Why the new site layout is worse

A_HarringtonThis is entirely opinion, and before I continue, I appreciate the creators and editors of newschoolers and the work they put in immensely. That being said I think that the new layout of the homepage(not actually that new) is a huge step back. The way it was previously laid out, with pictures, videos and threads spread out three wide, and organized with the hottest topics at the top, was a more modern and functional way to set up the website.

The current way it is set up, first of all, has a huge emphasis on advertisement, the entire right third is sponsored links, as well as the ad above the featured videos and articles.

I also dislike the idea of featured links in general. It was not as bad when there was around eight featured topics, but four is far too few. I do not pretend to understand the process of becoming a featured video, but I feel fairly certain that it is not based solely on how "hot" the media is. I assume that while how many views per hour is factored in, part of how these featured videos are chosen is based on what media facets the designers of the site think are important, or think that their viewership will deem important.

The result of this is that select mainstream media facets that are already popular, are more likely to have their media remain popular and viewed. Meanwhile, smaller media producers end up spatially de-emphasised; even a video that gets a decent amount of views could be extremely far down the page. While the expression, "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer" is a pretty drastic way to describe this, it is accurate in a sense.

Newschoolers is a great way to share ski media, I just wish it would go back to a spatial format that gave smaller media publishers as much emphasis as large ones. There is a lot of talent and cool content on newschoolers, and it bothers me that some of it can be discredited due to the layout of the site.

A_HarringtonI do not pretend to understand the process of becoming a featured video, but I feel fairly certain that it is not based solely on how "hot" the media is. I assume that while how many views per hour is factored in, part of how these featured videos are chosen is based on what media facets the designers of the site think are important, or think that their viewership will deem important.

Mr.BishopIt uses this equation - http://www.evanmiller.org/how-not-to-sort-by-average-rating.html

And is solely based on the voting system. I have absolutely zero power to feature something in that spot, nor does anyone else. You only get there through getting yourself voted up by your peers.

So its actually about as fair as it comes.

A_HarringtonInteresting. Does it upload a new one to be featured on regular time intervals or is there a rating threshold? I am slightly misinformed, but even if whats featured is based on ratings, I still think that the older layout gave more light to smaller media producers simply to to spatial organization and was a more accessible layout. Thanks for clearing that up though!

Mr.BishopEvery night, midnight EST it picks one news item and one video.

It hasn't seemed to hide smaller producers - the main problem with smaller producers is they often think their own stuff is better than it is. Countless times we've seen that the good stuff rises to the top, and if people like it it gets traction.

We've been also trying to share more and more edits that are trending on the site via social media, which has also seemed to help get uplift.

There's a lot of changes in internet browsing habits as more and more people go to mobile, which is probably a bigger reason you're seeing change. We're working on this as much as we can.

Big thing people can do is click the share buttons. Getting your stuff out on social does a lot to help it overall succeed!

A_HarringtonPretty true, everyone definitely values their work disproportionately, because it is by definition their style. you guys are doing a really good job as the social nature of the internet changes, and it could just be me that subconsciously devalues media relative to how far I have to scroll to see it. It feels to me like it was easier to find less publicized talent in the past but that could also be the time of year that it is(fall ns does not equal winter ns). I also am not that active toward most skiing related social media so it is hard for me to comment on that.

Mr.BishopThe problem with the old layout is it all came down to the thumbnail. Things with good thumbnails performed much better than things with bad ones. This one relies more on text, so yes you have to scroll further but you get more information about who made it.