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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3019
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Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 8:19 pm
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Is the loading next article thing a new feature of the site? It popped up right around the time I updated my browser to Safari 11.0.1, so I wasn't sure if it had been there all along (in a form my computer couldn't access), or if it was a bit a of a "stealth upgrade" to the site.
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DerekL1963
Subscriber
Joined: 14 Jan 2015
Posts: 1122
Location: Puget Sound
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 1:16 pm
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BodaciousSpacePirate wrote: | Is the loading next article thing a new feature of the site? It popped up right around the time I updated my browser to Safari 11.0.1, so I wasn't sure if it had been there all along (in a form my computer couldn't access), or if it was a bit a of a "stealth upgrade" to the site. |
It appears to be a recent (and unwanted on my part) change to the site.
Dangit ANN, stop forcing me to load stuff. First is was videos, now it's unwanted articles.
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Time Bandit
Joined: 16 Jan 2017
Posts: 203
Location: Raleigh
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:25 pm
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Yeah, just discovered this one...seems to be new as previously mentioned.
Not loving it...I only click on the links to the various news articles and reviews I care about, so this does nothing good for me or my computer.
But hey...at least it isn't another auto-playing video, amirite?
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TymersRealm
Joined: 05 Jan 2017
Posts: 93
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:25 pm
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I pretty much agree.
If I want to look at an article of interest, that's the only article of interest I want to look at.
If I want to look at a different article that was posted, I'll look at it in due time, not as a tag-a-long to what I'm currently reading.
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Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher
Joined: 29 Dec 2001
Posts: 10468
Location: Do not message me for support.
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:30 pm
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It's a change that we pushed out this morning, although subscribers on the fast server have had it for about a week.
Sometime in the near future we'll be adding an option to enable / disable it on the account settings page.
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CatSword
Joined: 01 Jul 2014
Posts: 1489
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 5:35 pm
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I dislike the "loading next article" thing since I associate it with devious clickbait sites that want to keep you on/load you with as many ads as possible by jumping you right into the next page/story.
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brucepuppy
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:52 pm
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Due to sluggish internet connection in my country (and ANN being a 'heavy' site to load with tons of pics) I'm usually using mini browser to cut loading time. I didn't realize the site's new difference until I noticed the articles had missing/blank picture boxes. It happened even when an article only had 3 pictures which was weird. I used to get blank pictures but only for articles with a lot of photos, even then when I clicked the picture box it would give me option to 'show image' and then I could see it on separate window. But now the blank picture gave me nothing. I tried Firefox and yeah, the pics were all there but it took a good 5 mins before it got an endless loading page icon.
I don't usually read articles for their pics so there would be no problem. I'll still visit ANN regularly. My reason to post is just to give the staff a headups about the effect of the new change on mini browser.
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Thorfinn
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Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 11:31 am
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Oh come on, first you try to force the videos and now this? Please add the feature to stop this or remove it completely as soon as possible, I don't like having things forced in my face, I only read the articles that I click on and the ones I'm interested in. Not as bad as the video, but not something worth praising.
It's like you guys are trying to take the worst features from crappy general news websites, which also do these kinds of things. I really liked how simple the website was, I guess that won't be a thing any longer, at least you're going to give us the option to disable it.
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Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher
Joined: 29 Dec 2001
Posts: 10468
Location: Do not message me for support.
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Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 12:20 pm
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Thanks brucepuppy. We didn't really anticipate that effect.
We're so used to our blazing fast Internet that we often forget that not everyone's experience is the same as ours.
Like I said above, an option to turn off the auto-load next article was already planned, but I'll ask Dan to prioritize that particular option and add it to the current options page, instead of the upcoming options page.
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TymersRealm
Joined: 05 Jan 2017
Posts: 93
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Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 12:38 pm
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That's good to hear, Tempest.
And no offense, but in all honesty having the disable option ready when you had this 'feature' ready should of been kept in mind. Sometimes users don't like stealth changes like this. And comments like CatSword and brucepuppy made are a certain reasons in of them selves.
I do get the need to update and evolve to changing platforms, but sometimes what does work shouldn't be messed with.
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Alan45
Village Elder
Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 10038
Location: Virginia
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Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 1:45 pm
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Interesting, this feature doesn't work for me at all. I tried several articles on the main page and had no result. I even made a point to scroll down to the bottom of the page below all the other articles and nothing.
This is not a complaint, I was just interested in seeing what people were talking about. I'll try again the next time I get signed out.
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TymersRealm
Joined: 05 Jan 2017
Posts: 93
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Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 1:52 pm
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It triggers with the News and Daily Briefs articles.
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Alan45
Village Elder
Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 10038
Location: Virginia
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Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 2:06 pm
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Not for me as long as I'm logged on. A few minutes ago, I got logged out. I saw the "loading next article" bit at the bottom but it did not, in fact, load. All it did was sit there and spin until I got tired of watching it. I logged back on and again, it doesn't show.
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Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher
Joined: 29 Dec 2001
Posts: 10468
Location: Do not message me for support.
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Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 9:59 pm
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TymersRealm wrote: | And no offense, but in all honesty having the disable option ready when you had this 'feature' ready should of been kept in mind. Sometimes users don't like stealth changes like this. |
Websites change over time. New Layouts, new features, different ways of working.
ANN has decided to avoid large changes and do incremental changes.
You might have preferred the way ANN looked in 1998, but that version of the site just isn't available anymore.
As we change our layout in the future, there will always be people that don't like some of the changes. There's no avoiding that, and often there will be no optional on/off switch like we can offer with this one.
These aren't "stealth changes," we make changes to the site every day, and we simply don't have the facility to "announce" each change.
Very few web-publications offer their readers the number of options that we do. When a small number of readers didn't like the layout for the front page, we added a layout option tailored to them (that very few people use, we have the statistics). When a small number of people complained about the text width of our articles, we gave them an option to change that (which very few people use), etc... Most websites would simply tell you "the next article auto-loads now. That's our layout, hope you like it, we're sorry if you don't."
Auto-load is the way most online publishers have been going for the past year. We don't copy every web-trend, but this is one we liked and we decided not to be the last website to get on this boat.
Please expect more changes in the future, I hope you like most of them. I apologize for those that you don't like, some of them might have on/off switches, others won't. Even if you don't like some of the changes, I sincerely hope you like the majority of them.
Christopher Macdonald
Publisher
Anime News Network
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Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher
Joined: 29 Dec 2001
Posts: 10468
Location: Do not message me for support.
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Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2017 10:00 pm
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Alan45 wrote: | Not for me as long as I'm logged on. A few minutes ago, I got logged out. I saw the "loading next article" bit at the bottom but it did not, in fact, load. All it did was sit there and spin until I got tired of watching it. I logged back on and again, it doesn't show. |
Strange. Can you tell me about your environment?
(OS, Browser, plugins)
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