Care to Comment?

You have probably noticed that there have been some changes to the way this blog operates, specifically when leaving comments.

The reason for this is long and complicated. The short version is that we are fiddling about with some options and as a result the blog may be in a state of flux until we settle down. However, you will need to sign up to Typepad to leave comments. It's free. Stop worrying.

Anyway, if you are interested, I will outline some of the changes in more detail after the jump...

The main reason for the switch is that a few days ago Typepad, the platform on which this blog is published, moved to a new way of doing things. The main upshot of this is that we can now only show a maximum of 50 comments per post. Normally, this is fine but now and again we hit the 100s (The 11th Doctor thread is currently in the 90s). The result of this is that you now have to break comments into chunks.

Given that we had to to this I thought it would be nice break the blog into 15-comment chunks - this could be raised to a maximum of 50 - but I thought it would keep loading times and page length down. This is open for debate.

You may also have noticed that the comments are now in reverse order (with the newest comment first). We could revert back to the old method but it means you have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the thead to see the last comment. If the last comment is post 51 and you have a maximum of 50 comments then you have to scroll to bottom and click a link to take you to another page and then you find the comment. This seems like a long way round to me. But again, it's open to discussion. I will change it later today so you can try it ot and then we can make a decision on what we prefer.

I realise there are some niggles to overcome. My main bugbear is that if you decide to reply to a specific thread post you are deposited at the bottom of the page, even though the comment box isn't! However, this system is in its earliest days. Even the official Typepad Comments thread throws up the same problems:

http://everything.typepad.com/blog/2008/12/typepad-connect-update.html

Try do the same thing there - same problem. Also, that's what it would look like in reverse order. Any better?

UPDATE: we are now back to using 'oldest to newest comments' and there are now 25 comments per page...

The most contentious issue is probably the sign-up process if you wish to leave a comment.

We have done this for many, many reasons:

1) We don't want to make leaving comments that easy. We don't want trolls dropping in comments with little or no recall (fake emails etc). And even if the process takes seconds (logging in if you aren't already) it might stop three word replies to posts that drive some of us insane.

2) We don't want any spam, and even though I'm hitting 40 I don't need any viagra just yet (the alternative is the captcha thing, and no one liked filling those forms in)

3) It's easier for us to ban trouble makers. And we're power mad. Sure, they could always go to the trouble of setting up another TP account but it's more time consuming than changing an IP address

4) Setting up profiles allows "the community" to use avatars. Which I like. I don't see them as "childish" at all, especially if you use your own photo. Again, this can be switched off and I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this.

So, that's why we did it. And that part will most likely stay unchanged.

Other advantages to the switch are:

• RSS feeds for conversations so you can keep up with them easier
• The ability to reply to specific comments (there's a threaded conversation layout option but that looks even harder to navigate but we'll give it a spin soon enough - probably on this very thread so we can test stuff out)
• The ability to reply to threads directly via email without coming to the blog (but there is an issue with text formatting properly that I need to look into)
• Better feed integration (which I am still fiddling with)
• Automatic url links (well, that's what is supposed to have but it's buggy at the moment)
• The ability for posters to edit their own posts (or delete them). No more posts saying "sorry for the typo!" now! However, please note that this option lasts only temporarily - it's good for catching errors in the first few minutes after posting...

As you can see, this is still an ongoing process and we'd love to hear your feedback. And if things look whacky for a while please post a comment here but try to keep it constructive, cheers.

When things settle down expect an email about the future direction of both this blog and the lanch of a sister blog, On the Sofa (that we've been threatening for over a year now...)

Cheers