That and I can't help but laugh at being ranked #67 and the last story I posted was over 20 weeks ago! I need to make some changes on that...I have no interest in being top ranked, but damn...I could at least post something for being in the top 100. eek!

I guess I'm in the minority, I kinda like the yellow. I love the gray on gray with the yellow!

That's not 'yellow', babblingdweeb.

It's Dungfly Khaki !

Surely it's technically possible to have

a range of contributor selected NP approved colour combinations?

Some people have said:

'What's happened to NowPublic?

It's looking oddly sh*tty.

Looks like a muckspreader drove through the graphics department!'

Bring back Blue.

And Grown Up Graphics.

CN

I disagree with color definition. I'd call it Infected Snot.  ;}

Just a little tweaking would get it into a better range, IMHO>

Dung Fly Khaki Infected Snot Colour

Part of the formula is based on pageviews you got on stories since we last ran the calculation.  It is possible that you have been quietly generating page views while you were away. :)

Hi Everyone,

I've been reading all your comments in detail but haven't yet responded.  I figured it was time to jump in.

First off, thanks for all of your feedback -- good and bad.  It is super useful.

In terms of addressing your concerns, the things I've seen posted here fall into a couple of categories:

(1) General design issues:  These are the toughest to address given that in many cases you're dealing with matters of taste.  Some of you love the colors others -- not so much.  We will be tinkering with the color palette to clean up some messy areas but for the most part the feedback I've seen here and elsewhere has been positive.  The T Rex has some puzzled but others thought it added personality to the site.  We want to encourage an irreverent spirit like that of the old time muckraker, journalists and we figured this would help.

(2) Revenue sharing:  This is obviously something that people want to learn more about.  Here’s the thing…  

You may have noticed that NowPublic isn’t running ads.  If we were, then this discussion would be a bit more interesting ☺.  When there is revenue to share we will definitely be helping those who help us.   In the meantime please know that we are throwing lots of dollars into making the site as good as possible and hopefully that counts for something.  I will be setting up a thread later this summer to get feedback on some of the models we have in mind.  They will likely be tied to traffic, post frequency and points in the ranking system.  If you’ve got other suggestions I’d love to hear them.

(3) Bug postings:  Our development team does the best job they can to make sure that everything works on all possible platforms but somethings slip through the cracks.  Your continued help and patience is really appreciated.  Please pass on any additional finds to us here and we’ll get them bashed as soon as possible.

So thank you again for your comments and please keep ‘em coming.

Mike.

Mike, thank you for your comments and feedback. And for doing a good job!

Lightbox is working now, but still crowd-sourcing not functioning. Also cannot load an old story that is getting too many photos added to it. Need to moderate it, but can't access it to delete. The Coca-Cola and Stevia Soon. http://www.nowpublic.com/Health/coca-cola-and-stevia-soon

Comments are still spinning, unless you do the flag, which does post right away, but no shout-out ('Recent Comments') on Front Page. Wondering how this one's  going to work with a link in it, even if a NP link. will the Spam catcher stop me?

Hey, Mike, much better picture! Looking good.

René

The autotagging is no longer dumping all search terms into the Crowd-Power box (this was a very short-lived bug)... also, IE7 is p[laying much more nicely with our Crowd-Power tool, which had been driving many of us crazy. Whew. 

Also, search is once again working properly, though we're on a constant mission to make it faster and more precise.

Oh, and you can now delete the private messages that have been (and are no longer) multiplying like gremlins. A big thanks to our developers, who have been working quite literally around the clock to eliminate the issues that arose when moving these changes to the live site.

Hi Mike, thanks for all that you and your team do.

I have a wish list that I think would help get more good stuff to the front page.

1. Could we have a section for Crime, please? It's hard to slot a crime story into world, or whatever, realistically. Also,this might accommodate some of the personal "true crime" stories.

2. To get more usable space on the front page, let's delete the "local news" box. The darned thing has never worked right anyway. And I don't need local news from NP; I've got it...locally. Having the capacity for a member to add a local news box to their Dashboard page, via tags, would be nice. But let's use that space on the general readership front page for higher-interest stories.

3. The "Style" section is kind of ...puzzling. Note: the use of "Style" for an all-purpose not-hard-news section began back in the '70's, and I kind of hate to see it coming back. Why not a Bling! section: entertainment, travel, etc.

4. Which leads me to: we seem to be getting more and more "personal experience" stories. They may be interesting, but they aren't news, per se. And slapping them into the big categories just knocks larger news stories out.

5. Could we have a section for Science for Everyone? Tech/Biz doesn't really accommodate science, like the Mars excursion or other good science.

If we delete "local" from the front page, there's space for Crime. We could replace Style with  Bling! which would include entertainment and travel.

Add in  two more boxes: Science for Everyone (or whatever title) and then one for Commentary, which could include Opinion pieces and life stories.  (Long-term, I hope the team
is working on a way to make sure that NP doesn't turn into just another site
for personal blogging.)

Notice, too, that in suggesting the adding of boxes I did it so that it was balanced---only 2 new ones.    :)

Thanks for asking!  When I check my messages and go into the "Sent" file...I see a lot of stuff in there that I didn't send.  It seems as if it is acting as a feed for any article I may have made a comment on...it keeps sending updates to that article to my "sent" box...what's up with that?

Hi Caoimhin1, Regarding the sent file, i believe this is because those individuals are interested in the story weather it is an update, comment, tag or otherwise. These people can also be interested in you and and your stories or comments, this is what the RSS feed is about and is an automatic result of it, because these people are interested. I have the same thing regarding sent items to unknown individuals also and that is what i took it as and pretty much have accepted it to the RSS feed. I could be wrong also :-) and its a hiccup in the system but don't believe so.

Ok everchanging thanks!

Can't highlight links. I patiently waiting for this to get sorted.

I miss the old header with the listing of
membership, countries and cities. Otherwise, we see that there are
around 200 or so in the "posting hierarchy", and most articles get around that
many readers. It suddenly makes NP look rather small, when a year ago,
I thought it was huge –reflecting those international numbers on the header.

I'm sure you'll get it right soon.:)

Happy Birthday PEP :)

When is it?

Maireid, I remember that and miss see it too. It was a strong member count with the countries we reach also. oh those day :-)

Maireid, that's so sweet of you, thanks for asking. It's June 17.

It's one of those "milestone" birthdays, and I'm soooo excited! I'm thinking about having breakfast with one friend, lunch with another, dinner with a third, then I'm invited to a reception that night for a friend and her political campaign (I helped get her elected four years ago, am taking a less active role this time.) Actually, I just don't know yet what all I want to do!

Hey, my birthday is the day after yours! Awesome - happy birthday PEP!

Such a lovely dilemma.

Well, here's an idea.

(This is what we do)

On my b'day, I get to do what ever I want without seeking anyone's approval.
(Ben is so kind.:)

In other words, when "I" decide to drive a distance, I don't have to ask if I can stop for coffee at a cute place along the road. I just do it, and Ben, very kindly, tags along – and seems to enjoy it all.

Last week, (2 June is my b'day) we went to several galleries I wanted to visit, and ended the night with cocktails at a 'swish' venue we would never normally go to.

...because I felt like doing something completely different.

" Life is good ... all the time."

don't know who first said that! :)