We are officially done with you. No more linking to your stories and trying to drive traffic to your exceptional writing and scoops. We'll just wait for them to get picked up by some other paper that does not make their interactive experience a disaster.
Your site is excruciating. It is not user-friendly, it is swamped with advertising, including the most evil of all ads, the pop-op box. You cannot read any content unless you register on the site and for some reason loading your content and advertising slows your site down so much I can go check my email while waiting for your page to load. I haven't taken the time to do a full site evaluation. I wouldn't do that for free, anyway.
You are being left behind in the new media adaptations being embraced by other MSM outlets. I would point you to the Houston Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman as examples of how to build user interfaces that are not draconian such as the one you have today. Interactive Media is the frontier and your site looks like your print edition scanned into the Internet...with passwords required!
Now I am not only taking you off my bookmarks and going to stop perusing your headlines, but I am also encouraging everyone I know to do the same. I hope this sends you a message that you need help fast! Hire someone to come in and conduct a usability study and provide you with information on how other media outlets have embraced the Internet and are expanding their sphere of influence into the new media world. I happen to know the perfect company and I will put you in touch with them if you email me.
Until then, If you can read this, do not visit Dallas Morning News' site.
Signed,
Exasperated with you.
P.S. No offense to all of the lovely writers over at the DMN, whom I love. Maybe you should forward this to your editors.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
None taken, but geez, come on. I have nothing to do with the website, why punish the writers?
/you know i love you
Good thing the newsstands still sell the DMN. As someone who just became collateral damage - given that you're calling for a boycott on our stories, whether you meant to or not - I suppose the alternative now is to actually buy a paper.
Which is fine by me. Drop those quarters, kiddos!!!! Don't punish the journalists. We have nothing to do with the website.
And meanwhile, you can skip all that bs on the website and just go directly to the blog. www.dallasnews.com/trailblazers.
I know PD won't mind me shopping that here, just this once, since he loves us. :)
xo, baby!
Pinkdome does love the writers at the DMN, but you're going to have to copy and paste your stories in an email to me...or I'll just go to your blog.
xo
Did you know that sales for the Star-T have dropped off so much in Austin that they no longer deliver.
A sad day for the print press.
Easy solution: Trailblazers via RSS. Works well for me.
All of the Belo stations are like that, too. The KHOU website is a pain in the ass.
I don't know who is hiring all the fuckheads at the DMN but that paper has been circling the drain for a while now.
The writing is second rate, the coverage looks like it strictly comes from reporters listening to police scanners, the paper often times rips off other sources when "breaking a story" and they write the most Gawd awful human interest stories that are boring as hell.
It's painfully obvious that whoever is running that paper is over his/her skis.
They're losing subscribers to the Ft. Worth Star Telegram left and right and for good reason; it's a much better paper.
This is what happens when you have a monopoly of the media in one market, the talent goes to hell and everyone starts mailing it in.
To sum up: Fuck the DMN.
Anon -
As far as fuckheads go, I guess it takes one to know one.
LW
It sure does, LW. I guess that explains why I personally know so many!!
LW,
Been a while since I heard that one.
My Jr. High classmates would be very proud to know someone still uses it.
RSS
As a DFW native currenlty stationed in Korea, I try to keep up with going ons back in Dallas and find myself agreeing with you. Trying to navigate the site is horrible and half the time I get page errors trying to read a story. I could move to the Ft. Worth Star Telegram but unfortunately we all know that Dallas and Ft Worth are two different worlds that won't cover each others news.