Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Tuesday Update on Our Other Open Issues

Okay folks -- here's the word on our other open issues (as noted, the
ad banner disclaimer and save fix will go live tomorrow morning):

* Character Set Displays Improperly:
We've
got a handle on the problem of characters with accents and other
"special" symbols not displaying properly -- if you want to get the geek update, it involves servlet engines, UTF-8 and ISO-8859-1 (check out developer John's entry on this and our other open issues).

Suffice
it to say, the fix is being tested, and we hope to have it live soon. I
will let you know here when we have a date for an install.

* Inaccurate Archive Counts
The
problem of the wrong number of entries, and the wrong month's entries,
being displayed in the monthly archive view is still being worked on,
but the tech folks think they have a line on this problem, too. If
testing of the fix goes through okay, we should hopefully install it
with the the Character Set fix. Again, I will let you know here.

* More Info on the Patch:
As noted in my previous entry, the patch is still scheduled for 4AM tomorrow. Developer John, in his entry mentioned above, notes that what killed the patch the first time was a typo, so we should be set for the ad disclaimer and the save entry fix.

If you want to see the disclaimer in the beta environment,
you can go to the beta servers -- just stick "beta." on the front of
your Journal's address. For example, my blog's production address is

http://journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke



Its address on the beta server is:
http://beta.journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke

In
addition to developer John's blog, there are a few other
Journals-related blogs I will show you tomorrow (after our successful
patch install, of course.)

Thanks -- Joe

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

a disclaimer is not enough Joe. They need to give us the ability to turn it off entirely. judi

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't your journal have an ad?

Anonymous said...

You now have a motorbike jumping out over your blog name?
This is rediculous!

And so sad, as you sit there, your picture smiling out at us.

http://deabvt.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I would say that the beta problem needs to be solved, not to ignore it. Just do something before things get a lot more worse. Please solve the whole problem? I would suggest it, okay? That is all for now. Tune in next time for the whole results.

Anonymous said...

You need an ad to do some researching. Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the ad banner is being delivered sporadically inside the AOL client, so sometimes it shows up and sometimes it does it. We've notified the tech folks, who are working on it. I know you'd rather we didn't. Thanks -- Joe

Anonymous said...

WELl I am atlest glad forthe disclaimer. I do hope they can fix the months entries thing. Its not a big deal but would like it fixed.

Anonymous said...

There's still a big typo.  "Totally sucky and unwanted ads" is NOT spelled "ads."  I know John will fix that, because I trust him.

So it's going live tomorrow, eh?  God help us.

~~ jennifer

Anonymous said...

right now no one journal has and ad and hopefullly it'll stay that way

will it Joe?

Anonymous said...

h

Anonymous said...

Thanks for keeping us informed, Joe.
With peace and love,
Charley
http://journals.aol.com/CDittric77/Courage

Anonymous said...

Hey Joe?
How does it feel when a huge vespa jumps out onto  your journal?  I just wanted to know.

Anonymous said...

h

Anonymous said...

I was just reading a J-land journal and the ad banner "vomited" all over the journaler's words! THAT is beyond TACKY! The ad banners on the journals of PAYING CUSTOMERS is a slap in the face. Having the ads obliterate the words for even a few seconds is a gross intrusion on our space.
The advertiser will hear from me!!!

http://www.classyof68.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

When I come over to the AOL Journals from the nice, quiet, calm journals at blogspot, I feel a lot of sadness and disgust.  AOL Journal ad banners:  How ugly.  How intrusive.  How demeaning.  How meaningless!  I will never go back to posting in my journal here at AOL unless the ads are removed.  We should not have our space invaded like this.  Disclaimers are not going to fix the basic problem:  personal expression and advertisements cannot cohabitate.  REMOVE THE ADS!!! --Theresa Williams-Author  [Exile Edition]  http://theresawilliams-author.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Ugh!  That motorcycle literally jumps out of the banner and obscures part of your blog!  How long before all the ads are doing the same?  Jumping off the banners and exploding all over our poetry and artwork?  Vile and disgusting.  It literally sickens me.  http://theresawilliams-author.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

It's almost amazing how certain you are to notify the tech guys when the ads aren't working...

Send them this message.

The ads aren't working - for the paying customer.
Maybe they can fix it...

Lose the ads.

Anonymous said...

I was looking at the journals and the ads were jumping out and onto the entries. This is distracting and looks terrible. I also looked at the beta for my journal. I DONT LIKE IT! TAKE THE ADS DOWN! I liked it when there was an ad problem and they werent there. Make more ad problems, that way the journals will look decent again. Take the ads down.

Anonymous said...

This is ridiculous. Get these ads off my paid journal aol. judi

Anonymous said...

<<Ads are not an endorsement by the blog author.
<<

The above "sentence" appears on my journal this morning.

Honestly, Joe, would it have killed AOL to use the language correctly?  

Some of us put a lot of effort into our writing.  It's bad enough that the ads detract from what we have to say.  Now we are expected to accept illiteracy as well?

Plus my ad this morning is for a Nintendo game, something I NEVER permitted my children to own.  I could deal with the one for competitor of my husband's company -- my husband and I are not joined at the hip.  But this one violates my personal integrity as a mother.  That's a VERY BAD approach for a corporation to take.

Let me help:

Possible corrections:

1.  The above advertisement is not endorsed by the blog author.  (Grammatically correct.)

2.  The author of this blog does not endorse the above advertisement.  (Gets rid of that pesky passive voice, which is a problem for exactly the reason your English teachers told you it was.)

3. The author of this blog does not endorse any of the advertising appearing hereon.  (Clunky but exact, with a nice ring of legalese authority.)

4.  Just get rid of the ads.

Anonymous said...

oceanmrc.... so glad to see your post here this morning. To the point and delightful.
judi

Anonymous said...

As one who deducts points from papers containing grammatically incorrect structure, I must concur.  The slaps in the face are getting more blatant and absurd.  (Again, Joe, not yelling AT you, just observing.  I know you're not responsible; you write too well to have come up with THAT.)

Plus, the disclaimer doesn't do a whole lot of good when there's a big old scooter, which has jumped its fence into what was supposed to be MY yard, obstructing the entire thing in the first place.

Anonymous said...

so aol is going to see just how far they can push this..... naked dancing girls (or guys) next probably in order to offend EVERYONE, and then suddenly the original horrible affront of the ad banners won't be so bad.

Shame on aol and get this detritus off our paid journals.

You can pass that on up for us Joe.
judi

Anonymous said...

The motocycle jumping out of the ad and literally across the journal is just an additional layer of insult to we journalers.  How much worse is AOL going to make this?  Are you going to keep it up until there are 0 active journals in AOL space?  Are you guys trying to kill your journal section altogether, because if that is your goal, you are doing a fine job.

Virginia

Anonymous said...

Now the ads resemble pop-up ads with animated objects leaping out and across the page.   Great AOL.  Just great.  

AOL's taken SPAM to a whole new level.  

~Sie.  (Whose journal can now be found at...) http://persnicketypfft.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Congratulations. Now I have two things to complain about.

Get the advertisements off my journal, then take that f*&*ing disclaimer and shove it where the sun don't shine.

Ari

Anonymous said...

Wow, this is so shameful.

And I'm starting to get annoyed looking at the developer blog's. Who gives a crap, unless they're going to develop some code to give us the option of what ads we can have on our journals. How about AOL work on that, if we're stuck with this crap.

Though everyone and their mother knows that we're being exploited, and those ads shouldn't be there. Disgusting.

Nothing's more pathetic than being humored. And that's what you all are doing. This just isn't going away.

Anonymous said...

You know what? I'm not done. It is pathetic -- PATHETIC, that after all our complaints and protests, that the marketing executives chose THIS route to address us. That after all this time, THIS was their way of fixing the problem. How many newspapers have to run stories, before AOL gets it? Everyone else seems to get it. I don't want the advertisements. I don't want the disclaimer. I want MY JOURNAL BACK to the way it was originally. I don't want anyone making money off of my thoughts.

I'm angrier now more than ever. We deserve better. There have been people here that have been loyal AOL members for years and THIS is the treatment they get. This is unethical. It is immoral. I won't stop complaining until I get what I want.

Ari

Anonymous said...

Why did John make a big deal about the addition of a "divider line" when in fact the animation leaves the space it was already taking up and runs across the dividing line and across our journal.  Tell me then, what meaning at all could a "dividing line" have? (other than in continues to divide AOL from its customers)

AOL is continuing to take insulting the customer to a new low.
Don't even pretend to us that this stupid grammatically incorrect (thanks Robin) tiny tiny font disclaimer is any type of solution at all.  Stop insulting us.

Virginia
who can now be found at:
http://animalnaturespirits.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

My wish list........

No grafiti on my Paid for space.  

The ability to do HMLT in comments for dramatic effect.  

Peace on earth.

Love.


You know, just a few little things.




Anonymous said...

About that guest editor thingy, I think since Bank Of America and Reyataz should get a shot. It seems they are so happy to be a part of J-land they should have a chance to pick their favourite journals. Give it a thought, Joe, as you cash your paycheck that made money off of my life and times.

Anonymous said...

I think now I'm even more angry than when the advertisements first appeared.  Flashing banner ads are a disgrace to begin with.  Now they have to jump off of their delegated space and smear themselves onto our words??  I'll just bend over.  Will that make it easier for you?

I know, I know...don't shoot the messenger.  But Joe, I am angry with you.  You are the representative.  You speak for AOL.  You work for AOL.  You have been given this space to give voice to the voiceless.  And I don't see any positive results.  I see a lot of empty promises and omitted information.

In fact, AOL Journals have deteriorated since you came aboard.  [oooh, big slap]  Perhaps it's not your fault personally.  But again, you work for AOL.  You speak for AOL.  You cannot put blame elsewhere.  Take responsibility.

My AOL Journal has been abandoned.  I've moved.  I'm very happy elsewhere.  When I finish moving, I'll cancel my five-year stint with AOL.  But do not think for one second that I will stop speaking for paid customers.

Anonymous said...

Calacanis; my comment.

7. I am another bloglines refugee in the AOL "Banner Ad" diaspora. Like many others, I have left a final protest post on my AOL journal and am therefore considered by AOL as a happy, contented customer. The entry is a repost of my poem "Metamorphosis", an homage to the AOL J-Land community written on the occasion of our first Anniversary.

As a psychologist, I can`t help but comment on the sadness felt by so many of AOL`s paying bloggers, whether or not they remain subscribers. So sad.
V

http://deabvt.blogspot.com/
V

Anonymous said...

The disclaimer doesn't do a damn thing to fix the problem.  How about finding a REAL solution?

Anonymous said...

Now the ads are not only obnoxious SPAM that has been plastered onto Journals, they are POP UP ads too.  

Way to go AOL!.  Can't wait to see what else you do to your paying customers....  How else can you subject us to unwanted advertising?  Ads down the sidebar next?  Charging extra for ad-free journals?    ~Sie http://persnicketypfft.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Hey Joe,
I have an idea.  Do you think that the folks at AOL behind these ads would consider grandfathering those of us in Journal Land who have been here since say at least as old as my journal is... more than a year now... do you think they would let us grandfather out of the ads?  Ya know, just let the new journals get them?
Lisa  

Anonymous said...

Forget "Joe should resign." Joe should be fired.

Gabreael

Anonymous said...

"As America Online turns more toward advertising dollars to offset the shrinking number of subscribers who pay a monthly fee, the company may be upsetting the longtime customers who have remained faithful over the years."

The lesson here? The best way to save a floundering business model is to alienate your remaining consumer base.

When your mass-marketing strategy for delivering 1025 free hours of AOL into the hands of every man, woman, child, orangutan and flying squirrel on the planet fails...DON'T think to update your marketing strategy. NEVER adapt. REFUSE to change -- all while the amorphous internet continually reshapes itself.

Cheers to you, AOL. If the Cretaceous era taught us anything, it's that adaptation is overrated."

http://beyondmediatv.com/