Announcement: Change is Coming to games.on.net

[Vencha88]

I get a feeling of redundancy when I click on the link that says 'read full article by GON News', as the full article doesn't introduce anything extra.

This is something we hope to address in the future

Perhaps that's something that could be addressed with more of a "blog" style, where articles can be expanded. So if there is more text to an article, you get a "continue reading" link, but if it's simply the paragraph on the page, there is no link.

[exe3]

You make some good points there. While I'm merely an occasional contributor and have no say in what happens, I feel what GON is trying to do is fill a niche in online content in Australia. Going with a PC focus is probably a good move. The nature of online news delivery and our timezone means it's not realistic to be able to fix this issue without the news writers staying up into ungodly hours.

You can do both though. You can have these niche articles while keeping a decent news feed. I don't get how they could be mutually exclusive. And given the quality of the news released today I outright implore GON to REMOVE NEWS COMPLETELY if that's the direction you wish to take. If that tiny paragraph is all you're going to have then don't waste your time, it makes the entire site look like a joke. I guess it's partly because this is the only place I go for news which is why it affects and annoys me so much.

/edit

The new articles look mindboggling unprofessional (I don't even want to open the friggin links anymore) and quite frankly lazy

I'm sorry you feel that way. Why would you need to open the links though? The entire story is in the one paragraph. There's no need to open any links unless you want to investigate the source.

Do you read the news through the General News forum or through the main page? The overwhelming majority of our traffic comes through the main page, where it looks exactly the same as it used to.

In an unreadable paragraph paragraph thanks to the formatting. Like I said before it's a wall of text, a small wall, but still a wall.

But having said that I see what you're doing now. I assume you're going to remove the article page for the future and just have that single paragraph on the main page along with the link. I guess that's ok. I'm still disappointed but fine, if that's the direction you wish to take.

I go via the main page btw though forum access may be an issue.

[MunchY]

You make some good points there. While I'm merely an occasional contributor and have no say in what happens, I feel what GON is trying to do is fill a niche in online content in Australia. Going with a PC focus is probably a good move. The nature of online news delivery and our timezone means it's not realistic to be able to fix this issue without the news writers staying up into ungodly hours.

You can do both though. You can have these niche articles while keeping a decent news feed. I don't get how they could be mutually exclusive. And given the quality of the news released today I outright implore GON to REMOVE NEWS COMPLETELY if that's the direction you wish to take. If that tiny paragraph is all you're going to have then don't waste your time, it makes the entire site look like a joke. I guess it's partly because this is the only place I go for news which is why it affects and annoys me so much.

@Bold. Seriously? A few smaller sized articles can have such a huge effect for you? I am struggling to see it personally..

[Artful-dodgeR]

I'm actually going to agree with exe3 here. The new news articles are less appealing. Maybe something as simple as adding a picture to each story on the right might make it feel a bit chunkier and better on the eyes.

[Tim Colwill]

And given the quality of the news released today I outright implore GON to REMOVE NEWS COMPLETELY if that's the direction you wish to take. If that tiny paragraph is all you're going to have then don't waste your time, it makes the entire site look like a joke. I guess it's partly because this is the only place I go for news which is why it affects and annoys me so much.

Removing news completely would do a disservice to people like you who come to GON for the news. The news is still there, it's just summarised more succinctly to get straight to the facts without the waffle and repackaging. If people are interested in the news, they can then follow it back to read it at the place that actually broke the news and thus treat the original site with the credit they deserve.

In an unreadable paragraph paragraph thanks to the formatting.

Yes, this is an issue with the CMS. The size tag appears differently in the forum to what it appears on the front page. In this case, we will have to live with it until we can come up with a solution, which we are working on now.

Perhaps that's something that could be addressed with more of a "blog" style, where articles can be expanded. So if there is more text to an article, you get a "continue reading" link, but if it's simply the paragraph on the page, there is no link.

This is definitely the direction we're going, but for now our CMS is pretty much stuck as it is. Again, we'll fix it as soon as we can

[exe3]

In an unreadable paragraph paragraph thanks to the formatting.

Yes, this is an issue with the CMS. The size tag appears differently in the forum to what it appears on the front page. In this case, we will have to live with it until we can come up with a solution, which we are working on now.

There's a miscommunication. My issue was how you'd click 'Read More' and you'd get a big screen with a tiny paragraph of text but i've since realized that same paragraph is no different to the one on the front page. Will you be removing this page for news? If so then fine, I have no large serious issue with this approach and have no issue reading the front page as it is now. My issue was with the page when you clicked 'Read More' being largely empty and terrible looking.

[Bluefire]

Agreed. Full News, even if it is a rehash from another other news source. Its exactly what your major tv stations do.
I like coming to GoN for my news fix.
I dont watch TV news, Dont do "social" website **** and dont generally troll arround to other sites for news. If its relevant to games and or australia it makes it to the GoN forums.
A little paragraph and a link to an external site = wont bother to read.
If you arent going to report the news dont bother to link to someone who does. Ive been reading node long enough that I have a general idea how each of our news reporters is biased and can interpret the slant each puts on their articles.
A random link to someone else = may as well watch mainstream media.

[Bennett Ring]

Does this also mean GON will finally get a redesign, improving on the "Internet circa 1999" layout that it's got now? That alone will massively improve the user experience here.

[3Lollipopz!]

The forum format brings me great memories of forums of old.
Also, can you guys edit in more bikini chicks? Surely you can claim it was something iiNet forced? A bikini directive...

[exe3]

Does this also mean GON will finally get a redesign, improving on the "Internet circa 1999" layout that it's got now? That alone will massively improve the user experience here.

What's wrong with the current layout. You should've seen the old orange layout if you think this is old.

[Nekosan]

There's a miscommunication. My issue was how you'd click 'Read More' and you'd get a big screen with a tiny paragraph of text but i've since realized that same paragraph is no different to the one on the front page. Will you be removing this page for news? If so then fine, I have no large serious issue with this approach and have no issue reading the front page as it is now. My issue was with the page when you clicked 'Read More' being largely empty and terrible looking.

I sort of feel like this as well, unless there's a HUGE amount of GoN generated content being published then it might feel a lot like the front page is just becoming a clickthrough page for other news sites, this is the only news site i regularly go to and if all the news is just straight linked to kotaku or something like that then IMO people might just start going there instead.

The slightly personalized take on news is what made me hang around rather than going to one of the plethora of other gaming sites where the front page was just a characterless spam of news links to bigger sites.

Time will tell how it woks out I guess.

Does this also mean GON will finally get a redesign, improving on the "Internet circa 1999" layout that it's got now? That alone will massively improve the user experience here.

The layout is fine, we don't all want a fluorescent coloured monstrosity with flashing banners or a **** layout ala IGN etc.

[Psymon01]

I like GON's somewhat quirky re-hash of someone elses news. I agree that credit needs to be given, but the way its done now is fine with me. I come to GON to read the news, not to use it as a source of links to other websites.

PC Focus, and more reviews etc.- Fantastic!

[Bek]

I think it's a good move to not rehash, provide a quick summary and link to the original source. I mean, there's nothing stopping the staff posting their take on the news in the comments, right?

[Marius]

The problem with wanting a 'quirky' rehash is you're essentially paying someone to recycle content.

The intention here is to streamline the news so more resources are freed up to have more original articles on topics. So it's not like you're losing something but not gaining anything in return.

[Bek]

The intention here is to streamline the news so more resources are freed up to have more original articles on topics. So it's not like you're losing something but not gaining anything in return.

Don't you mean you are gaining something, ie the new original articles we'll be getting?

Also, that better not be a damn me3 spoiler in your location (Ignore if I've just forgotten what happened in me2)