Welcome to the new Yardbarker!

Welcome to the new and improved Yardbarker BETA, where everyone’s an insider! We’ve been working for months on the new site, which we’ve dubbed “YB3” here at the Yardbarker offices. There are a lot of improvements and new features, all made with the Yardbarker community in mind. Continue reading below for a few highlights of what’s new. There are also links to more detailed information about all of Yardbarker’s features.

Please let us know what you think of the site by emailing us at feedback@yardbarker.com. We are in the BETA stage right now, which means we know we still have work to do. If you were a user of the old site, it may take a little while to get used to some of the new features, but check our FAQ page if you get stuck -- and if you still have a concern, drop us a note. We will be continuing to make improvements and smooth out any lingering wrinkles and we appreciate your help in that process.

Now here’s a look at a few things that are new!

FORUM DISCUSSIONS

Yardbarker now has message boards for every major team on the site. Any Yardbarker user can start a new discussion thread or chime in on an existing discussion. The hottest forum discussions will appear on their respective sport and team Yard pages, and you can always find any forum from the main forum page. We know Yardbarkers love to discuss and debate, so we created the forums as a place where conversations can thrive and get noticed. If you’ve got something to say, bark about it in the forums!

CREATE YOUR OWN BLOG (coming soon!)

Every Yardbarker user will be able to create their own blog right here on Yardbarker! You can post articles with photos, videos, links and more, just like you did on the old site. But now you will also be able to customize the design of your blog with your own headers, colors, formats, and more. Yardbarker users who had posted articles on the old site will have their old content imported into their blog automatically to give them a head start. This feature is coming very soon, so stay tuned.

I want to post an article, photo, video, list, or quiz, what do I do?
Where are all my old posts?

IMPROVED HOMEPAGE

As always, our editors will handpick the best stories from around the web and feature them on the homepage of Yardbarker. We hope you like the new eye-catching design, which has room for bigger photos and even more stories than before.

How can I suggest an article for the homepage?

READ AND DISCUSS AN ARTICLE DIRECTLY AT THE SOURCE

Reading and commenting on stories has now become easier too! Clicking on a headline will pop up a Preview box so you can see the source of the article, the first few sentences, and sometimes an additional Yardbarker editor’s note. You can then choose whether you want to comment on Yardbarker about the story or read the rest of the story at the original source. If you go to the original source, an i-frame will follow you there so that you can easily see the Yardbarker comments, add your own comment, or get back to Yardbarker.

DYNAMIC USER PAGES

We’ve updated your Yardbarker user pages to make it easier for everyone to see your latest activity on the site, your photos, and more. You can also find your full news feed here, making it easy to stay on top of your favorite sports, teams, and the activity of your favorite Yardbarkers. Other users can also bark about you on your page – it’s kind of like stopping by to leave you a note.

EVEN MORE NEWS & RUMOR ARTICLES

Yardbarker was already aggregating news and rumors from our 600+ blogs and sports sites in the Yardbarker Network. Now we have added several thousand more sources. We are pulling in feeds from all the best sports blogs, local and national news sites, team and league sites, Twitter feeds, and more. Check out the Yard of your favorite sport or team by choosing it from the navigation bar and see the breadth of content we now offer.

How can I suggest a source to include?

PHOTO GALLERIES

Yardbarker has partnered with PicApp to offer a constantly updating collection of sports photos for you to browse. Check out the photo collections on your favorite sport, team, or player page. Clicking on a photo from the Preview of a homepage story will also take you to a photo gallery page.

RE-DESIGNED ATHLETE BLOGS

Yardbarker’s roster of professional athletes all got a blog makeover! Click on the Athlete Blog page to visit your favorite athletes’ blogs and check out their new looks. Every Yardbarker athlete also has a user page like everyone else where you can see their latest activity, view their photos, bark about them, and more.

We hope you enjoy exploring the new site. Please do give us your feedback by emailing us at feedback@yardbarker.com. And stay tuned because we have much more in store for this ever-improving site. Now get barking!

-Yardbarker Team

Add Comment

Comments (175)

HarryPotter said June 04, 2009

i liked lists and quizzes, hopefully i will get used to this when its at full speed
Reply
BILLFOLD9 said June 04, 2009

the old 1 was way better change it back!!
Reply
- SMH12289 replied June 04, 2009
  
  Co-Sign
- Birdflipper replied June 05, 2009
  
  I. HATE. THIS. NEW. FORMAT.
  One of the reasons I got addicted to YB was that the old format looked like something a SPORTS FAN would've designed. I'm sure my 11 year old daughter will get a kick out of blogging here about German bands like Tokyo Hotel. Annd what is the point of a Bark Up if they don't register on your page? Where are my points?!
- celticslover07 replied June 15, 2009
  
  i totally agree!!!!
Harvey_Bars said June 04, 2009

I hate change!!!

Sent from my Commodore 64.
Reply
- Wheelman replied June 04, 2009
  
  IZZAT for real? Just wondering. If true, I might be tempted to futz around with my old Amiga 2500. It`s way faster than this HP wonderbox.
- fr0arenas replied June 05, 2009
  
  OMG!!!! LOL!
Shanelle626 said June 04, 2009

Just when I was starting to feel like I had mastered the old system...can someone send over a technologically savy six-year-old that I can dictate comments to?
Reply
meatgoat said June 04, 2009

I hated it fifteen minutes ago.I think if it gets faster I might like it better.It's hard to say.I like the way my homepage reflects everything I've commented on recently. But the newsfeed is really confusing.
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- HarryPotter replied June 04, 2009
  
  if there are no mroe meatgoat quizzes i dont like it
- AlanaG replied June 04, 2009
  
  meatgoat quizzes will be back very soon!... We're still doing some work on the newsfeed. What can we change to make it better?
- meatgoat replied June 04, 2009
  
  Thanks,HP. Hey,Alana, I have another question. Will YB be randomly inserting pictures of Randy Starks onto my articles or will the player image be selected at random? I just posted an imageless article and for someone reason Randy Starks popped up and I don't even LIKE the Dolphins.
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Hey meatgoat, we are using a lot of automated photos on the site now. We like the photos to keep the site looking interesting, but we need to work on the automation, because right now there are a lot of random or wrong photos, like you mentioned. Sorry you got unlucky with Randy Starks!
- meatgoat replied June 05, 2009
  
  Why? Look,here's an example. I posted an article about how I watched 10000 bc while the site was down and it was horrible movie. At what point does adding a picture of a sports scene to the article make sense?
- jerseu_devil replied June 05, 2009
  
  Thats hysterical. I don't know if its because I got used to the old version, but I like it WAY better. It was a lot easier to navigate before. This is like sensory over load; like CNNs 24 hour news coverage. When I'm commenting on an article I don't need to see the "Yard Section" for every damn person on the planet. The Hank Baskett Yard Section?! Seriously? Who gives shite?! I commented on an MMA article today and on the Dana White Yard Section, there was a picture of Kimbo Slice. Under that was the Kimbo Slice Yard Section with a picture of BJ Penn. Under that was the BJ Penn Yard Section with a picture of Anderson Silva as the Terminator. Etc, etc....what the eff? I'm lost before I even get posting.
Wheelman said June 04, 2009

How can I tell when I`ve got mail w/o going to the inbox page?
Reply
- meatgoat replied June 04, 2009
  
  I wondered that,too.
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  good question guys, I believe something will be added shortly, but let me get back to you.
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  by the way, if you have an email address in your account, you should get email alerts still when you get a message -- I got an alert tonight.
- meatgoat replied June 05, 2009
  
  I do. And I didn't. The only way I could tell I got a new message was by actually going to the message page which took about 5 minutes.
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Ok if you're not getting the emails that's a problem too, I'll report it.
Farago said June 04, 2009

Liked it when you could sort by most popular, most recent or most comments
Reply
- Birdflipper replied June 05, 2009
  
  YES!!! Wasn't that like CONVENIENT!? When did convenience go out of style?
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  You can still sort by Most Popuar and Most Recent on any Yard page (like a team page or a sport page). If you want to see all of Yardbarker, choose "All of YB" from the Sport dropdown and then sort by Recent or Popular.
- Farago replied June 05, 2009
  
  Ya but you used to be able to sort like that from the mma page, when I go into MMA Forum it does not have this option. This is only available if you go to News & Rumers. Which I have to say, that page needs improvement. It lists the titles but not the authors. And how to these get picked anyways, it used to be that the most popular posts would be displayed or should be displayed here, this page seems very random.
- Farago replied June 05, 2009
  
  The News & Rumors page should show the picture of the author beside the article like it used to. Easier viewing in my opinion.
Farago said June 04, 2009

Some of my favorites are missing as well, when I go to their site it it says they are already a favorite but it doesn't show in my list....
Reply
shizz08 said June 04, 2009

can youuuuuuuuuu at least warn a brother or sister, that change gone come! 4-real did not see this coming.....but a good look. :-)
Reply
Farago said June 04, 2009

The top articles on the sports pages just list the title and number of comments, it is missing the author of the post.....
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Farago said June 04, 2009

When posting an article you can only select a team or sport, you don't get the option to add the player though..

When you edit a post and hit submit your changes are not actually updated.
Reply
Farago said June 04, 2009

You used to be able to edit for up to 24 hours or something like that. I was able to edit mine initially (although my changes never actually got posted) but just 30min or so later I don't even get the option to edit or delete anymore.... was the time limit changed?
Reply
Farago said June 04, 2009

If you are going to post peoples comments in their personal news feeds then it might be nice to include the actually Article name that the post came from instead of just the comment and the person who made it....
Reply
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Thanks for all the feedback Farago. You've identified a few bugs which we're already working on, and you have a few other good ideas. I like your idea about showing the article name in the news feed for comments. What do other people think?
- meatgoat replied June 05, 2009
  
  I really can't understand why it wasn't that way by design.I'm responding to things that I think are articles from the newsfeed and going to something completely unrelated because I was actually responding to a comment.The newsfeed is pointless now.
- Shanelle626 replied June 05, 2009
  
  I agree. I much preferred when my Newsfeed notified me when a favorite had commented on a particular article (vs. every comment they've made in ANY article). The comment specifics are useless when they're not in context.
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Thanks for chiming in guys, I think we will be able to put the article back in... hold tight!
meatgoat said June 04, 2009

Again,what's with the random sports pictures on our newly posted articles?
Reply
- Shark151 replied June 04, 2009
  
  yea that's a f*cked up bug... Backyard article with nothing to do with sports has a random sports pic????
- Birdflipper replied June 05, 2009
  
  It's like YB is trying to turn into a social networking site but they're Dooooing It Veeerrrry Graduuuaaallly. Like boiling a frog. If you add a frog to cold water and gradually heat it, he won't even realize what's happening to him. WE'RE FROGS!! WE'RE FROGS!! WE'RE FROGS!!!
- xraycat replied June 05, 2009
  
  ahah birdflipper, you and al gore use the same references.. but yea i feel like this is a cross between myspace, a poor man's espn and huffington post... lame... i feel so lost
- Wheelman replied June 06, 2009
  
  Ribit,........Ribit,............Ribit,........Bud,.....Weis,........Er.......................Ribit.
meatgoat said June 04, 2009

Oh yeah, I also think the article preview is a little redundant. Seems like an unnecessary step in the process of viewing a post.
Reply
- Shark151 replied June 05, 2009
  
  mine?
- meatgoat replied June 05, 2009
  
  Wadda you mean? I'm saying if I click on a link just take me there already!! Why do I have to ask YB twice to see a friggin article?!?!
- Shark151 replied June 05, 2009
  
  ok, I was pretty dumb last night
- jerseu_devil replied June 05, 2009
  
  I definitely agree with that too. I don't need to read a preview, then click to read the rest of the story and be given a second preview to read with the option to AGAIN go to the damn story. Whoever said they are trying to turn this into a social site is DEAD ON....please knock it off Yard barker....lol. Give us our quick and easy conversations back.
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Hey guys -- the reason we put in the Preview was to make it easier to read the article. In the old site, if you were on the homepage and you saw a headline about Kobe, you'd click on that. That would take you to the article page where you would read the first few words of the Kobe story. Then you would have to click on the article URL in order to read the full Kobe story. Then if you wanted to comment on YB you'd have to click Back in your browser. With the new Preview, you can get to the full Kobe article faster, and comment right from there in the i-frame.
  
  On the old site were you guys always just going to the YB page that had the first few sentences and not clicking through to read the whole Kobe article? In that case I see it could seem like an extra click to get there. But for people who want to read the full story, it's actually two LESS clicks. What do you think?
- HarryPotter replied June 05, 2009
  
  thats a good idea, i like that one
kinetic said June 05, 2009

hmm, cool logo
Reply
- wearegetgetgo replied June 05, 2009
  
  You mean the the new tagline?
tikitmb said June 05, 2009

The MESSAGE section is jacked up, not happy. I hope this is some kind of glitch, cause YB no longer notifies you when you have new messages. Thats crazy, even the most basic of sites tells you when and how many new messages you get... everytime you get it.
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wearegetgetgo said June 05, 2009

tikitmb, this is glitch. there is supposed to be a notification in newsfeed on the homepage, and also in the top user dropdown menu.
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- meatgoat replied June 05, 2009
  
  The newsfeed is BS now so I don't see how posting notifications there is going to matter.I don't plan on using the newsfeed anymore.It's pointless.
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  the News Feed is actually not done, we are still working on it to make it better. What specifically do you want to make the newsfeed better?
- Wheelman replied June 06, 2009
  
  Get rid of the "Yo-Yo is a fan of..........." lines. Everytime someone goes on a fan-hunting spree, I`ve gotta scroll through umpteen lines looking for actual news.
phightins26 said June 05, 2009

not a fan
Reply
blogdown said June 05, 2009

How will new feature which allows Yardbarker users to create their own blog on the site affect the 'exclusivity' of being in the YBN?
Reply
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  the YBN is still something different -- you're required to have a high readership to join the YBN, for instance. You can find out more info here http://www.yardbarker.com/my_ybn/signup
  
  Lots of Yardbarkers were already blogging on the old site, but they were using our clumsy article-posting system to do it. Now with the new blog platform, they'll finally be able to customize their blog and do a lot more with it.
speedwell said June 05, 2009

Thank you for bringing the carriage return back to comments so we don't have giant run on paragraph comments.

I would like YB to engineer a "delete" button for messages. I like emptying my inbox.
Reply
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Thanks for noticing we fixed that carriage return bug!
  
  I'll note that about the messages, good idea.
sports2debate said June 05, 2009

Aaaaah change is scary! I hope it gets better :(
Reply
Birdflipper said June 05, 2009

Still can't sort Forum Posts by most recent and yadda. I can do it with Team News and such, but what about those of us who come here for the forums? I can (and do) get my NFL and team news from their sites. Why would anybody use YB to get news?
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- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Good suggestion about sorting forums, we can look into that.
crazyphillyfan said June 05, 2009

what happened to everyone's scores?
Reply
romorules said June 05, 2009

AlanaG. Thanks for all the hard work you put into bringing us an improved site. I know it couldn't have been an easy job for you and the rest of the crew.
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- meatgoat replied June 05, 2009
  
  Figures you'd like this. LOL!!!
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Thanks for the props -- everyone here at the Yardbarker offices has been working really hard. We know we still have a lot of work to do though!
jaymz77 said June 05, 2009

Why doesn't my news feed work?
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youknowwho said June 05, 2009

as with most things that change, a little adjusting is needed...on my part lol
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RedwingRobin said June 05, 2009

I am sure we will get used to it. Change is tough for some people.
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khollen said June 05, 2009

so far i`m not happy with it. is this a way of getting the average fan like myself, to leave the yard so it will just be athletes on here?
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- speedwell replied June 05, 2009
  
  YB said that there is a "create your own blog" feature coming soon. You can still post stuff in the discussion/forum, but it looks like featured articles will only come from YB's YBB network which are the high volume blogs that blog for $$$.
- TheFinalHero replied June 05, 2009
  
  The days of fan-based reporting on the Yard are lost, my friend.
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Nope, not at all! We will still be featuring blog posts made by you Yardbarkers on the homepage and other featured areas, once we release the "create your blog" feature. Speedwell, in the past you've posted some great stuff that's been showcased on the homepage, and there's no reason that will change!
  
  If you look at the homepage now, you'll see that a lot of the articles are actually NOT from our Yardbarker Network. As mentioned in this article, we are now pulling in articles from thousands of sources, instead of just our 600 YBN blogs. So you'll see a mix -- we're trying to choose the best articles, no matter where they came from, to deliver the best of the web. Here are the top four articles on the homepage right now:
  
  Kobe... CBS Sports (not our network)
  Nate McClouth... The Big Lead (not our network)
  Federer... SI.com (not our network)
  NHL-NBC deal... FanHouse (not our network)
  
  Of course we will also be giving love to our YBN sites. But as you can see, there's no $$$ motivation here. We are looking for the best content. And once we release the blog platform and you guys start posting, that will include some of your posts too!
speedwell said June 05, 2009

Yo, YB, your automated photo matching is allllll jacked up.
Reply
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  the photo matching will get better on its own over the next few days. Right now the system is catching up trying to upload a bunch of photos. But then even after that there will be some mismatches which we'll have to work on reducing.
- Farago replied June 05, 2009
  
  I don't think that a random photo should be attached to our own posts\articles.... people that don't know they are random will wonder what they heck they mean being attached to an article that might not have anything to do with it.
TheFinalHero said June 05, 2009

More of a traditional composite news site (with the added bonus of player blogs) and less of the fan-based micro-news that previously made one of the few unique sites in internet media.

Reply
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Once we release the blog platform we will be able to start featuring more of that fan-based content. Is there anything we can do better right now to highlight more of the unique stuff?
Farago said June 05, 2009

Yes, please remove the random pictures that appear on my posts, it has nothing to do with the post I submitted and makes things confusing for the readers......
Reply
Farago said June 05, 2009

I also liked it better that no matter what page you were on you could see the link to other sorts pages, NBA, NHL, MMA etc. Don't like that some pages its not available on and others you have to go to a drop down to get there...... Sometimes cleaner isn't better then simplicity.
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RedBlue said June 05, 2009

I hate the new look. Please go in reverse!
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Farago said June 05, 2009

You used to be able to view each others favorites, now you can only see each others fan base (although alot are missing for some reason), its like there should be a 'Next' button that is missing or something. Anyways, was it intentional to get rid of seeing each others favorites?
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- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Good thought, I do like seeing your favorite Yardbarkers too. We might be able to add that back...
Farago said June 05, 2009

When you hit the 'reply' link to post a response to a comment and\or an article, your focus stays on the link, you should see if you could drop it down into the comment box so you just have to hit reply and start typing instead of having to click into the comment box first.... Not sure if that is how the old site was to tell you the truth but in any event it would be a perk!
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- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Haha I don't remember if that's how it was on the old site either, but it would be a nice perk!
Farago said June 05, 2009

If the Forum page no longer has the most recent most popular then maybe making the Replies and Last Activity sortable would help. Also, is the popularity of an article only ranked by the number of replies you get now or is it still based on the number of visits your article gets?
Reply
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Popularity still takes barks into account behind the scenes, we just don't show it.
UNC23Tarheels said June 05, 2009

Hmmm,it is something new but I could get use to I guess..
Reply
Farago said June 05, 2009

When you go over the links across that page that get the rectangle shadowbox around them (ie YB Home News & Rumors Videos Forums Quizzes Sources) you have to have your cursor in the right spot before the link becomes active. It might be better that once you see the shadowbox appear that that entire area is linkable, you sometime click on the shadow box near ie Forums, and nothing happens unless you are in right spot..... Ends up in alot of double clicks...
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- jaymz77 replied June 05, 2009
  
  Good job pointing out issues Farago! All of those things I enjoyed about the ol' YB!
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Farago is a master bug-buster! We already have a note about clicking the nav. I've had some double clicks myself, I know what you mean.
- Farago replied June 05, 2009
  
  Ha ha, when do I start my new job! ha ha.... sign me up!
speedwell said June 05, 2009

YARD! How about letting us EDIT our forum posts....You done away with the edit button!
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- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  BIG bug... sorry, that will be fixed though!
tikitmb said June 05, 2009

I'm not feeling the "Forum Discussion" section on the Best of Yardbarker homepage. There doesn't seem to be any rime or reason. At first I thought the articles posted was there because of recent activity but I noticed at least three or four articles that had not been posted, yet they still had recent activity. I'm with Farago, they should be clearly sectioned and labeled on the main page. I hate having to go to an entirely different page to find order. Or maybe you should switch and have NEWS & RUMORS then BEST OF THE YARD. That way there's no confusion.
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BCswede said June 05, 2009

The only good that can come from this is I will probably spend more time in my own back yard doing more constructive things than going pale staring at a computer screen getting yelled at by my girlfriend to "get off Yard Barker you nerd!!". My addiction of YB may finally be over. Vitamin D here I come.
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- GGtheOldMan replied June 05, 2009
  
  Your girlfriend told me ,you have been lookin' a little pale lately.
- Spotella replied June 05, 2009
  
  LOL, my condolences!
xraycat said June 05, 2009

Best of the yard = most manipulated. you can up your own posts to the top of the forums, which i guess now is a lame way of saying article.. even if it's a real story...? anyway yea BCswede... i might have to find a new workday addiction. fark anyone?
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speedwell said June 05, 2009

Fix this quotation bug "$@#quote" that's everywhere please.
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- xraycat replied June 05, 2009
  
  it's quotations and apostrophes
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  almost all of those should be fixed by the end of today. UGLY.
CarlaC said June 05, 2009

Under "MY" Forum Posts, all my articles after April 1st are missing
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meatgoat said June 05, 2009

I feel like there's 10 options that all lead to the same place. I'm seeing forum,discussion,article,post,etc. but it's really all the same thing so why the overlycomplex set up?
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meatgoat said June 05, 2009

All I want to do is easily find the latest articles and be able to quickly tell when an article I've commented on has been updated. Y'all have made that really difficult.
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- GGtheOldMan replied June 05, 2009
  
  I agree with meatgoat. Those should be priorities.
CarlaC said June 05, 2009

When I click on one of my recent photos at the bottom of my page, it takes me back to the YB home page and not to the photo.
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ShaddixTBell said June 05, 2009

I propose someone make the old yardbarker site format under a new name, I was all about barking up other peoples articles. At least put who the articles are by on the home page so I don't have to click on it to find out who wrote it.
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CarlaC said June 05, 2009

From the YB home page i clicked "Forums", then "Post" and if your click Teams from this page the link is broken.
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- Spotella replied June 05, 2009
  
  Keep in mind a fence is only as strong as it's weakest link, hence the site has a major weak link.
Spotella said June 05, 2009

This is nuts. I really didn't think it would be so bad, but looking for articles is too difficult. Can we please have the name in the news feed.
A picture in the article that's the same sport of the article would be of use too.
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- melkyway28 replied June 05, 2009
  
  it is!
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  We're still working on the news feed to make it easier. You mean the name of the article right?
Farago said June 05, 2009

When you log into the yard, you enter your username and if you hit tab it doesn't take you to the password field. You need to update the tab order.....
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jaymz77 said June 05, 2009

I guess it's back to facebook for now.........
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Farago said June 05, 2009

When you are posting an article and enter the subject and then move to the message body, if you move back up to the subject line everything gets erased. You can't go back to edit anything without it being removed. Same thing goes if you then go back to the message body, any thing you already had typed gets erased..... I hope that makes sense.
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- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Yup, I had that same problem, we're going to fix that.... it only seems to happen on brand new messages, not replies to messages, right?
- Farago replied June 05, 2009
  
  Seems to be on new articles....
melkyway28 said June 05, 2009

I'm still trying to get used to it!!!!!!
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HarryPotter said June 05, 2009

i appreciate the effort, but i dont remember hearing one person say they like the new format and i heard a bunch of people say they are leaving the yard because of it, any chance we can just get the old yardbarker back?
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- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  We've actually gotten a lot of really positive feedback... but you know that the people who dislike something are always going to be the most vocal ones.
HarryPotter said June 05, 2009

i made a petition, sign it

http://www.yardbarker.com/forum/2/9/discussion/669225
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Shanelle626 said June 05, 2009

Can you only reply to the original comment now? No replying to a reply anymore?
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- Spotella replied June 05, 2009
  
  You CAN only reply to the original comment, which is not a good change.
- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Right now there's no replying to a reply, but maybe we can look into that.
- sambot replied June 05, 2009
  
  please do look into that, that would be amazing.
- Farago replied June 05, 2009
  
  Please bring that back, it allows us barkers to communicate with each other better.....
ssgtdap said June 05, 2009

I hate the new site and I think I will not be visiting as much...it's too hard to figure out what's going on
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GGtheOldMan said June 05, 2009

Alana, is it me or does the News Feed only show the comment and author but not the article name it is coming from.
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- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  you're right, but we are working on fixing that so you can see the article name.
speedwell said June 05, 2009

I made a comment on someone's post and it disappeared. either i've been blocked, yb is censoring me, or there's a software glitch on the site.
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speedwell said June 05, 2009

How do I send a fricking PM?
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- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  Same as the old site -- click the "Send a Message" button at the top right of someone's user page to send them a private message.
- Farago replied June 05, 2009
  
  You should be able to go into your messages and create a new message from there by browsing through your favorites instead of having to go to their actual page to send a message. Would be nice to be able to send a message to more then one barker at a time......
  
  Also, it would be nice if your messages didn't expire and get deleted after 30 days... should be able to save them until you want to manually delete them (if not all messages due to server space issues, implement a size or number of messages cap) :-)
Spotella said June 05, 2009

OK~Some of the article names are now showing up in my news feed, but I'm also seeing things like "BowelBound made a comment", it's not tell me what he commented on.
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- AlanaG replied June 05, 2009
  
  work in progress... bear with us!
BILLFOLD9 said June 05, 2009

u can make it better by putting it where i can see who took my quiz again and how they scored on it.on the old yardbarker u could check that now u cant.
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BenPhranklin said June 06, 2009

I always enjoyed the list of daily and weekly top articles that was featured on the homepage previously. Also if you can just totally wipe out the Dallas Cowboys fans from the site that would make it perfect. thank you
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- GGtheOldMan replied June 06, 2009
  
  You know Canuck will really appreciate that Be Frank....lol
- BenPhranklin replied June 06, 2009
  
  haha.... i thought that would get more of a response..... but most of them can't read too well
funkywanderer said June 06, 2009

Sorry AlanaG, but I really dislike the new Site. I work in IT and understand the need to change, and improvement but I feel like we've taken a few steps back with the new direction. Did you guys do any sort of usability analysis prior to rolling out the new look and feel? Here are a few of the things that really bother me with the new implementation:

1). My news feed only tells me what was commented and by whom. It doesn't tell me which article/post the user commented on.
2). There are escaped HTML characters in my news feed comments making readability difficult.
3). Preview article really is a drag. If I want to read something, I don't want an extra click. For example, if I want to read an article on the NHL, I click the link, get a preview dialog and click either "Discuss on YB" or "Read Full Story". Then I actually go to the article. If I press the back button after reading, I get the preview Dialog again, and have to close it before I can read the page that I initially came from.
4) I can no longer find my favorites, or people who I am a fan of.
5) The performance is not terrific, and it often takes a few moments for the page to render correctly.
6) I originally came to the Yard for athlete blogs and discussion with fellow board members. I feel that the new format buries discussion in the forum and favours articles written by professional writers.
7) Random images...I click on an article like about the Pittsburgh Penguins and get a preview dialog that features a photo of a Detroit Lions player.

Anyhow, those are some brief thoughts. Sadly, I feel my interest in the Yard waning considerably since the new changes and will probably limit my time here. Personally I think you would be been better off keeping the old format with some minor changes.
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- BenPhranklin replied June 06, 2009
  
  I agree with funkywanderer 100%............ those are my thoughts exactly
- AlanaG replied June 06, 2009
  
  Hey funkywanderer, thanks for all the thoughtful feedback.
  
  #1, 2, 5, 7 are all being worked on.
  
  As for #3... the purpose of the Preview is to reduce your clicks. If you want to read the NHL article, you click it and see the Preview. Then click Read Full story and you will see the direct article. Do not click your back button after that -- use the Yardbarker i-frame to either leave a YB comment or just navigate back to the article page or to the YB homepage, your choice. If the i-frame is not working properly for you, let us know.
  
  #4 -- your fans are found on your user page in the "Fans" tab. Your favorite Yardbarkers are supposed to be listed separately, but they are missing right now. That's a bug being worked on.
  
  #6 -- we created the Forums area to make it easier to find discussions. We still have some work to do to make them sortable and such to make them more useful. Also, once the new blog platform is launched, then we'll be able to feature posts written by Yardbarkers on the homepage again like we used to.
  
  I hope you continue to give us a chance as we clean up some of these problems!
- GGtheOldMan replied June 06, 2009
  
  Alana, I have to admit, though I am not too pleased with the new format, you do do seem to be right on it.
- Spotella replied June 08, 2009
  
  Funky, is there any way you can communicate with the YB designers. Having someone who is a member of the sit explain to them in their language what we want may work.
- funkywanderer replied June 08, 2009
  
  Hi AlanaG,
  
  Thanks for the responses....here is something else that I would like to see fixed:
  
  1). When I used to come to the Yard, if I looked up at the top right of my screen I knew immediately whether I had any new messages. Now, I actually have to click my user name, expand the menu, and then select "messages" to find out if I have any new ones.
  
  2). With regards to your response of my issue # 3 above, you're saying that you believe it is good usability to simply tell me not to use the back button? I use the back button all the time. I'm sure a lot of users do. Perhaps when you re-introduce polls, you might want to take a poll to see if anybody actually likes the "preview" tab. A lot of message boards provide preview by simply having the user mouse over a discussion link. The mouse over creates a small dialog that provides the first few sentences of the thread. You could do the same thing here and it would be much less invasive.
  
  With regards to Spotella's comments, I'd be willing to spend some time but I have my own projects to manage so the time I do have is limited. It also depends on if their developers/architects are open to discussion, or if they have their own vision. The problem with technical folks (myself included) is that they put so much time into development, sometimes they fail to see the shortcomings of the application.
- funkywanderer replied June 08, 2009
  
  Okay...so this sort of sums up what I'm feeling:
  
  New Yardbarker:
- funkywanderer replied June 08, 2009
  
  Wow...the hits keep on coming...so I was trying to upload a photo in my post above, but it appears that it did not post.
- Spotella replied June 08, 2009
  
  Thanks for your response to me funky. I do understand you have another life outside YB. I just don't see why they cannot listen to what the users want in lieu of what the developers want. It may be more work for them, but it will be easier for the users and more revenue for the yard.
- Mononc replied June 08, 2009
  
  Agreed, I don't find the stuff that draw me to this site in the first place. It's like they put the emphasis on things I don't care about and threw away what was interresting. Go figure.
- CarlaC replied June 08, 2009
  
  I'M SORRY, BUT THIS CHANGE HAS TAKEN ALL THE FUN OUT OF THIS SITE FOR ME!!
  I have spen the last few days wandering around the yard trying to get the hang of it, but it is just NOT happening for me! It really seems that we, the fans are being pushed out in lieu of just having an information website. All the things which made this site easy, are simply missing, not to mention any of the articles i posted after April 1st, they are just gone! Poor Rashad, as his Yard shows a picture of Machida, i'n sure he appreciates that, NOT!! My news feeds don't show the articles topic, so if i want to comment, i have to go throught them all just to see what the topic was and whether i actually want to comment. It is just a mess and i find myself thinking, ok, i was fun while it lasted........maybe it's time to move on, my time is valuable too and i just don't have time to sit here muddle through this........
- Spotella replied June 08, 2009
  
  I feel you Carla. And you know that part where it says discuss or read? How about you let me read it first without a question, then I'll decide if I want to discuss it.
- CarlaC replied June 08, 2009
  
  That is exactly what i mean Spotella, it is just too time consuming and i'm very frustrated with it!
HarryPotter said June 06, 2009

if it aint broke, dont fix it, the old site was great this is sub-par
Reply
BenPhranklin said June 06, 2009

I have an idea that would be a nice addition. when i get onto a thread with 100 plus comments it is sometimes difficult to find my own previous comments..........if we could get some sort of indicator or highlight our avatar or something that would be a really big help sometimes................just a thought.
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- AlanaG replied June 06, 2009
  
  Thanks BenPhranklin -- that's a real interesting idea.
hockeychick23 said June 06, 2009

Only problem I have is, I can't see all my fans.
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- GGtheOldMan replied June 06, 2009
  
  HC, You know why you can't see your fans.........OH! I almost forgot, we aren't supposed to tell you.
crazyphillyfan said June 06, 2009

I saw a thing that said "start your own custom blog" coming soon. When is that coming? I think that would be the best addition.
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- Spotella replied June 06, 2009
  
  The 2nd. Thursday of next week.
MattYoukilis said June 08, 2009

????????????????????????????
??????????????????????????????
I hate new YB format.
I'm very tired.
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Spotella said June 08, 2009

I was just in the news feed and saw something that turned out to be a comment. I was interested so I went in, but it was an article I'm not interested in. I went back to the news feed and saw something else that looked interesting, once again it was a comment (different than the first I saw) so I went in. It was the same article as the first I went into, so I went back to the news feed and found a third comment in that same article. My news feed is filled with different comments of the same articles that I am not interested in. HELP!!!!
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Mononc said June 08, 2009

I'm so frustrated by the new YB, I'm swearing in french. C'est de la crisse de marde !
Reply
- CarlaC replied June 08, 2009
  
  Say it three more times for me............and since i don't know french, embellish it a bit more Mononc !!!
sports2debate said June 08, 2009

When you go from having 100+ comments on an article, and now have only 1 comment if you're lucky, that is not good for YB's page views and time people are on the site...
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GGtheOldMan said June 08, 2009

They say it will take about two weeks to repair the glitches...this will be a LOOOOOOOOOOONG two weeks.
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tikitmb said June 08, 2009

Has anyone else notice that comments have been moved around after they've been posted?
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Mononc said June 09, 2009

We used to be able to exchange views with other fans. Now, nobody is starting new threads and if you look, no one is commenting anymore. It was fun to talk with you here, now I guess we'll have to find another place for that. This site has lost its relevance.
Reply
xraycat said June 09, 2009

After a few days on this new version.. I've noticed a few things. First, I'm spending a lot less time on here. Basically while I'm sitting on the john. Before I would spend all my downtime at work here. It's much more of a hassle to casually catch up on forum discussions that were going as the news feed seems to lose lots of things. The old one was not perfect, but it at least would make it easy for me to rejoin a discussion. Funkywander nailed the technical stuff on the head. However, I will say I kind of am starting to like the preview page... it's cool that the articles are embedded in the site and not having to backup and be off the site. That gets a plus after a few days of use. I also am finding that I see a lot more articles from teams I care more about, not just Eagles stuff. So bravo on that. I think I'm starting to be able to handle the new YB, just some technical kinks...
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Prince said June 09, 2009

I actually like the new version. I think the forums are easier to get to.
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kinetic said June 15, 2009

Wow tons of comments since I last checked. It seems like only people who really hate it really say a lot. I think people will warm up to it soon, and with all the good feedback, I think we'll be able to continuously improve it.
Reply
UNC23Tarheels said June 15, 2009

Ehhhh,change is inevitable so you gotta get use to it,I guess...
Reply
Marinman said June 22, 2009

I like it. But I don't think you need the "photo driven" description of it. We get it.
Reply

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