You’ve no doubt by now noticed that the sites got a bit of a re-design and some things got changed around last week. We wanted to highlight two changes to make sure everyone knows what changed.

The first and biggest is COMMENTS! Registration is no longer required to post a comment on any post. Of course if you already have an account you can still login to ensure your comments are attributed to you, but those who don’t can now post a comment without any long term commitment. Also, on the right you can see some of the recent comments so you’ll always know what the active discussions are. This was the most requested thing we’ve heard from people since our last redesign and we’re excited to see where it leads.

The next change is also something that was heavily requested, and that is a change to the ADS on the sites. You’ll immediately notice fewer of them, but what might not be as obvious is those smaller square ones to the right are specific to this city only and are being sold for a flat rate for a period of time rather than a confusing CPM/traffic/network model. Depending on the city, these range from $7-$175 for a full week. If you purchase one, during that time your ad will be the only one in that spot and will show on every page. We set these up both to make it easier for smaller local businesses to get their ads on our site, and also to help us bring in ads that relate better to our local audiences. Also, keeping these sites online is expensive and every little bit helps.

There are a bunch of other things we changed but we’ll leave those to you to investigate and take advantage of. Hope you like it, and we look forward to seeing you in the comments!!

Love,
The folks at MBHQ

A Washington D.C. team might walk away with a championship tonight, and I’m not talking about The Nationals.

I’m talking about perhaps one of the more successful teams in DC (besides The Caps), D.C. United.

In one of the rare times I pay attention to blog advertisement, I noticed that while the MLS franchise might not make the cut for MLS post-season play; tonight they are in the finals of the country-wide Pro-Am soccer competition. D.C. United is the current title holder and is seeking to defend their title, with two already under their belt, against the Seattle Sounders (who aren’t totally happy the game will be in DC.) The champion of the U.S. Open Cup goes on to represent the U.S. in the CONCACAF Champions League.

In celebration of the championship game, RFK Stadium will be selling tickets at the same cost as when they won their first Open Cup in 1996. That means tickets are going to start at $12 ($10 for college students) and with $2 beers and hot dogs, the game sounds like a great deal for a cool September night.

The game starts at 7:30 P.M. at RFK Stadium, on TV it will be aired on Fox Soccer Channel.

To end this post I need to quote the post I read which pretty much sums it up:

“D.C. United. We win trophies. Join us for the next one.”

The Washington Post just sent the following “breaking news” to its email list. Personally, I would call this “heartbreaking news.” The National Airport, Crystal City, and Pentagon City stations – on the Blue and Yellow lines – will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday until 4 a.m. Tuesday due to pre-planned track work and extensive maintenance.

We suggest you take the bus

If you’ve got folks coming in to town for a visit, or are planning to leave town for a visit, and were planning to take the Metro to the Airport, you’ll have to settle for shuttle bus service from the Pentagon station. Taking the shuttle could add significantly to your travel time, so plan an extra hour if you need it.

I guess the up side is that riders on the Blue and Yellow lines this Labor Day weekend, will be able to experience what it must be like in other cities, with express trains? Yeah, I was seriously not reading that WMATA release closely enough.  We’ll be wishing we could move to those express-train-possessing cities, instead!

More info on the weekend’s disruption is available from both WaPo and WMATA.

If you haven’t noticed, all the Metblogs sites have been given a redesign and are now sporting more design and less ads! Always a great thing.

The pages should load a bit faster but the most exciting feature should be the removal of comemnt registration- you no longer need to register to tell us how much you hate like our writing!

So I hope you enjoy the new look of DC Metblogs and I look forward and invite you to send some feedback our way in regards to our posts.