hburgnews.com

Comment from David Troyer
Time: February 27, 2008, 11:02 am

speaking of feeds… is there a reason hburgnews feeds are set to summary instead of full text? admin->options->reading->syndication feeds.

Comment from finnegan
Time: February 27, 2008, 11:06 am

Switched to full text.

However, we often use the ‘read more’ feature in order to conserve space on the main page, and I think it cuts off posts in RSS feeds, regardless of full text or summary settings.

Comment from kai
Time: February 27, 2008, 2:05 pm

The WSVA website has got to be the most awful website in town, possibly universe. It’s almost disrespectful to the user, it’s so bad. Can anyone think of a worse one?

http://wsva.valleyradio.com/

Comment from finnegan
Time: February 27, 2008, 2:16 pm

I agree. It’s really bad.

Although, in terms of content, I will say that at least WSVA news does its own reporting. I recently found out that WBOP/WSIG’s “news blog” is actually operated by a “news service” called VirtualNewsCenter.

BOP pays VNC to scrounge around the web for local news, and VNC posts it to BOP’s blogspot account. They repeatedly plagiarize WSVA, WHSV, and sometimes the DNR on their blog, without accreditation. And the people posting stuff aren’t local. Ever wonder why no one responds to comments on that blog?

That has to be a violation of some law. Or at the very least, some code of ethics, assuming there is one.

You can read Vox Communications COO, Ken Barlow’s testimonial here: “We sought good sounding local news and an entry price that was reasonable. The cost of the service is very reasonable for the quality we recveive [sic]…in fact, a bargain!”

Comment from JGFitzgerald
Time: February 27, 2008, 2:39 pm

Supposedly, once upon a time, when a particular (so-called) local station read the morning news, you could hear the newspaper rustling.

When I was city editor at the DNR, a reporter once called me up to tell me that his lead had been cataclysmically changed. I asked him to read the error to me and he told me he hadn’t brought his paper in yet, but he’d heard them reading it on the radio.

Comment from Jason
Time: February 27, 2008, 2:54 pm

WSVA is fine after you install the adblock plus firefox extension.

Comment from kai
Time: February 27, 2008, 5:55 pm

oops. Clearly, I’m talking about the website aesthetic only, not the content. (Karl and TM, that’s for you guys!)

But looky what I found! According to WebpagesThatSuck.com, which ironically seems to exemplify its title, the Worst (er, suckiest) Website of 2007 was [drumroll]Ace of Cakes . com

Click on it to, um, “Meet the Bad Boy of Baking.”

I’m gonna throw in the Home of the Blue Streaks to compete with WSVA.

Comment from Emmy
Time: February 27, 2008, 6:07 pm

Almost all local school websites are bad. I think Turner Ashby’s is worse than Harrisonburg…and I say that being a proud former Knight.

Comment from kai
Time: February 27, 2008, 6:16 pm

I’ve noticed school sites are bad. Seems like there’s a really easy, cheap, and educational fix to this: assign it to the kid who, while bored in Geometry class, is programming his or her TI-87 calculator with a 12-character role playing game. I’d think most schools have at least one student capable of a vast improvement to their site.

Comment from Christa Gitchell
Time: February 27, 2008, 7:04 pm

Not just because I have their contract for pictures, but go look at Spotswood High School’s website. It’s pretty good. Joe Showker keeps it up to date…just because he likes to contribute.
http://www.rockingham.k12.va.us/shs/shs.html

Comment from Frank J Witt
Time: February 28, 2008, 2:44 am

MAN ~ AOC has nothing on some of the sites we visit some days. Anyone know how to nominate a “site”?

Pingback from hburgnews.com » Are local NPR stations in trouble?
Time: March 11, 2008, 8:01 am

[...] few weeks ago, I wrote about WMRA/WEMC’s website upgrades. They are now offering their local and state content via [...]

Comment from TM
Time: March 26, 2008, 11:58 am

Newsinthevalley (but not really “in” the valley) has started citing some of their sources, like WHSV, the DNR, and NBC29. But, for some reason, the stuff they take from WSVA lacks any such accreditation. I swear there’s proabably been between 2-thousand and 3-thousand stories taken right from the website with leads and other unique phrasing in tact. Some are about J-M-U. Just thought I’d point that out here since they disabled comments on their blog.