We're no longer updating this page!
Post categories: ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online
| 11:52 UK time, Friday, 30 January 2009
If you're a frequent visitor to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online you might have already come across the message at the top of this page, which is now appearing as a banner heading across more and more of our pages. We've updated our existing signage for pages that have reached the end of their active "working" life.
When a site has evolved as ours has, it just isn't wise or cost effective to continue working on some of the pages we published in the past. At the same time, routinely deleting inactive content doesn't feel entirely right either, does it? (More on this below).
Whilst we work through the sensible way forward, the best approach at present is to clearly label pages which are no longer being updated but which have been left online either for reference or because they may still be of some interest. I hope we've done this elegantly even as we alert our users to the fact that the content provided may now be outdated. Of course we will continue to remove sites and pages which have become so outdated that they may lead to actual harm or damage.
To date, we've used a yellow "virtual sticky" note - like a floating label on the page. It had its' pluses in that it was simple and effective. But it partially obscured some of the site content, was tricky to implement technically, and just did not sit comfortably on the page.
This is why we've moved to a simple banner label across the top of each page. It links to a Help page explaining why we're no longer updating the page.
The aim of this labelling project is in part to show more clearly the extent to which we actively manage or "curate" our online content. I believe ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online should be an actively managed resource of information, tools and services which support and enhance the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s six public purposes for our audience.
It's all part of our ongoing efforts to improve the quality of user experience across ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online. The Barlesque templates which have been introduced gradually over the last 12 months support a consistent site wide look and feel. However, the migration of every page to the new template, even when it isn't any longer actively managed, is not a prudent use of resources. So in most cases, sites and pages which aren't being migrated to the new visual style will be labelled as "no longer updated". None of this applies, of course, to which generally carry a "last updated" message to inform users about the timeliness of information on that page.
There is a view, that perhaps we should grasp the nettle and delete "old" pages. As points out, we continue to harbour some which pre-date even the previous templating language. (Most of the old sites currybet links to in his blog are no longer available, although at the time of writing, there is still Politics 97; and there may well be others).
There are others who would passionately veto deletion because of the inevitable broken links. I don't entirely buy this argument though I do sympathise with the considered view that these sites can offer information or stimulate memories around a particular ´óÏó´«Ã½ programme or event which may just be of value or interest in the future. As can be seen from currybet's examples, in their inimitable way, they can add to the history of the web and the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and its activities online.
As we debate this, we've been pondering what we should call the labelling project. It's obviously related to the traditional activity of archiving, but it's not exactly the same. My colleague Dan Taylor, had some on his personal blog back in June last year.
Incidentally some of you (including the community at the Archers and Points of View message boards) noticed that yesterday the banner appeared on the sign in page on some of our message boards and blogs. This was an error, a bug which has now been fixed. My apologies.
Seetha Kumar is Controller, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Online .
Comment number 1.
At 30th Jan 2009, EvilMole wrote:It popped up on the login page for 606 the other day. I assume that was a mistake - or are you really saying that you won't update it? :)
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Comment number 2.
At 30th Jan 2009, Nick Reynolds wrote:It was indeed a gltich, which as Seetha said has now been fixed.
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Comment number 3.
At 30th Jan 2009, Josh wrote:Phew! I saw "We're no longer updating this site!" in your Twitter feed and got worried for a minute... :P
I like this idea - it's really good that you're willing to keep old sites for posterity's sake.
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Comment number 4.
At 30th Jan 2009, hackerjack wrote:Please, Please change the text to say "we are no longer updatign this page". Site implies that and entire site has been abandoned and people's idea of what a "site2 actually means can vary greatly, most will recognise what it will mean correctly however some will think it means the whole ´óÏó´«Ã½ site.
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Comment number 5.
At 30th Jan 2009, Tiggs wrote:@saxsux
Glad to know I wasn't the only one who saw the title and thought the Twitter Feed or Blog was closing.
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Comment number 6.
At 30th Jan 2009, RedRedRobin wrote:It seems to be popping up at /communicate/.
Hopefully that is a glitch as that is a very handy page for navigating the messageboards and it would be a shame if it is being discontinued.
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Comment number 7.
At 30th Jan 2009, Nick Reynolds wrote:RedRedRobin - I'm afraid /communicate/ is being mothballed.
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Comment number 8.
At 30th Jan 2009, RedRedRobin wrote:That's a pity.
Hopefully it will remain useful for a while so long as there aren't too many changes to the messageboards.
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Comment number 9.
At 30th Jan 2009, RedRedRobin wrote:Actually it looks like /messageboards/newguide/subindex_tv_radio.shtml is still okay so there is an alternative.
I will stop panicking.
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Comment number 10.
At 30th Jan 2009, Josh wrote:Seetha - you might want to take a look at the Magazine Monitor:
/blogs/magazinemonitor/
It looks like the mothball header is appearing underneath the usual header. I hope MM isn't getting the chop... :(
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Comment number 11.
At 30th Jan 2009, Briantist wrote:I would much prefer if you could use the phrase
"We stopped updating this page on [DATE]"
to indicate when it became an archive page, it can't be very hard to do and would indicate to a casual visitor if the page is "archive" or "historic".
Please don't delete old pages - the ´óÏó´«Ã½ site was the only place I could find the 1997 Labour Party manifesto!
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Comment number 12.
At 30th Jan 2009, Keith wrote:"As we debate this, we've been pondering what we should call the labelling project."
Perhaps 'Project Sticky-back plastic', as once it's applied the process is unlikely to be removed, and also happens to a ´óÏó´«Ã½ related term.
Personally I think with some of the old sections are shelved it might be worth compacting the sections to a single page which uses the new template before adding the 'no longer updated' header, on account that some of the mothballed sections contain links to audio & video clips which no longer exist.
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Comment number 13.
At 30th Jan 2009, Nick Reynolds wrote:saxsux - this looks like a glitch too. Thanks for telling us. We're fixing it.
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Comment number 14.
At 30th Jan 2009, Seurat wrote:No longer updating Talk... sorry, make that Communicate?
/communicate/
Speaks volumes.
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Comment number 15.
At 30th Jan 2009, Hymagumba wrote:to be fair, "communicate" was a portal attached to the old ´óÏó´«Ã½i header from years ago that's pretty redundant now. It's not really linked to anywhere so whats the point of keeping the page going? In fact I think its barely liked to at all bar from a few pages that still have the anicent grey toolbar on them (like this one).
Going off slightly, is there any time frame for the blogs to be updated to the new visual language design? A bit of extra width on them would make the comments far easier to read.
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Comment number 16.
At 30th Jan 2009, Keith wrote:With comedy programmes which are 'no longer updated' I think it would make sense to merge it into the template used for comedy programmes such as...
/comedy/blackadderthethird/
...I'm guessing this and other programmes are using some form of database/template to produce the pages.
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Comment number 17.
At 2nd Feb 2009, Mat wrote:@hackerjack Rest assured, the wording is already "...page" for exactly the reasons you describe (see /comedy/littlebritain/%29 - just an old screenshot sneaking in there, sorry about that.
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Comment number 18.
At 3rd Feb 2009, Dave Lee (´óÏó´«Ã½) wrote:@hackerjack and @Mat ... Have edited the screenshot. Sorry for any confusion.
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Comment number 19.
At 3rd Feb 2009, Josh wrote:Hmmm... Do you think it would be worth having another look at /whatson?
It now has two "We're no longer updating this page" messages, and looks rather messy.
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Comment number 20.
At 13th Feb 2009, antgirl wrote:Have you noticed any changes to the usage of the sites since introducing this banner?
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Comment number 21.
At 13th Sep 2009, U14134634 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 22.
At 9th Nov 2009, ferhat wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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