money and we're more focused on making content. Also Ohio State is more fun to read about so they have a way more active audience and a much larger market to draw from. Michigan fandom hasn't been as rewarding.
But mostly it's just that focus. The people who own and run this site treat the business end as a necessary side project. We'd rather keep just longform stuff on the main page instead of producing a million short things that belong on the message board. What's on top of 11W right now? A commit is going to the All-American Bowl. Click.
Don't get me wrong I have a lot of respect for 11W--especially whenever Ross Fulton or Ramzy Nasrallah write--and agree their site looks amazing. But most days they're running a message board with occasional content and we're running a content factory that happens to have a message board.
September 22nd, 2020 at 8:01 PM ^
But most days they're running a message board with occasional content and we're running a content factory that happens to have a message board.
Thanks for taking the time to respond! Totally agreed on the content. There is much better content and analysis here.
But mostly it's just that focus. The people who own and run this site treat the business end as a necessary side project. We'd rather keep just longform stuff on the main page instead of producing a million short things that belong on the message board.
Makes sense. You guys are a rare bread that are willing to take a smaller profit in order to run your business the way you want...that's respectable I learned a lot about you guys in just a small reply, cheers :)
September 22nd, 2020 at 3:15 PM ^
We have anti-Mallett rules? He transferred. It's over. Rich Rod is here to stay and it's time we started getting used to it.
But to have a whole series of rules pertaining to and in opposition of Ryan Mallett just seems like overkill.
Sorry if this got political. #lesmiles
September 22nd, 2020 at 5:01 PM ^
Vas is dis hashtag Francais "le smiles"?
September 22nd, 2020 at 3:25 PM ^
Thanks for the update Seth!
A couple notes on things that I struggled with while writing my recent diary:
Is it possible to embed videos as the OP? I spent a couple hours trying to figure out how to and eventually just gave up. When searching for a solution all I could find were posts from well before the HUEL site update (around 2013 if I remember correctly). Maybe an updated explanation of embedding videos in the useful stuff section would be a good thing to add.
Similarly there didn't seem to be an option for adding spreadsheet info into tables in a diary. I was able to get by just using screenshots of my excel spreadsheet, but it might be helpful for future diarists to have something about adding tables in the useful stuff as well.
One thing I did find in the useful stuff was a handy explanation for writing a diary: https://www.mgoblog.com/content/how-post-mgoblog-30-0
However, a lot of stuff in there seems like it might be outdated. The link to open writer didn't work for me, and after downloading open writer elsewhere, it didn't seem to work the way the instructions indicated anymore. That page could probably use a look over and edit to see what's still relevant on there.
Finally, one other thing I would recommend in a permanent link somewhere is an explanation of how points work on this site. I was able to find an explanation after a Google search, but it wasn't easy to find. Furthermore, a feature where you can see how you've accumulated or lost points would be nice (maybe there is one?) as my point total doesn't seem to make sense based on the number of likes I've received on comments and posts.
Hope I didn't overdue it with the recommendations here, but thanks for providing a forum for feedback.
September 22nd, 2020 at 5:14 PM ^
We should probably get around to updating the FAQ and pointing people there. Ditto the glossary. They're good content if you're bored and looking for extra MGo stuff to read.
Everything you described happens in html. If you are comfortable with html just hit "Source" and add what you want.
I don't know why tables were left out of the diary WYSIWYG interface. Weird. I wonder if that's a switch I can flip. For the record I don't use the site's table creator because it doesn't do enough for me. My tables are designed with html or using Tableizer
September 22nd, 2020 at 6:02 PM ^
RE ads, I have adblock on a desktop and it blocked 90 ads within 1 second of loading the page.
I scrolled thru all the comments was over 500 ads blocked within 5 minutes of reading
Kinda hard for me to even think about turning it off on this site it's so obnoxious
I know money has to come from somewhere but I be like dang
September 22nd, 2020 at 7:34 PM ^
You know that's not actually counting ads right? It's just bouncing back and forth looking for something to serve you and getting denied.
September 22nd, 2020 at 6:16 PM ^
thanks for the work, and thanks for the transparency.
September 22nd, 2020 at 8:43 PM ^
I don’t think I ever explicitly said a fuck you to HUEL or anything, but on behalf of anyone who did and behalf of those of us who have been annoyed and unhappy re: site issues, thank you.
THANK YOU Seth
THANK YOU HUEL
September 22nd, 2020 at 9:38 PM ^
I have received my HTTV, which is notable only for the fact that I am in Toronto and it has to go through the mail of two countries. The rest of you should be getting yours.
Glad to see you have the ad problem fixed. Now that I have a little free time, I should work on my click fraud method of supporting MGoBlog.
(I am kidding. I think.)
September 22nd, 2020 at 9:58 PM ^
Thank you!!!
September 23rd, 2020 at 7:11 AM ^
Awesome! Really appreciate the update, Seth!!