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Subject: ESPN's new frontpage...
Posted by: Sludge
- Sustainer [113368] Mon, Feb 17, 2003, 21:20
SUCKS! |
| Only the 50 most recent replies are currently shown. Click on this text to display hidden posts as well. |
| 48 | Farn
Donor
ID: 7822711
Tue, Feb 18, 2003, 20:56
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I have to agree with KKB on a few points.
I use 800x600 and when the page loads I see very little content. I also get the Orbitz popup (I actually booked a flight with them long before they sponsored ESPN.com; that was also back when their flights were cheaper). But I just "X" that out and immediately scroll down. I'm just used to that. I could care less about having to do so.
The MSN tag at the top is useless, but they have a contract so its no big deal.
The ESPN Mag logo doesn't even load. The link appears to be dead, only showing the red "X" indicating the ad won't load.
When my page loads the first thing I get is the top story, not the ESPN Motion. Am I the only one that has that?
I personally love the ESPN Motion. Then again I am on a T3 and they suckered me in with the Jordan highlights. :) But either way I love it.
I have no problem with the linked stories not being "right-clickable". I just click on them as I have always done.
And I do enjoy the new instant poll results instead of being rerouted to the espn radio page to see the results.
I honestly overall love the changes. I may have an advantage from never having to use 56k but still, I love the updates.
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| 49 | Steve Biz
Donor
ID: 101391018
Tue, Feb 18, 2003, 21:20
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My computer doesn't work very well even though I'm on a fast line so the new page and "motion" don't even work. So, I don't like the new page at all. Also, I don't like the look of the interface. Seems to computery to me. Used to be much easier on the eyes.
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| 50 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 40029714
Wed, Feb 19, 2003, 11:24
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You can now open headlines in a new window.
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| 51 | Donkey Hunter
Sustainer
ID: 55220159
Wed, Feb 19, 2003, 14:40
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I didn't know you could watch PTI with insider. Is it the same quality as the motion videos? How long does each episode stay archived?
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| 52 | RecycledSpinalFluid
ID: 42121814
Wed, Feb 19, 2003, 15:23
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ESPN motion will not work for anyone with Windows NT, since the highest revision of Windows Media Player available for NT is 6.4 and motion says it requires atleast version 7.
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| 53 | Seattle Zen
Donor
ID: 554192913
Wed, Feb 19, 2003, 16:05
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I really like the quality of the picture in Motion, it's the nicest I've seen on the web. But then I saw that they run ads at the end of the highlight reel, disgusting! If they ever put the ads first, I'll never go back.
Bluehen, in your posts you sound like a cliche-spewing yes man. ESPN has seriously worked you over. "Ahead of the pack, Setting the bar, ESPN has been an igniter". Do you get a commission for Insider signups?
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| 54 | Ref
Donor
ID: 100261311
Wed, Feb 19, 2003, 17:13
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RE 41:
I had to figure out what PTI was, but once I did, why would I watch it online when I won't even watch it on TV?!?!
I miss the days of Olberman and Dan Patrick. Now everyone has catch phrases that are so annoying I can't stand to listen to it. Less is More at times. I only go to ESPN.com if i have something specific for which I'm searching (and can't find it elsewhere). That pop-up ad is too annoying.
I like innovation, but we should click to get to it and not have it thrown in our faces. But since I don't go there much anymore, it really doesn't matter to me.
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| 55 | Fatal Image
ID: 41143921
Wed, Feb 19, 2003, 22:51
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Sheesh, Seattle Zen.. what is so 'disgusting' about ads at the end? I'd hate to see you in front of a television.
There's been a red X (broken image) right above the ESPN Motion box for a while now. When will that be fixed?
Ref I agree that SportsCenter anchors are all tools now, but PTI is not like that at all.
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| 56 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 22100300
Wed, Feb 19, 2003, 23:20
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Ref wants to click MORE? And up above, someone was pissed that they had to click ONCE to get to the TopStory? Sheesh, I guess you can't please everyone.
And if Ref doesn't even watch PTI, there's a good chance he's not in ESPN's demographic.
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| 57 | RecycledSpinalFluid
ID: 211013916
Thu, Feb 20, 2003, 00:13
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Uhm, I don't watch PTI, and really had no idea what Makisupa nor you were talking about. Had to use the internal search to figure out what you guys were talking about.
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| 58 | J
Leader
ID: 49346417
Thu, Feb 20, 2003, 00:38
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PTI is perhaps the best show on TV. But its not worth watching if either Wilbon or Kornheiser are out.
And I like the current Sportscenter guys, although, where the hell is Kenny Mayne? I like the 6:00 guys - Scott Van Pelt & the other dude. There's one guy on late who's got an annoying monotone voice. I dont like him, otherwise, I like the latest crew on SC.
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| 59 | C.C. SOLDIERS
ID: 4001109
Thu, Feb 20, 2003, 09:26
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I have not read all of the above posts but the new page loads slowly on my cpu. For that reason and that reason only, it's no longer my homepage. I now use cnnsi.com. I'm thinking that there are several of other users who are having problems with it.Is it worth it ESPN?
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| 60 | Perm Dude
Leader
ID: 0059248
Thu, Feb 20, 2003, 09:45
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Re #56: It sort of begs the question, then, doesn't it? What exactly is ESPN.com's demographic? Young men, of course, with non-dialup service and the latest browsers only, who don't mind limited front-page content.
Methinks ESPN.com is too toys and ads driven.
pd
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| 61 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 40029714
Thu, Feb 20, 2003, 10:19
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I disagree on the "limited front page content" part. Heartily.
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| 62 | Perm Dude
Leader
ID: 0059248
Thu, Feb 20, 2003, 10:29
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BH, to a large degree that question is one of both perception and percentage. What is limited and what isn't depends upon both how much is actual content and whether it is clear or overwhelmed by non-content.
Surely, however, the "sassier" the page becomes, the smaller the pool of possible users. By driving away dial-up users and those with non-standard browsers (or even standard browsers older than a year or so), together of which comprise the vast majority of on-line users, most people won't get a chance to see.
pd
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| 63 | beastiemiked
Sustainer
ID: 29145419
Thu, Feb 20, 2003, 10:32
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At work I don't have the latest browser and therefore can't load the regular espn page. I see no reason to load it so now I'll just have to visit other sites when I'm acting like I'm working.
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| 64 | Sludge
Sustainer
ID: 113368
Sat, Feb 22, 2003, 11:18
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Yeah, so I decide to visit ESPN and give the video a shot now that I installed all the software required.
After hitting the reset button because my computer locked up tighter than a drum, I uninstalled the ESPNMotion, and am officially waving goodbye to ESPN's webpage. Hello CNNSI, TSN, and SportsLine.
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| 65 | APerfect10
Leader
ID: 407161410
Sat, Feb 22, 2003, 11:44
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I am in the minority but I like the way ESPN is heading with their frontpage...
"I Like"
-ESPN Motion. Video on the internet is going to be very common within the next few years. I like how the video downloads on its own and alerts you when its ready. Atleast you dont have to push play and wait a few minutes to start watching it.
-Big, crisp clean images are unprecedented. While some may consider this a negative, I like it. I feel the frontpage should be just that, an eye catcher. The facts and stories should be located somewhere else, minus the top story.
-New polls are great.
ESPN needed to update their whole webpage. It was becoming outdated very quickly. This is a step in the right direction...
Dislike
-I am viewing with 1024x768. I feel you need to design towards the technology, rather than hold back and design for 800x600. If you dont push forward, no one will ever follow. However, even viewing with 1024x768, the top of the screen is WAY to big! Just shrink some of that stuff.
-While I like how ESPN Motion downloads on itself, there needs to be options for the E that appears in the taskbar. You should be able to right click and have some options, one of which is to NOT view the video. Currently, it doesnt matter what type of click it opens a new page going directly to ESPN Motion.
The BIG PROBLEM with ESPN's website is not their frontpage. Their problem is their scoreboards! I use CBS, as most do for up-to-date scores. You can leave their scoreboard open and it updates automatically via JavaScript. ESPN needs to have this same feature. Who wants to continuously hit refresh, or even have it refresh for every 30,60,90 seconds. This is the year 2003, the internet is in real time, not delayed. Get with the program. Your scoreboards are the absolute worst. Not only are they pathetic, the graphical design of them is annoying. The top is once again WAY TOO large and the sides waste space. Also, the scoreboards should be customizable. If i always want to view all the NCAA DI basketball scores, I can set my CBS scoreboard accordingly. The same cant be done with ESPN.
Does ESPN provide its coders with 21" monitors using a 1024x768+ resolution? This may be the problem that is causing such a huge top of the screen that is VERY consistent throughout the ESPN website.
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| 66 | Tree
ID: 22052618
Sat, Feb 22, 2003, 13:03
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it's funny. i consider myself ESPN's demographic. i have since i was a teenager, and my goal was to be the next Chris Berman.
but i don't watch PTI - in fact, i watched it once just before i got rid of cable last month because i was curious as to what the hype was.
i'm still curious.
i've never been big on reporters become celebrities. maybe i'm a tad old school - i was a sports reporter previously, covering local high school teams, as well as the Cape Cod Baseball League. When i left to persue other things, one of the schools i covered surprised me with a plaque honoring me for my efforts at covering their sports program - from the Super Bowl winning football team and top notch field hockey and softball teams to the not-so-great but refusing to give up tennis and volleyball squads.
it was during their football banquet, my last event to cover before i left, that they gave me the award, and i was stunned, and a tad embarrassed. i liked reporting the news, not being the news.
now, having said that, i LOVED the Sports Reporters when it started - it was innovative and new. but now, newspaper reporters being talking heads on TVs bore the tears out of me.
peace,
Tree
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| 67 | biliruben
Sustainer
ID: 589301110
Sun, Feb 23, 2003, 22:59
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I, too, I am getting Motion sickness, and thinking of moving on.
Perhaps, BH, you could suggest they make a low-bandwidth link which the video-challenged could bookmark, that has the headline up, instead of motion?
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| 68 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 22100300
Sun, Feb 23, 2003, 23:13
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Uh... lite.espn.go.com?
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| 69 | beastiemiked
Sustainer
ID: 29145419
Sun, Feb 23, 2003, 23:46
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Actually lite sucks. You can't access most of the site through it.
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| 70 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 22100300
Mon, Feb 24, 2003, 02:17
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What are you trying to access?
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| 71 | The Left Wings
ID: 6142019
Mon, Feb 24, 2003, 05:17
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Two problems I have with the new look:
#1 Orbitz, 'nuff said.
#2 The title takes up 1/3 of the page. That reminded me of why I changed from 800x600 to 1024x768. Back then titles took up 1/3 of the page and I couldn't stand it. It's happening for the first time since I changed my screen resolution. I suppose it's time I change to 1152xwhatever?
Slow loading drives people away. That's a law. The ESPN scoreboards have always been THE slowest loading one among the best known sport sites. I've never ever considered setting ESPN as the homepage.
Yahoo used to have the fastest loading, most simplistic scoreboard, until they changed it last month. I hated the change cuz it took much much longer for it to refresh. Before it was instant, now it takes a couple of seconds.
Text webpages rule. Who cares about pictures? All we need is information that loads instantly. All I may care is that the fact Kobe Bryant had another 40-point game. Who cares how large he opened his mouth when he was going for a layup? Nobody!
Just get rid of ALL the pictures, and get rid of all the java crap, and go with good ol' HTML. That's the best.
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| 72 | APerfect10
Leader
ID: 70412023
Mon, Feb 24, 2003, 10:44
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I lied. My screen resolution is 1280x1024. While the top of the ESPN pages are fine, the page only occupies the left 2/3 of the screen...there is 1/3 of my monitor left useless.
How comes no other sites have these troubles?
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| 73 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 40029714
Mon, Feb 24, 2003, 14:57
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Left Wings, that's exactly what the lite site is!
Plus, Orbitz? Dude, nothing has changed with Orbitz for this redesign.
APerfect10 - because no one goes to other sites.
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| 74 | biliruben
Sustainer
ID: 5310281417
Mon, Feb 24, 2003, 16:12
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I appreciate the option of lite, but I'm not going to use something I can't trust the accuracy of. It is nice to have a quick-loading front page, but it just highlights all the more how little content is on the front-page, in either format.
On the first day of deciding to use lite, I notice the mens ncaa rankings in the lite version are all screwed up. I will be happy to continue to do your job for you as I find problems.
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| 75 | beastiemiked
Sustainer
ID: 3531815
Mon, Feb 24, 2003, 16:12
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All the top links don't work, they send you to that page where you have to upgrade your browser.
It took me 15 minutes to figure out how to get to a team's page.
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| 76 | biliruben
Sustainer
ID: 5310281417
Mon, Feb 24, 2003, 16:16
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The internal links back to (at least) the main page from the rankings doesn't work.
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| 77 | biliruben
Sustainer
ID: 5310281417
Mon, Feb 24, 2003, 16:17
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There doesn't appear to be a way to get to any sports beyond the 6 you highlight on the left.
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| 78 | The Left Wings
ID: 6142019
Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 05:23
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I actually like the ESPN Motion a lot. I've never seen that kind of resolution on a video from the internet.
I still think the ESPN Lite site has too much unnecessary graphics.
If you are sick of the Orbitz popup, perhaps you should try programs like the Popup Killer.
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| 80 | biliruben
Sustainer
ID: 5310281417
Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 17:05
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Lite Problem (LP) #4: I can't seem to get to MLB statistics.
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| 81 | beastiemiked
Sustainer
ID: 29145419
Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 17:32
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bili, you have to go to a team's page then it'll take you back to espn's regular page style where you can find a link to the statistics.
BTW, it only took me 3 clicks to get to the fantasy section using espn lite, can anybody beat that?
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| 82 | APerfect10
Leader
ID: 70412023
Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 17:41
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It only took me one click to get to the fantasy section via ESPN lite :)
The links at the top of the page list "Fantasy", much like the normal ESPN frontpage...
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| 83 | beastiemiked
Sustainer
ID: 29145419
Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 17:46
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Well those didn't work for me today at work(I'm at home right now) so I assumed they didn't work at my home computer as well. I'm guessing there's no way I can get to the fantasy section using an older browser.
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| 84 | APerfect10
Leader
ID: 70412023
Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 18:04
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I think the point of Lite has been miscontrued...
Lite was implemented as a redirection for those visitors who do not have Flash 5+ installed, which the site uses frequently. Lite was not designed as a full webpage minus the "junk", so to speak.
Why would ESPN spend precious time and money to redesign their WHOLE webpage into a lite version? I'm not sure any website has done this...
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| 85 | biliruben
Sustainer
ID: 5310281417
Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 18:47
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Well looking at posts 67 & 68, an ESPN employee has misconstrued it's purpose then.
Fine. Lite isn't the answer I am looking for.
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| 86 | APerfect10
Leader
ID: 70412023
Tue, Feb 25, 2003, 19:01
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He just pretends to work for ESPN ;)
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| 87 | The Left Wings
ID: 6142019
Wed, Feb 26, 2003, 10:04
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One problem with the ESPN Motion: The sound is too weak. I have to tune my stereo way up before I can hear any narration, and that means pausing my MP3s cuz they'd be way too loud.
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| 88 | biliruben
Sustainer
ID: 589301110
Wed, Feb 26, 2003, 10:07
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Any sound is too loud, if it's sound I don't request. Make the front-page the default and Motion a click away, and then crank it up if you want.
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| 89 | blue hen
Leader
ID: 40029714
Wed, Feb 26, 2003, 16:44
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For the record, that's the plan... to have the top story on top. They just want the buzz for motion now, I guess.
And everything on the right side is right clickable now, just about.
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| 90 | biliruben
Sustainer
ID: 49132614
Fri, Feb 28, 2003, 18:13
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Okay. Just got a sweet new machine attached to a T1 line. Carry on.
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| 91 | Donkey Hunter
Sustainer
ID: 55220159
Sat, Mar 01, 2003, 13:18
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Ok Almost all the links on the left side of espn are down and have been down since last night. If I try to click on NBA it takes me to the nba page from two aprils ago after the blazers lost game 1 to the lakers. The Sonics are nulling moving Payton, Baker, and Ewing this upcoming offseason.
But all the rest pop up as file not found so I guess NBA is lucky something came up.
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| 92 | James K Polk
ID: 51010719
Sun, Mar 02, 2003, 22:42
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A few more technical thoughts on the redesign
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| 93 | rage_22@work
ID: 2842719
Thu, Mar 06, 2003, 19:33
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Donkey Hunter,
I had the same thing just happen to me after I filled out a poll on the NBA index page, I was sent to a page whose headline was that Blazers-Lakers series. That's interesting.
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| 94 | rage_22@work
ID: 2842719
Thu, Mar 06, 2003, 20:15
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Oh, I think I get it. It is redirecting to http://espn.go.com/nba/index/ for the NBA index instead of http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/index
which is the current one with sports. appended to espn.go.com. Not that any of this really matters.
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| 95 | Makisupa
Donor
ID: 282121010
Mon, Mar 10, 2003, 11:23
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Best thing about ESPN.com??
Shockwave Shelfball!
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| 96 | ¤ Mario LeMoose ¤
ID: 7457914
Fri, May 09, 2003, 15:57
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So now we have the equivalent of "popup" ads on ESPN (Internet) Radio. Click on your tuner banner now....
The worldwide leader in sports has reached yet another level in "annoying."
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| 97 | Tree, also @ work
Donor
ID: 599393013
Fri, May 09, 2003, 17:01
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as much as i loved ESPNMotion, the trails it left behind actually started slowing my machine down dramatically, and i eventually uninstalled it, and don't bother. it's a great concept, but having to downloading something to special to view it ended up being a drag.
peace,
Tree
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| 98 | SillySpheres
ID: 58512252
Fri, May 09, 2003, 19:36
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I hear you Tree, it was tying up a ton of bandwidth and processor time and often times it would be for a stupid clip like Women's Golf Highlights or clips of an interview with Mike Tyson. I uninstalled it after about 2 days.
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