I wanted you all to be aware that we have made several significant improvements with comments on Propeller. We have been hard at work reading and heeding your feedback. Here's what we have fixed with this new upgrade:

• Comments have a newer, more compact design
• Comment text is now black, providing better color contrast
• Action buttons were rearranged
• When a comment is posted, it is immediately shown in the context of the thread
• A comment can edited after posting for 5 minutes, to correct spelling errors and the like
• With all new comments, if a URL is entered, it becomes clickable

You will also notice that group conversations and messages have the same new look.

We are still working on a few items with comments, namely better paging of comments, and the ability to see who rated your comments up and down.

We have also collected a fair amount of feedback about the homepage, look for a newer, tighter homepage very soon!

I will leave you with a look at the new comment display. As always, feedback can be sent in one of 2 ways, via e-mail and via the web.

Happy Propelling!
Tom

Friends (and Idols),

I wanted to write to tell you how appreciative I and the Propeller staff are of all of the feedback we have received regarding the Propeller 2.0 launch. We have read all of the responses submitted so far. It's clear that in our quest to make the new Propeller easier, faster, and more fun, we have created a disconnected experience, where the social doesn't always coincide with the news.

Propeller members relish commenting on the day's top stories in a format that demands the utmost reliability and compact presentation. They also require the ability to edit comments (we all have second thoughts, not to mention slippery fingers). Propeller 2.0 has not yet achieved this level of reliability. We promise to do so.

Many have also commented on the new look. Some don't like the new mascot (don't worry, he's not listening in). Some have said that the homepage has too much white space and too few stories. Some just don't like the colors.

We are listening. And we are responding. We have already made a number of fixes, restoring the Friends' Submissions link on the profile page and upgrading the site mail. Here are some other things we are working on right now:

• Comments: A tighter design, better paging, more reliability, ability to edit a comment after posting
• Stories: Restoring the story submission bookmarklet
• Member Profile: Add Member Recent Comments
• Just In (Tracker): Allow filtering for stories, comments, props, etc
• Avatars: We are fixing a known issue with avatar uploads, both for members and for groups
• Groups: Add a Groups A-Z directory

Here is what we will be fixing soon after:

• Homepage: Overall spacing, allowing for the mascot to be hidden/shrunk
• Stories: A better story submission process that will allow for a "one stop shop" of sharing your story with your friends/groups

We are also discussing restoring some of the old Propeller categories, such as Religion and Health & Fitness, as well as some of the member stats that existed on the previous version of the site. Meanwhile, we are working on a new Propeller blog design, which should be completed soon. We hope will the blog will be another good place to congregate and talk about the health of Propeller.

Again, thank you to all of our great Propeller members for helping us to work through this rough patch, including ind06, AlphaGnosis, mozzer, Beau7890, and many other stalwarts. You have been invaluable to the Propeller effort.

Sincerely,
Tom Drapeau

Our long awaited upgrade to Propeller was released this morning. As mentioned previously, the Propeller team has been hard at work incorporating features in response to many months of your feedback and our own observations. Our goal was to make Propeller easier, faster and more fun to use. To accomplish this, we incorporated a new design, new technology powering the site, and new features.


By now, social news sites have been around for several years. Yet they are still relatively novel to most of us. The idea of you or I being able to post news we are interested in, and having that news served up to a global audience, gets at a core need: We all want to be heard. The Propeller platform should be the place where you are heard, and to pave the way, we have brought the site's features up to date.

Of course, we recognize that not everybody will start his or her day reading stories on the Propeller home page. There are still many folks who prefer a more traditional, top-down approach to the news. But even among this crowd, many enjoy certain aspects of the social news experience-the sense of community, the discussions, the long-distance friendships. We have designed the new platform with this audience in mind, too. And we have simultaneously begun a deeper integration with AOL News and AOL.com (where Propeller posts have begun popping up in the top box). The future of social news, we believe, will consist of a fusion between these two approaches: the freewheeling community and the fact-gathering capabilities of traditional media.


Now, let's take a closer look at the new Propeller. The new design is likely to be noticed first. The Propeller mascot, who is part professor, part citizen journalist, beckons any and all to visit Propeller and sample our wares. He is placed strategically throughout the site, pointing out features and offering help to new members. The logo has changed as well, which shows our community and stories as moons orbiting the Propeller planet. We also decided that Propeller needed a new engine to keep up with our growing community and increasing traffic levels. With this new power, performance should improve, in some cases dramatically. Here are some other changes you will notice:

• New Ranking Scale: Instead of seeing an absolute count of votes next to a story, you will now see a Popularity Rating from 1-10. The scale is based on a new set of ranking algorithms, which take into account many more aspects of participation when determining popularity.


• Prop It!: We thought that "Vote" seemed too serious, especially with the elections coming up. So we took the root of Propeller and will now encourage our audience to "Prop" stories they find interesting.


• Groups: Users now have the ability to join groups and form groups of their own. Groups can be open to the public, or membership can be limited. Once you have joined a group, you can share stories and start conversations on topics of interest.


• Help!: There is a new Help Central area, where we consolidate Frequently Asked Questions and explain a bit more about Propeller.


• New and Improved Search: Not only has searching for stories returned, but new features allow for searching members and groups. Looking for that long-lost Propeller friend, or for some esoteric group? Now you can find them!


• Featured Groups and Members: To reward the movers and shakers in our community, we will feature members and groups on the homepage. This is an improvement on the old Top Propeller Contributors, since the featured member will have his or her avatar and biographical info displayed front and center!


• This Just In: The Propeller Tracker has a new name, This Just In.


• No More On Shift Icons for Editors and Scouts: Rest assured, we're still on the job! We're always here. But although we love looking at ourselves, we thought we could use the space for something new.


• Category Consolidation: Our categories are now Arts & Entertainment, Business & Finance, Family, Humor, News, Science & Technology, Sports and Style. By reducing the number of categories, we hope to cut down on clutter and ease the story submission process.

These are but a few of the changes in Propeller 2.0. We hope that you come to visit us, give our new features a spin, and let us know what you think. We're all ears!

For the last few months, the Propeller team has been hard at work on a major upgrade to our social news experience. As we near our community's two-year anniversary, I am pleased to announce that this work will soon be complete. We have a lot of exciting news to share! But first, I want to thank all of the great users who have helped our service to mature. We have learned a lot from you, and continue to appreciate your input and enthusiasm.

Now, back to the new site. In the coming weeks, we will post details about the new Propeller, along with screenshots of particular features. We want the new site to be easier, faster, and more fun to use. To accomplish these goals, we have completely rewritten the entire Propeller website and platform.

The first thing you will notice is our new look, complete with a mascot we call the Propeller Professor. With his fashionable beanie and goatee, this character's job is to aid navigation and participation by pointing out all of our new help resources. We also have a new logo and an entirely new user interface. All of this should make Propeller much easier to use, whether you're a longtime user or a curious newbie.


The geek in all of us will be happy to learn that our developers have changed the algorithm that calculates the ranking of each story on the site, making it smarter and more robust. Additionally, vast improvements to moderation tools will allow for swifter response times to user reports. Throw in an enhanced archival system and plenty of performance tweaks and you have a whole new experience for the community.

We wouldn't do all of this if we couldn't also make Propeller more fun. We're adding new features, such as the ability to form groups with like-minded users. We want conversations and friendships to flourish-if you're so inclined, create a group and have at it! We will also recommend stories and groups we think you might like. After all, why should you have to scroll through the whole site when we can bring the information right to your (figurative) doorstep? We will also phase in an awards system, which will recognize our most ardent users for their participation. If these features make Propeller more fun for you, then we've accomplished our goal.

As if that that weren't enough, the new platform also allows for a more seamless integration with AOL. With the new release, you'll be able to use your AOL Screen Name to establish a Propeller account, and to participate in Propeller content directly from sites like AOL News and FanHouse. Find a great story? Post it to Propeller--and it could end up on the AOL.com homepage! That's right, in addition to Propeller, your story could be viewed by millions of AOL consumers who don't yet visit our own site on a daily basis.


We are very excited to launch this new experience. It is an upgrade we are extremely proud of, and we really hope you like it! Stay tuned for more details, and as always, let us know what you think.

Hello Fans and Friends of Propeller.com-

I wanted to apologize for the poor stretches in performance on Propeller.com that our loyal members have had to endure over the past months. I have seen a number of members mention bad performance when submitting stories, comments, etc in comment threads for other stories, and I wanted to mention that we are grateful for the feedback, and we are working hard on this.

Performance problems can come from a variety of sources. In our case, we are working on upgrading database machines and optimizing the behind-the-scenes code that powers the site.

We are also working on a huge new site upgrade. Expect to see a new design, new features, and... better performance.

I know we've mentioned here and there that there was a new version of Propeller in the works, and there is. We've been working hard with other divisions at AOL to make Propeller bigger, stronger and more impactful.

We are still focused, and working hard, day and night, to do 2 things:
1. Finish Propeller 2.0
2. Improve performance on the current Propeller.com until #1 is ready

I want to thank all of our great Propeller members, many of whom have reached out to me themselves, taking time out of their day, to share their thoughts on Propeller and how we can improve the site.

Cheers,
Tom

As I struggled to fight the effects of Thanksgiving turkey, I started to think about what I am thankful for in 2007. My family and friends, for sure. The stellar Propeller team, absolutely. What makes the Propeller site really tick, though, is the community involvement. We the Propeller team take our hats off to you, the Propeller membership. Without you we would not have come so far.

We are continuing to work hard on platform improvements to better serve the membership. However, in reading the feedback that comes in, I have noticed things about the site that can be confusing.

I'd like to show my thanks by helping to clear up misconceptions about how things work on the site, to help in navigating issues that cross Propeller to Netscape to AOL and back, and to answer member questions. I'll start off by using this blog to post the best (or most provocative) questions and answers that have come in on a particular day.

We will answer questions posed, and also get to work on upgrading the site to be more clear.

I will also use this forum, from time to time, to ask questions of the Propellership. I hope that you will humor me by sharing your opinions.

You can submit questions to: feedback@propeller.com

We will be reading that e-mail list, as well as taking in feedback via our own e-mails, sitemail, and bug reports. You can submit your feedback anonymously if you desire.

We hope you will find this useful.

I'm sure we'll talk soon.
Tom