Cyclingnews going down the crapper

afx237vi

OK, the title may be a bit harsh, but I do think Cyclingnews is getting worse. One of the things I used to like about Cyclingnews was how it featured all the news and from all the races. No other site could even come close in terms of comprehensive race coverage.

So I just thought I'd go and check some of the other race results from today, because believe it or not, there are other races in July.

Stage 4 of the Sachsen Tour? Nah, not up yet. Stage 1 of the Tour de Wallonie? Nah, not up yet. Result of the Clasica de Ordizia? Nah, not up yet.

Granted, I know it's a busy time covering the Tour, and I know only nerds like me are interested in the result of the frickin' Clasica de Ordizia, but how hard is it to copy and paste the results onto a new page and click publish? I don't want in depth reports, just results!

Also, put a link to the calendar on the home page, FFS!

Finally, why have they made it SO hard to find past results? Unless I'm totally blind, there is absolutely no conceivable way to browse the archive of race results. Before, you clicked on to a race home-page, then you could either click "past winners" or there was a link to view the 2008 race... from there you could just click 2007 and so on, or just change the year on the URL. Now you're just forced to use the utterly useless search engine.

I haven't resorted to using Velonews... yet... but I will if Cyclingnews doesn't sort itself out!

redddraggon

For Archive stuff:

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/

I'm not a fan of the new set up either.

skut

it definitely seems as if the writing quality has got a lot worse too.

lucybears

They have Sachsen Tour & Tour de Wallonie now, but I can't see
http://www.euskalnet.net/pruebavillafranca/
yet

Tootler

It has become a right bag of w**k.

AndyRubio

Run by the same bunch of well-meaning amateurs that do bikeradar I believe. BUT it's got to be tough providing info and writing etc for free. I can't imagine that advertising is bringing in much these days, and the cost of setting up and maintaining a website is more than you'd think.

Velonews.com is pretty good and they've got more dosh behind them.

samb01

I can't be bothered to visit the site any more. I sometimes drop by the live coverage, but that's about it.

For the latest results I instead go to wieleruitslagen.be or wielerflits.nl.

wicked

The only thing worse than CN now is their forum! Full of name calling, mud slinging keyboard warriors.

Kléber

AndyRubio wrote:

bunch of well-meaning amateurs that do bikeradar

That's Future plc, a company listed on the stock exchange, and worth about £60 million. OK, it ain't NewsCorp but still.

But the whole operation is a bit of a dog's breakfast at times, the forum here gets rigged with problems, the CN site is redesigned but full of missing links and more. I don't mind if hobby sites have problems like this but then they aren't trying to bombard you with advertising. You only have to listen to the Tour podcasts, plenty of useful information and insight in their but at times masked behind the staff joking with eachother, even arguing with each other.

As for CN now, it's ok but the older layout was clearer.

andrew_s

redddraggon wrote:

For Archive stuff:

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/

I'm not a fan of the new set up either.

That's the old CN site as it was at the time the new one was made live (16th June or thereabouts).
It's no good for getting at results that were after then, and before the tour, but are old enough to have expired from the current race results list - eg try finding the results of the Boucle, or stage 6 of the Tour de Suisse

pb21

I hate the new site, what a load of guff.

ms_tree

I hate it too. At work it takes forever to load. It was better when it was simple now it's too fancy and I can never find what I want. The news bit was great and I used to rely on it for the 'cast' list for each race as well. Not happy with it now - seems to be change for change sake.

mididoctors

wicked wrote:

The only thing worse than CN now is their forum! Full of name calling, mud slinging keyboard warriors.

yeah not like here!

AndyRubio

Kléber wrote:

AndyRubio wrote:

bunch of well-meaning amateurs that do bikeradar

That's Future plc, a company listed on the stock exchange, and worth about £60 million. OK, it ain't NewsCorp but still.

Sure, makes me wonder why they don't hire some good people, they can afford it.

afx237vi

AndyRubio wrote:

Velonews.com is pretty good and they've got more dosh behind them.

Velonews is good at what is does, but Cyclingnews used to be better because it was different to Velonews - ie, had all the news from all the races, rather than the big headlines from the big races.

Kléber

mididoctors wrote:

wicked wrote:

The only thing worse than CN now is their forum! Full of name calling, mud slinging keyboard warriors.

yeah not like here!

Shut it!

Just joking. The forum here is far more civilised.

iainf72

I tend to use

http://www.velo-club.net/index.php?op=edito-nonews

http://www.feltet.dk

SpaceJunk

I just go to:

http://www.twitter.com/lancearmstrong

for all my cycling news and needs.

It's the only cycling site that matters.

TheStone

Agree, it was better in almost everyway before. The live coverage on the tour wasn't so bad in the end, but not as good as before. Navigation is terrible, much like this forum, which is still nowhere near as good as the old CyclingPlus one.

.....and Bikley has stopped working since a bike radar logo was added.

ridgerider

The problem is navigation, navigation, navigation.

I don't feel confident to comment on the content as I have not found it yet!

richard wants a baum

Kléber wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

wicked wrote:

The only thing worse than CN now is their forum! Full of name calling, mud slinging keyboard warriors.

yeah not like here!

Shut it!

Just joking. The forum here is far more civilised.

Your f$%ing full of S#@t CN forum is the greatest Besides the Armstrong Threads things are pretty civil, well most of the time. I have only visited the CN site a couple of times to get a quick peak at the GC standings on some races i hardly look at the news stuff now at all. The previous design was a bit simple and plain but thats why it worked.

Kléber

richard wants a baum wrote:

The previous design was a bit simple and plain but thats why it worked.

I agree. Either they go down the "magazine" route and put loads of content online or they stick to simple new items. The current method of one page per news story means you keep having to click on a page to open it and then go back to open a new one. In the end, I just end up reading a couple of stories whereas in the past, I'd read all the items on the news page, or at least almost all of them.

Still, maybe I/we have it all wrong and CN is getting loads of traffic. But I suspect an English-speaking website would, given the return of Armstrong, the rise of Wiggins, the domination of Cav etc

timoid.

I don't like the live race coverage as much. I miss the days of the Hindenburg blimp or the CN Ferrari following the race. The painfully slow loading of the site doesn't help.

I don't use the site any more, which is a shame as it was one that I'd read every day until the change.