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Member Diaries Open Thread

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  December 14th, 2008 at 11:40 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

In case you didn’t notice, the Member Diaries box is back to its full 40 entries. While it was a good thing, in a sense, that yesterday the box went all the way to 11(!), I think 40 is better. I hope you agree.

Open Thread.

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COMMENTS

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  • NightTwister

    I even noticed my blog that I wrote a couple of days ago is back (though near the bottom).

    This will help people’s efforts stay around long enough to be noticed. I think you should go ahead & just take the day off :-)

  • johninca

    …if old Blago gives his secrets away.

    I’m hoping at least that Obama will have to make one of those “the notion that somehow…” speeches. Those are always fun.

  • bk

    The tabbing drives me nuts. When I tab from the title on a reply I expect to get to “your thoughts” but they’re in reverse order. (Reader tip: Shift-Tab does the trick or, if you’re a hard-headed creature of habit like me and hit Tab first, then Shift-Tab twice.)

    On the profile page where we see our comments listed, could there be more contrast like on the tracker page of reply counts? For someone like me who posts a fair number of replies but not a lot of diaries, in addition to using tracker as kind of my normal starting point, I also like to go to the list of my replies and see if I’ve gotten replies to any of them. Most are usually 0, but I try to make a mental note of ones that are not.

    Is there any sort of diary summary kind of along those same lines? It would be nice instead of seeing the longer version of diaries to see a bulleted list with a list of number of comments – something like that. Same story – would be nice to be able to quickly find ones that have new replies in case I hadn’t checked in a while and so will miss it on the tracker list.

  • Finrod

    I’m posting my belated rest of NFL week 15 picks here:

    At;lanta
    Washington
    Seattle
    Miami
    NY Jets
    Indianapolis
    San Diego
    Green Bay
    Tennessee
    Arizona
    Carolina
    Pittsburgh
    New England
    NY Giants
    Philadelphia

  • redneck_hippie

    the orange from the comment box.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    I saw the complaints in the thread about Martin’s proposal, and it was easy enough, so… boom.

    Caleb picked the color though.

  • Wubbies World

    Is there a possibility that something like Martin’s 4.0 design might get implemented?

    I must admit I really liked it a lot.

    The only thing I would change is for a chat room function, but I know that isn’t going to happen. That is just me dreaming.

    Niel, I cannot thank you enough for the work you do here.

  • rbdwiggins

    that’d be Reeeaaallllllyyy Cool!

  • Wubbies World

    I seriously wonder if those involved in this scandal were Republicans, if the news coverage would be different?

    Yes, that is a rhetorical question. We all know the answer to that one. The news coverage would be exactly like the news coverage we got on Sarah Palin during the election.

    I wonder if there is a way we can get the media to actually mention that people are thinking that? I am leaving it in a few comment sections on newspapers, but something tells me it won’t make it to a level where it gets actually mentioned in the reporting.

    I really wish it would!

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    That much I can say with certainty.

    Everything just takes time though.

  • bs

    and that was extending the list of reader comments. Between that and the extended list of Member Diaries, you have made significant improvement to the ability to interact. Very nice.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    .

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    you really need to see more of the classics…

  • Alberta

    Id be shocked if we didnt make it to the Superbowl.

  • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

    their next opponants, the mighty 12 win Titans, just got knocked off by my lowly Texans. It was beautiful.

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    should be the theme… for obvious reasons

  • rbdwiggins

    Or will it be integrated too?

    Not that I don’t really appreciate being able to access RS 1 and 2 without having to log out. Although, that doesn’t work at present.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    .,

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    continued from this (click here) suggestion/discussion…

    the “Get More” theme…. How ’bout

    ———————————————–

    GET LOCAL
    [pick State pull-down]

    GET PERSONAL
    [pick RS Diarist pull-down] limit to peeps with at least 5? Diaries (to avoid Trolls)

    GET SPECIFIC
    [pic RS Category name]

    ————————————————-

    Dynamic list (alpha) creation of the drop-down-list-names only on a weekly (Sunday maint) basis to keep overhead low OR user input box to make user input a value cuz lists could get long (they should have a clue who/what they are looking for to use the thing)… Since the Pull-Down allows user to hit a Letter to jump to items that start with that letter users can bounce close to what they are looking for then scroll to find specific

    RS Diarists or RS Members…. should be limited to “active” (if determinable by Profile record, you don’t want to bother to list any banned/barred user) and then user transferred to Members “My Diary” page

    Again, thanks for just the opportunity to have input into making the site meaningful and useful to all Users (new and old, techie and non, etc…) I’ve had to train new-users before, so I know how easy it is for us IT folks to forget how difficult it can be for others.

  • NightTwister

    Redirect Loop

    Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.

    It happens when I click on the latest member diary by “voteforamerica”

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    Neil has elsewhere acknowledged that many desire this former function… The trouble is the amount of overhead to any site that tracks that activity (cross-links of every user to/from every Diary) has to be kept/maintained… So “Martin” had suggested an alternative which I expounded upon (you can see that discussion via this link) that does NOT require that overhead that Neil is going to consider.

    Basically, it would possibly provide a “RECENT” Flag (rather than “NEW”) to let you know what is in any/all Diaries since your Log-in (we’ll have to be more observant in logging out and back in at later dates/times for it to be useful for ourselves, rather than leaving a RS window open all the time). This is a simple Date/Time comparison of Posts versus your last Log-out and won’t be a drag on the system.

    Neil has already stated it will be considered… It will certainly be down the list of what the Powers-that-be here at the site may already have on the Changes-to-be-implemented list… but it is in consideration! And I, for one, am grateful!

  • bk

     

  • mbecker908

    When I click on the Minnesota Senate Recount: 100% Precincts Reporting by voteforamerica link, I get a “Redirect Error” in Firefox.

  • Kowalski

    Here it is in a nutshell:

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    I’ve clicked the links and they are going nowhere in regard to everything around the user…. I’m guessing though that the user and his diaries may have been deleted and therefore destinations no longer exist.

  • Alberta

    I think, IMHO, the rec list can sometimes get a little stale.
    I think if ‘recommend this’ presses should come with a life limit.
    This would ensure that a recommended diary has to stay on the list via new pushes.

    Im not quite sure how it works now, but here is how it would work with the life limit. It works as normal, with ‘recommend this’ button pushes, but your button push only stays alive for X amount of time. On top of that, you would be limited to only one ‘recommend this’ button push (that registers :P ). I think this would help eliminate some of the diary stickiness that occurs, I think, with the rec list.

    This would also allow a broader view to be heard, to mix metaphors. As diaries go off the list new diaries would cycle in. Instead of having to have an X number of recs to get on the list, it would be based on highest number of recs at that given time.Now sometimes a diary is particularly good and the directors may want it to stay, but they can do that already.

    Let me expand on that. The rec list is currently 9 deep. So you have X number, in this case 9, of slots on your rec list. These X number of slots would be based on highest number of rec votes, in this case the top 9 diaries. As I stated before, your rec vote only lasts for so long (X number of days or hours or whatever), so the list would be the top X number of top vote receiving diaries at that given time period. You would also limit people to one rec per diary (even after it has died, so you cant keep ‘rec’ing a diary) so as to ensure only fresh recs count towards keeping a diary up.

    This would result in more rotation of new diaries into the rec list, as the new rules would force it. Also, the directors would be able to keep particularly good ones up at their discretion.

    Thoughts?

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    I just found the bug, though. Couldn’t find it yesterday after looking very hard. This morning though, shortly after my first alarm went off and I turned it off in favor of the ‘sleep in’ alarm, I figured it out.

    Fixed for voteamerica right now, fix for others in progres.

  • AceInTX

    so it changes the font colors and we know what’s new when you revisit a thread…or does that require the same overhead?

  • AceInTX

    nt

    *

  • AceInTX

    Only to wake up first thing the next morning with the answer right at your fingertips?

    I can tell you it’s happened to me hundreds of times in the Real Estate business and it’s frustrating because you can just go to bed in the middle of the day to find a solution…Your Boss/Clients would never buy the sleeping to find a solution as an excuse.

    :>)

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    as the same (actually, more the way you’re asking for additional function above the “NEW” Flag) tracking of users/diaries would be required to make the determinations of Flag, status, or whatever, display is to be made.

    The idea of a RECENT simply compares a variable of your last Log-out against each comments post date/time as the comment is displayed – a fairly simple process, that still requires more overhead then simply putting up the Diary and All comments with no “computations”

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    ShareThis site delays when downloads of html or pic files are coming from their server.

  • zuiko

    The performance is awesome… I’m not sure I have ever seen RS perform as well as it does now.

    One thing I’ve noticed is that there are a bunch of comments missing from this story. Not sure if it’s because there are so many comments there or something else.

  • AceInTX

    make user’s computers the tracker…in other words…maybe an add on that we put in that keeps track of the threads we participate in and tracks the font changes or whatever the method of distinguishing between read and unread posts?

    Like I say I’m not sure what’s possible so I’m throwing mud at the wall…but I’d even by the add on if it exists/could be developed. The saved time re-reading old posts would be worth the time saved and make me more productive in non Red State endeavors.

    :>)

  • AceInTX

    ie. making my computer download the text in the threads I am tracking with the new posts loading to my computer in the base text color and the old content in an off color?

  • zuiko

    It’s not as if you have to store which comments were seen… it can all be done by timestamp. Update the timestamp when you request the page. Show new on anything that was posted after your last timestamp. I’m not sure the logout thing would be useful enough to make it worth the work.

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    Yes, it can be done…. However, I spent a few hours looking about and all I have found are addons/plugins for those RUNNING the blog. No-one, to date that I have found, has taken the initiative to write such a program that would allow us (via our PC) to track our blog travels and perform that function. It would be VERY nice if someone had (or would), as it would help people across any/all blogs they visit.

  • AceInTX

    test

  • AceInTX

    I have it running right now…it si supposed to show me new posts…can you post real quick so I can see if it notifies me of the new post?

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    NEW – you have to track “timestamp” info for each and every one of THOUSANDS of users as they come/go to/from each and every one of THOUSANDS of Diaries. The records have to be checked for each Diary entered if the User (whether Diary or User tracking strategy) had visited before or not (set date or nil), mark the users visit (so last-visit info can be obtained next time in), then compare timestamps… Not much overhead?

    RECENT – The thousands of users just have to have a “last-visit” “timestamp” in their Profile record which is then read in once at log-in and then compared against as each Diary page is loaded for simple comparison against the Diary Comments “created time-stamp” to determine placing the RECENT indicator pic/text next to the date/time of the Comment… Much, much, much, much, less overhead!

    It is NOT perfect in the least… it just provides some help… Those who visit on a regular basis and revisit a Diary this will provide some aid with minimal overhead on RedState.

    NEW plug-ins exist, but again have the overhead concern. RECENT would have to be coded by someone at/for RS.

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    from what I read on their site it will help you know when replies come to posts you make, but not provide any tracking of whether ANY/ALL Comments are NEW since your last visit… as we’ve been discussing….

    I can certainly see the value in this though also…

    Let us know what you think… if it let’s you know I respond to your comment and how fast…

  • AceInTX

    One thing I’m finding though is that you can pull threads from Redstate to Google Reader and then feed them to a news reader…

    I’m using Feedly which is Firefoxe’s RSS News feed reader so now if I comment in a thread it pulls them into the reader… think it will pull the hole post and thread but I’m not sure yeat…will let you know

  • AceInTX

    maybe someone else can find a good use for it but it’s no help to me

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    If you need me to add some timestamp data in html comments, just let me know.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Like possibly a javascript embedded in the page.

  • gensec

    … and desperately needed too.

    It would be nice for New comment tags to be login specific, so if you call up a diary from a different computer you still see what comments are New since you last looked. But if keeping all that information on the server is too much, it wold still be great to have it saved at the individual computer level.

    There could be a cookie with a timestamp for the last visit to the page, and javascript to write “New!” if a comment’s time is later than the previous timestamp. That would write a lot of cookies for someone who browses a lot of diaries, so they should have a short expiration date like less than a week. I suspect you already thought of that, but mention it just in case you didn’t.

    It’s great now how easy it is to see if there are respondes to your comments. Hopefully something like this will solve the remaining problem where you’re following a diary with a ton of comments, and are interested in new ones that aren’t replies to your own.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    I’m not saying I’m going to go add new comments tracking right away.

    I’m offering to add comment date information so someone else can write a script for GreaseKit or GreaseMonkey to then do new comments tracking. :-)

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    _

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    think of them as secret admirers… and a recognition that someone has taken notice of the work…

    I have to defer to Neil whether it is ok to say where/how those can be seen…

    When you create a Diary, scroll down and you’ll see a “allow Ping-backs” option that the box is checked by default… you can turn that off…

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    __

  • zuiko

    Comments that were there and displaying, but disappeared. They show up as recent comments and in the profile page, but are not anywhere on the page, so if you go to the link you just end up at the top of the story. I noticed I had a comment or two that was on the page but disappeared.

  • zuiko

    Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but you can create comments with no subject. Not sure if that is intentional or not, but there is nothing to click on in recent comments when people do this.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    ____

  • $peciallist

    nf

  • $peciallist

    just because everyone emails me bitxxing about not getting an Automatic REC is no need to rush…it doesnt bother me…

  • gensec

    That’s another great idea. I think the dates already on the comments now (or did you just add them?) are enough for a Greasemonkey script to work with, if it had a way of knowing when was the last time the user was at the page. That’s got to be somewhere in the browser’s history, but I have no idea how to get to it.

    Hey, that’s why I just offer helpful advice ;-)