Problems with accessing Salon.com
The title of this post is copied from the auto-complete offer from Google search, when I was trying to find out what happened to the Android app for Salon.com. It had not been updated since 2015 (two years ago) and apparently I was fortunate that it still worked, at all, on my Galaxy S7 running Android 7.0 "Nougat". Most of the reviews in the Google Play Store said that it didn't work on Android 7.0.But now it seems to have stopped working for everyone and has been removed from the Play Store search.
When you use the above-mentioned search term you are directed to the Salon.com web-site where they still extol the virtues of their (non-existent) Android app. They also still include the link to the original app -- so the app is still available, but it's highly questionable if it still works
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.salon.salonapp
Probably they want people to use the mobile-optimized version of their web-site instead. Unfortunately, the site has a ridiculous amount of popup ads, making it very unpleasant to use.
So I wanted to post the following workaround:
- use the Play Newsstand app and add Salon.com as a Library resource
https://play.google.com/store/newsstand/news/Salon?id=CAowgGA&hl=en
The Play Newsstand app is free and skips all the ads. The only limitation is that you can only browse the most recent posts, maybe a days' worth.
What Happened to Salon.com?
I have been a regular reader of Salon.com since they began 20 years ago. I was even a subscriber, back when they tried to use that profit model. But now they seem to be on the decline. On their own site, under Press Releases, they admit that they are losing money and that their viewership has dropped 25% in the past year, 2016-to-2017.
I also found the following articles, talking about the decline of the site:
- May 2016, in Politico
http://www.politico.com/media/story/2016/05/the-fall-of-saloncom-004551 - March 2017, Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/slaterefugees/comments/605jnx/saloncom_quietly_gets_rid_of_their_comments/
In Conclusion
If I ever see an official announcement about the app, I'll update this post.
