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Websites behaving badly

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Illinois

* I’m not the only one with site problems today. Steve Rhodes…

The Sun-Times website has been driving me crazy for weeks now, as it frequently does, by freezing my browser as it loads . . . and loads . . . and loads. I don’t know if they’re running some hellacious script over there, but I’m not going back for awhile.

The Tribune and the Sun-Times websites were both crashing my browsers today. Insane.

* Also, Gatehouse’s awful pop-under which displays their “Up to the Minute” page has got to be revamped. It causes a huge memory leak that inevitably crashes my browser if I don’t close it right away. I cannot tell you how many incomplete blog posts I’ve lost because of that stupid page.

A week or two ago, I woke up in the morning to find that everything on my computer was unbelievably slow. I finally realized that one of those moronic “Up to the Minute” pages had been left open all night. I have a Mac. It takes a lot to stop a Mac. But Gatehouse (SJ-R, PJStar, RRStar, etc.) routinely does so. Enough, already.

Hey, if I want to see a site’s latest posts, I’ll just refresh my browser, OK? Stop causing harm.

* And while I’m at it, my paid Crain’s subscription works fine on my home computer, but their site won’t let me access their subscriber content on my laptop. Ugh!

* Are there any particularly nasty website problems out there that you’d like to talk about?

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 1:50 pm

Comments

Now that Silk Road is down I have I don’t know where to buy hash with bitcoins. Bummer

Comment by Rail Sitter Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 1:54 pm
Also, this site doesn’t let you correct typos.

Comment by Rail Sitter Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 1:55 pm
The scripts on the Trib’s web site routinely freeze all browsers, and the further you get from IE, the worse the freeze. The Trib is worst of any newspaper web site.

Comment by Anyone Remember? Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 1:58 pm
===this site doesn’t let you correct typos.===

Then slow down. It’ll be better for everybody if everyone just takes their time on a comment.

Perhaps that’s not a bug. Maybe it’s a feature?

Just sayin…

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 1:59 pm
I agree with the annoying Gatehouse papers’ sites–no amount of pop-up blockers will block all the garbage/scam ads and “Up to the Minute” pages that their sites greet us with every time we visit them.

Comment by Leatherneck Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:00 pm
Gatehouse sites are a nightmare, as you note. Aside from the ridiculous pop-up thingy, they don’t appear to have a uniform policy on free/subscriber content. The SJ-R offers x number of stories (per month, I assume) for free, while just last week I could access nothing on the RR Star site without a subscription (later, I did get access).

No surprise from a phenomenally dysfunctional company, I suppose. The sooner Gatehouse implodes into a black hole of oblivion and unloads those newspaper properties to respectable owner/operators, the better.

I’ve also had a couple of Trib story pages automatically begin playing the video at the top as soon as I click through to the story (some do, some don’t), which of course is a huge annoyance and processor drag. I’ll click play if I want to watch the video!

Comment by Raymond Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:07 pm
Yahoo!’s new email interface drives me crazy. It is a real pain to use. Please, Yahoo!, make it like it used to be.

Comment by eastcentral Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:08 pm
I have always had problems with the Sun-Times site, but it has gotten especially bad with iOS 7 on my iPhone. I routinely have to reload 3-4 times to get it to load.

I agree with other’s comments about video on Trib site and popups on SJR.

Comment by Don't Worry, Be Happy Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:14 pm
my favorit website, https://capitolfax.com/ has this really really old outdated web/page design without a way spellchecker

Next is my campaign to bring back new coke….

Comment by Ghost Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:17 pm
=== Maybe it’s a feature? ===

not according to the tools…. on the page that never was……

Comment by Ghost Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:28 pm
===on the page that never was===

When I screwed up my site, I killed off the “upgrade.” I just wish others would do the same.

Loads fast, easy to find everything, lots of constantly updated information is what I’m after here, not beauty.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:31 pm
I’ve been trying to log into this new-fangled insurance site to see if I can find out about the plans. A couple of weeks now and no luck yet.

Comment by Earnest Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:33 pm
I hear the Obamacare website is having problems . . . (snark fully intended)

just sayin’

Comment by East Central Illinois Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:33 pm
If you use Firefox, this add-on will help:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/yesscript/

Comment by digital Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:39 pm
I look a the gatehouse ads as symbols of their total desperation; a clear sign that they are not long for this world. When you have to sink that far for ad cash - far enough that you drive people away with their obnoxiousness, the end is nigh.

Comment by Shark Sandwich Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:45 pm
Anything that encourages me to reread my political comment before sending it, is doing me a favor.

Comment by walkinfool Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 2:59 pm
How about on the SunT how the “Taxpayers deserve a ‘golden parachute’” op piece has been the top story in that section since Sept 3? At least on my phone anyway … pull down the old content! Nothing like a 9/3/13 story still up on 10/18/13 to make your site look stale. You figure they would have hired someone and tightened it up at some point during the last 10 years. Maybe not.

Comment by P. Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 3:06 pm
Sun Times takes the cake for me. Facebook app on the iphone is extremely sucky too.

Comment by Siriusly Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 3:26 pm
If anything, that “Up to the Minute” page sounds brutal and just HAS to be improved…

Comment by Just The Way It Is One Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 3:29 pm
I want to second AR’s contribution about the Tribune. I also hate their (and others) automatic video ads and teasers that play automatically. *Really* hate those!!

Comment by Katiedid Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 3:55 pm
Not too long ago, Wizards of the Coast (the company known for making Magic the Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, and plenty of trading card games that sell decently) changed their forums and for about a week they were hellish to use, especially if you wanted to do more than post some text.
They lost a huge (50%-70% would be my guess) amount of people who played D&D through the forums (play by post) who weren’t able to play their games.

Comment by Timmeh Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 4:09 pm
Gatehouse.

The dumb up to the minute popups make no sense as you say. They’re the last thing I ever look at; so, I never see the ‘ads’ they put up there. What is their point with the popups anyway?

Last week, the RRStar bragged on their new website. Tried it. Couldn’t get anything without getting their paywall. Haven’t been back; dropped their tweets; no point.

Hope their web advertisers are getting a real, REAL cheap rate; gatehouse has discouraged casual browers from seeing any of their ads.

Looks like they want to death-spiral down the bankruptcy hole.

Comment by sal-says Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 4:18 pm
The good news is that the Abe Vigoda Status website is still up and running.

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 4:45 pm
I agree on the annoying Gatehouse popup window.

Since I use Firefox though, I use the Adblock Plus Popup Addon. In the Options, add a rule to block sj-r.com popups (additional rules for other paper’s sites). Check all boxes to apply it and check the box to close the window.

When you see a message that it’s blocking them, choose the do not show the message option.

Occasionally I see the window flash but it disappears just as quick. Bottom line is you don’t have to deal with closing it anymore, or deal with the problems that Rich mentioned.

Again, I am using Firefox. Try it.

Comment by Ready To Get Out Friday, Oct 18, 13 @ 9:56 pm
==I killed off the “upgrade.” I just wish others would do the same.==

Good point. “Bloatware” is a forgotten term for lazy programming resulting in slow websites that often stall completely.

I like this site. As pointed out, it’s fast and simple. A best-in-class text-mostly sidebar with a bazillion links to everything is great. All that, with a couple reliable regulars, AND Oscar…hey, what’s not to like?

Comment by Toure's Latte Saturday, Oct 19, 13 @ 11:50 am