Website comments

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@shazzbot

That probably answers the question on its usefulness 🙂

If you click on your name and get your profile page, it’s that box at the top that says “What’s new username”. It posts a comment into the activity stream as an “Update”, but not into any specific thread (hence only @craig can delete it, not a Mod). If you scroll down the activity stream at the moment, you’ll see the effect.

[Anonymous @]

@phaseshift – something’s gone all hinkey with the threads all of a sudden.  I can’t get into them and comments seem to have disappeared (although they show in the list on the right).

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@shazzbot

You may have to live with that at the moment. I’ve shifted mutiple comments from the News to Next Doctor thread, and posted a link on the News page. The Activity thread will still show the original post, and it’s not something I can change. Similar happens when comments have been moved to the Spoiler section on request.

[Anonymous @]

@phaseshift – yes, that makes sense, and I saw your comment there.

About ‘updates’ I just can’t see anything useful about the concept, at all.  We’re not Facebook for cripe’s sake! 🙂  And if it provides an entree for spammers then we’re better for being shot of it.

[CraigNixon @craignixon]

DO we need a thread for ‘Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer”?
Given @craig was annoyed by the Face of Boe question, and I’ve probably annoyed him with Vaccous comments (not sure I even know what Vaccous means 😉 ) it may be a place for anything anyone has a question on but doesn’t quite fit into an existing thread (plus if you had a question about say, the TV Movie – where do you ask?)

Thoughts?

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@phaseshift @Shazzbot Jeez, I’m away for a day and all Hell breaks loose. I’ve deleted the spammer and yes, now that I have a bit more time on my hands following today, I’m going to pare back this site so that it can only be used the way it’s supposed to be.

So no updates, no friend requests etc. The only people that seem to use them anyway are the newbies/spammers.

[ScaryB @scaryb]

Poor @craig Sympathies – ruling the universe is tough, even for the merciless 😉

Am happy with whatever you want to change to the site – and I haven’t come across the Update function either! Delete friends, PMs, whatever you think will keep it running smoothly and cause you least hassle.

(btw @phaseshift – since Craig amended recently, you need to send a friend request in order to PM)

 

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@scaryb Thanks.

I haven’t actually implemented the “you can only PM a friend” fix yet, so you can still PM anyone. I think I’m going to get rid of the friends thing (and updates), so am looking for another way to block spam PMs (as I’d like to keep PMs). Have a lot more time on my hands as of tonight so should all be good shortly.

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@ Everyone especially @Shazzbot @phaseshift and @htpbdet

In an effort to avoid people wasting your valuable time (and the types of spam we got today) I have removed the “Send friend request” option and the “Update” option. I will be trimming things even further in the next few days. I guess it was too much to hope that people would just use the site in the way it was intended.

@phaseshift Apologies, only just spotted you were moving posts today. Thanks for doing that. The system is not ideal as it doesn’t update the activity links, but like you I can live with that.

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@craig

When I tried to PM you and @phaseshift recently it wouldn’t go until I sent a friend request, so I just assumed it had been changed. (I’ve used v occasionally before without a problem).  It’s not something I hanker after – and the  info is probably redundant now.  In hindsight the message would have been as useful on a board anyway (was just being wary of hurting feelings in case I was mistaken).

Glad you’ll have time for theorising and speculation again 🙂

[ProfessorRiverSong @professorriversong]

A small section for games, like A-Z doctor who, and one word quotes. I would explain the rules. 😀

 

[Whisht @whisht]

Hi @craig (and anyone else who runs forums – I think a couple of people here mentioned they do),

just a quick question (and no hurry in answering!).

I’ve come across a rule-of-thumb that online communities have a 90:9:1 ratio of lurkers, commenters and authors (ie for every one person writing a piece, there are nine people who might comment and ninety who might lurk and read).

Not sure how accurate that rule-of-thumb actually is (and probably differs between communities and interests/subject matters) but just wondered if this forum was typical/ atypical.

As I say, just curious but its not keeping me up at night!

cheers

;¬)

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@whisht Thanks for that. That is kinda about right I think for this site, well, the 90:9 ratio re lurkers to commentators.

Just as a guide, in the last month (23 May – 22 June) we’ve had 4,200 unique visitors and I reckon there are abot 40 – 50 people who post reasonably regularly.

Blog posts tend to get anything between 1 and 20 comments at the mo, so maybe the 9:1 ratio is also about right.

[Whisht @whisht]

Hey, thanks as ever @craig – you come across these things, but I never know how accurate they are (memo to self – must ask the guy at work who runs the company forum if he knows what our ratio is – though its a very different ‘help’ type service).

.

oh, and [ahem] Cuba via Moscow.

Just sayin’

[Anonymous @]

@whisht –

oh, and [ahem] Cuba via Moscow.

???   Pleeze esplain!

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@whisht Cuba or Moscow – typical – go after the whistleblower and deflect discussion from the issue

[Whisht @whisht]

indeed @scaryb – unfortunately the ‘news’ seems to have forgotten how to keep at the main points rather than just keeping the human-angle melodrama front and centre.

@Shazzbot – just a slightly shoddy ‘gag’, around a more shoddy story

[Anonymous @]

Thanks for the link @whisht – all time today so far not spent dog-walking and gym-going has been spent catching up on this week’s episode and Confidential postings on this site.

Must get back to real news reading!

[TardisBlue @tardisblue]

@craig, @phaseshift,@jimthefish,@Shazzbot

I know time’s become more wibbly-wobbly and timey-wimey under Moffatt’s scripts, but I’m just wondering why the discussions on Silence in the Library and and Forest of the Dead have been posted under the Ninth Doctor, instead of the Tenth.  Or maybe I’ve missed something — who knows what the “proper” order of the Doctors-as-we’ve-known-them will be after the 50th Anniversary/2013 Christmas Special.

(Feel free to move, delete, defoliate or exterminate this post as you see fit.)

TB

[Anonymous @]

@craig – @tardisblue was right, you had put SitL and FotD under The Ninth Doctor forum.   (I’ve been selecting them from the home page so didn’t notice how they appeared on the Forums list.)

I’ve put them both under The Tenth Doctor.

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@Shazzbot Thanks for that. I think I must’ve had a brain fart. Or as @tardisblue says maybe he is Nine… or Eleven? We’ll find out in November!

[janetteB @janetteb]

Hi. I have tried posting a reply four times now in the “Showrunner” blog and my comment has not appeared. Am I doing something wrong or is it simply the universe eating up my posts?

Cheers

Janette

[Whisht @whisht]

Hi @janetteb – I don’t think it’s just you.
A reply to one of my posts (that I saw as an email notification) isn’t appearing either (though I guess there could be other reasons for that)

[janetteB @janetteb]

Maybe there is a bug in the site then. I hope that’s all it is as I trust @craig will be onto it asap. I have now typed my comment in word so I can copy paste it if and when I can if it doesn’t magically appear out of the ether, with typos uncorrected. (The benefit of having time to check.. I found quite a few.)

Cheers

Janette

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@janetteb @whisht

Hi Janette, unfortunately the system decided your comment was spam. I’ve approved it for you now. If it happens again please email me or send me a private message as soon as it does.

I think it may have been because you copied from Word and it dumped a lot of Word’s formatting code in with the comment (which I’ve deleted now from the comment). It’s better to use something like Wordpad or even Notepad, or paste it in under the “Text” tab rather than the “Visual” tab. Hope that helps for the future.

Whisht, I deleted a couple of new users last night, which is why you can’t find that reply to you – I think they were spammers working together (possibly the same person in fact) to just post crap all over the site last night. I left it until the 5th or 6th stupid post then I’d had enough. If they weren’t spammers their inane contributions won’t be missed anyway 😀

[Anonymous @]

@craig – this happened to @htpbdet ‘s first comment on my blog yesterday, too.   Except it wasn’t indentified as spam, just pending.  I didn’t have to do anything to his comment other than approve it (ie. no deleting of formatting code), though.

HTPBDET – do you write your comments in Word first, then copy into the site?

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@Shazzbot I think that happened because his comment had more than 5 links in it – @ mentions count as links. It’s an anti-spam measure but unfortunately it sometimes catches proper posts as well.

[janetteB @janetteb]

Thanks @craig. I don’t usually type into word first, though on checking I found so many typos that I was thinking I maybe should do so. I will follow your advice in future.

Regards

Janette

[HTPBDET @htpbdet]

@Shazzbot

Yes, sorry – I did.  Is that a bad idea?

[HTPBDET @htpbdet]

@Shazzbot @craig

Okay – have read above.

Sorry – did not reallse Word formatting was a problem. But I am not sure I have any other way to do it.

On the other hand, I have only had one issue in all these posts (I do go on don’t I?) so maybe not a problem?

🙂

[Craig @craig Emperor]

Hi @htpbdet

Hope all is good with you. From your frequent posting I’m assuming it is. Word isn’t usually a problem, not sure why it threw up a problem with Janette’s post, I’m just guessing that was the issue.

But I think your issue was with 5 or more links (the @ mentions). It isn’t a problem on the forum but IS on the blog. Although I may change that, we are blissfully free from spam thanks to other measures I put in place so maybe I’ll increase the link limit for posts.

[HTPBDET @htpbdet]

@craig

Bless you.

Still very much confined to quarters, but more mobile and more leeway. A lot of time to contemplate.

My nephews are on holiday, so things are a little quieter than I would like them! 🙂

May have to have some further surgery tomorrow which should just be a simple thing, or so they say. But I am hoping the worst is over.

Still…all the monitoring of my being seems to point inexorably to the conclusion that I am resting better when engaged on this Forum. Maybe you should ask for NHS accreditation?

[janetteB @janetteb]

Best wishes for tomorrow @htpbdet

cheers

Janette

[Whisht @whisht]

Ha ha @craig – completely agree (in fact I guessed as much hence the polite “other reasons”

@htpbdet good luck tomorrow

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@craig

All hail our Merciless Key Master! Seriously, your efforts as ever, are very much appreciated. Not least for…

@htpbdet

I am resting better when engaged on this Forum. Maybe you should ask for NHS accreditation?

LOL! That really is no mean achievement. Compared with eg the Guardian blog which can increase stress to dangerous levels just by reading, never mind contributing (esp on a Sunday afternoon, following a Sat Dr Who broadcast!)

Good luck tomorrow and hope you’re back here and speculating very soon

 

[Anonymous @]

@scaryb @bluesqueakpip  ( & @craig ) – from the Companions thread – I’ve created a test login with ‘participant’ user access but I still can’t see how to insert an image without a URL.  Which means, if it’s not on some internet image storage site or other website, it can’t be included in a post.

Bluey, I’ve PM’d you with an alternative.

Scary – if you were able to do something before which you can’t now, it’s probably Our Craig waving his magic wand over the proceedings to ensure the spammers are kept at bay from his lovely site.

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@htpbdet Glad the site is still helping. And, to echo everyone else, good luck tomorrow.

@Shazzbot I just posted a response on the Companions thread much like your own 😀

[HTPBDET @htpbdet]

Everyone – many thanks, again, for your well wishes. I appreciate the support – enormously.

x

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@craig – I’ve put them all into media, and used them in a blog post. But yes, once they’re uploaded into media, using  copy image url does work for inserting into posts.

 

[Craig @craig Emperor]

Just a small change to the site, but a good ‘un, I think. I’ve been delving into the source code recently and worked out one way to have more control over the Activity stream.

I thought this might be prudent as the 50th gets closer, the casting of a new Doctor is underway, and more people are signing up to the site.

Now if someone posts in the Spoilers forum, the fact that they posted something will still show up in the Activity stream, but the only text that you’ll see will be “SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS…”

No more need to write a paragraph before you post spoilers any more. It won’t be seen anywhere on the site except in that forum. 😀

[Whisht @whisht]

@craig – nice work!

that’s brilliant – thank you!

now, what would be hilarious would be if a bug crept in and all the posts in that forum got turned into just the words SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS…”

;¬)

I jest I jest (but its one forum I don’t visit and which is why its such a brilliant idea!)

thanks again

[Anonymous @]

@wolfweed @bluesqueakpip @htpbdet (and @craig ;  and as you already know, @jimthefish and @phaseshift )

Hi y’all, Craig gave me a tip to help us keep our blog posts tidy in the ‘Blog’ tab.  I had wondered why other people’s blogs had a paragraph (or two) with a ‘Read the rest of this entry’ link, but mine didn’t – it just showed the whole darned thing.

The key is to view your blog post in the ‘Text’ tab.  Pick a good point at the top, after one paragraph or two (enough to grab your audience); then, position your cursor [click] at that point.  Click the ‘more’ button.  This will insert the link ‘Read the rest of this entry’ in the main ‘Blog’ tab at that point.  (You can switch to ‘Visual’ view to see this, although the link won’t work until you save.)

I’ve tested this on all of our recent blogs (except, Wolfie, for your Caption Competitions which don’t need it; you’re copied here because of your 50th anniv. complaints blog  🙂  ).

If you have any questions, I’d like to say please ask me, but this is the sum of my knowledge on this point so any further questions should probably go to Our Craig.  🙂

HTPBDET – it looks like you know this from your previous blogs; I’ve only included you here due to your most recent blog missing this insert.

[HTPBDET @htpbdet]

@Shazzbot

No – I had no clue.

I have been the beneficiary of Craig posting for me. Will amend tomorrow.

Apologies.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@craig – this week’s Moffat episode is ‘The Beast Below’. Next week’s will be a double parter: Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone.

Thanks!

[Anonymous @]

@nick @arkleseizure @htpbdet @bluesqueakpip @pedant – sorry, I’m reverting to Topic Nazi type and have moved some of your posts (and some of my own) to the Companions thread from On The Sofa.

There’s a wonderful conversation going on over there about Companions, and your comments ideally belong to that conversation.

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @pedant]

So, anyway, @craig, are you going to update the WP software or are you too twitchy about breaking something?

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@pedant It’s on my list. I have a dev site (basically the one on the old server) that I want to test it out on first as, yes, I’d hate to break anything. As well as WP I need to update BuddyPress and BBPress, both of which also had reasonably major upgrades. Those have happily provided greater flexibility on design, so I’m currently working on a redesign to go with the updates. It should be even more mobile friendly (I’ve been testing on my iPhone and it’s a lot easier to use) and a bit more modern looking, without changing too dramatically.

I’m working on another project at the moment – an ecommerce site for a new record label – but once that’s done I should get some time to finish the design and do the updates.

[ScaryB @scaryb]

Exciting news about new Dr announcement (LOL at pre-announcement that there will be an announcement announcing THE announcement on Sun) AND we get a snazzy new web makeover to go with it! @craig you are spoiling us (and more mobile friendly as well 🙂 )

For what it’s worth I agree The Next Dr thread just needs a new pic. (@craig – hope you  have a fab weekend)

[Timeloop @timeloop]

How are the numbers @craig ? Still being watched or did it die down a bit?

[Anonymous @]

Is anyone else having trouble viewing comments on the sofa? When I go to where the most recent stuff should be, the last one that shows up is one that Shazzbot posted yesterday (at 16:40), even though the bar at the top says wolfweed posted one 1 hour 36 minutes ago. Below that, it claims that I’m”Viewing 6 posts – 701 through 706 (of 706 total)”, but only 2 posts are showing.

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