Site Fixes

Bit of a rougher start than expected. I will log off until tomorrow morning so if you have any comments to fix the site moving forward throw them in here to keep the open thread a little less cluttered.

Very excited that the cat will live on, completely exceeded my expectations so far.

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100 Responses to Site Fixes

  1. Zippster says:

    shouldn’t it be catallaxy files 3.0?


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  2. Rosie says:

    Well done Adam


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  3. Speedbox says:

    Thanks for everything. Full confidence going forward.


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  4. nb says:

    Joe has a dream:
    David Bowie – Saviour Machine
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-AMec7yr7c


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  5. The Sheriff says:

    Glad to join the continuation.


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  6. Warwick says:

    Well done Adam.


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  7. John Bayley says:

    <blockquoteVery excited that the cat will live on…

    Well, this only proves that cats DO have several lives, after all.


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  8. bespoke says:

    “Very excited that the cat will live on”

    Hope the old and some new authors come on board unless they are waiting for Dot’s site.


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  9. Bruce in WA says:

    Testing, testing. Is this thing turned on? (Screeeeech)


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  10. Adam D:
    Thanks for the work you’ve put in.
    No format buttons yet,
    The site goes to the start not the comment after commenting.
    Using Brave on Win 7 Home Premium – SP1 if that helps.


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  11. kae says:

    I’m still here.

    Hope everyone else makes it!


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  12. Muddy says:

    Folks, I think this is the thread for politely informing Adam of any glitches.

    The open fred is where the usual riff-raff are marking their territory on the new furniture.


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  13. Top Ender says:

    Hmmm….just posted on the Open Thread and it didn’t appear.


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  14. bespoke says:

    “The open fred is where the usual riff-raff are marking their territory on the new furniture.”

    Indeed, Roger needs to get a life. 😁


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  15. Covid ate my homework says:
  16. Covid ate my homework says:

    TEST
    TEST


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  17. Covid ate my homework says:

    Where do I send money?


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  18. Neuristor says:

    Looking good


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  19. Gab says:

    “so if you have any comments to fix the site moving forward ”

    Yes. permanently ban Steve from Brisbane.

    Trust me on this.


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  20. Katzenjammer says:

    I wonder if I’m here.


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  21. Captain Katzenjammer says:

    I wonder if I’m here.


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  22. Wally Dalí says:

    Test-
    Can I be the first to ask, how do I imbed a You Tube video so that it shows as an open window in the body of the thread? 😉


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  23. Harlequin Decline says:

    Adam,

    Well done, you’ve got the most important functions going and have given people a home. If you need any financial help just let me know.

    The suggestions I have is that at some stage, when you get your head above water –

    -Provide a function to allow photos to be posted to a comment. Probably would have to limit the photo data size or number per commentator (to avoid exceeding data limits) which might complicate the implementation of the facility.

    -Allow a like/dislike/confused/funny/sad tag per comment which would increment when commenters clicked on them. The Asiannow blog site( https://aseannow.com) is an example of what I am suggesting.


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  24. Chrism says:

    I’d like up votes for Cassie, Dot, the other Chris m and Salvatore and down votes for Monty & his other monikers please

    number of comment displayed so I can refer by number

    laugh symbol would also be great

    most voted positive three comments float at op of open thread …. ok I’ll stop now


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  25. pbw says:

    Chrism,

    On the old site, and on this sites once a link button is supplied, I always grab the link address of the date and time of the comment I’m responding to, start with the name of the poster, and make the name into a link.


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  26. pbw says:

    Speaking of links and such, I have always mourned the lack of reply threads, especially in the open threads. I assumed this was deliberate on the old site, to force everyone to at least skim over all of the comments. All very democratic, but it made catching up on huuuge open threads an onerous task. I had the next-to-last thread back there open for a couple of days trying to find out what was happening, if anything, to keep the Cat alive. So I whiled way many hours, only to find that there was a new open thread.

    An option to view posts in reply-threads would be loverly.


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  27. Rorschach says:

    Amazing work over a weekend Adam. Kudos and thank you.

    I expect that there will be a fair few constructive comment, gripes and whines . This is prob an agile endeavour.. so into the backlog, prioritise, and ask for help.

    I am sure that users will be happy to accept some downtime as you will tweak the platform.

    Again – thank you.

    [And Dot… you too. Brilliant work mate!]


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  28. min says:

    Thanks Adam I put my suggestion re remember me square on wrong thread.


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  29. pbw says:

    Hi Adam. Is this a WPX site? Do you have other sites with them?


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  30. Tom says:

    My major issues/hassles:
    1. Getting rid of 10-minute delay before comments appear — nothing else matter until that is fixed. It’s the big daddy of the new site’s problems.
    2. Restoring comment formatting buttons and the comment preview function.
    3. Restoring comment location tracking in the browser instead of defaulting to the top of the file/thread.
    4. Restoring the “remember me” tickable box beneath the “leave a reply” field so we don’t have to enter our details everytime we post.

    Thanks again for your labour of love, Adam.


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  31. Tom says:

    Aha! I notice this thread is set up with comments appearing instantly instead of with the 10-minute delay on the open thread.
    All the other hassles still apply.


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  32. Tom says:

    Spoke too soon: 10-minute delay applies here, too.


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  33. 132andBush says:

    For crying out loud, no like/dislike buttons! This is not Facebook or a popularity contest.

    No idea on what’s involved re the mechanics of it all but would probably add unnecessary complexity, which means more things to go wrong.


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  34. Rohan says:

    Adam, good job, but don’t forget about applying the SSL to the site and serving it from https, not http.


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  35. Tom says:

    For crying out loud, no like/dislike buttons! This is not Facebook or a popularity contest.

    Agree, 123andBush. Apart from anything, it would add complexity to the site architecture, would create just another thing that could go wrong and increase the technical maintenance burden.

    Simplicity must be king.


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  36. Katzenjammer says:

    An idea if it’s possible – allow editing of a comment for a couple of minutes after posting. Often immediately after clicking “submit”, with a quick re-reading, typos or auto-correct turns something into mush, or a “not” has been left out that makes a sentence mean the opposite of the intention. Editing would need to be limited to only a couple of minutes, so the comment couldn’t be altered after others may have responded to it.


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  37. Katzenjammer says:

    Just noticed – when I hit “submit” the comments page jumps to the top. The old cat remained at the last comment.


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  38. HD says:

    G’day Adam. Is there something I do or you can do that will get that little purple patterned graphic to appear on the top left of my comments ( whatever those are called) as per the old Cat?


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  39. HD says:

    Hmmm, interesting, both the comment of about 9:23am which did show and the latter of 9:26am that did not show, are not showing. Wonder how this one goes(?)


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  40. Tom says:

    Adam, I’ve just noticed the new Cat appears to be herding comments in groups of 50 — a setting designed for websites with much less traffic.

    Comments in groups of 250 worked well on the most recent old Cat.


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  41. Dr Faustus says:

    Hi Adam
    Top job, much appreciated.
    Please make sure we have a safe means to contribute financially.

    For the tech log.
    My first comment, which should eventually appear near the top of a new page, on refresh to see whether the comment published, sent me back to the bottom of the previous old page, where I was when writing the comment. No visible means to navigate forward.


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  42. Kneel says:

    “Please make sure we have a safe means to contribute financially.”

    And please be aware that PayPal is going woke and wants to “limit” people with a conservative viewpoint from sending/receiving money via them.


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  43. Bruce of Newcastle says:

    Adam & Dot,

    Sinc is a purist, and so did not carry advertising. I see no reason why the new version of the Cat should not do so.

    On my screens there’s a wide space on the left and the right where inobtrusive advertising could be posted. I don’t know how this would appear on people’s phones or pads, but on laptop and PC this would go well.

    I use Brave with its innate adblocker, but I unblock any site for which I would love for Goolag to fund the VRWC. (I especially like the Greenpeace ads on WUWT.)

    Likewise WP has a Paypal widget that can be set up.

    Thanks for your hard work. On site stuff I think the spam blocker may not like the .gmx domain of my email address (which is a working email address, via which you’re welcome to contact me on). Not totally sure yet: some comments go through, some seem to report to the spam folder on evidence of their behaviour.


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  44. Dianeh says:

    Thanks Adam & Dot for your efforts.

    I’ll be happy with whatever model you come up with.

    Cheers


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  45. Bruce of Newcastle says:

    Adam & Dot – Another for your list.

    The old Cat had a setting allowing 3 links before going to moderation. The current default setting seems to be one link.

    Not sure what the best number is. Three was a holy number on the Cat for an amazing length of time. I should buy a replica of Brother Maynard’s holy hand grenade.


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  46. Tom says:

    Lag time between comment post and comment appearance on the open thread is four minutes.
    Adam, when do you expect comments will appear immediately as they are posted?
    I imagine there are still a number of coding hurdles to overcome.


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  47. Tom says:

    Aha! That comment at 4.53pm appeared immediately it was posted. Progress!


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  48. Leadhead says:

    Thanks, Adam. Hope this works.


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  49. Nelson_Kidd-Players says:

    Improvement suggestions:

    The old Çat is unworkable at the National Library site, with broken links once you click a little way in. (I found that since there were a few threads I wished to catch up on.) At least one of us has old bookmarks that no longer work.

    I think, Adam, you took a scrape of the old site before it was disappeared. Perhaps it can be placed at https://catallaxy-files.com/b/* so that it is possible to navigate (and even use old links with minimal tweaking).

    Long live The Çat!


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  50. Nelson_Kidd-Players says:

    Also: the length of time a thread is open. Sinc had it at 8-9 days; my personal preference is around four days. That would also mean two open threads to cover a week, which could be set up, I imagine. If a mid-week thread opened at 3:30 AM, it would mean Tom’s toons take pride of place. 🙂


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  51. Nelson_Kidd-Players says:

    m0nty says:
    August 2, 2021 at 11:39 pm

    Adam needs to turn off the auto caching. I am guessing he is on a managed virtual server where caching is turned on by default. This is not the sort of site where that works.


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  52. Eddystone says:

    Nelson_Kidd-Players says:
    August 2, 2021 at 11:20 pm

    Let’s see (no preview, so this is blind):

    Bold: Insert text here
    Italics: Insert text here
    Quote:

    Insert text here

    Strikeout: Insert text here
    Subscript: Insert text here
    Superscript: Insert text here
    Code (Courier, good for monospacing): Insert text here
    Fancy hyperlink: This is a link to the new Çat


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  53. Eddystone says:

    Whoops.

    Ok, so it all works. Good.

    From the open thread


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  54. A Lurker says:

    I put a version of these comments on the open thread but I think they are more applicable here:

    #1. We need a simple way to quote, bold, italicise, strike-through, underline, and hot-link web addresses on our comments for those of us who aren’t conversant with the finer points of web coding.

    #2.Being able to edit what you have written after hitting the “post comment” button.

    #3. No sock puppets. You make a comment, you stand by that comment, don’t back it up with a sock, or multiple socks.

    #4. Perhaps create a separate thread dedicated to more ‘out there’ discussions that aren’t fit for the Open Thread or would derail the Open Thread. Somewhere for Bird and his ilk to sound off on. Perhaps call it ‘The Asylum’ or “The Colosseum”. 😉


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  55. Katzenjammer says:

    Wondering about formatting.
    italics bold

    blockquote


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  56. Rafe Champion says:

    Will the old guard of posting contributors be allowed on board?

    Asking for a friend.


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  57. Tom says:

    Will the old guard of posting contributors be allowed on board?

    I think the answer is yes, Rafe.

    There hasn’t be a coup by the ruling class (unlike in broader Australia). The old king (His Doomlordship) just abdicated because he was tired.

    Those remaking the Cat are lovers of liberty and freedom like you.


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  58. Viva says:

    Adam

    Please let me know if you received my message via this website contact facility


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  59. HD says:

    Hey Adam,
    what is going on with the formatting options? The options aren’t appearing above the comment box when (I am – but apparently not everybody) leaving a reply?


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  60. Adam D says:

    A heap to chew through on here.

    Changes are done slowly particularly new features. I generally don’t like to roll out vaccines that are more deadly then the disease 🙂

    Feedback is appreciated, I am working on things.


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  61. Nelson_Kidd-Players says:

    One that just became apparent with the new posts. The Recent posts list only shows five posts. I think we’re used to 20 or 30.

    Also the birdie points to what is presumably a defunct Çat 2.0 Twitter account. Perhaps Sinc can do a package deal with the keys to the Twitter account and the old URL? 🙂


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  62. Nelson_Kidd-Players says:

    Also, post preview below the dialogue box. Even if none of us seem to use it. 🙂


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  63. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare says:

    I always looked at the post pre-view as it was helpful in picking up mistakes. An edit function for a minute after posting might mean a delay is needed in the comment going , visible, so that people aren’t reply to a comment that has been changed.

    Maybe its best not to have an edit function. The glory of the Cat is the fast pace of replies. It carries that sense of a face-to-face interaction. We should learn to proof read and then cope with what we write. Good practice, I reckon, for all writers.


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  64. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare says:

    “Feedback is appreciated, I am working on things.”

    You are an absolute honey and we all love you.
    Is there somewhere we can send you some flowers. 😀


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  65. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare says:

    “Changes are done slowly particularly new features. I generally don’t like to roll out vaccines that are more deadly then the disease 🙂”

    lol. That is the voice of a true Doomlord. On the case, with caution.


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  66. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare says:

    Adam, The Mushroom Whisperer (Bird) is in here again spreading outright anti-Semitism of the sort that could bring the site down.

    Two people have left already for the night (Cassie and Delta) because of it; others will too unless this is addressed as an issue on this Catallaxy site too. It was an issue for Sinc and he handled it. Can you handle this too? If not, this site will die.


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  67. a reader says:

    Please clean up the bird strike


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  68. Epicurious says:

    Adam, many thanks for your efforts. Can you advise how an author can offer up a post? I am sure many of us have undertaken lots of research on many of the topics discussed herein and would love to write an ‘article’ but how do we offer it up to the ‘editor”?


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  69. Epicurious says:

    OK, I give up, who is the bird?


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  70. Muddy says:

    Bringing attention to undesirable commenters might be better channeled via the ‘Contact’ feature? If Adam receives multiple notifications with similar subject lines, they might make it higher on the priority list.

    Rafe.
    Yes, please.

    Epicurious.
    At the moment, the only means of submitting a potential guest post is via the ‘Contact the Cat’ function in the upper right under ‘Pages.’ You can actually fit a fair amount of text into the dialogue box, along with instructions. Adam will contact you if he needs more info or clarification.

    I, and I’m sure many others, would be keen to read a greater variety of posts.


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  71. Rabz says:

    Adam – looks like the open thread has carked it.


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  72. Tom says:

    Great to see your old avatar again, Rabz.

    PS: the open thread hasn’t carked it; it’s just been invaded by all the old banned trolls because no-one is in charge.


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  73. Rabz says:

    Thanks, Tom – I made the observation after trying repeatedly to refresh after I’d posted a comment, to seemingly no avail.

    Might make sense to open a new one though, just in case.


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  74. Lee says:

    Delighted the Cat lives!


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  75. Mullumhillbilly says:

    Adding my voice to the chorus of thanks AdamD.


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  76. upwork upwork says:

    This is comment testing.


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  77. kaysee says:

    Some suggestions when time permits:
    1/ Increase the comments from 100 per page to 250.

    2/ There have been suggestions to include a Like button.
    Please, No. This works on some forums but not here.

    3/ Reply button
    Replies to comments take place soon after the comment is posted but also much later in the day, or even days later. The commenter and others will not see the replies posted later because the forum has moved on by several comments or even pages.

    4/ Identicons from the previous Cat
    Is it possible to get the same Identicons from Cat2 moved over to Cat3?
    I do not want to create a Gravatar and the identicons make it easier to identify the commenters.

    5/ Is it possible to include an Ignore/Block option?
    Most of us scroll past some comments. Using that option, we could select the names of those we scroll past and those comments would be blocked out. Would be especially helpful for those who are only able to spend limited time here.


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  78. Tom says:

    Adam,

    Simply adding a tickable box below the “Leave a comment” field to remember a commenter’s details is now the most urgent of the fixes required, in my estimation.


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