Blog has new commenting feature

Ooh, change! Sort of scary. Especially when I just made the change to this here Church of the Churchless blog.

Even though it isn't holy (except to me), any fiddling around with blog features, particuarly beta ones still in testing, is a bit anxiety-producing.

So far, the new commenting feature seems to be working fine. That's based on one comment I just left to the previous Krishnamurti post.

Let me know, via the email link to the left, if you encounter problems. I'm as new to this as you are, just about, but will do my best to answer questions.

For the moment I haven't activated the "show photo" option for people with a profile. I'm not sure if I want to see a photo of myself next to every comment I post, unless I upload a more youthful image.

[Update: changed my mind...it's activated. Decided that I'd enjoy seeing photos of commenters. Or whatever other image they wanted to associate with their persona.]

I don't believe you have to sign up for a profile in order to leave a comment. There are advantages to having a profile, though, as described in this FAQ, and itemized in the image above that I grabbed from the profile sign-up page (click to enlarge).

So I encourage you to sign up for one (if I decide to turn on the photo feature, you'll be all set to see yourself next to every comment you write).

I've deactivated the requirement to enter those anti-spam "CAPCHA" letters/numbers, so leaving a comment should be easier now.

A primary reason why I wanted to move to this new commenting feature is that threaded comments are possible with it. Meaning, you can leave a comment under another comment, which makes it easier to follow a conversation on a topic.

Since comment conversations sometimes take unpredictable and curious turns, far away from the original content of the post, this is a good thing.

Comments

[Rain]

Sounds interesting and I always wonder about new changes with the same reservations. I have liked something blogger allows now called blog list that gives the most recently updated blogs priority in the blog roll as well as their topics. So far I have yet to see a drwaback but I always wonder...

[Obed]

I choose as a picture the ouroboros.For me it is a symbol
of the endless destruction and creation that goes on in
our Universe and also in myself.The black and white lines
illustrate the yin and yang nature of existence-the paradoxical,
dichotomous and koan like nature of life.

All the best
Obed

[The Rambling Taoist]

Hmm. This comment system doesn't seem THAT much different than the old one.

[Brian Hines]

Hot off the TypePad blog, today they posted tips about setting up a TypePad Connect profile. Good timing, given that I just switched over to TypePad Connect last night. For those wondering what a profile is all about, see:
http://everything.typepad.com/blog/2009/02/customizing-your-typepad-profile-.html

[Turnertoons]

Okay Brian, I like this. The little picture is nice.

[Tucker]

the alternate thread via the reply link is a very good addition especially for those of us who read more and post less.

[Robert Paul Howard]

Dear Brian,

Since I do not choose to establish a TypePad profile, I am apparently foreclosed from seeing the newly written comment by "[email protected]" on your essay "Another RSSB initiate bites the dust" (11/27/07).

I offer my suggestion that a few of us might like to have that sort of forbidance be eliminated. (And I hope that "want" is not like your fantasy about Obama.)

Robert Paul Howard

[Brian Hines]

Robert, I'm pretty sure that signing up for a profile, or not, doesn't affect someone's ability to see comments. My wife doesn't have a profile. I just fired up her laptop and the comment you referred to shows up fine.

Have you clicked on the "more comments..." link several times to get to the last comment on that post, which at the moment is arjun's? Otherwise you'll be left on the page with the first 50 comments.

Currently TypePad doesn't have a way of jumping to the last page of comments directly. Numerous bloggers, including me, have asked for this feature. Hopefully it will be implemented one of these days.

[Roger]

Brian,

I'm having the same issue, as Robert, not able to see last comment, even with clicking several times, the "more comments" link.

Thanks for any help,
Roger

[Brian Hines]

Hmmmm. What is the last comment that you see? (date and name of commenter) Have you tried reloading the page? I'm wondering if somehow your web browser is showing you an out-of-date version of the post.

That said, I'm noticing that the sidebar isn't showing up sometimes when I open up this blog. It takes several refreshes to get it to appear. So I'll ask TypePad support about these problems.

[Robert Paul Howard]

Dear Brian,

It has now worked for me. Thank you.

Robert Paul Howard

[tAo]

BRIAN,

YOUR BLOG NOW HAS SOME SERIOUS TECHINCAL ISSUES - aka PROBLEMS.

IT ALL STARTED WHEN YOU OPTED FOR "CHANGE". AND I AM NOT JOKING. FOR SEVERAL DAYS NOW I HAVE TRIED EVERY POSSIBLE WAY I CAN TO GET IT TO FUNCTION RIGHT... BUT NO DICE. THERE IS SOMETHING DEFINITELY WRONG.

HERE ARE THE THINGS THAT I NOTICE FROM MY END:

1. Your ususal current article is not at the top anymore. Neither are the comments. Both are way the hell down at the very very bottom of the page underneath all of your side-bar menu of articles, comments, links, etc.

2. Clicking on a commenters name to get to that comment does not work. It simply takes you to the top of the page of that particular article.

3. Then, in order to try to locate any comments, I have to scroll way far down to the very bottom... only to find that the very oldest (previous) comments - which in many cases are months or several years old. Even clicking on the "more comments" link/button does NOTHING at all. It does not take me forward to any more more recent comments. It says "more comments" or something like that, but the link does not work. So there is NO way at all to access or read the newest most recent comments... unless of course there are still only just a few there so as not to fill up a whole page yet. If there is any more than one page of comments, then there is NO way to access those later or more recent comments.

4. There was one more thing that is not working right, but I can't remember it now. I don't want to go searching for it for fear of losing this. So I will post it later when I can remember what it is.

In conclusion, I think trying to "change" and upgrade things have caused this mess. If I were you, I would return things back to the old format which has worked very well for so long. These current problems make it way too difficult to read or post any comments, and that is too annoying and also distracting. I myself have given up in utter frustration several times a day already... because I simply could not access and read the comments. All I can do is read your article... and that only if I scroll all the way down to the very very bottom past all the side-bar menu links.

If I were you, I'd dump the supposedly groovy new format, and go back to the old standard 'tried and true'.

[tucson]

I have had similar problems as tAo with the new format. I prefer the old.

[Brian Hines]

OK, I've come to feel also that the new commenting feature isn't ready for prime time. I'm leaning toward undoing it and going back to the old system. This probably will involve copying comments made since the changeover, as I don't believe those comments would automatically carry over.

In case they don't, I'll copy them before I do the reversion, then (hopefully) reinstall them.

I had good intentions -- waited for several months after this beta release was made, hoping that initial glitches would have been resolved. Some bloggers have had success with the new system. My blogs took a long time to be moved to the new TypePad platform, which is a prerequisite for the new comment feature, TypePad Connect.

That apparently was due to the large number of posts and comments I have. It may be that the comment system is being thrown off track by this. But that's still no excuse. I've already complained to TypePad about the glitches, and will do more griping soon.

[Update: the reversion deed is done. It looks like comments have carried over, but I have them copied just in case. So much for the TypePad Connect experiment; live and learn... what else can we do?]