NewsFeed

[iso_55]

With a new format, I'll raise the old argument, what's the point  of posting Free Press articles when some or most of us have to pay to read them? I think the Newsfeed is a waste as first people can't read FP articles & there's absolutely no discussion on anything in that section. If the answer there's no discussion because the stories get raised in the Bomber feed then the Newsfeed is redundant. Maybe it should be discontinued & the space on the website used for something else useful  we can discuss to raise traffic on the site. Just a thought. 

Edited January 12, 2016 by iso_55

[Guest J5V]

35 minutes ago, iso_55 said:

With a new format, I'll raise the old argument, what's the point  of posting Free Press articles when some or most of us have to pay to read them? I think the Newsfeed is a waste as first people can't read FP articles & there's absolutely no discussion on anything in that section. If the answer there's no discussion because the stories get raised in the Bomber feen then the Newsfeed is redundant. Maybe it should be discontinued & the space on the website used for something else useful  we can discuss to raise traffic on the site. Just a thought. 

Have to agree with this. The FP is dead to me and many others.

[Goldkobra]

You can still read the free press for, well, free. It will block you after 2 articles, it is able to do this by installing trackers or cookies on your device. If you go into your browser settings and delete your cookies you go back to having 2 free articles again. Firefox and IE can be set to delete cookies when you close it. So all you have to do is close and re open to reset.

Edited January 12, 2016 by Goldkobra

[Rich]

1 hour ago, iso_55 said:

With a new format, I'll raise the old argument, what's the point  of posting Free Press articles when some or most of us have to pay to read them? I think the Newsfeed is a waste as first people can't read FP articles & there's absolutely no discussion on anything in that section. If the answer there's no discussion because the stories get raised in the Bomber feed then the Newsfeed is redundant. Maybe it should be discontinued & the space on the website used for something else useful  we can discuss to raise traffic on the site. Just a thought. 

Not saying there isn't merit to shutting it down, but I am curious what you think we would be able to add there that we don't have now?

It isn't like there is mutually exclusive space on the forums.  If there is something useful you think we can add, we can add it regardless of whether the news feed is there or not.

My basic thoughts on this are that it hurts no one to have it there.  If you don't like it, don't use it.  Unless it really annoys a majority of members to see the articles and not be able to read them, what does it hurt?

[iso_55]

I think it annoys people who don't live in Winnipeg that can't access the stories. As far as what could replace it, all the Newsfeed does now is take up space anyway. Like I said, there's never any discussion so what's the use? I've asked in the past why there's no discussion on the stories posted & the answer I got back was that these are all discussed in the Bomber section which makes the Newsfeed redundant then. If not everyone can read Freep stories which seem to be the majority of what is posted in that section then why have it? My feeling is that if you don't have anything better to replace i, that still doesn't seem a reason to keep the Newsfeed then why not save space & get rid of it?

Edited January 12, 2016 by iso_55

[MOBomberFan]

I think this is just further evidence that you are easily annoyed.

[iso_55]

4 hours ago, Rich said:

Not saying there isn't merit to shutting it down, but I am curious what you think we would be able to add there that we don't have now?

It isn't like there is mutually exclusive space on the forums.  If there is something useful you think we can add, we can add it regardless of whether the news feed is there or not.

My basic thoughts on this are that it hurts no one to have it there.  If you don't like it, don't use it.  Unless it really annoys a majority of members to see the articles and not be able to read them, what does it hurt?

It's not like I don't use it Rich, I can't use it so I have no choice. If it only benefits part of the membership then why have it? You have to  be a Freep Digital subscriber to read the articles in Newsfeed. As far as what can we have instead, I mean... one just has to browse other similar websites to see what's up. I can't give you an answer because I haven't thought about it. I uust think the Newsfeed serves no purpose. if there was at least some discussion when stories were posted I'd probably feel different but there is none. To me & I know there are others here who feel the same, it just seems like a dead spot on the website. And that's not a knock or trying to be negative on the work you do here as the site looks great. Just a suggestion to maybe change it up just a bit when it comes to the Newsfeed. 

[iso_55]

2 hours ago, MOBomberFan said:

I think this is just further evidence that you are easily annoyed.

No. I could have private messaged Rich very easily but thought others would have wanted to have an opinion. That's why I'm making these comments.

Edited January 12, 2016 by iso_55

[Bigblue204]

I still read it. For free. So it doesn't bother me at all.

[Rich]

I'm all good with the discussion here on this. I don't take it personally at all.  I'd rather have more people chime in with their thoughts. I'm not even 100% in favour of keeping it. I just play devils advocate and ask questions from a different point of view. 

I still don't understand how it is wasted space, it doesn't hurt anything by being there. If you don't like it don't use it. Some people don't ever read General.  Should I get rid of that too?  I don't think it degrades your experience of the website by being there.  And there are people who still use it  

And to discussion. I don't think it was ever meant to have discussion. Just a one stop place to get daily CFL news articles. 

I for sure use it a lot less with the FP pay wall but the Sun articles are still valid. It also lets people know what is happening in CFL news even by just article titles.  I'm also hopeful at some point the FP reverses their stance on this  

Twitter doesn't replace it because you have to be reading the timeline at the right time before the tweet about it gets buried. 

[tacklewasher]

I don't read the newsfeed at all. Not in Winnipeg and don't feel like clearing cookies. I figure if it is something relevant, someone will post in in the Bombers or Jets forum for discussion.

But I also don't see what the fuss is. It's there and I ignore it. Doesn't hurt me to have it there.

[TBURGESS]

The newsfeed doesn't offer anything to me. It's just a waste of space. That being said, I simply ignore it like most folks.

[MOBomberFan]

7 hours ago, iso_55 said:

No. I could have private messaged Rich very easily but thought others would have wanted to have an opinion. That's why I'm making these comments.

I hear ya. I'm a stuck behind the pay wall too, so half the articles posted here are no good to me. The other half are by the sun... they're no good to anyone.

With that said it's not taking up valuable space that could be used for something else. I'd rather keep it just to see the daily headlines.

[Jimmy Pop]

12 hours ago, Goldkobra said:

You can still read the free press for, well, free. It will block you after 2 articles, it is able to do this by installing trackers or cookies on your device. If you go into your browser settings and delete your cookies you go back to having 2 free articles again. Firefox and IE can be set to delete cookies when you close it. So all you have to do is close and re open to reset.

You can also read all Freep articles on mobile, with iPhones anyway. Open an article, close the "Free Trial Ended" popup, then select Reader View when the article loads. Works like a charm.

[Noeller]

I pay for the articles I want to see and I deem to be worth my 27 cents. But I don't really use the news feature here. I'll go to the FP site or I'll see it on social media. 

[AtlanticRiderFan]

I don't use it either. I hardly notice it though, either, so it's irrelevant to me.

[Jpan85]

It never blocks me on my IPad. Rich could we add bomber articles from the Metro and TSN?

[Rich]

It really depends on what people want to and don't want to see in there.

It basically takes an RSS feed and converts it to posts in the forum.  To only get Bomber or CFL news from a news site, they would have to have a designated feed for just that sport or team (Free Press and Sun provide this which is why they were the only two added when I first set it up).

In TSN's case, they currently only have 1 feed.  So if I add it, all of their articles come in (which if people would want / like , I can do it).  Their website does mention this:   We are currently working on more RSS feeds, and will eventually have sport-by-sport RSS feeds in the future.

For the metro, same thing.  Their current RSS feeds are separated by:

News
Canada
World
Calgary
Edmonton
Halifax
Ottawa
Toronto
Vancouver
Winnipeg

Sections
Views
Entertainment
Food
Health
Money
Drive
Sports
Your Home
Horoscopes
Features
Crossword and Sudoku Answers

So it would either be all Winnipeg news or all Sports news (I'm guessing the sports would be for all cities)

Alternatively (and this would take a little more investigation to know for sure), I think I could get rid of the News Forum all together and collate everything into a true RSS feed similar to the Twitter feed.  We'd have to figure out positionally where it would make most sense to have on the website.

[Rich]

Did quick search on who else might have a CFL feed.

CBC does.  Curiously, CFL.ca doesn't seem to have an RSS feed.

[The Unknown Poster]

I also pay to read Free Press articles that I feel are worth it.  I was opposed to that at first but I dont buy papers anymore so if I do read a story, I dont mind paying the 27 cents.  With the Sun, if I hit the 10 allowable Ill just google the headline and read the story from some other source.  Could do that with the Free Press too.