Am I the only one that finds RawStory completely unreadable?

[Dennis Donovan]

My browser, annotated with all of the ads that are kicked up on RS

I use Chrome with AdBlockPlus, but was forced to turn it off for RawStory (or the page simply wouldn't load).

Okay, I get they need ad dollars. In fact, I turn off AdBlockPlus on every newspaper, magazine and broadcast journalism site because I know they need ad money to survive.

But RawStory's overuse of ads makes their website worthless if one can't easily read the story that brought you there.

Sure, I could go for that really special deal of $1... except, that's for a single month. Afterwards, their cheapest deal is $9.99/mo. In contrast, both the NYT and WaPo offer their content for $4/mo (which, combined, is less than RS's nearly $10/mo). What makes this especially duplicitous is that MOST of RS's content is taken DIRECTLY from the NYT and WaPo.

Additionally, I admire David Cay Johnston, but his DCReport is in some sort of partnership with RS? DCReport is a non-profit (for free), yet RS, on their "$9.99/mo" page, touts DCReport as another source from which they get their stories from.

I'm sorry, but if you post a RawStory link, you're not getting a rec from me, but you'll get a kick when I post the ORIGINAL source link.

RawStory = , IMO.

[hatrack]

1. It's not unreadable - it's completely illegible . . . .

I don't even bother with RS anymore.

[Mike Nelson]

2. Too many ads...

… don't like the increase in ads... when it starts talking to me, I leave.

[PatrickforO]

33. I really hate the ones that wiggle obnoxiously. When I get those,

I end up having to hold a piece of paper over the rapidly shaking ad until I've read past it.

For those who might be reading that place those kinds of ads on websites where people are trying to read the content, please note that I make it a point to NEVER buy the product depicted in these ads.

And, for the OP poster, I'm not sure what I have as ad blocker. I think it's called ad block plus. It works OK.

[brush]

3. Yep, you have to wade thru a lot of crap to get to the story.

And scrolling just brings up more stuff. I usually end up forgetting about trying to get a clean screen to read what I went there to find and just go back to DU.

[Dennis Donovan]

6. ...and clicking the X's to close the ads only brings up more ads.

Even Drudge doesn't do that (or didn't the last time I saw the site 20 yrs ago ).

[riversedge]

9. yes, I also found that out!!!!

[watoos]

4. I agree that navigating RS sukks,

but I go there quite often. They don't have in depth articles but they are on top of the news and on top of the right wing narrative. RS is out front for a lot of new news.

What pizzes me off are all of the articles from "The Hill" posted here.

[rampartc]

5. it gets worse if take the adblock off.

in chrome with adblock raw story will barely load if you give it lots of time. take off the adblock and every square mm of text is covered with bs.

[dewsgirl]

7. I love Raw story, hate their new lay out. I don't really

have an in issue on my phone/tablet. Just hate how they don't have the categories, at least not like before.

[Dennis Donovan]

8. It's worse on my android tablet and phone.

But, the sub-point of my OP is that you can get MUCH more (and support REAL journalists, not a for-profit news aggregate site) for $2/mo LESS than RawStory if you subscribe directly to the NYT or WaPo.

[dewsgirl]

10. I read them, subscribe to Wapo. Raw story is

Ahead as far as some of their headlines. I wonder if it's the ad blocker some people use.

[The Blue Flower]

11. Takes forever to load

I've quit trying.

[Tetrachloride]

12. Use the browser called Epic.

If u don't like it, post here.

Epic is my main browser and is based on Chromium.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. LMAOOOOOO at the concept of paying for spun content that takes other outlets' reporting and then

hypes up the "good" parts. It's total crap and it's embarrassing to see it here.

[Hortensis]

14. Raw Story's for people who want their beliefs confirmed and

are happy with a recipe that, by mixing truth with distortions, omissions, disinformation and even outright lies, accomplishes that. Breitbart for the left.

So, yes to finding it "unreadable" and to filling our stores of the information we need to understand our world with wisdom solvent.

For those of us who follow interesting links to stories not reported elsewhere, though, and I imagine we all do sometimes, this is a "pre-bunking" game that's proven to somewhat decrease vulnerability to deception and is also rather fun.

https://getbadnews.com/#intro

[Eyeball_Kid]

15. Ads are becoming the reason for

the existence of content. Without an ad block, RS crashes any of my browsers. I can’t stay on RS for more than a few minutes. I watch the CPU usage go to 100%, then the browser crashes. This is routine.

Now we see that DU is flooding their pages with ads. What’s next?

[mgardener]

16. I have to scroll down at least ten times

To get to the comments here.
I find ads in the middle of comments here too.

[DownriverDem]

17. David Cay

has joined with RS for pod casts. I get the ad free version of RS.

[cspanlovr]

18. Here's how I get thru the block at RS

Right click and select the "inspect" feature.

Click the 3 dots in the top right and open "Settings" menu.

Then scroll down to "Debugger" and check the "Disable Java Script" option.

Then just refresh the page!

Hope this helps. It works for me.

[PatSeg]

19. Same here

I won't click on a link for Raw Story anymore. I used to go there often, back when they were still readable. I don't have a problem with ads, but all the pop-ups and flashing makes reading anything impossible. Also, it is not inclined to make me want to buy anything they are advertising. It is a really stupid, ineffective tactic.

[radical noodle]

20. I find a lot of the headlines are click bait

and don't necessarily reflect the story which is often blown out of proportion as well.

[Wounded Bear]

21. Not just you...

I don't click there.

[catbyte]

22. The only time I post RS articles is when the original article is behind a paywall & I think the

subject matter is important enough.

[jayfish]

23. DU isn't a whole lot better.

Our power has been out since Friday night so I have been forced to use a phone as my only access method to DU. It's a disaster.

[radical noodle]

28. I pay to support the site

which removes all the ads. A small donation, big reward.

[tblue37]

31. $5 or $10 per year will remove all ads on DU--and help support the site. nt

[Duppers]

36. 👍

[aikoaiko]

24. I'd be OK if Raw Story went away for lack of funding.

[usaf-vet]

25. I TOTALLY agree. RS and DU used to be my go to reads each day. Now thanks to RS$$$ it's only DU.

I think they may have shot themselves in the pocketbook. $10/month isn't possible in this retiree's fixed income.
$10 / month covers the co-pay for 2 of my medications. I'm sure I'm not the only retiree that faces that same dilemma.

Unless I missed something RS only accumulates reported stories from other sources. I doubt they do any independent investigative reporting. I may be wrong on this point.

One final observation their "editorial practice" demonstrates their preference for the important stories (clickbait?). Were as DU is the readers (posters) choice of what stories are important.

[tblue37]

30. RS, is, yes, just a news aggregator. That's why I go there (and to Mediaite), so I can

see in a hurry which stories I really want to read about and which I just want to know about in a superficial way. Then I go to the source sites for the ones I actually want to read about in depth. RS and Mediaite save me a lot of time.

Click the "reading view" pop-up tab when you go to an RS article and you'll get the article without the ads.

[moreland01]

26. Me Too!

I complain to them every chance I get. But those chances are fewer and fewer because I hate to go there anymore. I follow them on Twitter so I can see the headlines (which are total clickbait) and put my STOP IT comments there. I don't think they're listening.

[moreland01]

27. PoliticalWire

Just about every story on RawStory (at least the meaningful ones) are also on PoliticalWire, but without the ads, clickbait, etc. Go to PoliticalWire.com first.

[tblue37]

29. I always click the "reading view" tab that pops up at the bottom of the screen. It ditches the ads.

However, it is very difficult to get to the comments because the reading view doesn't include them, so you have to return to the ad page to click the "read comments" button, and then scroll way down past other articles to find the comments (I read on a small tablet--maybe it's easier on a desktop).

Then, if you want, you can click a "reading view" tab for the comments, too.

But besides the ad overload, the site redesign is crap, on desktop or mobile/tablet--but especially on mobile or tablet.

[zentrum]

32. I like raw and read it daily.

I'm on their free listserve and gets links to articles. Ads are rarely a problem.

[Lisa0825]

34. When I see a RawStory link here, I look for the source they attributed for the article...

and then go to that source to read it. Or if I can't find the source named, I just google the headline.

RawStory's ads and layout give me a headache, and I hate sources that do nothing but re-word someone else's work.

[sagesnow]

35. Totally messes with your visual proccessing synapses. Uck! n/t

[Duppers]

37. I've no problem with my phone browser...

When reading RS.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

38. No I stopped following them long time ago

They don't like you using Ad-Block but it's impossible to read without it.

To avoid ads they want you to pay for access. Their stories are borrowed from elsewhere. No thanks.

[UTUSN]

39. After years ago sampling, I stopped. Tells us what we want to hear like Faux tells Deplorables

[Denzil_DC]

40. It loads clean and quite quickly using Firefox and the Ghostery add-on.

Not an ad to be seen, page load times generally around 10-20 seconds, teens of trackers blocked.

[Iggo]

41. Without an adblocker it is, that's for sure.

[Leith]

42. Absolutely unreadable

I quit going there after the site insisted I allow ads. Then I saw all the crap I never saw before. Flashing pics, moving text, overly bright colors, pop-ups, sound. I couldn't take it.