We're officially one week into our NBC partnership, and so we need to pause for a second to thanks the folks who helped make the transition far less painful than we thought it would be.
At NBC, tech guy extraordinaire Eric Black has led the charge, coordinating a team that includes Rod Boev, Aaron Bailey, Vanitha Furtado, and Stephen Hildebrand.
To make the changeover, they worked closely with the following folks at Mountain Leverage, who rescued us in February from the implosion of our servers: Tim Sweetser, Pat Luczak, and Jeremy Keiper.
We also need to thank Zak Ainsworth, who initially set up our Twitter pages and most recently ensured that the auto-tweet function was functional after the switch was flipped to NBC.
Of course, the work of the NBC tech team isn't over. (It's much more fun to boss the web guys around when we're no longer getting the invoices.) We're in the midst of a comprehensive upgrading of the PFT mobile site, which will address the concerns that many of you have raised regarding the stripped-down feel of it, in comparison to our prior wireless version.
Also, other changes are coming. The time-honored "Bang It Here" will return to the front page of the site soon, and Turd Watch will be returning. The team pages again will have links to local newspapers and other sites. The PFT Planet Poll will return.
And the comments system will be beefed up to include once again the ratings system. (We had no idea how many of you liked that thing.)
If there's anything else you'd like to see, just let us know. We can't promise that we'll actually incorporate the change, but we definitely won't respond with an e-mail inviting you to go to hell or any other unsavory place.
The peacock crowd sort of frowns on that.
A Quick Thanks To The Folks Who Make This Thing Run
Posted by Mike Florio on July 8, 2009 9:09 AM ET
Congrats on everything Florio. Things are looking great. Keep up the fantastic work.
Why is the pic of the day more like the pic of the month?
Bring the comment rating system back.
Mike, I know it's not PC to bash guys when you're the new meat, but the transition has been less than seamless for your long time fans. There's been more than a few problems on our end. But I do want to thank whoever it was that gave Vox his "name" back. When I abuse Vox, I want to know it's the real Vox - not some Eagles fan that stole his login name. Jerry Jone's butt gerbil is back is all his glory and it's good to have our whipping boy back.
My inbox has direct links to vintage PFT articles I've commented on that occasionally deserve revisiting, such as Joe Buck's on-air hassling of broadcasting goddess Pam Oliver during a live telecast, and Visanthe Shiancoe and his "friend" making a guest appearance on live TV. Hope all that archived material isn't permanently lost. How'd it look?
Since around 2000 or 2001, the site just continues to get stronger and stronger (just knocked on wood).
Too many things to laud, though just a few to praise and express appreciation for include the humor/wit, insight shared (e.g., how murder/suicide angle in the McNair murder sound fishy), the moxie to take stances few other sites would tackle, Taco Bill and of course, PFT's price/full money back satisfaction guarantee. None of the foregoing cannot be found anywhere else.
I do miss that Michael David Smith writer - his pieces were very much appreciated.
Wick
The old site took for ever to load on my mobile phone, yet the new one runs very smooth and quick. Will adding all this new stuff slow it down again? It makes it hard to visit the site at work when it doesn't load properly!
The site is much better for the blackberry now. Thank you. You could work on allowing comments from mobile users. That functionality disappeared.
One small request - if you could begin each item in the daily one-liners with the name of the team, or at least put the name of the team in bold type, it would be much easier to scan and find the item(s) I would be interested in before the boss catches me online.
I'll second bringing back the rating system. Also, it'd be nice to have the e-mail update feature back, so when someone comments on your comments you know which older stories to re-read.
I have one request. Please keep it simple for those fans that live overseas. I work for an NGO in Afghan reconstruction where we have some seriously slow internet connections (go figure, the Taliban did not invest in fiberoptics), so I do not visit sites that make me click on multiple links. I can read all the news I need on your site just going to one url--and that is the reason I started going here. So do not let your new fangled corporate overlords push you to sex up the site. Keep it simple, for us in information dirt trail.
Gotta get back the ability to use emoticons just like at sportingnews.com. Few people used them but can jazz up a post if used tastefully. :D
Just one thing could be changed. When I logged in before (my browser is Firefox), I would be logged in all day even if I wasn't on the site. Now the site logs you off periodically. Could someone "fix" that?
I'm diggin' it. Although now every time I click on the Rumors link it always take me to July 7th. I've cleared all my temp files, but it keeps doing it, so I can't blog scroll, I have to read each story and click older, older, older. I guess that's me and not you, but it sure is annoying.
Okay, I'm over it.
the old site when you clicked on a non-site link it open a new window or tab. The new site doesn't do that, instead navigating way from PFT.
From a business standpoint why would want to take people off the site. Plus I am sure I am not alone in saying that I like to read through all the one-liners and then go and read any story that I wanted more details on.
Should be a real simple change to the code.
Like the revamped site, but please change the mobile version so I can view the actual articles all at once rather than having to click each article individually, and only having around 10 total items to choose. I know the mobile site isn't finalized, I'm just hoping it goes back like it was.
I agree with Kevin from Philly.
The part of this site that kept me coming back dozens of times a day were the comments. Specifically responding to comments. I like to comment on a lot of stories and I like hearing feedback on my comments and replying (especially on your controversial posts).
Please bring that back, this site isn't the same without it. I feel less like a 'card carrying member of PFT Planet' and more like a guy reading a blog.
At long last I will know where to bang it again! I've been banging it randomly all over the place since the switchover, and it's starting to hurt.
"But I do want to thank whoever it was that gave Vox his "name" back. When I abuse Vox, I want to know it's the real Vox - not some Eagles fan that stole his login name."
Vox in the morning, Vox in the evening, Vox at suppertime! Good to see that I'm firmly entrenched in your punkin head.
However...
You'll notice that my "name" is "VoxVeritas", no spaces. Not quite sure what happened, but I re-registered "Vox Veritas" (with the space) when the switch was made and it worked for a day, then stopped working for whatever reason. Tried the "forgot my password" thing and it returned that no user was found with my email address. But I figure that since this one is still working, it wasn't an attempt to silence the most widely-known and mentioned name on this site (short of Florio) and was just a glitch. Has anybody else experienced that?
Somehow has a very corporate feeling.
I'd like to see an RSS feed, and a mobile interface would be nice.
WE want the the ability to use emoticons!!
Mike, you can make this happen.
The Cheatriot fanboys like the comments feature the most of anyone, because it's another outlet to show their displeasure to anyone who comments about their team being the ONLY one in NFL history to have been CAUGHT cheating, had their TEAM fined for cheating, had their COACH fined for cheating, and forfeited a FIRST ROUND draft pick for cheating.
One other thing about the previous mobile interface - it allowed you to see the commentator's ranking from 'Waterboy' to 'Hall of Famer' - I worked hardly at all in order to post enough comments to earn a Head Coach designation: I want it back!...and then maybe an upgrade to Division Champ.
VoxVeritas says:
July 8, 2009 11:08 AM
But I figure that since this one is still working, it wasn't an attempt to silence the most widely-known and mentioned name on this site (short of Florio) and was just a glitch.
__________________________
Mostly we're just happy you found something to pass your time after 'Life goes on' ended, Corky.
Can we get back the links to open a new window/tab automatically? Right now I am just using the right-click button to get that option, but it would be great if it was just set-up that way.
The new site works well on the iPhone. The logging in thing is annoying. Great work though!! Thanks for doing your job!!
"Cheatriot fanboys"
olcap's way of telling us
He's gay and he's proud
Florio, thanks for posting an update letting us know you heard our gripes. As much time as I spent reading this site and not working, I could have technically been a part time frozen yogurt chef as opposed to holding a real position with a corporation. Its good to see that you are still able to hear our compaints.
olcap, you're a douche
Get your head out of the sand
Everybody cheats
Oops! I see there is a mobile interface now. But I'd still like an RSS feed like the old site had.
What, no love for Sprint?
Please add the wide screen view option!
And yes for new browsers or tabs when clicking links.
Re: Vox, a similar thing happened to my account, I rec'd the email but I couldn't log into the new site. I ended up re-registering with a different login name, and making the display name Darth Ringo.
I miss the "flatten your stomach ads."
Then again, I can always go to Wisconsin.
I think in addition to a rating system. You should add a filter to sort by Oldest to Most Recent, Most Recent to Oldest, And Sort by Highest rated.
1) The mobile version is much better than the old one. Like pastabelly says, it loads faster and is much easier to navigate with a BlackBerry.
2) I was PFTless for the first day of the NBC era because going to www.profootballtalk.com from my phone brought me to a blank page. Only when I got home that night did I find that there was a separate URL for mobile users. Other people might be able to find the mobile site easier if there was a link or some other function that made it more accessible.
3) Now that you have a separate mobile site, integrating commenting specifically for mobile users would be neat. It used to be tough for me to get the cursor into the comment box and then click on the lil submit button.
4) Thanks.
I miss your fat girl ads. Nothing like blubber and stretch marks to complete my day.
Hey Mike, I virtually live on this site when I’m at work and really like the Next >> tab at the bottom of the rumour page so now I don’t have to twitter the entries I missed come Monday mourning. But here’s my problem, I work for a large company whose severs and IT department somehow block out the PFTV segments that usually show up as a blank box with a small x in the top corner. Yes I get a warning every time I try to access YouTube but until you charter a boat on Lake Minnetonka and stream live video I should be ok. So can you put the YouTube link in the header or somewhere so I don’t have to waste any more of the company’s time searching PFTV on YouTube.
On the mobile site - in addition to not being able to see the comments or read the stories without clicking, you also cannot see who wrote the stories.
I would also like the ability to click on my name and see a listing of all the articles that I have posted on and if there were new comments since my last visit. The email notification was fine except when Vox would cut and patse a line from every comment and respond with the Cowboys have 5 rings.
"Mostly we're just happy you found something to pass your time after 'Life goes on' ended, Corky."
Corky's worth more money than you, scrub. And he's smarter than you, too.
"The email notification was fine except when Vox would cut and patse a line from every comment and respond with the Cowboys have 5 rings."
We can add "liar" to Smush's resume (scribbled in crayon on a greasy napkin, no doubt).
Smush is back! Haven't seen you on the new site. Thought someone stole your login. Now, we have Vox and the Philadelphia version of Vox - Smush. The NFC East posts will have that bar room brawl feel once again. First training camp opens in 17 days. First regular season game in just over two months.
east96st says:
July 8, 2009 3:01 PM
Smush is back! Haven't seen you on the new site. Thought someone stole your login. Now, we have Vox and the Philadelphia version of Vox - Smush. The NFC East posts will have that bar room brawl feel once again. First training camp opens in 17 days. First regular season game in just over two months.
****
My goal is to have you call Vox the Topeka Kansas version of Smush.
"If there's anything else you'd like to see, just let us know. We can't promise that we'll actually incorporate the change, but we definitely won't respond with an e-mail inviting you to go to hell or any other unsavory place. "
you mean like you did to me, florio!
Apologies if you've already gotten this comment a hundred times, and if you haven't I must be the only idiot who can't figure this out, but I'm not a fan of the new BB format. I used to like going to the Latest News and Rumor page at the end of the day and read all the news on one page during my Metro ride home. Unfortunately, now you can only see the headlines and have to click through each one, which doesn't allow for extensive reading when I'm underground on the Metro. The good news is my "Brick-breaker" game is improving, the bad news is my NFL knowledge is suffering. People - I am implore you - PLEASE allow us to be able to scroll through all the stories at once again!
The only thing i don't like of the "new site" is the automatic log off thing, please fix it.
6-44*
yessss...
glad the comment ratings are coming back.