Boston.com Sucks

I read a few things online every day, the Boston Globe was one of them. This week, though, their site was completely redesigned, and it really, really, REALLY sucks.

So I wrote them a letter. Here it is.

I have no way of knowing if this will reach its destination, because the new Globe website doesn't list email addresses for the ombudsman. I'm guessing that "ombudsman@globe.com" might be right, but the site isn't helping to confirm my guess. Even a site-search for "ombudsman email" turned up literally nothing.

Nor does the new site list email addresses for editors, or anyone else - at least not in any obvious way. And I'm relatively experienced with searching websites; what chance will readers have who are less comfortable with the online experience?

I'm sorry to say that the redesign also fails to provide useful news in a readable and dependable format, as the old site did.

Please note that I am *not* decrying the loss of a beloved font or layout. This is not a matter of some minor detail. The new site is simply unreadable; many of the links to articles are broken (the Aquarium article today, for example, which I would have found interesting), and the layout in general is extremely confusing and difficult to read. This is far and away the worst online newspaper or news site format that I have ever seen, bar none.

The feedback link goes to a generic webform for boston.com, with no contact section listing email addresses for various departments of the Globe; why, exactly, are you choosing to hide from your online readers?

I could guess why, but in any case it's insulting. A newspaper should be responsive to its readers, and that requires openness - not a virtual barricade.

I have read the Globe online daily for years, but thanks to this atrocious redesign I'll be removing it from my reading list.

->Peter
------------------------------------------------
Peter Maranci peter@maranci.net

Boston.com Sucks

I read a few things online every day, the Boston Globe was one of them. This week, though, their site was completely redesigned, and it really, really, REALLY sucks.

So I wrote them a letter. Here it is.

I have no way of knowing if this will reach its destination, because the new Globe website doesn't list email addresses for the ombudsman. I'm guessing that "ombudsman@globe.com" might be right, but the site isn't helping to confirm my guess. Even a site-search for "ombudsman email" turned up literally nothing.

Nor does the new site list email addresses for editors, or anyone else - at least not in any obvious way. And I'm relatively experienced with searching websites; what chance will readers have who are less comfortable with the online experience?

I'm sorry to say that the redesign also fails to provide useful news in a readable and dependable format, as the old site did.

Please note that I am *not* decrying the loss of a beloved font or layout. This is not a matter of some minor detail. The new site is simply unreadable; many of the links to articles are broken (the Aquarium article today, for example, which I would have found interesting), and the layout in general is extremely confusing and difficult to read. This is far and away the worst online newspaper or news site format that I have ever seen, bar none.

The feedback link goes to a generic webform for boston.com, with no contact section listing email addresses for various departments of the Globe; why, exactly, are you choosing to hide from your online readers?

I could guess why, but in any case it's insulting. A newspaper should be responsive to its readers, and that requires openness - not a virtual barricade.

I have read the Globe online daily for years, but thanks to this atrocious redesign I'll be removing it from my reading list.

->Peter
------------------------------------------------
Peter Maranci peter@maranci.net

The September Without An 11th

I just read an interview in Salon (I subscribe). In it, the interviewee is asked about September 11, and says this (emphasis added):

"...it was clearly such a momentous event, such an overwhelming and somber -- I'm sorry, I'm just going to sound banal saying this stuff. Everyone reading this interview went through the day also so I don't need to expand on that."

But I didn't go through that. At the same minute that the first plane swept into the WTC, I was being wheeled into surgery, totally unconscious. By the time I woke up it was all over, and I was still pretty groggy for the next few days. So there seems to be some way in which September 11th, 2001 just didn't happen for me - I mean, it's tragic and awful, yeah, but somehow it's not all that real to me. Despite the fact that I had been to the top of the WTC a few times, and have some vivid memories (actually from standing at the base of the towers - they were so damn tall that they made me feel agoraphobia just looking up, and I don't have agoraphobia).

People act so weird about it all! They're totally willing to close their eyes and put blind faith in an Administration that couldn't possibly be more cynical and obvious in their intention to exploit 9/11 as an excuse to shred the Constitution and loot the country. What the hell happened to everybody? What's the problem? Why did an attack like that turn everyone into pathetic, bleating sheep, begging Big Daddy Bush to take care of them?

Maybe the most disturbing question is this: If I had been awake that day, would I still be asking these questions?

God, I hope so.

The September Without An 11th

I just read an interview in Salon (I subscribe). In it, the interviewee is asked about September 11, and says this (emphasis added):

"...it was clearly such a momentous event, such an overwhelming and somber -- I'm sorry, I'm just going to sound banal saying this stuff. Everyone reading this interview went through the day also so I don't need to expand on that."

But I didn't go through that. At the same minute that the first plane swept into the WTC, I was being wheeled into surgery, totally unconscious. By the time I woke up it was all over, and I was still pretty groggy for the next few days. So there seems to be some way in which September 11th, 2001 just didn't happen for me - I mean, it's tragic and awful, yeah, but somehow it's not all that real to me. Despite the fact that I had been to the top of the WTC a few times, and have some vivid memories (actually from standing at the base of the towers - they were so damn tall that they made me feel agoraphobia just looking up, and I don't have agoraphobia).

People act so weird about it all! They're totally willing to close their eyes and put blind faith in an Administration that couldn't possibly be more cynical and obvious in their intention to exploit 9/11 as an excuse to shred the Constitution and loot the country. What the hell happened to everybody? What's the problem? Why did an attack like that turn everyone into pathetic, bleating sheep, begging Big Daddy Bush to take care of them?

Maybe the most disturbing question is this: If I had been awake that day, would I still be asking these questions?

God, I hope so.