Thanks for the support, I appreciate it. The non-flash experience does leave a lot to be desired. As you know, I always have to weigh investing time improving it vs improving something else. But I realize that isn't much consolation to the end user.
One of the difficult parts is actually detecting if flash is blocked at all. If the user has Google Chrome's built-in plugin blocker, I don't think it's possible to distinguish between a blocked plugin or a slow loading plugin.
Exactly this.
I'm not implying I'm entitled to special handling, just stating the fact that this page, unlike any other with flash I've used in the last years, doesn't let me use my flash blocker in the usual way - I would have to whitelist the page.
One of the difficult parts is actually detecting if flash is blocked at all. If the user has Google Chrome's built-in plugin blocker, I don't think it's possible to distinguish between a blocked plugin or a slow loading plugin.