First..

It’s kinda slow.

((((JANE))))
WOW!!!!

A little glitchy, but real purdy!

Jane! Congratulations!

yowza!

Jane!

FITZ!

Zed!

Starbuck?

Fez!

Heya gang.

So, what’s new?

HI Jane! HI Pach!

Not much. What’s new with you?

Just missed last comment on old site by thiiiiis much!

Last night I wanted to post this, but there was just no time in the schedule.

Heh.

I was hoping the new format would bring back the “0″..oh well.

Place looks nice – a bit slow, but it’s first thing in the morning!

Good morning! Coffee’s on.

WooT Jane! Welcome home.

Perfect!

nice design, clean layout, good readability, accessibility to content , …

the glitches appear to be minor and can be tweaked before hi volume time.

NICE JOB

Things will be a little slower while everyone is registering like mad. It should ease up once that flood subsides.

I Dugg this when it first came up, before 8am. Is it still dugg? Doesn’t look like it.

Hi All:

Looks nice-hope the speed picks up.

Been hanging out at Gabbly waiting for the start. Hooray! Looks like things are picking up at a good pace.

Fitz!

Groove factor five!

I think I’m logged in…. am I logged in?

Hi Jane, great looking place. Delete my email, registration went like a charm. Oh and lying through my teeth, I wasn’t in the least bit scared when I read your headline “Good Bye.” Fortunately, there were enough hints in your post and the comments (selise and many others) to put me at ease.

Whaddaya think?

ho-hum…
Nothing to see here…
back to bed…
WOW Jane!

Many thanks to Christina for managing the redesign stuff, and Pach for all the snappy advertising.

sorry for the double post. Maybe coz I hit the new comments button while waiting for my comment to load? That’ll teach me to try to do 2 things at once.

In fairness to Chris Shays, how well Blackwater is doing in Iraq depends on how you define the mission.

If you define the mission as p**sing off the locals and destroying the few remaining shreds of our tattered moral authority, they have done a heck of a job.

I like the new logo and colors.

Jane!!!

Layout and colors make it for a pleasant experience, damn nice start. Thanks.

Nice to see new rotating ads..someone has been working very hard on the business end..Pach???

After spending uncounted hours lurking on FDL, ever since just before the Libby trial, I figured I ought to register for the new site and make a resolution to speak up once in a while. It’s gotten so I can’t imagine a day without the Lake! Watching this new version unfold with great anticipation — thanks to all of you for bringing it to us!

Yowza! Gettin to make this first comment was kinda a chore! Passwords, activations, and bears… …oh my!

But I made it, and am thrilled to be here. Now to check out the new lake. Kinda like the old lake, but different.

why the registration deal and the profiles–are they accessible by whom

very nice. love the soothing colours.

had to change my username though, needed 4 letters to register.

Wow, a little tough getting in the door, today – but I sure am glad to be here.

I’m throwing $20 in the pot right now, in appreciation and to start the new format out right….anybody else? Pony UP!!!

Hamsters need to turn the wheel faster!!!!

coffee’s ready, hold out your cups…

I’m on Safari and seeing duplicate groups of comments…like 25, 26, 27, 28 and then 25, 26, 27 are repeated… not that I MIND reading comments twice but until I’ve had more coffee…

I miss the snarky pictures a little already…

Uhhh…Site Donate button not working yet?

Like going down a very long waterslide…..but here we all are in the pool!

Well done, Jane and crew! I love the separate links to the book salon and blue America.!

I’m from New England, so my first reaction was: “HoJo’s!”

My middle-aged eyes would like a darker typeface, but overall it looks great, clean and neat.

Aitchellsee, you’re doomed now! heh heh heh

Looks great, looking forward to the coming new features.

And yes, Jamie is a true Wizard of WordPress.

OK, it looks like I posted FOUR times… ..don’t know how that happened, but I am going to cross my fingers, click submit ONCE and see how this one goes.

I have logged in but everyone is having a hell of a time doing it, I switched to firefox and let it hand for about 5 minutes

here I am

nice look for the site Jane and congratulations

but once again, everyone is having a hard time registering

see all later

Re: site donate

Working on it!!

Thank you for your patience, and even more, for your generosity. This has indeed been a lot of work from a lot of people, not to mention expense. Any extra help will be greatly appreciated as we continue our rollout work.

Hurray!!! You are back. Well, you never went away. Beautiful site.
Great work. Nice.

…holds out cup…

Interesting…reply doesn’t quote the post..easier on the servers but harder on the reader.

Jane…niiiiice!

Looks very nice! And finally your own favicon, was wondering when y’all would get around to that ;-)

What a kludge to get logged on. And I see the process has done nothing to stop the inevitable inanity of the first 20 or so comments, nor the people who use the comment section as their personal text messaging board. All this making the firedoglake comment section one of the biggest time wasters in the blogosphere.

Easy on the eyes, sign-up was a breeze. I’ll kick the tires and browse around for all the bells and whistles, but on a cursory review…

FAR F**KING OUT!!

Yeah, it looks very nice indeed. FDL rocks, man.

a hard refresh took care of my duplicates…

Where’s the comment box? D’oh! Log in to comment means just what it says.

Looks nice, reload comments has a new feature. Yay!

Well done, laddies and lassies.

The place looks nice. I like it.

Are the photos gone from the top of each post? They were nice, but not the main attraction. Having a picture or graphic of the front pager’s on each post is good.

Oh you can quote, but it’s not automatic. Interesting new features, but it gets rid of the spinny ball ;-)

Pretty cool!

we’ve been keeping each other company over here

http://gabbly.com/private/firepups/doglake

if you want to go over and chat and maybe help everyone get on board

OK we’re back in business! I MUST be truly addicted—was suffering withdrawal symptoms.

So how do we find the archived posts?

Wowzah, Jane! It’s me, Prairie Sunshine. Had a little trouble with the registration process, but ’twas me, not FDL’s doin’. Not enough caffeine yet. The site looks fantabulous. Kudos to Jane and the whole FDL team!

*stands up, brushes off the construction dust, sees a lurking rat in the corner–nyah, nyah freepers, we’re just gettin’ started–spits and slaps hands briskly together*

Time to get to action. We are fire-breathin’ pups, hear us roar. In honor of this great day for FDL, this firepup’s gonna start a wee blog. Will let you know when it’s ready, my frazzly life will mean it’s likely intermittent, but there’s many a path of citizen activism, pups. Have you found yours yet?

Nice place Jane!

Where’s the peanuts?

Hi, just saying hello from across the Pond to the new site. I’ll no doubt continue largely to lurk, as I don’t like to interfere in someone else’s election, but occasionally I’ll join in.

I really like knowing that there are actually new comments. I guess that keeps the servers happy since you don’t have to click to know if there are new comments.

Hey, we love you too.

There will be people who miss things about the old site, and we understand that. We did go through a healthy dose of that when we launched the wordpress site off of blogger, though.

We’re here to listen and do the best we can to keep in place what those who like the site like about it and its community while trying to offer new functions and options to help expand our little corner of the world.

Doing that will help us elect more and better Democrats, and we hope, have even more fun doing it.

Woot!

Ordinarily, I fear change. This is teh bomb.

Wonderful.Had no trouble getting on and everything looks good. I’m excited!
Congrats Jane and everyone involved.

Oh, very nice! A little glitchy getting logged in the first time, but now it’s fine.

Beautiful new design!

Which explains why you, redacted, are commenting?

Why don’t you start with an apology to Jane.

Looks good. I was a little scared last night when Jane said goodbye.

Back to busines. Sex On The City Update:

In the fall of 2001, city cops chauffeured Rudy Giuliani’s then-mistress, Judith Nathan, to her parents’ Pennsylvania home 130 miles away on the taxpayers’ dime.

Records show that city cops refueled at an ExxonMobil station down the road from Nathan’s childhood home in Hazleton on Oct. 20, 2001, while Giuliani stayed behind in New York attending 9/11 funerals.

A similar receipt pops up at a different Hazleton gas station two months later, when Nathan apparently went home for a pre-Christmas visit with her parents.

The records show that – in addition to using City Hall funds to take Giuliani and Nathan to 11 secret trysts in the Hamptons, as has been previously reported – taxpayers were paying to ferry Nathan on long-distance trips without Giuliani, now a Republican contender for President.

NY Daily News

Please do interfere..we need all of the help we can get..the world doesn’t need an insane country with 10k nukes.

You and me both,
was pacing around after I raked up every leaf I could find outside!

looks great, but it loads really slowly…are pics of you guys necessary?

(and on the Congratulations page, continue is misspelled)

Where’s the peanuts?

you mean popcorn don’t you?

What a swanky re-design. Now I’ve got to find something nice to wear around here.

It’s probably something I’m doing wrong, but I can’t get Preview to work.

You and me both,
was pacing around after I raked up every leaf I could find outside!

I have faith in Rev Deb… :-)
And Jane!

So, are we automatically getting the Newsletter as a result of registering?

BTW, it doesn’t seem like Preview is working quite yet.

BobbyG,

read TPM today. Our cops were also responsible for walking Judi’s dog.

Someone does not want a pic og Jane? Geeze!

What news feed are you using?

Spazeboy! One of the heroes from the Ned Lamont campaign, a true FDL hero. Great to have you here.

Test. This is only a test. I like Gail Collins!

That was a link test.

Beautiful new digs, Jane!

No editing? Ouch.

Me either (using Safari on an iMac)

I had no idea how addicted I am until I was without FDL…..now I’m happy

coffee’s ready, hold out your cups…

Yay! Although, I think this redesign woke me up! I got to see bits of it coming through while in lockdown, which was fun.

A change but nice. And I thought the surprise would be Jane running for congress.

So this is what heaven (”the other side”) looks like. Funny, it doesn’t look like Iowa, but then I am not campaigning there.

By the way, run the spell checker on the “Congratulations” message after the login has been verified:

You have successfully activated your account! You may now login above and conitnue on your journey.

Buh-bye to Benito Ghouliani, LOL. He’s toast.

gotta go to a conference on port pollution and goods movement impacts, but I would love an answer to 37 posted as an entry. I will never find it in the comments at 5 today.
thanks for everything in the past year+.
love to all the pups.

a bunch of firedogs can’t get on so if you want to keep company with members like selise go here and say hi

http://gabbly.com/private/firepups/doglake

Our cops were also responsible for walking Judi’s dog.

hahaha! Can’t imagine he thinks he’s going to get away with all this!

I’m so glad I was busy yesterday. I would have freaked out if I had logged on and no FDL. Whew!

Guess I’ll have to get used to not seeing whatever it is that commenters are replying to. Imagine that saves bukus of room on server, though.

May have already been noted:

we’re also going to be introducing some surprises each dmorning

Typo…

AAAAAAAarrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggghhhh!

Once again the login process of favorite site requires that my screename the much treasured, and feared, A.Citizen be mutilated so that I can logon!

Devastating.

I’m going to hide under my bed in the back corner of my Blog now.

Very nice site. Being a part of firedoglake and its community gives me joy each day. Congratulations to every single person who helps make it possible.

Looks good. great… Testing, testing…

It wouldn’t take my username with spaces or underscores, so I’m registered with some squeezed alien username :< Looks great though.</p>

bobo

Good Saturday Morning Everyone.
It took me a sec to log in and I started to get a little panicky. But, then I took a breath, made coffee and now I’m in.
Whew!
Nice Changes. I must say.
Change can be fun.
ANd

Digging the new site. Should take a little adjustment, but change is good!

you mean popcorn don’t you?

Well, as long as you’re asking, I’d like CrackerJacks please. :-)

I hope mine comes with a Kazoo.

I think that the new site is crashing Firefox on my (admittedly aged) computer. I had a bunch of tabs up, tho, so I’m not completely sure. Icanhascheezburger.com does it every time – I have to go to another computer to get my lolcats fix.

If it keeps happening, I’ll let you know.

Other than that, the new place is beautiful!

How come Digby isn’t on the blog roll?

katheryn and selise can’t get on and they are having withdrawal if you guys could go over and say hi, they are here

http://gabbly.com/private/firepups/doglake

Jane, I like

- how the comments are more compact.
- you can have 3 different threads at the same time; fdl, salon, blue A
- that the number of new comments updates like
- the simplicity of the comment editor

I hope you can tune it so it responds faster.

Also, sometimes when you enter information like username and password it doesn’t do anything, you think you may have logged in successfully but it still doesn’t display the comment box.

Insist that the advertisements you display are well-behaved, that they don’t suck up all the cpu cycles display their crazy attention grabbing animations and moving pictures.

What software is this? Is it the same as HuffPo?

I think we are going to miss the edit function…

Goodbye, Ed*ard Teller, hello EdwardTeller. Huh?

Agreed.

ed, how come you and wilson used the * instead of the “w”?

NYPD walked Judi’s dogs to the sales demonstrations? I’m outraged!

a erply to a reply (looks like this)

looks good y’all. hope all are well.

I couldn’t get on over there. Tell selise and kathryn I say hi!

yes indeedy!

I’m getting multiple instances of the same post.

I’m having a little trouble getting new comments to come up, I click, the clickety deal disappears like it is going to load the new comments, but then nothing happens… not every time, but once in awhile.

Because Clinton stole the W off their keyboards.

bobo

More on the Benito Ghouliani Watch form the NY Daily News:

Unlike her predecessor as mayoral girlfriend, Mike Bloomberg’s gal pal, investment banker Diana Taylor, has never had a separate police protection detail.

Taylor, 52, takes the bus every day to her midtown office and rides the subway to business appointments. In the six years Taylor and Bloomberg have lived together, she said she has never had reason to want or need personal NYPD security. “I don’t have security in Bogota or Nairobi or Moscow when I travel there on business, why would I need security in the safest city in the world?” Taylor told the Daily News yesterday.

Since the couple has been together, Taylor has acted as the city’s unofficial First Lady, frequently marching with Bloomberg in parades, hosting Gracie Mansion social functions and campaigning with him. The nearly 6-foot tall Taylor is often recognized on the streets and subway by New Yorkers, who shout out advice for her to pass along to the mayor.

“The only time I have security is when I am with the mayor at an event,” Taylor said. “If I leave and go somewhere, like the ladies’ room or to make a call, no one comes with me. I just tell them where I’m going so I won’t be left behind,” she laughed.

It is, for me, easier to read.

Hey… I like the new blog smell.

I took this opportunity to get a new user name (I formerly posted as dannyM). I chose “beguiner” since I love playing the Beguine on piano. The Beguine is a style of dance similar to the Rhuma, and it originated in the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. The most famous version, of course, is Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine.”

I couldn’t get on over there. Tell selise and kathryn I say hi!

I find that gabbly works much better in firefox than it does on Safari. FYI.

I hope the pictures aren’t forever gone. i’ll miss the pics! Christy’s birds!?! The animals and funny relevant photos?!?
and it IS slooooowwwwwww. I’m tryin’ really really hard to like this Jane.
:)
:(
siri

For those having trouble registering who already had accounts here, just log in using your old info. It works.

Cool, when you quote someone if you click on the blue name, it takes you to the comment, then the back button takes you back. Elegant…

I’m having a little trouble getting new comments to come up, I click, the clickety deal disappears like it is going to load the new comments, but then nothing happens… not every time, but once in awhile.

Exact same thing is happening here. The notification goes away but no new comments. Eventually it comes back with a new X comments click to load, and that comes up right away. So just periodic.

A little law and human rights coming back:

Congress pushes controls over Marianas

Pacific Islands That Once Employed Lobbyist Abramoff Targeted by Congress for New Controls

JIM ABRAMS
AP News

Dec 01, 2007 06:50 EST

Congress is trying again to exert more control over the Northern Marianas, this time minus the interference of jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who for years dissuaded lawmakers from tinkering with the troubled Pacific islands.

Legislation that could clear the House in December would apply federal immigration and labor rules to the U.S. Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana Islands, which in the past three decades of local control has been tainted with charges of sweatshop and human trafficking abuses.

The bill is opposed by commonwealth Gov. Benigno Fitial, who says it ignores recent improvements in labor standards and could cripple attempts to revive the islands’ depressed economy.

Over the past decade lawmakers have introduced several dozen bills addressing the Northern Marianas’ immigration and labor practices and its right to use “Made in the USA” labels on garments made in factories employing poorly paid, poorly treated Chinese, Philippine and other Asian workers.

The lawmakers have little to show for their efforts. The lack of success was partly the work of Abramoff, now serving a six-year prison term on unrelated fraud charges.

…

Provided the old login didn’t break any of the new rules: minimum 4 letter length, and apparently no dots, asterisks, etc in the name.

Hallo.

Hi, everyone!

Hiya Loo!

Bill didn’t really steal the “W”s, *ilson and I just didn’t like using “w”s any more than *e had to…

I tried to link to the Marianas story. Did the link as usual and put the URL in the link but when I hit the button the first time it placed the whole URL on the response window with giving me a chance to write in a shorter title. I did submit the comment with the URL but it didn’t show up in the comment. Anyone else having that problem?

well here’s a test, I’m going try to link to your comment here

can you test that and see if it works AZ?

OfT for Twisted
ESPN reporting that with “no unforeseen developments,” Les Miles will be your new head coach and he’s bringing Jon Tenuata with him from GA Tech as DC.

Maybe you have to comment to see the new comments? That must be a glitch…

Left here for a while, came back to 11 comments, clicked on that, the link diasappeared, reappeared ten seconds later, hit it again, got the 11 comments, and another 11 of the same, hard refresh fixed it.

But I shouldn’t be here! I am writing this comment from the furthest, uppermost, corner of the library at school instead of writing my research paper.

But my research paper doesn’t have hot new eye-candy like FDL.

looks like I’m gonna get some house cleaning done today… trying to load the page today is overheatin’ my processor!

Testing the linky.
Hey, AZ Matt, no trouble here. I hit the linky icon, got a dialog box for the url, entered that. When I clicked “done”, it came back to the comment box. I got to fill in between the <a ..><> part no problem. If you don’t do that, though, your link will not appear in your reply. You have to put something in there for it to form a link around.

Testing manual linky works no problem (and is the way I normally do links anyway).

Hm, not sure how the “preview” works — clicked on that, the comment box went blank for a while with a loading wheel, then returned me to the edit mode.

wow very cool site and i want to try out all the bells and whistles
hmmm

Links worked, peanut butter. And it seems to take you back to the exact spot you left. Before I had to remember which number comment I was on and scroll down to get back. This is cool.

get back to your studies young man!

don’t make me come over there with my ruler

Sister Elliott

Hiya, WWD!

Heh! Slow? I’ve been here an hour and couldn’t get it to accept my registration. But I’m in now and it’s all good…I think. :)

testing
testing
testing
testing

testing

testinglinky

testing.
trying to reply to Loo Hoo. Hi Hon!
We’re gonna keep this new carpet clean, right kids?
Leaving shoes on the front porch.

A minor complaint… I think I’ll miss the links at the top where you could go back to the last thread or see if there was a new one to go forward to. Now I have to go to the homepage to see if there’s a new thread. Although I’m sure someone will always let “downstairs” know…

Unless I’m just missing something here.

Bill didn’t really steal the “W”s

Well I just know you’re wrong about that, because it was in all the newspapers in January of 2001, and I never saw any printed corrections or retractions.

‘allo? ‘allo? did i make it to the other side?

I’ll try quoting the opening paragraphs of Froomkin’s latest column:

President Bush spent yesterday afternoon making empty threats about the Pentagon layoffs and operations cutbacks he says he’ll have to make unless Congress passes a no-strings-attached defense appropriation.

The Pentagon has plenty of money for the time being. The real ongoing battle between Bush and Congress is about whether Bush will agree to an Iraq pullout date. Bush’s Senate allies blocked a House bill that would have forked over another $50 billion for defense spending on condition that the president agree to pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq by December 2008.

But even as Bush was ratcheting up the partisan rhetoric, White House “war czar” Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute — at least according to House Defense Appropriations Chairman John Murtha — was suggesting that the president might be willing to agree to a pullout date that falls after December 2008.

In other words, after he leaves office.

Approving any kind of pullout language would be a major reversal for the White House. But agreeing to something that wouldn’t happen until after January 2009 would fit right in with a strategy to kick the can down the road and leave the tough decisions and bitter consequences of withdrawal to Bush’s successor.

Links are easier to make.

Loo Hoo! You made it!

Kathryn!

I’ll try again. Hello newtonusr and demi! Karlman is again claiming that it was congress’ fault that the administration was rushed into war.

Wow…took me a while to get logged in. I had to request a password, and then that wouldn’t work. I guess there’s heavy traffic today in the rush to get registered.

Jane, I like it. Congratulations on some fine work. It seems you all thought of everything that makes FDL wonderful, and brought it with you.

I don’t watch FOX, but this could be too fun to miss:

As chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-MD, is charged with one vital overarching task: to ensure that the gains made by Democrats in 2006 grow further in 2008. As part of the job, he occasionally has to get his hands dirty, which is why, this Sunday morning, he will be squaring off against President Bush’s former strategist Karl Rove on Fox News Sunday. Rest assured, Van Hollen told the Huffington Post, he’s ready to take on Bush’s brain. And he’s confident that the Democrats have a plan in place to increase their congressional majorities.

Great look!. Congrats to everyone at FDL.

whoa! just below the “click here to load them!” (someone’s been getting into CT’s ! stash!) are five boxes with,

New post has been published -
Pardon our dust while we make some changes. We will be back up very soon!

over and over again.

it’s OK, but I don’t think intended…

This is crazy! Thanks GWB! Twit.

From the NYT’s

Mothers Scrimp as States Take Child Support

By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: December 1, 2007
MILWAUKEE — The collection of child support from absent fathers is failing to help many of the poorest families, in part because the government uses fathers’ payments largely to recoup welfare costs rather than passing on the money to mothers and children.

Close to half the states pass along none of collected child support to families on welfare, while most others pay only $50 a month to a custodial parent, usually the mother, even though the father may be paying hundreds of dollars each month.

Critics say using child support to repay welfare costs harms children instead of helping them, contradicting the national goal of strengthening families, and is a flaw in the generally lauded national campaign to increase collections.

Karla Hart, a struggling mother of four here, held out her monthly statement from the county child-support office.

Paid by the father: $229.40.

Amount deducted to repay federal costs of welfare: $132.18.

Her share: $97.22. “That extra money was a bill I could pay,” said Ms. Hart, 56, who has lupus and other serious ailments but against her doctor’s advice has started working at a day care center, in a failing effort to achieve solvency.

…

Charlie Savage has a new post up on Signing Statements.

Go CHARLIE!

egregious upstairs, come pull up a chair!

I’ve been trying to kick down the front door here for awhile myself, but it’s good to finally be here.

Who do you believe? Karl or your lying eyes? What a d++k Karl.! Is this revision of reality panic or another demonic plan by Karl to take over the universe?

Charlie Savage isn’t sleeping, he watching the hen house.

Signing statement is president’s first since 2006
Had used tactic often before power shift in Congress

By Charlie Savage
Globe Staff / December 1, 2007

WASHINGTON – President Bush this month issued his first signing statement since the Democratic takeover of Congress, reserving the right to bypass 11 provisions in a military appropriations bill under his executive powers.

In the statement, which the White House filed in the Federal Register on Nov. 13 but which initially attracted little attention, Bush challenged several requirements to provide information to Congress.

For example, one law Bush targeted requires him to give oversight committees notice before transferring US military equipment to United Nations peacekeepers.

Bush also challenged a new law that limits his ability to transfer funds lawmakers approved for one purpose to start a different program, as well as a law requiring him to keep in place an existing command structure for the Navy’s Pacific fleet.

“The Act contains certain provisions identical to those found in prior bills passed by the Congress that might be construed to be inconsistent with my Constitutional responsibilities,” Bush’s statement says.

“To avoid such potential infirmities, I will interpret and construe such provisions in the same manner as I have previously stated in regard to those provisions.”

By referring only to objections voiced in past documents, Bush’s new signing statement struck a less aggressive tone than those he issued during the years when his own party controlled Congress.

…

Charlie Savage has a piece up on Bush using the signing statement for the first time since the new congress. Seems he thinks the military budget is his own personal slush fund.

Hi, Jane

Of particular value to me is your constant reminder that we indeed have a Constitution, are dedicated in principal to the Rule of Law, and have a process of legal review based on the trampoline of stare decisis. I particularly value your FDL “briefs” in which you relate current administrative behaviors (or their lack) to legal precedent. Thank you.

OK that’s 3 of us keeping our eyes on Charlie while he keeps his eyes on the dirty tricks in the WH.

I like it, but then again I liked it… happy to see that “Goodbye” was more an “Aloha” than a “Farewell”…

I do miss the pictures though… perhaps a Photo Gallery is in the works?

I have been a lurker who can’t live without my daily FDL, since the very first incarnation of the lake (back when the comments were in a separate window!) And while I’m sorry to not have the snarky pix… YAY to the new incarnation! Props to Jane and the whole crew!

Far out. Great look.

A little clunky (could be cuz I’m on clunky M$ Windoze).

But then I’m pretty clunky too.

Lessee now, where’d I put that pipe?

AZ Matt @ 166

Mothers Scrimp as States Take Child Support

I couldn’t believe this when I read it earlier this morning. Talk about the state stealing from the poor. This should be an issue in 08.

what’s a dmorning?

the face lift is beautious.
.

That ain’t the half of it. Wisconsin has a sordid history in the child support department. They even made a movie about it. Did you know that if a man doesn’t pay child support for a few years and the mother has used up her two years of welfare, she can’t pursue it in court and the state takes out back payments up front when they finally decide to move on it.

Sucks.

How come Digby isn’t on the blog roll?

Or The Next Hurrah!

OK, this is my first comment The Morning After. I’m going to miss the automatic quote of the message I’m replying to. It is a nuisance to have to manually copy and paste. And when I read comments by others, I miss the context of what they’re replying to, and don’t want to have to scroll back to re-read. Please bring the auto-quote feature back!

Also, I’d really like the day’s table of contents in the sidebar to make it easier to navigate around the recent messages. Many of our sister sites have that– TNH, for example, and I really like that feature.

Preview feature didn’t work.

Bob in HI

hey, cool new digs. congrats on stepping up to the next level.

I must say this new site presently is slow as molasses. I have yet to understand what the benies are except for the updated look.

Let’s hope it amplifies the power of FDL. We’re a voice(s) that needs to be heard by more people. Are you listening congress critters and media stenographers?

Congrats on the new site…. it’s hot!

my tool box is in need of repair.. can someone lend me their tools?

my sentiments as well. All words, no pictures (except blinking ads), not so easy for visual learners. I will always value the content here–that remains excellent.

Miss the blues (I thought there ALREADY was a site refered to as “The Great Orange Satan”?) and clever graphics that accompanied each individual post or story on previous site. I have an old computer, however, and this page loads MUCH faster, thank you. FDL is one of my TOP 4 daily “MUST READ” blogs (after I sift through the headlines at Mark Karlin’s “BUZZFLASH”), and it was getting rather infuriating having FDL, which I always save for last, as the only blog to lock everything up.

Thanks for all you do here, and I’ll end with what may be a rather naive question, BUT–

What was the REAL deal with T-Rex leaving? I know he’s got his own place now, but to me he was definitely an integral part of the FDL site, and is that much poorer without him. Just curious.

my sentiments as well. All words, no pictures (except blinking ads), not so easy for visual learners. I will always value the content here–that remains excellent.Ditto.

And also very sluggish, at least right now.

But hopefully these bugs will get worked out.

Cheers,

I guess this’ll be okay. I agree with bobschacht December 1st, 2007 at 9:50 am AT #179, though. I usually quoted people because it was too hard to keep track of who said what and so you needed the reference to know what was being responded to. Now we’ll have to do it manually, unless the reply facility puts your response right below the original comment as some blogs do.

Something is definitely up with the blogroll, although Next Hurrah is there. It looks like a work in progress, so I’ll just wait and see what happens. A lot of blogs are missing.

I’ll miss the pictures and graphics that were the trademark of FDL, but I think they take up so much space on servers that I can see why they needed to go. I still am wondering if they are going to do a sort of merger with some other, smaller blogs wherein they can pool their resources and hopefully reduce their overall liabilities. That could help a lot of folks, since they have so much in common.

One thing I see that has been added that I like very much is the Headline news. It will be interesting to see how that works. This should all be worth the wait by the time it’s all up and running and Christy comes back.
Congratulations and good luck to all.

Thank you so much for all the hard work – I’m looking forward to exploring the new site. Here are my initial reactions:

I had a horrendous time logging in (I had already registered at the old version of FDL). I lost count of the number of times I tried to log in but it was somewhere around 15 times (anyone know how I can change my password back to what it was?). Also, the site is loading painfully slowly – & I’m on DSL (new Mac mini, new version of Firefox) – so I haven’t read any of the posts or comments & realize I am tremendously EPU’d but wanted to let someone (hello?) know about these problems.

Other than that – I like the layout & colors. I miss the fun photos that accompanied each post (but understand why they are probably gone), hope that the blogroll is a work in progress (since it’s missing a lot of good ones), & am hoping that “quote this comment” might make a reappearance since I found it incredibly useful.

Looks nice here. As Worf from Star Trek would say: “Good Tea. Nice House”.

Is bedlam still dreaming of rain?

I had some major problems logging in, too. I tried to register from scratch, but my user name and e-mail were already in the system and my usual password wasn’t accepted. I asked for help, got an e-mail with a new password and that wouldn’t work until I tried it five or six times. Now I’m all set and I changed my password to what I wanted to use.

Just go to your profile and you can change your password.

Jane: This is fabulous. I love the way it looks and once the kinks are ironed out it will be wonderful. I like that you can now respond to specific posts. That drove me nuts before.

Congrats to everyone!

I’m hoping as time goes on replies will get posted below the post they’re responding to like at Kos or DU. It’s so much easier to follow a conversation that way.

Jeeze – I leave the house early to run a bunch of errands and look what happens – Jane completely redecorates. Sheesh.
It seems to run slow in comparison to the old site, but I’m sure things will shake out.
Nice clean design, though; easy to read.

This lurker greatly relieved to find you here after that ominous “Goodbye” post last night. Unfortunately the ads are in the middle of the page, overwriting the text of the post, and only about half the number of comments display, without comment box at the bottom. But the comments do scroll much more responsively. On balance, not exactly an improvement. Oh, the upgrade is browser specific? OK, I’ll run right over to neighbor’s to use the computer whenever I want to visit FDL!

I finally figured it out. The whole registration and login fiasco is to weed out those that are just dropping in on a whim. I even tried several times to enter my little bit of personal data, but after having that wiped away, I gave up. At this point, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. If this software was created especially for you, you should get a big discount and give any future payments in a rather miserly way. I do think that you have built a major force in the blogging world. In many ways you are up there with what I think was the best – Media Whores Online.
(BTW, I clicked on the “support this site” button but got some problem page.) (I just tried to preview but got nothing.)

Like the new site. Used to read here during Libby trial but found the comments section to hard to follow. This is better but agree with comments that replies to other comments should flow inline. Quoting them in the reply would be unndeeded if they were indented and followed the original.

Hi to all.

Graphically speak, the combination of blue and orange colors on your site don’t work, at least for me. It’s a minor complaint. Otherwise, I guess you were ready for an upgrade.

Firedoglakemas!

LOVE IT.

oh and, the blue and orange ROCK. they’re just about the two most complementary colors on the color wheel.

One thing I would suggest is a slightly narrower main column. It would make reading easier.

Hi SharonRB – Thanks. However, I’m maybe I’m just tired but — where is my profile? I could find it easily at the old site but it’s not obvious (to me!) where it is here.

Onto a few other comments from me about the site redesign: While I am absolutely thrilled you have more ads, I’m not as thrilled with the top banner ad (though I will get used to it) & really, really, really hate the one in the middle of the page – it acts as a mental brake & I immediately stop scrolling down the page.

Also, while I know some people would like the comments section to be more like the one at Daily Kos, I like the one here much, much better. I hate having to scroll looking for new comments (& yes, the red “new” is helpful & yes, seeing what people respond to a particular comment under that comment is helpful) but I love the way this flows. It is like a really good conversation or a really good book – it keeps going & I don’t have to keep flipping back to a particular section to find out what happened. This is the only blog on which I read all the comments & I think if it were set up like Kos, I know I wouldn’t do that anymore (I would check in with the comments but I wouldn’t read straight through).

Also, is Preview working for anyone? I can’t get it to work so please pardon any missed typos &/or formatting.

Ok, this is rather amusing. I mention in my post #200 that I can’t find my profile. After posting, I refresh the page, & viola! There’s my profile. So as Emily L. would say “never mind”.

By the way, orange and blue are the University of Florida colors. Go Gators!!

Orange and blue belong to NY sports teams, especially the Knicks (also the Mets but I’m a Yankees fan, so I don’t care). I moved to Central FL a little over 2 years ago and am sick to death of the Gators. These are college kids, guys. People really need to get lives down here.

BTW, let’s just say that I was very comfortable with the old format. But being a liberal, I very open minded, of course. So, I’ll give this a chance.

Congratulations, all! Looks great.

Rather a pleasant new look, overall. I’d like to see the return of the site’s signature usage of images, as others have already noted.

Might we be able to gain user icons, to better be able to visually identify each other? (Not necessarily RL photos – just some manner of avatar) The size could be constrained to whatever the design guru(s) think best, of course, ranging from the miniatures used in Flickr comments, up to perhaps 100×100, or even 150×150, with some kind of strict limit on filesize to keep load times acceptable. (Such icons could even be turned off entirely as a profile preference, for dialup users)

Oh, that’s a nice little touch.. the site automagically substituted the correct “multiplication” symbol “×” for the “x” I’d actually entered.

I too admit that I miss the radical rascal, TRex. He’s just too much fun. I have his new site on my bookmark bar, but it would be great if Jane and Firedoglake gave him his props and linked to him, too.

Also, Digby at Hullabaloo, Marcy at Next Hurrah (unless that’s one of our upcoming surprises), watertiger at Dependable Renegade, and for good measure, Jesus’ General, Crooks and Liars, and onegoodmove.

Whatever, Firedoglake will always be my first stop, my home. We can all venture out into the great wild blogosphere and still come home to Jane and Christy and all of the rest of our lakers and firedog pups. And that’s what this site, even in its glitchy new format, feels like to me — home.

A cyber family, different from all of the others. I won’t say “better,” I’ll just say the “best” family in the whole damn blogosphere.

FIREDOGLAKE FOREVER!

I don’t see the block quote any more.

???

But overall, great redo. Much better than a certain well known graphics software company when they redid theirs. It flopped badly.

Good work on the new template — looks much more professional now, and I like it without the music videos. I always felt that selecting a music video to match the theme of a post acted to denigrate the song, actually, so out of principle, I never clicked on them.

And thank you for starting registration! I was quick enough to simply register with my own name. I’ll try to be worthy of the honor of being simply “John.” Best of luck to all of you!

Been a while since I dropped in. I’m usually too intimidated to leave a comment, but I’ve dropped a few lines from time to time.

Congrats on the makeover. I agree about the colors; blue and orange don’t do it for me (someone in the house a Broncos fan?). Why not red, white, and blue? Who says those colors are reserved for certain elements only? We’re all just as patriotic as anyone else! :) Or you could do seasonal colors (I’m thinking red, gold, and green right now…).

I’ll miss the photos that came with each post, but overall, this is much less cluttered, easier to focus, etc. Best of all, the quality of material here hasn’t changed. :)

I know you’re getting a lot of this, Jane, but I have to see for myself if my account is working. So, it’s testing, testing One Two Three!

While I’m at it, thanks to all of the Firedoglake makers and shakers who have made this site possible and for all the work you do, and congratulations on the newly minted new-look.

I’m proud and happy to be an official FDL replicant..er..registrant.
Makes me kinda tear up- like I’m really a member of the family.

jane i don’t understand chatting very well. i’ve been a lurker from the time you were bloging from the oregon coast. 22astoriaOR

Hi…I really like it. Your photo/avatar reminds me of my favorite actress, Allie Walker (’Profiler’), btw :-)

It’s pretty.

Nice work Jane. (And everyone else.)