HI. Hello. Howdy.
Aloha. Ciao. How’s it hanging?
Come on in. Sit a spell. Get comfortable.
It’s a new day for PFT. A new look. New and improved. We know some of you won’t think it’s improved, because change can be difficult. I know that. We all get used to things being a certain way, and we don’t want them to be any different.
In time, we get used to what has changed. We get so used to it that we don’t want it to change again, even if it would be changing back to the thing we previously didn’t want to change in the first place.
There are plenty of changes with the new PFT. There are plenty of things that will still be the same — especially if you read the site on your phone.
The font is the same as it was, something I specifically requested. The Rumor Mill, the hub of the operation, is still what it was, a scrolling list of our most recent 10 stories. (And instead of clicking “next,” all you have to do now is hit “load more.”)
Other areas will be enhanced. The Team pages will have their own franchise-specific Rumor Mills, with only the latest full stories regarding each specific team. There will be player-specific pages, too. And plenty of other features we did not previously have.
One thing we previously did have, for years, was a comment section. With this upgrade to the overall site, we decided the time had come to end it. (Sorry, Internet son)
Relative to the entire readership of PFT, only a very small percentage posted comments on a regular basis. Far too many comments were, at times, far too hateful and toxic (especially many that were deleted by the moderators.) Given the prevalence of social media, there are many other ways for voices to be heard.
You can easily interact with any of our items on Twitter or Facebook; nearly every story is posted on each platform. You also can email me directly, at florio@profootballtalk.com.
The First Amendment remains alive and well, and we fully support it. But PFT wasn’t and isn’t a town square. It’s an outlet for NFL news and opinion. There was a time that the interaction added to the experience. That time, in our assessment, has ended.
But a new day for PFT is dawning. We will be making plenty of tweaks as we get a better look at the new site, and as we better understand what works well, and what can work better.
The constant goal is to make the experience as good as it can be. Today, plenty of you will naturally think it’s worse. However, it occurred to me last week when flipping back and forth between the new look and the old look that the new look looks pretty damn good, and the old look does indeed seem a little rusty and dated.
So off we go with the new look. Here’s to getting so used to it that, whenever we change it in the future, you’ll be even more pissed than you are today.