note: I pulled this and scheduled it for a later publish to not stomp on Betty’s post. Sorry for the brief stomp, Betty!
Just a quick update:
The video as is back – yay more site revenue for good causes.
The video ad is back – boo, it makes the page refresh.
Well folks, we’re working on it. We’re seeing what we can do to make the best of both worlds.
Please don’t block all the ads on the site, they’re the lifeblood that a) keeps the community going, and b) ensure that good pet causes are supported. And, should you ignore this plea, once the refresh issue is past, please consider white-listing the site so that we get more ad revenue!
For today, perhaps tomorrow, as we experiment with some settings, the ad may go away, make the page refresh, or show an error message. Please be patient while we try to get it right.
This wouldn’t even be seen by you if we had a test server, but which we don’t…yet. I just started setting it up today, and expect to have it fully functional by the end of the week. When ready, it will be an almost clone of the full site, with a few configuration differences. It will be a full-time dedicated server for experimenting with new or changed features, etc. So less bumps in the future as we return to the ideal of a full-time test/development server!
Alongside this will be a proper Issues tracker so that problems, ideas, complaints, etc. about the technical side of the site can be put in one central, public place. No more spreadsheets, to-do lists, emails, comments, phone calls, etc. – just a simple, organized list of Issues.
More details will be forthcoming, but it is my sincere hope that we’ll be able to improve this site, smooth over rough patches, and hopefully add a feature or two here and there that makes your reader/commenter life better.
As a final piece of news, you may have noticed that there is an In Memoriam widget at the top of the sidebar. It’s temporary, just there for a few weeks, but please do keep greennotGreen’s family in your thoughts and prayers, and if you have a bit to spare, consider a donation to honor her, and to thank her and her family for sharing her journey. I know that I am changed from going through this; I suspect many of us are.
I don’t expect to be in the comments much, but feel free to post tech issues, ideas, etc. I am taking good ideas and adding them to the list. That won’t mean they all get done, but once they’re official issues, at least there’s a process and explanations if an issue is closed without resolution.
ETA: Please give feedback below if the desktop site is working better for you than earlier today or yesterday, or if it’s the same, or worse. If it is the same as before, also let me know. I made some changes that seemed to fix things but then I just saw what I think was the partial reload, so now I’m not sure what to think.