The Briefing Room
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: 63red on January 11, 2019, 01:09:20 am
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I'm looking for new features to add to our conservative news app, or new conservative sites to list. Feel like I'm hitting the limit here, wanting to know what people want.
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Sw.
Apple (iPhone and iPad)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/63red-conservative-news-conservative/id972910669?mt=8
Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sixtythreered.sixtythreered
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Welcome to TBR.
I like to help spread conservative ideals any way possible so I hope our members have some ideas for you.
One suggestion is list TBR as a site/forum where the daily news/politics can be discussed.
Nancy
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Remember a lot of us older folks don't do smart phones, I know I don't.... so it is always nice to have access to good sites via just the old fashion computer web site.
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Downloading and installing your apps. Think I'll take a look around before making any suggestions.
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I'll hang out on your website a bit...
http://www.63red.com/feed (http://www.63red.com/feed)
But what I am really interested in is if you come back into this thread and chat a bit, or if you are just trolling for promotional purposes.
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Too much news, not enough porn.....just sayin'.
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Too much news, not enough porn.....just sayin'.
Porn-hub has changed the world. 333cleo
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Porn-hub has changed the world. 333cleo
See @63red this dude agrees.
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@Bigun I look forward to your feedback. There’s such a thing as “creator’s blindnessâ€, in which you can no longer see the product from the perspective of a user. It helps to get constructive notes from others.
@Amb. Frank Cannon Um, no.
@Sighlass Our focus is primarily on providing tools on mobile devices, though, as @roamer_1 points out, we do offer a less featured version of our feed on the website.
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I much prefer web sites over apps. Technology is not the issue. Apps are usually too limiting.
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A question we've been debating now: Does anyone still care about The Gateway Pundit? This week they've run "news articles" promoting vitamin products. This was our limit, and we dropped them.
It's one thing to put ads on your site, which we support, but articles pretending to be news that are nothing but fluffer ads with affiliate links are not acceptable, and not news. The "articles" were not clearly marked as sponsored posts, which is an important compromise. As far as we're concerned, they crossed an important ethical line this week.
Anyone care that The Gateway Pundit goes away?
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@Bigun I look forward to your feedback. There’s such a thing as “creator’s blindnessâ€, in which you can no longer see the product from the perspective of a user. It helps to get constructive notes from others.
@Amb. Frank Cannon Um, no.
@Sighlass Our focus is primarily on providing tools on mobile devices, though, as @roamer_1 points out, we do offer a less featured version of our feed on the website.
@63red, a lot of people have that reaction to Frank.
I'll look around and see if I have anything useful to say about the apps.
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A question we've been debating now: Does anyone still care about The Gateway Pundit? This week they've run "news articles" promoting vitamin products. This was our limit, and we dropped them.
It's one thing to put ads on your site, which we support, but articles pretending to be news that are nothing but fluffer ads with affiliate links are not acceptable, and not news. The "articles" were not clearly marked as sponsored posts, which is an important compromise. As far as we're concerned, they crossed an important ethical line this week.
Anyone care that The Gateway Pundit goes away?
Not me. I never go directly to GP; I only arrive there by link from another site. And, come to think of it, that is very rare too.
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Gateway pundit had some story posted here that was decent. I can't even remember it offhand. Still, it was pretty good.
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A question we've been debating now: Does anyone still care about The Gateway Pundit? This week they've run "news articles" promoting vitamin products. This was our limit, and we dropped them.
It's one thing to put ads on your site, which we support, but articles pretending to be news that are nothing but fluffer ads with affiliate links are not acceptable, and not news. The "articles" were not clearly marked as sponsored posts, which is an important compromise. As far as we're concerned, they crossed an important ethical line this week.
Anyone care that The Gateway Pundit goes away?
Censoring? :shrug:
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Censoring? :shrug:
No, discriminating.
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Our focus is primarily on providing tools on mobile devices, though, as @roamer_1 points out, we do offer a less featured version of our feed on the website.
I'll be of less or little use to you wrt your mobile app @63red I will pull it down today, but honestly, when I am mobile, I tend toward google assistant to command, and things I can hear for response. Actually reading articles on a phone is a laborious event fraught with frustration. I would certainly prefer an audio or video presentation. :shrug:
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No, discriminating.
Bad too. Let the viewer decide.
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Ethics in content and advertising is a very big deal for us. Our apps have been around for four years, and for much of that we resisted a feature that allowed users to implement ad blockers. We used a custom, non-integrated web browser within the app, so ad blockers wouldn't work. We believed firmly that conservative sites needed and deserved advertising dollars.
A few months ago, after getting a dozen support emails in one single day about screen take-over "popups" in our app, we screamed "Enough!" We don't do popups, but The Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, and The Gateway Pundit would rather drive people away with obnoxious ads than serve conservatives, and we were taking the blame. It was costing us users, and we wanted to put an end to it.
So, we released an updated version with an integrated web browser, and we've been strongly urging our users to implement ad blockers on their mobile devices. We recommend the free version of AdGuard. With AdGuard installed, all the ads, trackers, popups and other harmful junk are gone, and websites load within milliseconds instead of minutes. It works across most all apps on your mobile device. Our app is faster, smaller, and we're not getting pelted with support emails from people thinking we're to blame for the screen take-over pop-up ads.
For a very long time we considered ourselves partners with conservative news sites, hoping to help them build their traffic. No longer. We're partners with conservatives themselves, and if conservative news sites want advertising dollars, they should deserve it by respecting my partner.
Perhaps the new vitamin ads posing as news stories on The Gateway Pundit are their response to ad blockers, but if they think that helps their credibility, their mistaken.
There's a compromise somewhere, but until one is found, we have to look out for our users, and we are. We hope that, someday, conservative sites will also look out for their users. That's not happening today, and so we have acted, by allowing users to choose to block their ads.
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@roamer_1 Given that you don't prefer mobile apps, your perspective on changes is most valuable to us. I look forward to your feedback.
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I much prefer web sites over apps. Technology is not the issue. Apps are usually too limiting.
That's right... On the go, I ain't gonna read on the phone... If I feel like wading into a news site, I will stop for coffee and haul out a laptop, or wait till I get back home, where I can use a browser on a big monitor...
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@RetBobbyMI I'm fine with the word censoring. The app allows the user to be discriminating, in that they can turn on or off the sites we offer and customize their feed. However, we consider The Gateway Pundit to have crossed an ethical line, and have removed them.
We are a publisher, meaning we curate and are responsible for what we choose, not a platform, meaning anyone can post anything and we're not responsible. There's both a legal and ethical difference between the two.
The problem people have with Twitter and Facebook is that they talk like a platform, but walk like a publisher. We accept that we are a publisher, and take out, or choose not to include, that which we consider unethical or problematic, and we're up front with that.
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@Sanguine I'd love a list of conservative sites you do go to directly.
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Good morning @63red .
Are you looking to be a version of the DrugeReport with links to articles and websites?
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@roamer_1 Given that you don't prefer mobile apps, your perspective on changes is most valuable to us. I look forward to your feedback.
Here's one for you @63red ... At least in landscape mode, make the header fold away until I pull it down.
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@roamer_1 Yes, we love that. That feature is available when you open the browser, but not on the news list. Definitely on our list of features to add.
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@Bigun I look forward to your feedback. There’s such a thing as “creator’s blindnessâ€, in which you can no longer see the product from the perspective of a user. It helps to get constructive notes from others.
@Amb. Frank Cannon Um, no.
@Sighlass Our focus is primarily on providing tools on mobile devices, though, as @roamer_1 points out, we do offer a less featured version of our feed on the website.
@63red
Although I personally am very unlikely to use it much, I cannot see a thing I would change on your app and particularly like very much the ability to turn sites on and off! That feature allows the user to determine for themselves which feeds they want to see and I'll bet most will not even bother to find out it's there.
Secondly, I fully support your decision to drop Gateway pundit as that site has become completely unreadable IMHO.
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We're on the second page, so, as a courtesy, I'm going to re-post the links to the apps.
Apple (iPhone and iPad)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/63red-conservative-news-conservative/id972910669?mt=8
Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sixtythreered.sixtythreered
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@Bigun @Amb. Frank Cannon Um, no.
Rutt row.
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@Bigun Thanks for the positive feedback, things like that keep us going. Also, money, but positive feedback helps, too. You mention you would not be a user of the app. What is one feature that could help you make that change to being a user? What are we missing?
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@Bigun Also, FYI, our statistics support your assumption that very, very few people actually curate their own feeds by turning on and off sources. That was very surprising to us, but reinforces our sense of responsibility to selecting only quality sites.
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@Bigun Thanks for the positive feedback, things like that keep us going. Also, money, but positive feedback helps, too. You mention you would not be a user of the app. What is one feature that could help you make that change to being a user? What are we missing?
@63red
LOL! I'm 70 years old and have about reached my limit in adapting to new technologies! Didn't say I wouldn't use it at all but my usage will be limited to those times when I don't have access to my desktop or laptop.
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For a very long time we considered ourselves partners with conservative news sites, hoping to help them build their traffic. No longer. We're partners with conservatives themselves, and if conservative news sites want advertising dollars, they should deserve it by respecting my partner.
[...]
There's a compromise somewhere, but until one is found, we have to look out for our users, and we are. We hope that, someday, conservative sites will also look out for their users. That's not happening today, and so we have acted, by allowing users to choose to block their ads.
I like that thinking.
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I like that thinking.
And I second that comment!
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I'll check out the Android version.
:2popcorn:
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@63red
LOL! I'm 70 years old and have about reached my limit in adapting to new technologies! Didn't say I wouldn't use it at all but my usage will be limited to those times when I don't have access to my desktop or laptop.
DITTOS, except the 70 part... I am but an aspiring duffer, not a real one... :silly: :tongue2:
I think @63red is going about this bass akwards - Consolidate the news aggregator and forum on the website - Really dress that up, and make it feature rich... That's the hook and the anchor to me... mobile apps are but a convenience to check up with... mornings and evenings when I have the time is when I am gonna sit on a site and dig deep... That's when I really make my rounds.
Jussayin. :shrug:
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DITTOS, except the 70 part... I am but an aspiring duffer, not a real one... :silly: :tongue2:
I think @63red is going about this bass akwards - Consolidate the news aggregator and forum on the website - Really dress that up, and make it feature rich... That's the hook and the anchor to me... mobile apps are but a convenience to check up with... mornings and evenings when I have the time is when I am gonna sit on a site and dig deep... That's when I really make my rounds.
Jussayin. :shrug:
I'm inclined to agree! Probably give Drudge a real run for his money if that was done.
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I'm with you guys on that, a website that I can read with a browser on a large monitor is where I spend time online.
No matter how large of a phone that I carry, the screen is too small to read comfortably and I damn sure don't enjoy trying to type on those tiny virtual keyboards.
If I am waiting somewhere I may browse a site on my phone, glance at some email messages. If I reply to an email from my phone it is most likely going to be something like: "on my phone now, will reply later from computer."
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I'm with you guys on that, a website that I can read with a browser on a large monitor is where I spend time online.
No matter how large of a phone that I carry, the screen is too small to read comfortably and I damn sure don't enjoy trying to type on those tiny virtual keyboards.
If I am waiting somewhere I may browse a site on my phone, glance at some email messages. If I reply to an email from my phone it is most likely going to be something like: "on my phone now, will reply later from computer."
That's right... I have a whole lot of loyalty to TBR, and because of that, it is one of a very few places I will struggle with on a phone during the day... If I get a notification by mail, I normally will come on over and see what's up.
For news aggregation on the fly, it's pretty hard to beat "Hey Google, what's the news?" spoken into a mike and have it played back to me, all without even touching the phone.
It's the allegiance to this place that makes it different from that, and worth the effort. Likewise for when something big is happening... I am far more likely to come here to find out what's up than to go elsewhere, phone or otherwise, and believe me, it ain't pleasant to be here on a phone.
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Here's an update on some recent changes we've made to the 63red News app, and our website, based on your feedback and suggestions.
We've add a "Hottest" view to the 63red News app, allowing users to see the most active articles. This has turned out to be a very popular feature. Update your app through the Apple AppStore or Google Play Store to get the latest.
On the back-end, the server recalculates and assigns a "hotness" score to every article of the last 6 hours, based on the number of times the article's been read, liked, and commented upon. Weights are applied so that "likes" and "comments" receive greater value. The score is then used to determine what is "hot". These scores are then used to create the new view.
In addition, we've completely re-written the website, which you can view at http://63red.com (http://63red.com).
The site now looks much more "Drudge"-like, and includes the top "hottest" articles, as well as the latest, and the most read. The site is functionally complete, though we'll continue to fix "beauty" issues over the next week.
The primary purpose of calculating the "hotness" scores, however, is to create an Alexa Skill for delivering the top five 63red News articles to your Alexa devices in your news update. We'll be finishing the Alexa Skill this week, and will let you know here once it's complete.
After that, it's back to 63red Safe, our app for allowing conservatives to rate restaurants and businesses based on their acceptance (or rejection) of conservative principles and customers. We put that project on hold during the holidays, and because we needed a break from what is turning out to be a very complex effort. Look for 63red Safe to the available in early February. We'll let you know here once it's online.
We've set for ourselves the goal of being a factor in the 2020 elections. We want conservatives to have the best mobile and web tools available. We started with the idea of creating (yet another) Social Network, but have abandoned that idea, because we didn't want to go to the trouble of writing for a genre that we know is dying.
Instead, we want conservatives to be well-informed (63red News), able to reach out to each other (63red Talk), safe in their shopping and spending (63red Safe), and able to notify each other of, and preserve pictures at, events and rallies (63red Gather). We're half-way through our goals, and believe we'll meet our target of helping conservatives in the upcoming presidential election.
See our current and planned apps at http://63red.com/apps. (http://63red.com/apps.)
Again, we welcome your feedback and suggestions. We're building this for you, and money, but mostly for you, our fellow conservatives.
Thanks for your help.
Sw.
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I like your changes and will certainly use your site to post from.....can't you give us a mention someplace..lol
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Nancy,
We'll mention you, certainly. We've added a "Sources" list on the site, which is the sites from which the servers pluck news automatically, but we're also planning to add a "Sites we love" list soon, and I'll make sure gopbriefingroom.com is on it!
Sw.
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@roamer_1
@mystery-ak
roamer, You said, "That's right... I have a whole lot of loyalty to TBR, and because of that, it is one of a very few places I will struggle with on a phone during the day.."
You must have read my mind and posted the above. I use my phone if I must call someone, don't like getting phone calls, and if away from home, read my email, and have ONE website on there to punch - TBR. If email shows contact with TBR, I will go there and see what's up. I don't even know how to run around on the web on this new phone and don't intend to try. I have four working computers at this house and know the ins and outs of each one. A phone is just an emergency item away from the house.
Soooo, you and I can sit on your porch and use our computers to talk to one another using TBR messaging and post to one another on threads. See, we don't even have to physically talk to one another. I will say now please have plenty of coffee and half and half creamer.
Being honest, I would like to physically meet you because you are a fine man who thinks. wink777 888high58888
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I'm with you guys on that, a website that I can read with a browser on a large monitor is where I spend time online.
No matter how large of a phone that I carry, the screen is too small to read comfortably and I damn sure don't enjoy trying to type on those tiny virtual keyboards.
If I am waiting somewhere I may browse a site on my phone, glance at some email messages. If I reply to an email from my phone it is most likely going to be something like: "on my phone now, will reply later from computer."
Yeah, it really ticked me off a few years ago when everything started being printed in type too small to read.
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Here's an update on some recent changes we've made to the 63red News app, and our website, based on your feedback and suggestions.
[...]
Again, we welcome your feedback and suggestions. We're building this for you, and money, but mostly for you, our fellow conservatives.
Thanks for your help.
Sw.
EXCELLENT! Terrific response time - You must be serious. I respect that.
The 'Hottest' category is a welcome addition. I like that I can get three different aggregations based on three different and important criteria.
BAM, son! The website is great! Way mo'bedda! Keep working on it. would like to see a tabbed interface in the feeds for latest | hottest | most read , etc... for a less cluttered view, and possibly more real estate for each...
In the app (and I REALLY mean this) I want to thank you for inline ads being quickly discernible from news - A lot of aggregators try to fool you into clicking the ads - I like that you are not doing that.
I also like that the ads inline are actually something I might want - imagine my surprise seeing an ad for pistol grip replacements LOL! If you are targeting ads for Conservative viewers, that is a really great thing, and a really great selling point to your advertisers.
Very good work @63red ! Thanks for your responsive approach!
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roamer, You said, "That's right... I have a whole lot of loyalty to TBR, and because of that, it is one of a very few places I will struggle with on a phone during the day.."
You must have read my mind and posted the above. I use my phone if I must call someone, don't like getting phone calls, and if away from home, read my email, and have ONE website on there to punch - TBR. If email shows contact with TBR, I will go there and see what's up. I don't even know how to run around on the web on this new phone and don't intend to try. I have four working computers at this house and know the ins and outs of each one. A phone is just an emergency item away from the house.
@Victoria33
That's right. Maybe I am a bit different in that I am in the biz, as I have every sort of thing there is in computing. And I never am very far from a laptop and a tablet wherever I am...
The laptop is still my main thing, and I often need it along at clients' locations for onsite troubleshooting, so yeah, I still lug around a laptop case everywhere I go.
The tablet is always around, as it is the interface to a little Raspberry Pi running AndroidAuto I built and installed in both my rigs... Oops prolly too much geekity talk there for most folks - It is like a Smart Phone for my rigs..Takes the place of what is called a 'head unit' in the industry, and is invisible once I remove the tablet...
The point being, I don't do much with the phone but talk on it, and handle texts when I am away from the van or the house... And it is certainly awkward for anything more than maybe grabbing headlines as far as internet digging goes. Most of the time I don't even look at it... Just holler 'hey Google' and do it all by voice.
Soooo, you and I can sit on your porch and use our computers to talk to one another using TBR messaging and post to one another on threads. See, we don't even have to physically talk to one another. I will say now please have plenty of coffee and half and half creamer.
Being honest, I would like to physically meet you because you are a fine man who thinks. wink777 888high58888
LOL! Hey! back atcha! ...Other than the 'man' part...
888high58888 :patriot: :seeya:
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It's here, the 63red Alexa Skill is now available! Enable it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N476Q5B/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-skills&ie=UTF8&qid=1548427711&sr=1-1&keywords=63red (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N476Q5B/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-skills&ie=UTF8&qid=1548427711&sr=1-1&keywords=63red)
We'd appreciate your giving it a try before we announce it broadly, and let us know of any issues. Also, if you like it, a positive review helps push it up in the search results on Amazon. Thanks!