So Why Do They Make Me Cry?

I have long considered myself a usability aficionado, but I'm realising more and more these days how much the layout - for good or bad - of a given site affects my enjoyment of it.

Case in point: In the past year, The Onion has made several changes to their format. A splash page ad now greets visitors; I greet it back by immediately pressing the "if you are not routed press here" link. Splash pages in general tick me off, and one that is nothing but a huge ad is particularly pissy.

Once onto the site, what used to be the "front page" of news stories now features the same old top half of stories and headlines, but the bottom half's stories have been nested; to read them all requires five or six clicks, and it feels to me less like I'm loading a new story than I'm refreshing the large ads that share the page.

Finally, the Onion's great review section, the AV Club, has been similarly changed. I used to enjoy loading the different sections (Movies, Music, etc.) and reading/skimming all the reviews. It always led to some neat discoveries or the adding of an unexpected title to my "must find" lists. With the reviews now nested like the aforementioned stories, I find myself less inclined to read all of the reviews. Psychologically, it becomes too much work to open, read, then click for the next article. I now target those I know I want to read, and leave the rest.

All of this is adding up to distaste and impatience with the site. I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm going to stop reading the Onion pretty soon...

Mr. Nielsen, is there a support group for usability cranks?