User Soapbox Removed From the Front Page

Good afternoon:

I noticed today that the User Soapbox - which used to display the editorials of the last three emblem-holder posts - no longer appears on the front page. Is this an error or a new change?

Partly a selfish question as an emblemholder. ;)

Boz

I'm still seeing the user soapbox on both the main page and the forums front page. :?

I'm still seeing the user soapbox on both the main page and the forums front page. :?

TopStarRacer

I'm seeing it, unless I'm misunderstanding what you guys are not seeing.

I'm not seeing it either. I'm running chrome/iron. Maybe it comes and goes.

Further detail:

Front page, 8:00AM EST, 04/14/2011, Firefox 4.0 (however, it also does not appear in Internet Explorer 7)

Thank you,

Boz

I think I figured it out. I was stuck using the beta version of the site and I couldn't figure out how to get out of it all day. The beta showed the soapbox there. I finally figured out how to get back to the previous site navagation design and I now see it missing. I recommend going to the beta and see if you see what I saw.

On the plus side, I'm still seeing it on the forums main page.

I moved this thread to the appropriate forum.

I'm holding back some editorials until the front page comes back haha. Right now, it seems kind of hard for the common user to find it buried in the forum sections. Hopefully, it is only a trial change and it won't be permanent. I liked checking the soapboxblogs from the homepage.

I'm holding back some editorials until the front page comes back haha. Right now, it seems kind of hard for the common user to find it buried in the forum sections. Hopefully, it is only a trial change and it won't be permanent. I liked checking the soapboxblogs from the homepage.

subyman

Could we at least get a statement one way or another? This basically completely neuters the Soapbox and makes the emblem pointless. Look at the number of comments that the last few Soapbox entries have received:

119
184
134
37
10
22
11
17

The one with 37 comments was posted just as the Soapbox was disappearing, and then the four below that were posted after it was already gone. This can't possibly be a coincidence. I have never seen a Soapbox entry with a comment count in the teens before.

Please either give us an affirmation that it's coming back to the front page, or just remove the Soapbox emblem. As it is right now, it's worthless. The exposure I got from the Soapbox was one of the major reasons I wrote my editorial blog entries; I'm very disappointed that GameSpot doesn't seem to appreciate that. :(

I agree Gabu. 11-20 comments is what I get from simply posting a non-editorial/non-soap box and the people tracking me responding to the post. The nice part about the soap box was the front page exposure. The soap box in the past generated a lot of healthy debate and makes the community feel like they are making a contribution to the content of the site. I'm not going to spend 4+ hours on an article if only 100 people are going to read it and then get 10 comments.

Is this really a glitch or are they planning on getting rid of user soap boxes as a featured element of the main page?

You can view and vote about this topic in the feedback forum here:

http://gamespot.uservoice.com/forums/106289-new-navigation-and-homepage-feedback/suggestions/1785535-i-like-the-new-design-i-suggest-putting-back-the-

I'm seeing it in the beta version, just below the rumour control section. Since the beta navigation is what will ultimately become our homepage at least we can look forward to the soap blog section returning.fabz_95

The integration of social media sites like Facebook is understandable - I get it, you have to look forward - but the Soapbox was always a very distinct feature of Gamespot that gave it a grassroots feel, whereas Facebook, Dig, Myspace, etc. are all very much a "me too" feature.

Boz

At this point I just want a statement one way or another: is this a glitch and is it coming back, or is it gone forever? Or is is still under discussion? I've got like three editorial ideas that have been collecting dust because I don't want to put them up, have them get no exposure, and then have the Soapbox put back up on the front page and then basically get screwed over as a result.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to expect GameSpot to actually communicate to the users what's going on. The complete and utter silence is by far the worst part. As Dr. Evil would say... throw us a frickin' bone here. :P

I've actually got two written, ready to go. It makes me sad to see the number of comments the soap boxes are now getting. I believe I had 500+ on one of my discussions, now it looks like people are lucky to break the 20's...

Are we sure that it's a glitch or is there a possibility that the removal is intentional?fabz_95

At this point I just want a statement one way or another: is this a glitch and is it coming back, or is it gone forever? Or is is still under discussion? I've got like three editorial ideas that have been collecting dust because I don't want to put them up, have them get no exposure, and then have the Soapbox put back up on the front page and then basically get screwed over as a result.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to expect GameSpot to actually communicate to the users what's going on. The complete and utter silence is by far the worst part. As Dr. Evil would say... throw us a frickin' bone here. :P

GabuEx

At this point I just want a statement one way or another: is this a glitch and is it coming back, or is it gone forever? Or is is still under discussion? I've got like three editorial ideas that have been collecting dust because I don't want to put them up, have them get no exposure, and then have the Soapbox put back up on the front page and then basically get screwed over as a result.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to expect GameSpot to actually communicate to the users what's going on. The complete and utter silence is by far the worst part. As Dr. Evil would say... throw us a frickin' bone here. :P

GabuEx

FYI, for those who haven't seen it, the ticket in the feedback forum is now marked as "under review", with the following comment by Lark:

"Since late last year, we've been making adjustments to the mix of content that appears on some of the pages on our site, including the homepage. As you have pointed out, the soapbox section was a casualty of this.

"We are currently looking into a way of bringing this back in a slightly different (and better!) form."

I don't know what that means, but I'm happy to at least know that they're not either ignoring this or attempting to sweep it under the rug. :P

FYI, for those who haven't seen it, the ticket in the feedback forum is now marked as "under review", with the following comment by Lark...GabuEx