New comments system
I’m testing out a new comments system which is threaded and a bit more fancy. But it’s also a plugin by another company – so it means the old comments are temporarily unavailable. They should soon be imported on to the new system hopefully. Then let’s see how it goes…
Please email or leave a comment below if you spot any problems.
| Post to del.icio.us |
Filed in: Blog
Hello?
Not, apparently, appearing in the right hand list.
Anyway, it is up to you to tell everyone how you got framed.
And why is everyt post working backwards? I think we ought to be told…
The formatting of the comments isn't as aesthetically pleasing as the old system, e.g., the text is now flush with the margins (no padding), and there seems to be an extra blank line after a blockquote. Is there some way to splice in the relevant portion of the old CSS?
qidniz, Just testing
Bloody hell Sunny!
It might have been an idea to tell folk that you were going to do this before you implemented it. And how it might effect them?
I now have a Quidniz (sp?) account which means that I don't have to enter all my details – email, name, etc, before I can comment. It might be an idea to explain the changes before you apply them.
Apparently my comment appears in isolation in the new format. How do I copy and paste from my friends or my critics? Do we have to open a second browser window?
Apparently my comment appears in isolation in the new format. How do I copy and paste from my friends or my critics? Do we have to open a second browser window?
Apparently my comment appears in isolation in the new format. How do I copy and paste from my friends or my critics? Do we have to open a second browser window?
Just having a go to see what happens.
It'll be a real pain in the botty if I have to fill in my details every time I want to comment.
Chairwoman,
Hi. I think there should be a FAQ for folk like you and me.
As far as I can tell, if you open a Disqus account then you can avoid having to enter your details every time you post. Seems to work, so far…
And, god knows how, but now i can at least see your comment, just like always.
It'll be a real pain in the botty if I have to fill in my details every time I want to comment.
And paste it.
And highlight it.
Tho smileys don't seem to work no more:
Threading sounds like a good idea, but it doesn't really work in the “web forum” format. Or rather, the standard implementation, via the visual device of indentation, is seriously flawed. After several rounds, indentation squishes posts into long thin caricatures of newspaper columns. (In proper newsreaders, for Usenet, threading is seen in the heading summary panel, not the message body panel, that's why it works so well there!)
A further problem (perhaps only for me, though) is that the direct link from the “latest comments” panel doesn't work. The JS code seems to hang on trying to access google-analytics, which I have blocked. (The access should fail cleanly, but it hangs instead; there may be a stupid must-succeed fail-loop in the code.) As a result, the page display logic never “completes” and the browser never performs the final jump to the in-page target. In the old system, this wasn't a problem, as all new posts were known to be at the bottom. But now, with pseudo-threading the new posts could be anywhere. Sigh.
(A better threading model would be to embed in-page links to followups, which could still accumulate at the end by default anyway. This would also obviate squishing.)
Edits hang (pressing the “Save Edit” button results in its legend changing to “Just a moment…” and then that moment never ends), besides presenting the original text as one big blob, thanks to linebreaks being “translated” into HTML BR tags.
Sorry, but horrible.
Ah, so that was what the br thingy was about. Which didn't even have the decency to display itself up yonder. I just noticed, we've lost post numbers too.
Change? I can't cope with change.
Rumbold,
Och, we'll all get used to it and then we'll wonder what we were moaning about.
Still, us old fogeys could have done with a bit of a warning, eh? Or a FAQ.
It also seems to be the case that, if you click on someones comment on a thread, it now takes you to the start of the thread rather than the actual comment. Which was a bonus in the old system.
Douglas:
If you click on the time (eg. '6 minutes ago') it takes you to that comment.
Since the Edit function doesn't work, I'll try the Reply function instead to add this to my first paragraph:
With deeper indents the squishing problem comes up sooner, whereas with shallow indents, the threading is harder to see, and everything goes to pot anyway with outdents in case of multiple followups. The visual confusion, unfortunately, is inevitable. I've seen several blogs try these newfangled commenting systems with indented threading and eventually give up on them once the limitations become evident.
Hmm, I tried to “Reply” to my post at — drat no post numbers anymore! — and disqus dumped it at the bottom. Maybe only others are allowed to Reply?
Cheers,
How about you pulling together a FAQ?
qidniz,
I thought you might be vaguely amused at my comment to Rumbold – see above. But that seems a lot less likely if it's threaded. Why would you bother?
I don't understand it myself.
Indeed. Unless I'm following a particular “trail” I'm likely to miss additions in the visual clutter, all the more so if the thread is a busy one with many posts.
Okay, the Reply function is not threading my followup at all. (I just tried to reply to Douglas and it didn't “work”). The Disqus JS code is interacting badly with my browser configuration. Scratch my speculation that one can't followup to oneself.
Oh dear!
OK, I admit, I was LOL about that.
LOL = laughing out loud, maybe….
But it is threading mine, I think. This is a proof of concept, or not.
Or to exactly copy what you did.
Worth checking
At least here Tweets aren't seen as more important than comments. Which is how it is on Liberal Conspiracy and not for the better, I'd say….
Is it me? Or is this a bit too busy ? I can't relax looking at this format ? Simplicity is best..
I agree. The new system is taking an age to update the Latest Comments status. Also, it's easy miss out replies to recent threads if the thread is old. I can see why you'd want threads together, though. Also, do I really want to manage my comments across the web (or have somebody claim my past comments and troll under my PP identity) ?
Nah, don't like.
Can't use disqus because my name has already been taken. And besides it apparently allows you go edit or delete your comments retrospectively, which is going to be confusing.
The reply and like functions are ok. Although like does introduce an element of popularity contest and it is better to be right than popular.
As I keep telling myself.
Also report.
If I see a vile comment I don't want to 'report' it. What was wrong with a good old-fashioned stomping? What kind of creep 'reports' comments? You don't like it, deal with it.
I don't like change at the best of times, it's like when you're local gets done out and they paint over the nicotine ceiling. But this new format …
http://www.studenti.pef.upr.si/~jures/vario/don...
Hello?
There
This comeents system is supposedly threaded, but I can't see how to determine when one comment is a reply to another. In other words, the threading isn't working.
Cannot create the disqus profile as persephone is already taken….
Hmmmm not sure if I like not being able to edit my comment from here.
Also, it takes some (10?) minutes before a comment appears on the latest comments column .. can this be speeded up?
I got rid of the threaded structure and put the comments box at the end again.
I'm going to look at the CSS again to see how I can make this simpler and take out the features…
it's easier in the sense that there's much less spam and people can edit their own comments and it incorporates reactions on other blogs/twitter/fb etc. So it combines various plugins – which is nice.
it incorporates reactions on other blogs/twitter/fb etc. So it combines various plugins – which is nice
To a given value of nice.
I was reluctant to post a comment because of the login, register with Disqus thing, then opted for Guest. And yet I am now getting emails from Disqus. The very thing I wanted to avoid.
Now a 3rd party, who I know very little about has my details and perhaps records of all our comments. This 3rd party will also, presumably, have the same from thousands of other bogs. Are they now the comment repository for blogs?
Does this not mean that if anyone wanted to harvest a particular contributors comments they only need to go to one source?
I don't know Disqus, I know you. I don't wish to give my details and thoughts to Disqus, I am happy to let you store them not them.
I don't like it, and nor should you. Can we please go back to our 'trusted' arrangement where my/our comments and details are lodged with you and not someone else whose real value will be the number of 'registrations' and volume of 'comments' lodged. These could at some future date be sold on; or profiles compiled for future marketing campaigns (that being the kinder view of what is possible).
Who are disqus and what is the commercial arrangement (if any) between PP and them? And what are the terms of privacy in play; and under what circumstances can they opt out?
And how can we ask for our details to be removed from their records?
Sunny,
Is there anywhere we can go to learn this new stuff? I commented on Halimas' thread and frankly, because of formatting, I wish I hadn't.
There are different rules about blockquoting and bolding within a blockquote, at least I think there is. There also seems to be a different arrangement for closing off a blockquote.
If you care to look at my comment, forgetting the purpose, the thing is a Grauniad like disaster.
Could you point everybody in the right direction?