Paul here, making a quick cameo to let you know that web developer John Ekdahl and I have made a few subtle but worthwhile updates to the site, mostly in response to reader feedback and requests. We’ve been phasing these in over the past week or so, so you may have noticed some of them already, but here’s a quick rundown:
- On the home page, Tickers are now listed along with non-Ticker articles in the “Recent Posts” listing.
- Also on the home page, each post now carries a time stamp (which is new) in addition to the date (which we had all along).
- Still on the home page: For the large showcased posts at the top of the page, there’s now a thin horizontal divider line in between the posts. (Some people had said that it was sometimes unclear which photo went with which story.)
- There is now a link for RSS feeds at the bottom of every site page.
- Due to a tech glitch, the time stamps for reader comments were being listed twice. That has now been fixed.
We’ll have more upgrades and features to announce soon as part of Uni Watch Plus, the optional program that we plan to roll out when I return to the site full-time on Sept. 1. Stay tuned for that, and thanks again for all your feedback on the site’s new format.
Thank you for the additional RSS feeds. One request I have related to RSS is put the full content of the post in the feed so it can be read within the feed reader instead of having to open the post in a browser to see the full post. Currently it just shows the subject line and a brief summary. Perhaps this is by design to preserve ad revenue (which I understand).
Yes, that’s why it’s set up that way. We want you to actually visit the site. Thanks for understanding.
Thank you for confirming. I appreciate the transparency!
side view of closed hand with thumb raise in air emoji
Any chance we can get the ticker in the RSS feed?
It’s right there on the “Feeds” page!
link
Ah, duh! Thanks!
I don’t exactly know why but I’m constantly searching for the total number of comments on each post on the main page. I don’t know what value this would add but I guess I’m curious to see which posts people are engaging with before I click on them?
Sorry, but we have no plans to do that, just like we have no plans to add “Like” reactions to the comments. Gauging something’s value by the amount of comments it generates, and/or by the reactions to those comments, is the kind of performative social media nonsense that I don’t ever want to be part of Uni Watch. I would sooner *eliminate* comments than include a running tally of comments. (Not that we have any plans to eliminate comments, but I’m just explaining my priorities here.)
If you want to read something, read it! If not, don’t! Simple.
Man. You’re absolutely right.
I’m now embarrassed and disgusted that I need to unlearn that.
I agree with never having “Likes” but respectfully disagree with showing comment counts if you consider this a community. If one wants to engage with community members, they would rather go where they actually are to message back and forth vs. the threads that have nobody there commenting. Yes, they can find out by clicking in, but I don’t think the commenter was out of line for wanting a comment count to quickly gauge where he can interact more with comm-uni-ty members..
I didn’t say he was “out of line”; I just said it’s not the kind of thing I want for Uni Watch. (And the commenter then agreed with me.)
I realize some people may want that particular feature, but we’ll have to agree to disagree on that point. Sorry.
Anyone can engage simply by commenting on a post, whether that post has lots of previous comments or few comments. Never anything wrong with adding your voice. Listing comment counts just results in a “rich get richer” effect, a “me too” effect, etc. I’d rather have things proceed organically, and I’m much more interested in the *quality* of comments than the *quantity* of comments.
When we launch Uni Watch Plus next month, it’ll include a message board, which allow for further comm-uni-ty engagement. Looking forward to sharing the details with you soon!
I normally am interested in NFL, NHL, and MLB uniform unveilings and also new corporate logos such as for example Audi or Kraft Dinner so I find I’m tossling between the ticker and major headlines.
This new format has the option to filter out content that is undesirable for me.
Call me old school but, the old way at least I read through each and every blog whereas this way out of 4 posts, I would perhaps only click on one.
I understand. Some people like the new format; some preferred the old format. Can’t please everyone!
Having a absolutely horrible time getting the combined posts and ticker feed working with Feedly, I only ever get the posts, either that or everything is extremely delayed (this post wouldn’t display for instance)
I’ll second this. Can’t get the tickers to display. I’m guessing I’ll have to add them as a 2nd feed?
I’d like to suggest a more original and site-centric graphic be used for the Guess the Game feature. I also miss the extensive archive category link list. Are they still available?
The most popular categories are listed at the bottom of the page.
Still think it would cut down on clicks to have tickers as their own menu item next to Posts rather than have to click two drop downs. If there were lots of options it would make sense, but since only two, just give them equal billing.
Great setup and changes. Question: for articles that are “Bulletin Only,” can the headline link include a note that states (premium content) so readers can know the difference between the types of articles before opening?
Thanks.
I applaud Uni Watch not bowing down to social media horrors like: which article is the most popular, who has the most comments, where can I click LIKE in order to hopefully have people liking me? Complete BS. Read the content, comment if you like, do not if you do not care or see your opinion voiced by an earlier bird and simply enjoy it for what it is: a sited dedicated to watching uniforms.
I feel like only the current day’s posts should be large showcased posts at the top of the page.
As it is right now, today’s ticker is listed under Recent Posts, below four posts with yesterday’s date.
I’d suggest somehow marking whichever post is the Lede of the day, or somehow indicating it has additional content.
Some of us scroll through only looking for certain types of news or relating only to some sports. So we might skip over a Lede with a headline saying it’s about hockey, for example, if we’re not into hockey. However, in doing so, we’ll miss the two/three/four other items of the day buried under the lead story of that lede post.
In short, if you’re going to divide up each post into a separate topic… either mark the posts that are about multiple topics, or, stop posting multiple topics under one post.
For the most part — especially if I’m doing the weekday ledes, the morning article contains basically the only uni topic of the post. The rest is usually just housekeeping, so if the topic of the lede doesn’t interest you, then you probably don’t need to click on it. Sub topics are usually just reminders (like Paul’s Bulletin piece, or, last week, a photo of Paul, me and a reader at a Mets game). Uni Tweet of the Day is also about the only other uni-adjacent thing in the bits below the lede. Paul, when he returns, may have a slightly different approach, but for the majority of our posts, you won’t have multiple “big” uni news articles in the morning post. They will likely each have their own separate article.
Thanks for the changes, they are all appreciated. I especially like having ticker links on the main page. It was a pain to have to deal with them on a separate page.