I know you were very concerned, but we’re now fully functional with our new look!
I’m sure that you were concerned you’d be having a preseason Public Skate in that same SBN-authored post, but we managed to get our access sorted and can continue with your regularly scheduled programming.
As far as Bruins news goes, well…there’s really none. Not much is happening. It’s August 8, so that’s to be expected.
Around these parts, however, things have changed quite a bit, so let’s dive in:
As you can undoubtedly see by now, your faithful Stanley Cup of Chowder’s layout has changed.
This is only the second time in the last decade or so that there’s been a major overhaul, so obviously that will cause some confusion.
I’d encourage you to explore the site a bit to see what might have changed, where things might have moved, etc.
In terms of whitespace, how XYZ looks, menu items, and all that stuff, that’s out of our hands – SB Nation handles the templates at a network level, so we just get to add our branding.
Overall though, you should experience less ad intrusion, more white space, and a generally snappier experience.
If you’re a frequent lurker who doesn’t have an account, I’d encourage you to make one, as I believe logged-in users have a slightly different ad experience and different interactions with comment counts.
As usual, please report any major issues in the comments, and we can escalate as needed.
The Feed has already been a topic of discussion, and I’m glad to see people using it.
To answer some questions:
No, participation in The Feed isn’t mandatory.No, we don’t plan to use The Feed to replace Morning Skates/Public Skates.Yes, The Feed is a replacement for what used to be FanPosts/FanShots.
We were encouraged to think of The Feed as a kind of sub-reddit for our site.
The best things for The Feed are things that don’t quite rise to the level of a full post, but still merit discussion. That could be a funny Tweet from a player, a random highlight you stumbled upon, a discussion topic you’d like to bring up, etc.
In some ways, The Feed is bound to cannibalize the comments section, but that’s okay. If you’d like to put something in the comments of a Public Skate and in The Feed, no problem.
We’ll work out the best way to use it over the next few weeks, but until then, I encourage you to try it out – it’s much quicker and more intuitive than FanPosts.
If you’re someone who comes back to the site multiple times a day (thank you, by the way), it’s a good idea to check in on The Feed to see if there’s new content, even if there are no new articles.
While our new look is set, we’re still going to be figuring out how to use these new tools as the season approaches.
For example, would it make sense to post a recap, plus a “Post-Game Reaction” item in The Feed? Should we have more polls in there? Should everything remain the same?
In the meantime, we welcome your feedback. If you have thoughts on how you’d like us to change the site moving forward, please let us know.
If something is broken for you, please let us know either in the comments or via email (you can reach the site manager at bruinshockeynow(at)gmail.com).
In the meantime…welcome back.
What’s on tap for today?