Blog Business: Comments Section, Blog Submissions, Suggestions

By On 10/30/2011 · 68 Comments · In Blog Business

Share on TumblrShare via email

The results are in. You guys overwhelmingly voted for numbered comments pages.  That feature is already in place, and we’ll be keeping it.

Also, flat comments beat nested comments in the poll 63% to 37%.  So I’ll be configuring comments to flat after midnight tonight.

A couple of things to remember:

1. Posts with nested comments will switch to flat and may be hard to read.
2. With flat commenting, it’s probably a good idea to quote the person you are responding to. Either use “” or HTML tags. I have the html tag guide posted above the comments on every post.
3. After we switch, you may still change your minds, so I’m going to do another poll in a few days.

Ask any questions you have in  comments, and I’ll amend this post with the answer.

Next. I’m looking for guest writers for the blog. We already have some fine ones: Kirsten, Windmills, Mateja, Stavros are all writing on a regular basis at the moment and doing a terrific job!

  • Send ideas, proposals etc to mjsbigblog at gmail dot com

There are others who have hosted concert blogs in the past, and you all did a swell job too. Speaking of which. Taking on brand new shows has meant I haven’t been able to keep track of each and every Idol in a detailed fashion. So, what I am proposing is for you superfans out there–if you have an idea for a story about your favorite–maybe a roundup of song titles, or an album progress update, pitch me the idea!

Also looking for pieces on general fun things, like Top 10 lists, satire pieces, think pieces, etc.  And not just for Idol either–all shows and celebrities I cover are included.

Mid-season there will be even MORE shows to cover. I’ll be looking for folks to cover Smash and Celebrity Apprentice. And I’m thinking of giving up Glee (You might have to pry that one out of my cold, dead hands, but we’ll see.)

I’m also looking for writers to do interviews with some of the folks we cover here. For that, I’m going to be a little persnickety. I’ll be looking for people with experience. The ideal candidate is someone who writes for their college or local paper who is looking for other avenues to promote their work.

Right now, I can’t pay anyone, which to be honest, is a situation I hope to remedy in the future. If you see more ads around here, you’ll know why. Kidding–I’m currently working on employing more efficient advertising rather than more.

So that’s it for now. Let me know what you think. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again–I’ve got the greatest community in Idol land. You guys rock. My Life Would Suck Without YOU! Hah. I could not resist (but it’s true).

One last thing: Stavros has something else to do tomorrow night, so he will not be able to live blog “Dancing With the Stars”. If there are any volunteers, I’d be happy to sign you up. We should probably have partners cover the show anyway, so they can cover for each other. If not, I’ll be putting up a post and filling in the videos later.

 
← Older Comments
  • Anonymous

    One question though. How do you block quote now?

    Jenny, I’m just testing the “reply” button to see if still shows the post I’m responding to when I hover over “in reply to jennyl”.  If it does, this is the best of the two options (imo!) because one doesn’t have to go back through pages they’ve already read to see what one is responding TO!

    I’m including your question (blockquoted) as well. :)

    You probably have already gotten an answer to that question down the line, but simply type

    before the part you want to quote, and then close it with

    Don’t use a space after the bracket, though.

  • Anonymous

    Go to the comment box …. your name and edit profile should be there.

  • Anonymous

    I have had many problems since the new system was activated. One minute, everything is fine and I can post and update… a minute later and even though I have not touched or changed anything, I can not post or update. It has been very frustrating. I love the blog and all MJs efforts so I will hang in there.

  • Anonymous

    I refer to your profile which is above the comments box, next to your avatar and says ‘edit profile’

    zzatrms (edit profile)

  • Incipit

    I would love to see an up-page button. All the sites I visit have it, but mjs.

    Carolyn Sue, IDK if this is a difference in keyboards, but on my Mac keyboard, there are “Home” and “End” buttons that quickly take me to the top or bottom of any page, as well as arrow scrolls for slower advancing. If you are on a PC, perhaps the functions are differently named? Still, they ought to be there. 

    ~~
    Nice to be able to find and follow conversations again, and I do love the imbedded pop-up video watching function that doesn’t take one off the page – it’s pretty cool!

    The updating function is still wonky, the recent comments are running about a half hour behind right now, and the post count in the OP of a thread is not correct…but once the thread is opened, at least the latest post is right there, and that’s all I was hoping for…while the wrinkles are ironed out. I’m easy. *snerk @Myself*

  • justshootme

    Hmmm.  Thanks for trying to help with the “edit profile” thing.  But there is no (edit profile) next to my user name above the comment box. And just clicking on my username doesn’t bring up any sort of “edit profile” option in the window. Also thank you for the pic, upsidedown.  But it is verrrry tiny, and I don’t know how to make it bigger. Lol. Hopeless.

  • http://twitter.com/KariannHart Kariann Hart

    The format is looking better, MJ.  The only real problem I have had is that I have been  GRAMMIE KARI since your blog started.  The site kept saying “incorrect password” and wouldn’t let me log on.  So, I had to use my Twitter account.  EXTRA BONUS:  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame became my avatar!

    Thank you again, MJ!!

  • Anonymous

    Survivor is the ONE reality show that my hubby will watch with me! I also hope someone will/can cover it here.  For fear of going off-topic, that’s all I’ll say. :)

  • Anonymous

    Hey, I just noticed there is an expand/collapse feature I hadn’t before. I wonder if that can be used to keep track of the posts we’ve already read or not and would only show the new comments that we haven’t seen since our last visit.

    Does anyone know if the collapsed posts are saved between sessions for each user? If so, that would be a great way to keep track of posts read/not read. I may even reconsider going back to nested comments.

    Thanks for allowing us to give input, MJ!

    ETA: Never mind….the collapsed posts are not saving for me.

  • Anonymous

    mj,

    I love having the flat comments as opposed to nested, and love the page numbers that you had already implemented a couple of days ago, and I like having the little (edit profile) hotlink beside my name above the comment box.  I know all the little glitches that people have mentioned will get worked out, but I don’t know if anyone has addressed the ‘refresh’ page option that we used to do when we’d get to the bottom of the last page to see if any new comments had been added. (I understand the real-time updating is wonky, so I’ve been refreshing instead) My question – or comment – is that when I refresh any page in any other site (as it used to do here) I am always returned to exactly the last place I was when I refreshed, so that if there are any new comments, they will be shown just below where I was. Here, with the new system, when I refresh, whether I’m at the bottom of page 2 or 3 or wherever, I STILL am returned to Page 1. Is that an option that can be fixed?

  • Judes

     ”The format is looking better, MJ.  The only real problem I have had is that I have been GRAMMIE KARI since your blog started.  The site kept saying “incorrect password” and wouldn’t let me log on”
    I was the same -& then suddenly it would start working & now it has stayed !

    Is the capacity for blockcomments quoting going to resume now that nested comments aren’t available? I’m definitely happy with flat comments but I had to use quotation marks this time as there was no button for blockcomments!

  • Anonymous

    justshootme:

    Also thank you for the pic, upsidedown.  But it is verrrry tiny, and I don’t know how to make it bigger. Lol. Hopeless

    LOL–no, I’m sure I’m the hopeless one with not knowing how to post a pic so that people can view it.

  • Anonymous

    Hi! Thanks for instruction. I’m an expert now :) 

  • Anonymous

    zzatrms: Go to edit your profile and under account, Date and time formatting, choose absolute

    Thanks so much, I could not find it with my iPad, but finally I looked and looked with my regular computer and there it is beside my user name on top of the comment box. I changed it already and it is a success. :)

  • Anonymous

    justshootme,

    Regarding edit profile, I just figured out that I can only see it using a regular computer. On the right side of your user name on top of the blank comment box. I could not see it using my iPad. It worked for me. Hope you can do it too.

  • Anonymous

    MJ, I ‘m getting confused, I HAVE to log in with my WordPress name “Oksana2000″, but if I want to comment I HAVE to use DISQUS name “Oksana4626″. If I want to edit my profile, my Disqus box is overshadowed by advertisement, and some functions do not work. I don’t know if it has something to do with my operating system, browser, or God knows what.
    I hope that all these issues will be resolved in the future.
    BTW, thnx for removal of nested comments system. Saves me a lot of time.

  • justshootme

    Thanks for trying to help me Ratna, but unfortunately it’s not there on either my Itouch or my Mac.  Maybe it’s just me. lol.  Maybe it will magically appear one day, or mj will change the default some how.  *fingers crossed*

  • http://twitter.com/whiskey401 Whiskey

    testing

← Older Comments