Changes At MetsToday

If you have been visiting MetsToday for a while, then yesterday’s changes may have caught you a bit by surprise.

Most noticeably, you may have tried to comment and failed — I can assure you that was not the intention, and I thank “isuzudude” for contacting me directly about the issue.

Today — and hopefully from now on — the comments should be working. You may also notice that they are back to the “old” system. After experimenting with IntenseDebate, I found it OK, not great, but more importantly, it — for one reason or another — completely alienated and/or frustrated many of our most loyal and prolific commenters. That alone was enough to revert back to the old ways; my apologies for the confusion.

Beyond the comments drama, I have applied a minor facelift to the design and layout. The previous design was nice, but the blog outgrew it. This is no longer a one-man blog — it now has 5 contributors, with a 6th making an appearance shortly. The reason I expanded the staff was twofold; first, to provide more frequent content while holding down a new full-time job (until this January, I had more flexible hours to blog while working as a contractor). Second, I like being able to provide multiple perspectives to you. I may be opinionated, but I’m not egotistical — I’m more than happy to share the soap box, and enjoy reading both the “other” content as well as the reactions in the comments section.

So the new design and layout was chosen to help make clear who is doing the writing, and also to help you navigate to more of the content you want to see. Hopefully that goal has been attained.

As always, I’m eager to hear your feedback, and welcome your suggestions for improving your experience here. Submit your ideas in the comments section or email me directly through the contact form.

Finally, I recognize that there are dozens (hundreds?) of Mets blogs you can visit, and I sincerely appreciate your choice to spend a few minutes here.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
  1. murph June 29, 2010 at 11:23 am
    Good stuff, Joe.
    MetsToday is a daily read for me since 2006.
    Now with more contributors, I may have to check it more than once a day.
  2. Kerel Cooper June 29, 2010 at 12:34 pm
    Nice job Joe. The changes look good and I look forward to reading the contributors work.
  3. friend June 29, 2010 at 12:45 pm
    While you’re in the mood for changes, wouldn’t this be a great phrase to feature prominently in a New York blog, perhaps even as the blog’s name itself:

    Bada Bing, Bada Blog

  4. Joe Janish June 29, 2010 at 2:35 pm
    Thanks for the continued, loyal support Murph!

    I think you may have been one of the first people outside of my immediate family to read MetsToday!

    Wait, INCLUDING my immediate family … ha ha.

  5. Mike June 29, 2010 at 4:32 pm
    I like the design, as I said to you on twitter it is very clean and useful. More features and better organization. It is just more reader friendly. Still I can’t help but feel the comments are lacking. No nested threads, no way to track responses. It’s just very basic. Some may like this though. Comment systems are EXTREMELY debatable and often the subject of much criticism (typically in the very comment system being argued about). So you will never pleas everyone, Joe. Go with what you think is best.
  6. gary s. June 29, 2010 at 8:05 pm
    excellent new look..and posting is a breeze..PLEASE LEAVE THINGS THIS WAY JOE!!!!!!!