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sepdetI'm too tired to work up a properly entertaining state of dudgeon, and also, I need to continue checking/overhauling/updating my 430+ Squidoo articles. But it's time for a work-vent.
Yesterday, Friday Dec 7, Squidoo HQ decided that in honor of the site's 7th anniversary, they would release an all-new, totally "responsive layout" revamp of the site, which means doing away with a fixed width layout and having elements wiggle all over the place to fit whatever screen and OS are being used.
Squidoo members learn that the site has decided to change ALL THE THINGS, LJ-style.
There were just a few problems with this brilliant plan.
By and large, I am escaping this mess unscathed, with only minor layout problems. I had the foresight to plan for the possibility of the column width changing (except when I got sloppy). But I've got missing product images, and I've got to check every page to see what's broken.
*pant pant* I've gotten 13 pages updated/overhauled out of 431. I'm trying to prioritize top earners and my most popular pages, but I'm SO so tired.
I'd be furious, except that Squidoo has done this too many times to surprise me anymore: the half-assed launch of some new thing that doesn't take into consideration the onus of work it's going to pile onto its members, and the dogged refusal to give sufficient advanced warning. [ETA: Add to that, "Tone deaf response from CEO." The timing of his "Beggars Can't Be Choosers" post was nearly as unfortunate as the upgrade's.]
This sentiment from a friend echoes my darker thoughts:
However, unlike C. and other hardworking folks who are seniors, people on disability, or work-at-home creative types using the site to make a modest living, I really am NOT dependent on this job to support myself. I've got the %@%!%$# trust fund teat to suck on. I just wanted to be self-supporting, so I'd have less self-loathing.
Also, despite the Squidoo Surprises and inevitable commercialization of my writing as I attempt to build up to the amount that will let me be (fairly) self-sufficient, I appreciate having found work for which my superficial interests (gaming, Tolkien, casual astronomy and geology, random knowledge of myth and the Classical & Near Eastern world) are not a liability, but a resource. It's totally permissible for me to get immensely interested in some project and bury myself in it for a few months, then burn out and move to something else with equal fervor. It's all grist for the mill.
I just wish I were free to write and create instead of having to drop everything and do damage control whenever one of these Squidoo Surprises fubars my pages. Of course, I could publish on my own sites instead, but as C. says, Squidoo gives me a 20x better ROI than the next-best publishing platform where I've found some success.
Yesterday, Friday Dec 7, Squidoo HQ decided that in honor of the site's 7th anniversary, they would release an all-new, totally "responsive layout" revamp of the site, which means doing away with a fixed width layout and having elements wiggle all over the place to fit whatever screen and OS are being used.
Squidoo members learn that the site has decided to change ALL THE THINGS, LJ-style.
There were just a few problems with this brilliant plan.
- No advanced notice.
- Biggest shopping season of the year.
- Clearly not enough beta testing.
- Some things now look worse on mobile, despite the fact that this was SUPPOSED to make Squidoo better on mobile.
- Lots of bugs. Including AMAZON PRODUCT IMAGES VANISHING RANDOMLY.
- Did I mention this is the biggest shopping season?
- For seven years, Squidoo has been the one money-earning site that gave its users great freedom in using custom CSS and HTML to create our own layouts. The new "responsive layout" system breaks many of these custom layouts.
- By and large, the victims are Squidoo's power users, veterans, and long-time members with hundreds of pages. Now they're doing emergency triage.
- Did I mention it was the biggest shopping season?
- A minority of members understand CSS and HTML well enough to hack and adjust. Everyone else is looking at the code templates they used to build their pages and saying, "HOW DO I FIX IT?!"
- Some people are away for the holidays. Others were trying to be.
- Nor is this the FIRST holiday season Squidoo has disrupted lots of pages that make sales. On Dec 21, 2010, another Squidoo Surprise caused consternation and chaos.
By and large, I am escaping this mess unscathed, with only minor layout problems. I had the foresight to plan for the possibility of the column width changing (except when I got sloppy). But I've got missing product images, and I've got to check every page to see what's broken.
*pant pant* I've gotten 13 pages updated/overhauled out of 431. I'm trying to prioritize top earners and my most popular pages, but I'm SO so tired.
I'd be furious, except that Squidoo has done this too many times to surprise me anymore: the half-assed launch of some new thing that doesn't take into consideration the onus of work it's going to pile onto its members, and the dogged refusal to give sufficient advanced warning. [ETA: Add to that, "Tone deaf response from CEO." The timing of his "Beggars Can't Be Choosers" post was nearly as unfortunate as the upgrade's.]
This sentiment from a friend echoes my darker thoughts:
"The longer I think about Squidoo today the more pissed off I get. I wish I could just say F*ck it and not go back.
No matter how furious I am for having to jump through their hoops or how much I hate what they do to my pages I still make more money from Squidoo than anywhere else. I'm sure they know they have people like me trapped here."
No matter how furious I am for having to jump through their hoops or how much I hate what they do to my pages I still make more money from Squidoo than anywhere else. I'm sure they know they have people like me trapped here."
However, unlike C. and other hardworking folks who are seniors, people on disability, or work-at-home creative types using the site to make a modest living, I really am NOT dependent on this job to support myself. I've got the %@%!%$# trust fund teat to suck on. I just wanted to be self-supporting, so I'd have less self-loathing.
Also, despite the Squidoo Surprises and inevitable commercialization of my writing as I attempt to build up to the amount that will let me be (fairly) self-sufficient, I appreciate having found work for which my superficial interests (gaming, Tolkien, casual astronomy and geology, random knowledge of myth and the Classical & Near Eastern world) are not a liability, but a resource. It's totally permissible for me to get immensely interested in some project and bury myself in it for a few months, then burn out and move to something else with equal fervor. It's all grist for the mill.
I just wish I were free to write and create instead of having to drop everything and do damage control whenever one of these Squidoo Surprises fubars my pages. Of course, I could publish on my own sites instead, but as C. says, Squidoo gives me a 20x better ROI than the next-best publishing platform where I've found some success.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-09 12:56 pm (UTC)...ow.
Was *this* close to opening up Morrowind, but typing this has made me reconsider (twas foolish but stuck in the middle of awesome quest in one of the mods). Have only looked at about three of my lenses, cause clicking around is not good and I'm already doing too much - so don't know the damage overall.
Aaaaand that's enough typing. I feel like I've been struck mostly dumb >.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-09 03:12 pm (UTC)My predecessor mod on the old LOTR plaza got struck down with a weird infection in both elbows, and it was SO frustrating for her not being able to communicate. I hope your wrists start behaving sooner.
and/or that you can get Dragon voice recognition whatsit to help. I know it's a very different kettle of fish, though, when you're used to talking with your keyboard.
(and thanks for the heads up on that URL thing.)