Just a quick FYI on a few technical issues on the site.
First, we have changed the way the comment box works. Previously, when you opened a post, there was always a comment box at the bottom of the page. This was convenient in that it allowed you to just start typing away, but it caused problems in the threads because it was very easy to think you were replying to someone else when you were actually starting a new section of the thread. So now, there is no box. To comment, you must either click “Post a Comment,” which appears at the end of the thread, or click “Reply” on the comment to which you wish to respond. Hopefully this will cut down on nesting confusion.
Second, we have temporarily disabled the thumbs-up/thumbs-down comment rating system. We hope to be upgrading soon to a system that will track who has voted thumbs up and thumbs down – this should eliminate the problems that anonymous ratings seem to be causing.
Thanks, as always, for your patience and your support!
Jasiu says
Thanks for the continuing work, guys. One issue to point out and a few wish list items.
Problem: On Mac OS Lion (10.7.2), Firefox (7.0.1), when I click on POST A COMMENT, nothing happens. I’m typing this in via Safari, so that works.
Wish list:
On the My Posts page, the old site listed the number of comments, total and new. I’d like to see that back as it makes for a quicker BMG check when time is limited.
My Comments: The old site listed the thread (with link) to which the comment was attached. Also, I’m not sure if the new comments are noted as I don’t think I have any new comments to the ones on my page. If that’s the case, I’d like to see that back also. Finally, if ratings come back with the raters identified, I’d like to see that info on the My Comments page.
This is probably in the dreaming category, but a mobile device friendly version and/or smartphone apps would make you guys rock stars. 🙂
Again, thanks for all of the work!
Jasiu says
The Firefox thing looks like it was a temporary glitch as I now am able to get reply boxes via both POST A COMMENT and Reply. I even checked on a post that had no comments to make sure it had nothing to do with whether or not there were existing comments.
dcsohl says
I greatly appreciate the comment change you made. While I know there is a link at the top of the comments to “Leave a comment below” which jumps you to the end, perhaps instead it should be “leave a comment” which opens up the comment box right there under the post? That way you can reply directly to the original post and have minimal scrolling to be able to refer back to it.
Second suggestion would be to actually have ratings mean something. I’ve never taking comment rating seriously on BMG because nothing ever happens to the numbers. They just get displayed next to the comment and … well, I suppose under the old system comments could be hidden, given enough 0s and the right phase of the moon.
But I think it would be better to perhaps have an option where the “best” comments automatically floated to the top. For example, I’m a big fan of the site Reddit where they have a comment rating system that is based purely on thumbs-up and thumbs-down that works really well. (And it’s all anonymous; there’s no way to see who upvoted or downvoted a particular comment. But it still works.)
I think more people would rate comments if the outcome actually had some real effect. Otherwise, as far as I’m concerned, you may as well not bother re-implementing it.
dcsohl says
I somehow find myself logged out of the site a lot. When I come to a story from the RSS feed, and then login, after I login I should go back to the story I was on. Instead, the login process dumps you at the main page. I know other WordPress installs that have the desired behaviour, so I know it’s possible.
JimC says
My preference is non-anonymous ratings, but no ratings will be an interesting experiment. Thanks for working through this.
seascraper says
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dont-get-cute says
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seascraper says
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Christopher says
What I don’t get is why this only recently became an issue after working fine before. I would set up a rating system where the choices were strongly agree, somewhat agree, agree in part and disagree in part, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree. I think they are valuable when one does not have time to write a comment or does not want to repeat what has been said. I was also using thumbs more lately when I could not reply to comments.
David says
Don’t use IE. Seriously – it’s a lousy product. Firefox and Chrome, and Safari if you use a Mac, are much, much better choices, and they’re free.
dont-get-cute says
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dcsohl says
I strongly disagree. The basis for ratings should be whether or not the comment makes a valuable contribution to the conversation. If it’s all about “agree/disagree” it just becomes an echo chamber, especially if you start hiding comments that get too many negative ratings, or whatever.
Bob Neer says
One can disagree with the substance of a comment, but still think it presents a worthwhile issue.
The commenting system is a work in progress. We’re going to keep experimenting with different structures until we find one that seems to work reasonably well. To date, the ones we have tried have been deficient.
Christopher says
My computer is being stubborn about downloading another browser. You’ve suggested that several times, but we don’t all have that option and some of us do not own the computers we use. Rather than flippantly say try something else I’m wondering how to get back to when IE DID work.
David says
except that, as I understand it, when you click “reply” the comment box opens not directly under the comment to which you are responding, but instead down at the bottom of the thread. It should, however, show up as a reply once you post it. Is that what you are finding? Or is it worse than that?
Christopher says
What you described used to be the case and I had gotten accustomed to that. Now the title and comment do not line up with each other and clicking submit does not work.