I can now attest to the fact that John Cole is a secret optimist, because I told John that we can expect the new site to be back up by 6pm, hopefully sooner. John turned that into “early afternoon”!!! I suppose early afternoon is possible, but it is highly unlikely.
As John mentioned, the transition to the new site will start somewhere around 6 am tomorrow. It may not start right on the dot at 6, and you are welcome to stay on Balloon Juice until the moment the old site is taken down. Who will be the last person to comment on the last thread on the current site?
So what can you expect for tomorrow? When you see a message come up on balloon-juice.com instead of the website, that’s how you will know that the process has started.
It takes awhile to count each of the 5.5 million comments as we move them to the new site. Okay, we’re not actually counting them, but you knew that. It still takes a long time to move everything over!
We are unlikely to have anything to report until at least 10 am, but John will provide updates on his twitter account whenever there is something to say. Anyone can view John’s twitter account at this link: https://twitter.com/johngcole
John has quite graciously decided to LET THE NEW SITE RUN AD-FREE FOR ONE WEEK as everyone gets acquainted with the new site. After one week, ads will be added, and you can all judge for yourselves whether the new ads are well behaved and unobtrusive enough that you can live with them or decide that you are going to use an ad blocker.
If you’re happy with the new site, or you just want to show your appreciation for a week of ad-free Balloon Juice, and you are in a position to throw something in the coffers, I’m sure John would greatly appreciate that.
John believes that it’s the people who read the individual threads and the comments who are most likely to want to support Balloon Juice, so look for the Support Our Site links on individual posts rather than on the front page. John wanted the front page to be warm and welcoming and not say “hey, give us money!”
Thanks again to all the testers who took the time to go through the forms and test the site and share their feedback.
Tomorrow should be an interesting day for any number of reasons!
*All times are Eastern.
Eljai
I am giddy with excitement.
patrick II
I thought at first that the 5.5 million comments you were referring to would those pent up from a whole first day of public impeachment hearings and no balloon juice.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
I hate the new site. I hate everything about it. It’s new, and it doesn’t look the same, and it’s ugly, and it’s hard to use, and it doesn’t look like what I’m used to, and everything about is awful, and it sucks, too. Even if it’s better in every way, it sucks, and I hate it.
Just wanted to get my thoughts on the record here.
NotMax
When is the bris? Will there be cake?
:)
TaMara (HFG)
Boy between you and Adam, scheduling a respite post is kinda pointless.
Baud
I feel like I’ll be going into the first day of impeachment completely naked.
Eljai
@TaMara (HFG): FWIW, I very much enjoyed the 30 seconds I got to spend with Scout ?
Gin & Tonic
And the testers who didn’t go through the forms? Huh? Chopped liver, or what?
Um, asking for a friend, of course.
germy
I hope there won’t be too much Facebook stuff (links, videos) on the new site.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Your loss is our gain?
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: You were a big help, form or no form! I didn’t mean that literally, I guess. I was just thinking that testing was a lot like work and took some dedication on the part of the testers.
TaMara (HFG)
So John can go broke running the expensive new site. That’s sounds good.
Spanky
I just want to report that since I linked to the “You’re Having My Baby” Youtube video with Paul Anka, this blog has been hitting me with ads for the Jersey Boys show at National Theatre. I hope to hell the new blog cures that.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Mmm. Chopped liver….
/reverie
WaterGirl
@TaMara (HFG): Oops, so sorry! I was so late getting this up that I didn’t even look.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: Just having a little fun, no worries.
RAVEN
@WaterGirl: I’m sorry I didn’t participate but I spent the last 20 years in front of a computer and I retired just as this all came down.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Said the gentleman who mistakenly slipped into the House of the Rising Son.
:)
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: I know, and you made me laugh.
WaterGirl
@RAVEN: I think there were 87 or so devices tested in all, so we had you covered. I hope retirement has been splendid so far.
caphilldcne
Um, How does one “throw something in the coffers?” A link or something would help me out. I’m sure there’s some simple way to donate (venmo anyone?) but I’ve never been able to figure it out (maybe cause I access this site on a phone?). Anyway maybe there’s a new donate page somewhere? This happened to me last year at XMas when I was donating to websites I like and couldn’t figure it out. Thanks for any help.
jl
I gave up on expectations for BJ blog so long ago, I have a difficult time imagining what they could even be. So, I’m good whatever happens.
RAVEN
@WaterGirl: I mark today as the first real day since I had so much going on this fall leading up to last weekend. Now it gets real.
Quaker in a Basement
Best wishes to all you transitioneers. See you on the other side.
WaterGirl
@caphilldcne: Thank you! There will be a donation link on every thread on the new site.
jl
@Baud:” I feel like I’ll be going into the first day of impeachment completely naked. ”
How is that different than any other day, for a Baudist?
Tinare
Best of luck. Can’t wait to see the new site and all of the critics.
Van Buren
Now I know how Ike felt on June 5th, but without the responsibility.
chopper
@NotMax:
eight days from now they’ll slice off the archives and all old posts will disappear.
chopper
@Spanky:
the new blog will link to the circle jerks version.
satby
Just the joy of getting did of that as at the bottom will be worth it.
J R in WV
Our new puppies are at least as good — wait! No!! Better!!! than eve Scout. Cuter, smarter, more affectionate, sleeker. Well, your own kids are always better than other people’s kids…
I guess this should be on the respite thread, but this is where I was reading when BooBoo came in and put her head in my lap after she finished her puppy chow. Now she wants to go outside, where it’s 17 degrees… colder than they’ve seen so far!!
West of the Rockies
You have to count 5.5 MILLION comments?
I demand a recount. I will not concede the old Balloon Juice. I will take this to the SC if I must!
Oh, and I concur with Lord Fartdaddy: the new site stinks to high heaven.
Aleta
Fats Domino – On A Slow Boat To China
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: How is that different than any other day?
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: The project benefited from my lack of participation. Trust me.
Spanky
@Omnes Omnibus: Topless as well as the usual pantless.
Or is that “pantsless”?
Gin & Tonic
@Spanky: You could say “pants-less” and *really* trigger some people.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Unpantsed?
Martin
Keep Scottying his Kirk, WaterGirl. You’re going good work.
John Revolta
Frankly I dunno if I can adapt to not having to type in my name and all that stuff every time I comment.
Living in such a capitalist Hell is gonna make us all soft and defenseless with big fat fingers.
lollipopguild
@Omnes Omnibus: De-pantsed? Boss! De-pants!, De-pants!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@patrick II: No, that’s the outrage at the outage.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Isn’t that your normal state?
Omnes Omnibus
@lollipopguild: I will find you and cut you.*
*Nothing personal, you understand. It just must be.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Just think about Baud being naked, that should help, or not.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: You’ll love the threaded comments.
?BillinGlendaleCA
I’m sure it will be early afternoon, somewhere.
M. Bouffant
Y’know, this country runs east-west, not just along the I-95 corridor. When you give a time, you might clarify w/ the time zone. We have six of them.
Omnes Omnibus
@M. Bouffant: In this case, the vagueness increases the probability that the timeline will be accurate.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: Exactly, it’s a feature, not a bug.
Amir Khalid
I just need to be reassure that the transition to the new site will be seamless; that all media will load correctly; that I’ll at least get back the functionality I have lost access to in recent days at this decrepit old site, like comment editing and the arrow keys. If I get that I’ll have no complants.
Middlelee
I donated $50 for the new website tonight and will throw in a little more when I get paid on the 22nd. There was no way to designate it for the new website but I assume John puts the donations where he needs them.
debbie
@jl:
You’ll like it.
JaySinWA
I just want to say as a tester, whatever happens tomorrow is not my fault.
Aleta
We could all stand to learn something from Jared Kushner about project messenging a path to success.
WaterGirl
@caphilldcne: Just caught that you access the site on a phone. The donation link is on the right-hand side, but on a phone, everything that is on the right-hand side on a computer is at the bottom of the post, after the comments. So that’s where you will want to look for the link to PayPal under Support Our Site.
WaterGirl
@RAVEN: Congratulations, then. You have all the traits of someone who makes a success of retirements. Hoping you love it!
Mary G
I know the thread’s probably dead, but here’s cat video;
NotMax
@Aleta
Mexico will pay for it.
/veal, waitress, etc.
WaterGirl
@M. Bouffant:
I was speaking of BJ time, which in some circles is known as Eastern Time.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I just had the same thought! (though it wasn’t intentional on my part)
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: Amir, I can only promise that if something doesn’t work for you we will follow up and see if something can be done to remedy it.
WaterGirl
@Middlelee: No hookers and blow for John until the website is paid for and the monthly hosting fees are covered!
WaterGirl
Goodnight, old Balloon Juice. Thanks for hanging in there and holding yourself together while we got the new site in order. We are moving on, but we’ll always have the memories.
Some day we may look back, fondly reminiscing about the good old days when we had to type our nyms and email addresses over and over.
M. Bouffant
@WaterGirl: Figgered as much.
As I usually sack out about 0300PT fingers crossed that all is running smoothly, or at least on its way to smoothly by the time I wake up.
something fabulous
@Omnes Omnibus: @Spanky: PANTSFREE
Infodriveway
Last‽
Origuy
Not Last!
Probably, anyway. The Hawaiians and Amir are probably still up.
Watergirl, thanks for all you’ve done. That goes to the testers, too. Effective testing is a skill that can be tedious.
way2blue
How difficult would it be to add an ad-free subscription option to the website. Say $35 / year? (Too soon?)
Geeno
Ooooh – new buttons and stuff. I’ll have to take some time and get acquainted with the new site