It’s a historic day in Cleveland: That’s right, today marks the Plain Dealer’s transition to its 3-day-a-week home delivery “model” — an event that was heralded with enthusiasm by exactly no one! Faithful news consumers will now have to wait until Wednesday for a paper at their doorsteps. Though this is a huge bummer for most everybody, at least there’s a functioning e-edition in place.
Actually, scratch that.
We are currently experiencing technical difficulties with The Plain Dealer's e-edition. We are working to resolve these issues.
— clevelanddotcom (@clevelanddotcom) August 5, 2013
What a way to inspire confidence in an already tortured, livid audience base.
Via the Cleveland Leader, the e-edition failed to load because “too many people [were] trying to access the paper at the same time.” Surprise, surprise. Reports indicate that it’s been taking upwards of an hour for the e-edition to load on iPads.
Don’t worry folks. While you wait for the pages to load, you can go buy a print edition at your local “newsstand.” What better way to usher in the digital age than by perpetuating inconvenience not seen since the roaring twenties? Today’s content, produced by a gutted staff, is predictably thin.
But jobless journos, fear not! There are currently eight available positions with the Northeast Ohio Media Group on JournalismJobs.com. Apply today to work for this awesome organization with transparent management and a laid back office culture!
This article appears in Jul 31 – Aug 6, 2013.
Ahahahahaha.
You would think that the PD would have been smart enough to foresee that cutting out home delivery would drive large amounts of people online trying to read the paper……but no. The PD was not smart enough to realize this, what a shocker! Glad to see the paper is now in such competent hands. Sigh.
This is terrible. Once again, Cleveland trying to go forward has put us in the dark and a step backwards. I guess the old saying no news is good news still lives on.
Insane. Print a paper 7 days a week but don’t deliver it? The delivery people are independent contractors, so it doesn’t cost the PD. The new owners of the PD are trying to kill it.
For the first time since I can remember, my morning routine was disrupted. I got up early as usual, walked out to my drive to pick up my morning paper, but it was not in its usual place. I had forgotten that today was the day the PD had decided not to print the paper — actually one of three days this week that it would not print a paper for home delivery. I was out of sorts all day. I wanted to read about all the sports activities over the weekend. That is the section of the paper I always started with, after perusing all the headlines of each section first. I wanted to see what the weather was going to be like today and into the week. I wanted to give the daily crossword puzzle a try. Eventually I would settle in to reading every page with interest. I always made a cup of tea, fixed some cereal and crawled back in bed to enjoy my morning routine. After I finished the paper, the rest of my day could begin. I am not one who would sit staring at a computer screen all day to read the PD or any other print material the size and scope of a regular newspaper. It’s a sad day in Cleveland. I am going to restart my subscription to the News Herald so I can still get a daily paper.
You could try and get a paper at a newsstand, but good luck with that. The three places I tried were all sold out. Two of the places said that the delivery people came in and bought them all out so they could deliver papers to their subscribers.
The e-edition is terrible! I am not a computer “rookie,” I am a graphic & web designer for 25+ years and find the interface AWFUL! Imagine how my 83-year-old mother feels trying to navigate it on the Kindle I bought her for Christmas? She cannot. Has no clue. Sigh.It’s ridiculous. She’s been subscribing for 40+ years and feels deserted. Now that she’s a shut-in, it’s just one more reason for her to be depressed. That and the mail are the two things she looks forward to daily. And that’s going to change, too. So sad.
Monday e-edition is a joke! Eight pages of ‘news’ in Section A and twelve pages of sports?!. Followed by two pages of classifieds and four pages of comics. It’s pathetic. It’s obviously because sports is cheap filler. I don’t read sports and should only be charged for the news I want to read. So charge me at least 50% less for the paper and I will stop complaining.