Howdy! I wanted to check in and provide everyone with a quick update on some site changes we rolled out this afternoon, based on the feedback weve been receiving since the OMAAT Community Forum was released a couple of weeks ago.
Very nice!
Popover ads that take over the screen and have to be manually dismissed when you scroll down a page are absolutely insane, and I'm probably going to stop reading if they continue
One More Ad Atta Time
"Remember me" should be checked by default, like most sites these days. Nobody access sites on public computers in 2026. I'd also say the logged in duration should be longer than 14 days, it's not exactly a banking website 🙂
That's generally bad practice. You shouldn't have to opt-out to anything that otherwise would automatically log you in (semi-)permanently
I agree with you from a personal preference standpoint, but from a best-practice standpoint, @betterbub is spot on. The 14-day threshold is the WordPress default. Seems like increasing it could be a nice feature to add for those with higher levels of status. Perhaps?
@jeremyonemileatatime-com - from the Community tab, if you click "Reader Stories," it takes you to the form. Wouldn't it make more sense to link to the stories instead of a submission form? Perhaps embed the submission form in a link on the actual Reader Stories page?
Thank you! The number of times I clicked “Reader Stories” looking to see if there was anything new only to be greeted with the form annoyed me, I don’t have anything to share (yet!)
Sorting of comments (for example by "Most Helpful") isn't working.
@ak_22 "Most helpful" sorting will only work in posts where comments have likes, so it won't do anything in this thread since it has 0 comments with hearts (at the time of my posting), but it works throughout the site. Toggling between oldest/most recent also reorders the comments. If you're seeing different behavior, feel free to drop me a note.
@jeremyonemileatatime-com it doesn't work on other articles with many notes. This is ever since two weeks ago. It's stuck in "Loading...".
Here's a screenshot from https://onemileatatime.com/news/two-american-planes-same-callsign-same-frequency-again/
I'm on Firefox, if that helps.
Sounds like great and much needed improvements. It's been frustrating for me for awhile now to leave comment or to "like" a post.
I look forward to the new and improved !
This is great news, thank you, Jeremy!
And an early congratulations to you, Willy, on your $100 gift card (for most Helpfuls); meanwhile, Tim is likely getting his own (for all those hot-takes/Yowzers!)
Best news and updates in YEARS. The only real feature I didn't see anything about is the search function (ordering the results chronologically at the very least), but these are terrific improvements for now!
@jeremyonemileatatime-com can't wait.
By the way, another problem: I can't "thumb up" the comments on this board.
@ak_22 You sure about that? (Just fixed; you should be able to thumb up/down in the forum now.) Thanks!
@ak_22 You may just need to clear your cache since the change just went out. Our site cache is pretty aggressive.
Are you *the* JonNYC?
(Like, the aviation watchdog, previously with 'Eat Up Martha' profile pic on X?)
Excellent work and all, but inquiring minds want to know - is a Yowza the singular of a Yowzers?
(Peter_, just sayin', unless there's a limit to how many we can give... there's gonna be an Oprah-level amount of 'Yowzers!' and 'Helpful' dished out by me on here. 'You get a Yowzers! You get a Yowzers! Everybody gets a Yowzers!')
Great question, and I was concerned I was making up words there for a second. I'm just using the classic version, according to Merriam Webster. (I.E. I am older than Ben, and his Yowzers).
"They mean essentially the same thing, with "yowzers" functioning as a slightly more playful, elongated variant of the classic yowza."
I mean, I feel like if we're going to go back to Ben Bernie you'd go with Yowsa/Yowza? (Not saying you are that old...) Or there's the 1977 song Dance, Dance, Dance by Chic which is subtitled Yowzah, Yowzah, Yowzah.
I suppose the phrase has come a long way from the 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Sydney Pollack starring Jane Fonda, where Gig Young took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and used the Yowzah, Yowzah, Yowzah catchphrase in the film.
Anyway, thank goodness in these modern times we've gone with the playful, elongated variant! Then again, I got taken to task earlier today on these pages for using the word 'thrice', so...
Interestingly, I just learned that you can 'Yowzers!'-yourself, but you cannot 'Helpful'-yourself. I don't bring this up for the sake of autoeroticism *wink*, but rather that you might wanna disable that for the sake of 'gaming' your gift card sweepstakes...
Well, you found my hidden points hack for this month....Guess I have to close that loophole now that you've told the internet.
Gosh, you're a member for all of ten seconds @1990_ and you're already shutting down points earning loopholes. Bah!
Jeremy, what is our official allotment/rations of Helpful/Yowzers! and the relevant reset time?
Well done, Jeremy (and Howie) and Ben!
(Fine, I 'registered.' And, to whoever took the official "1990" before me, touché, sir.)
Sell out hypocrite.
You sold your soul to authority and get enslaved by your overlords.
(Well done, guys). Interestingly, New Member comments take longer to post/go live than mere Guests, since... "Comments from new and unregistered users require moderator review, though should be published shortly."
Unregistered users are guests. Same treatment, you just didn't see the notification as a guest.
Sorting comments by oldest hasnt worked on firefox mobile or desktop since the first rollout a couple of weeks ago fyi
@sam any chance you're running an old version? I'm able to sort using 154, but I can look into version breakage if you're running a somewhat recent version.
@jeremy I've been having the same problem on Chrome desktop and Safari mobile since the first rollout as well. If helpful I'm on Chrome 151.0.7922.109.
Also any reason to not have oldest first as the default or let us choose what we want as the default?
For some reason, I sense we shall see diarrhea of the keyboard from one reader.
Veruca! I didn't mention any names. "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you. Don't you? Don't you?" But, I'm certain the volume of your contributions will win the participation incentives that Ben is offering.
Glad to see replies now automatically open!! Have been wanting this for a while 🙂
Jeremy, the website loads significantly faster - than you for your improvements.
There was a time (way back) when comments made on one's post would be sent to email. This was a handy way of not losing track of something interesting enough to make an initial Comment.
I liked that!
Any chance the feature might return?
This is on my radar and should be a light change in the next couple of weeks. Good suggestion!
Hi Jeremy, I have two questions—sorry to bother you...
1 - When I log in using Chrome, whether on my phone or my computer, I can't check the "Stay signed in" option; it tells me I don't have permission to log in. It only lets me log in if I don't check the "Stay connected" option (I'm using the spanish version, I don't know the exact words in english... Chrome, Windows, and Android are all up to date.
2 - Is it possible that community points aren’t being added for people who have published community stories, as is the case with me?
Thanks, great work!
Thanks! Tracking this one in the forum - points have been awarded, still looking into your specific issue on staying logged in.
@Jeremy, my heart/yowzers buttons are not working as before. Now I have to log out (and then log in back again) for every single article I want to interact with. Otherwise my clicks don't activate any of the buttons at all.
We should be squared away on this, and helpful buttons should work for all users, without logging out/in, or other hacks.