Hi, Mister Campaign Fundraiser Technician?
Yes, you. I don’t care if you work in a campaign, or just sell your services to campaigns. I’m talking to you.
We at RedState.com do enjoy asking our readers to give money to candidates. When a good Republican needs help, we want to find that help. And one thing you guys have already figured out is that nifty website widgets draw attention and can fire up donors.
So please, when you make those widgets, design them to be flexible. Help us help you by making them resizeable, or at least available in a variety of sizes. Don’t make them a javascript which embeds unknown HTML and runs unknown code on our site, possibly conflicting with other code or even our ads, forcing us to take down the widget and helping nobody.
A Flash widget is best. Make it as easy on us to embed your widgets as Youtube makes it to embed their videos. With those, we can paste in the code, change the size if we want, and ship it. The easier and more reliable that process is, and the more compatible your widget is, the more likely it is we’ll be able to drive money to your candidate or client.
And I’m sure it’s not just us who has these problems. So by helping us, you’ll help others make your widgets work, too.
Thank you.
Suddenly, last Summer again...not.
blooch Wednesday, July 1st at 8:51PM EDT (link)I’m as relieved as you are irritated, Neil. Thanks for the “500 error” explanation;)
“I have to admit that Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a smart man. He was, in many ways, a psychologist.”–drealoth
No, I think that was just very high traffic spikes
Neil Stevens Wednesday, July 1st at 8:57PM EDT (link)When the Sanford thing hit, bam.
When the Franken thing hit, bam.
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Oh...well, that's a good problem to have, I guess.
blooch Wednesday, July 1st at 9:10PM EDT (link)It does seem like “Recent Comments” has been cycling like a slot machine wheel recently.
“I have to admit that Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a smart man. He was, in many ways, a psychologist.”–drealoth
Neil, could that have caused this problem I've noticed
TNJim Wednesday, July 1st at 9:35PM EDT (link)When I clicked on some diary headlines after the page loaded for that diary some of the more recent comments I saw in the comments table on the previous page were missing. In other words, a comment title on the previous page that was about 3rd or 4th from the top would be at the top on the new page, with the 3 or 4 newer ones missing. Sometimes a reload would bring them back, sometimes not. The problem would usually resolve itself over a short period of time
“No. You can’t” -Moe Lane
Neil, can you give some pointers to both good and bad widgets?
Brian Hibbert Wednesday, July 1st at 10:34PM EDT (link)It might help to have some examples….
Socialism doesn’t work. It looks nice on paper, but it’s been tried and it’s failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.
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I can only repeat what I said in the piece
Neil Stevens Wednesday, July 1st at 11:33PM EDT (link)Give me something that’s a Flash embed into the site, like a Youtube video. Ideally with the size adj ustment that Youtube embeds have.
I’m told that iContribute does widgets like this.
A black box <script> embed is no good to us. Typically not configurable and if it conflicts with our other scripts we have to remove it. Or if it breaks our layout we have to remove it, too.
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There Is No Crisis
Oh and I won't point to a specific bad one...
Neil Stevens Wednesday, July 1st at 11:33PM EDT (link)…because I don’t want to single out anybody on our side
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Fair enough. We don't want to harm good candidates.
Brian Hibbert Thursday, July 2nd at 7:40AM EDT (link)It’s just sometimes helpful to have both good and bad examples. Thanks for the pointer to the good widget. I don’t know if I’ll be working on any campaign web sites, but if I do, I’ll use something like that one.
I hope you at least emailed the site administrators for the bad widgets.
Socialism doesn’t work. It looks nice on paper, but it’s been tried and it’s failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.
Join the RedState Strike Force
This article's getting emailed around (nt)
Neil Stevens Thursday, July 2nd at 11:27AM EDT (link)Want to run for conservatives? Give.
There Is No Crisis
5!
Brian Simpson Wednesday, July 1st at 10:58PM EDT (link)Nothing worse than loading up my favorite website only to have the page not load properly because of some poorly written code by an outside source.
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Important principles may and must be inflexible. ~ Abraham Lincoln
I miss Slatecard.
George Claghorn Wednesday, July 1st at 11:35PM EDT (link)Slatecard had a pretty nice widget setup that worked well. They’ve taken the site down, but it’s supposed to be back up sometime this summer.
“Victory comes, though we know not when. We must be happy warriors until the end.
For those of you who struggle with what goes on, who see retreat and capitulation, and who feel like not just your political opponents, but those who hold dear all those things you hold as blasphemous — be cheerful. Be happy. Victory is already yours.
You must just have the courage to not get discouraged and have the will to fight on.” – Erick Erickson at RightOnline
Though it would be nice...
George Claghorn Wednesday, July 1st at 11:36PM EDT (link)…if Slatecard would let you embed a widget for an individual candidate.
“Victory comes, though we know not when. We must be happy warriors until the end.
For those of you who struggle with what goes on, who see retreat and capitulation, and who feel like not just your political opponents, but those who hold dear all those things you hold as blasphemous — be cheerful. Be happy. Victory is already yours.
You must just have the courage to not get discouraged and have the will to fight on.” – Erick Erickson at RightOnline
Now I know why RS is broken so often
peg_c Thursday, July 2nd at 7:47AM EDT (link)My time is short and some days I have to give up.
I hope this gets fixed…
Government cannot be the solution when government is the problem.
Oops, I meant :-(
peg_c Thursday, July 2nd at 7:47AM EDT (link)n/t
Government cannot be the solution when government is the problem.
You rock, Neil!
asleep06 Thursday, July 2nd at 3:02PM EDT (link)Thanks for working the infrastructure.
Small is beautiful.
5 asleep06
mom2oneson Thursday, July 2nd at 3:15PM EDT (link)Everyone give Neil lots of big hugs in Atlanta!!!!
And can I say something?
Neil Stevens Thursday, July 2nd at 9:50PM EDT (link)The fact that we’ve had a mere two bursts of 500s lately, and that’s enough to get people to be commenting about all these problems, I take that as a good sign.
It means the site’s running so well you guys have higher expectations now. We’ve raised the bar.
Want to run for conservatives? Give.
There Is No Crisis