New GoDuke.com

[YourLandlord]

Really? A huge banner ad right across the top of the page? Classless.

I realize these websites aren't cheap to maintain...but still. How much does that ad earn over a year? Whatever it is, it can't make up for how amateur that website looks.

Not as bad as tarheelblue.cstv.com, but we can do better.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Really? A huge banner ad right across the top of the page? Classless.

I realize these websites aren't cheap to maintain...but still. How much does that ad earn over a year? Whatever it is, it can't make up for how amateur that website looks.

Not as bad as tarheelblue.cstv.com, but we can do better.

Since you don't care for the advertising banner on goduke.com, how would you suggest paying for operating costs of the site?

[Maxwell1977]

Doesn't work right with Firefox!

[mgtr]

I don't think the goduke ad is more intrusive than the DBR ad near the top. I don't care for either.

[RazzyBailey31]

Looks like fine to me and alot easier to navigate. The only thing I don't like is the removal of the stats across the top for each sport and the overall athletic department.

[geraldsneighbor]

GoDuke.com has always has ads on it. This is nothing new.

[miramar]

Duke, like many other universities, is facing some serious budget shortfalls. The situation is affecting employment on campus and has forced the administration to put off the central campus project. If goduke can generate some money this way, that's fine. I just don't want to see a Bank of America Indoor Stadium .

Here is some recent info from the Chronicle, although this has been going on for a while.

http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2009/07/01/DukeAndDurhamDownOut/Durham.Braces.For.A.Smaller.Duke-3749955.shtml

[Bluedog]

Doesn't work right with Firefox!

GoDuke has never worked completely with Firefox. It's quite annoying. I often have to browse it using IE to play videos, etc. I don't mind the ad as much as the general layout of the site. I personally think it's too busy and needs to be simplified even further. The old site was even busier so they've made some improvements, and overall, I like the site better, even though it's still not where I think it should be. Still, I think it's an improvement.

[gvtucker]

GoDuke has never worked completely with Firefox. It's quite annoying. I often have to browse it using IE to play videos, etc. I don't mind the ad as much as the general layout of the site. I personally think it's too busy and needs to be simplified even further. The old site was even busier so they've made some improvements, and overall, I like the site better, even though it's still not where I think it should be. Still, I think it's an improvement.

Yes, it hasn't worked perfectly with Firefox in the past, but at least it was readable. Now, goduke.com is just a bunch of jumbled letters in Firefox, completely unreadable. This is really ridiculous.

[Capn Poptart]

the banner ad isn't great, but hey, if you're gonna have an ad, make it a decent resolution! SOme of those are really pixelated, so it looks sort of cheap.

Overall, it doesn't seem that different from the old site; simpler and cleaner, though. Works fine for me in both Firefox and Safari, on my Mac.

[Bluedog]

Yes, it hasn't worked perfectly with Firefox in the past, but at least it was readable. Now, goduke.com is just a bunch of jumbled letters in Firefox, completely unreadable. This is really ridiculous.

Really? I can read it fine in firefox. Just sometimes the layout isn't ideal. Try changing the character encoding (View -> Character encoding). Unicode (UTF-8) and Western ISO-8859-1 both work for me.

[FireOgilvie]

Yes, it hasn't worked perfectly with Firefox in the past, but at least it was readable. Now, goduke.com is just a bunch of jumbled letters in Firefox, completely unreadable. This is really ridiculous.

Works perfectly for me in Firefox 3.5. I'm comparing it to IE and it's the same, except I don't have any ads in Firefox because I have the AdBlock Plus add-on.

The first time I tried to open it in IE, my computer froze up and I had to shut it off manually, which I never have to do.

[jesus_hurley]

Long time lurker, but I did want to throw my 2 cents in here...

I am a firefox user and used to have issues with goduke.com but the newest version for windows seems pretty stable on the site. I've never, ever had issues on my linux machines using firefox with goduke.com. All in all I like the new site. It'd be nice to have it be ad-free but not if the alternative is to lock portions down as a subscription service or reduce the number of updates done to the site.

[msdukie]

Looks like fine to me and alot easier to navigate. The only thing I don't like is the removal of the stats across the top for each sport and the overall athletic department.

I miss the stats too, but they haven't updated them since they put them on in Summer '07, which was annoying. I do like how under each sport, the ad for Duke Store items is for an item of that sport.

The ads have been there for years. I don't think that this new GoDuke.com is major change, as suggested, it just seems they cleaned up the look a little.

[El_Diablo]

I don't have any ads in Firefox because I have the AdBlock Plus add-on.

Same here. It's free--definitely worth checking out if you don't like seeing ads.

[watzone]

Really? A huge banner ad right across the top of the page? Classless.

I realize these websites aren't cheap to maintain...but still. How much does that ad earn over a year? Whatever it is, it can't make up for how amateur that website looks.

Not as bad as tarheelblue.cstv.com, but we can do better.


Maintaining a website is not that expensive. But the more people you pay to write for you, the more that changes and they have a bevy of writers these days and a bunch of guys behind the scenes who work in no holds barred media rooms and other capacities. I like the new look and I have always been a fan of the clean blue on white look:) So far, I have been fortunate enough to have an ad free site, but one never knows what the future will bring. Times are changing and official sites are in it to make money and goduke.com offers a lot of cool stuff for about 80 bucks a year. I like the addition of AJ Carr who is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.

[jimsumner]

As a content user, I love getting free stuff on the internet.

As a content provider, I like the idea of websites figuring out ways to generate revenue; cause I like to get paid and all that.

So, the ads are fine with me.