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On commenting at pw

I’ve held out nearly forever from adding a registration requirement to the commenting here, mostly for two reasons: 1) I didn’t want to inconvenience those of you who’ve been here with me for so long; and 2) I didn’t want to dissuade new commentators who wished to post a drive-by comment.

After nearly 9 years, though, I think it time to make a change. Over the last several months, I’ve added probably 40-50 IP bans to my Word Press account; I’ve also taken to banning email addresses — 30+ in the last 3 weeks. All of this was done to stop the onslaught of a single troll, who earlier this weekend decided to post as me and announce that my son has bone cancer. As all the regulars here know (and have been able to see), this particular troll — who has gone through at least 40 identities and 100 IP addresses to continue posting here — simply won’t stop, no matter what I do, so long as I keep the site’s commenting open as I long have.

So it is time to break down and make the change. What many of you can’t see is how much time I have to spend combing through every comment, making sure that each comment by you is actually by you. Then there is the collecting of the offending IPs (s/he uses and anonymizer); the collecting of the ever new email addresses (I’m convinced the comments being eaten of late is the result of a letter combination I banned that was being used as an email address); and the constant time spent in the WordPress system trying to get these bans to function.

I simply can’t do it any more. And so I apologize.

What I’d like to know from you all, though, is what you’d like to see me do. I could go right through WordPress and add a registration requirement. Once your email is registered and you verify the account, you won’t have to do anything differently than you already do when commenting, I don’t think. Or I could go with some outside commenting platform. I’m just not very familiar with many of them or how they work.

Let me know what you think. And again, I apologize for the inconvenience. I’ve long thought I had some of the best commentators in the blogosphere here, but over the years many have been chased off either by the vile persistence of certain trolls, or else by my reactions to the trolling.

This new arrangement might take away some pleasures from those of you who live to whack the “dissenters”; but it will also likely keep me from being the subject of criminal investigations for my ultra-violence, which to date has resulted in 27 arrests and 14 convictions no problems in the real world. Imagine!

324 Replies to “On commenting at pw”

  1. Spiny Norman says:

    Comment registration doesn’t bother me in the least.

    2) I didn’t want to dissuade new commentators who wished to post a drive-by comment.

    Yeah, that’s truly unfortunate, but the vile little OCD trolls are ruining it for everyone: they contribute nothing but the internet equivalent of graffiti tagging.

  2. Carin says:

    I don’t have any advice on which to use, Jeff. WordPress has a cool commenting thingy. Plus – AVATARS. Bonus.

  3. Darleen says:

    My 2 cents — go with the WordPress. The Discuss thingie at Stacy’s is a pain.

  4. I Callahan says:

    Jeff,

    I don’t blame you for this, but that’s usually how it works though – one asshole has to ruin it for everyone.

    I have no problem with registering under any method you see fit. Count me as a loyal reader.

    TV

  5. Ric Locke says:

    Speaking as a commenter: Disqus or one of the other cross-blog commenting systems makes it easy. Log in once somewhere in the blogosphere, and find yourself logged in across many blogs.

    I don’t know how that works from the blogger’s end. ISTM that if some objectionable person puts an oar in, it might be more difficult to ban them from just the one blog; it’s across the ‘sphere or nothing. If that objection is not in fact the case, a cross-blog comment system would be what I’d recommend, and from a commenter’s point of view Disqus is the easiest that I, personally, encounter with any regularity.

    OTOH, might it not be the least intrusive upon your resources to simply tick the WordPress checkbox? Again, I don’t know what the consequent burden on you would be. It works for HotAir and several others, but all of those that I know of also have staff to keep the wheels turning out of sight.

    In the end, yes, unfortunately it’s time for PW to implement some form of registration. Pick the one that’s the least burden on you.

    Regards,
    Ric

  6. Bob Reed says:

    Yeah, I don’t mind registering my e-mail address either JeffG; I may already be since I have an avatar that seems to show up when I comment at some WP sites Like Dan’s.

    It might be unfortunate to not be able to assume amusing sock-puppet names from time-to-time, but so be it.

    I don’t know much about the technical side, having never expended the energy to learn about wordpress mechanisms, but you could probably get some good advice from Dan’s brother who runs a web-service provider company and builds lot’s of folks sites and e-commerce systems.

    Serr8d is pretty hip to this stuff too, at least it seems that way to me.

  7. TedKennedy'sLiver says:

    I call dibs on all sockpuppets.

  8. Joe says:

    Discus is worth looking at. Darleen is right it can be a pain, but it has some advantages too. But what ever you have to do.

  9. Silver Whistle says:

    Registration? Bring it on.

    Oh, and I could murder a beer. Oops, better take that back. Walls have ears.

  10. Spiny Norman says:

    Speaking as a commenter: Disqus or one of the other cross-blog commenting systems makes it easy. Log in once somewhere in the blogosphere, and find yourself logged in across many blogs.

    Wouldn’t that make it easier for a banned troll to get around the ban?

  11. ThomasD says:

    I’m fine with comment registration.

    Perhaps you could also allow unregistered drive-bys to leave comments that would then go into moderation, with the clear understanding that they might never leave moderation, depending on the free time and whims of the moderator. If that is even possible.

    I doubt the trolls would persist long without the free billboard space.

  12. happyfeet says:

    you’ve also had some of the best most colorful and silly and fun and original trolls along with some of the worstest mean stupid fascist meya RD ones

  13. cranky-d says:

    I’m pretty sure I registered here at one time a long time ago, so no worries on doing it again. I also signed up for an opendID account on a free server, which is another way you can go. They all require an email address of some kind, I think, but that’s all.

    As Ric said, go with whatever works best for you. I agree that it’s time for registration, simply to avoid the abuse. No one needs that.

  14. Jeffersonian says:

    I’m cool with everything but Blogger. I fucking hate Blogger comments.

    Oh, and that RS McCain post was masterful, a work of art.

  15. SDN says:

    Jeff, while whack-a-troll has its’ attractions, I’m good with any option you want to use. Disqus seems to have some kind of email and IP cross reference thing; there are a couple of sites where I can comment from one computer and not another (home vs on the road). I’m not sure if it will stop our more determined trolls.

  16. bh says:

    Comment registration is a good idea and, as the others have said, go with whatever is easiest for you.

    (For what it’s worth, I’d consider letting the trollish sorts who don’t constantly change their names to get around bans, namejack others, etc, register and comment. You could always ban them later. I don’t regularly read the lefty sites or watch MSNBC so it’s actually sort of convenient that they come here and drop the talking points from time to time.)

  17. Jeff G. says:

    For what it’s worth, I’d consider letting the trollish sorts who don’t constantly change their names to get around bans, namejack others, etc, register and comment. You could always ban them later. I don’t regularly read the lefty sites or watch MSNBC so it’s actually sort of convenient that they come here and drop the talking points from time to time.

    Most of those types are still here, and some over the years even converted a bit.

  18. Jeff G. says:

    Perhaps you could also allow unregistered drive-bys to leave comments that would then go into moderation, with the clear understanding that they might never leave moderation, depending on the free time and whims of the moderator. If that is even possible.

    If that’s possible I’ll do that.

    I really do want to keep the site as open as possible. That’s always been a hallmark of this place, but in the last year or so I just have grown tired of the personal stuff aimed at me or my family. Some of it coming from the right even.

    Then when I try to stop it, either by changing the comments (if they won’t accept being banned) or exposing who they are in real life, folks like Patterico — famous for “outing” Tbogg — mounts a loud and constant protest against the methods I use on my site, one that always seems to end with him juxtaposing his own actions against the actions of others to show how truly good and brave and honorable he is!

    Well, not really. I was being facetious about that last.

  19. Jeff G. says:

    It might be unfortunate to not be able to assume amusing sock-puppet names from time-to-time, but so be it.

    Oh, you can still do that. Provided you have a real email address.

    ST/RD was using addresses like jg1@hotmail; jg12@yahoo, etc. Could have gone on forever.

  20. sdferr says:

    I don’t use sockpuppets myself, so I’ve no idea how much fun those who do use them get out of having actual anonymity (’cause in many instances, we commenters never do know who’s behind the pretending) and hence how much will be lost once there’s a separate identifier or avatar tied to each poster. On the other hand, I have been attacked by someone using a sockpuppet to hide behind, so seeing an end of that might not be so bad from where I sit. Otherwise, go with what you find best Jeff, from whatever point of view you choose to measure best — then if it doesn’t work as hoped, either you’ll let us know or we you, and a change can be made.

  21. cranky-d says:

    Okay, I see we’re already registering. As I thought, I had registered before and PW remembered me. I had to get a new password sent to me, but that worked just fine.

  22. cranky-d says:

    Curses, foiled again!

  23. bh says:

    Registration took all of 20 seconds. Couldn’t have been easier.

  24. happyfeet says:

    hello?

  25. guinsPen says:

    I *cough*

  26. Ric Locke says:

    As I type this I haven’t (re-)registered. Let’s see what happens.

    Ah. “Sorry, you must be logged in to post a comment.” Very good.

    Save post and register?

  27. cranky-d says:

    I tried to sockpuppet at #22 and it failed. Oh well.

  28. happyfeet says:

    it’s still eating comments

  29. Ric Locke says:

    Good enough. Now let’s see if I just changed the information across WordPress or not (no problem if so)

    “Error establishing database connection”. I’ve been getting that occasionally for the last couple of weeks. Doing it again seems to correct it; it’s entirely possible it’s on my end.

  30. happyfeet says:

    I’ve been getting that a lot lately too Mr. Ric both at home and at that place I go during the day

  31. Ric Locke says:

    Different usernames elsewhere. Good enough.

    and awaaaaaay we go…

  32. Jeff G. says:

    I tried to sockpuppet at #22 and it failed. Oh well.

    Sorry. I don’t know how to make that work without having you sign up for another workable email address.

    I’m bothered by it as well. But I don’t know what to do.

  33. bh says:

    [sockpuppet attempt]

  34. happyfeet says:

    I want to fail at sockpuppeting something too just so I tried

  35. happyfeet says:

    WIN!

  36. geoffb says:

    Registered fine. I hope this system works out as I have gotten quite used to the WordPress way here.

  37. McGehee says:

    This could even let me stop using TrollHammer!

  38. djmoore says:

    Ah. One small glitch:
    Even if you are logged in, you see the “You must be registered to post a comment. Click here to register or here to login.” message, which is a bit confusing. Comments post anyway, though, so OK.

    Cross-site logins are convenient if they work. I am militantly opposed to IntenseDebate, which prevents me from commenting on Breitbart’s “Big…” sites, among others, by sending me into an endless loop of “Login/Register/You are already registered”. OpenID is OK, except on some sites, it throws away comments if you are not already logged in when you submit — and there is no way to tell if you are logged in or not.

  39. Silver Whistle says:

    This is rather like a swanky gents club now, what?

  40. Admin says:

    testing

  41. lee says:

    I think registration is past due, no slight inconvenience is worse than the trolls of late.

    I remember when I first discovered PW, there was a touring word. We made a game of it, where you tried to use the word topically, remember?

    Ahh, those were simpler times…

  42. cranky-d says:

    Losing the sockpuppet ability is a small price to pay for reducing the annoyance level due to people who don’t know when to quit being jackasses.

  43. McGehee says:

    I gather Mrs. Jeff is still tweaking the site. I tried a couple of comments after my first at #38, and ended up with a blank page.

  44. McGehee says:

    Okay, now to try one of my rejected comments again:

    [Venusian in a Time of Romulans]

    This may be the way we have to do sockpuppets from now on.

    [/Venusian in a Time of Romulans]

  45. Ric Locke says:

    Ah. Tweaking in progress. I shall be patient. I shall. I shall….

    Sockpuppeting can still be done, but it’s much harder. You have to go to your profile page, change the “nickname”, choose that from the dropdown list, and save the new data. Afterward, of course, you have to change it back… it’s not entertaining enough to me to be worth the work.

    Regards,
    Ric

  46. lee says:

    Humm, Seems I have to go back to being lee, since I registered my email long ago. I’d have to register a new email address to, since you can’t change your user name.

    Oh well…

  47. lee says:

    Trying Ricks idea…

  48. McGehee says:

    Sockpuppeting can still be done, but it’s much harder. You have to go to your profile page, change the “nickname”, choose that from the dropdown list, and save the new data. Afterward, of course, you have to change it back… it’s not entertaining enough to me to be worth the work.

    Depending on how WordPress handles commenter handles, that may not work. I know that in ExpressionEngine if someone is logged in and changes their screen name, all comments by that person will have the changed name — and when the name is changed back again…

    And I think when I changed my admin username on my own site from “ak4mc” back to “McGehee” the change did include all past comments.

  49. cranky-d says:

    [Sinister Trampoline]

    My free speech rights are being violated! Haven’t you read the first amendment, you Nazi?

    [/Sinister Trampoline]

  50. LBascom says:

    Trying again…

  51. McGehee says:

    …when I changed my admin username on my own WordPress site…

    FTFM

  52. LBascom says:

    Yea!

  53. Admin says:

    testing again

  54. McGehee says:

    49. Comment by lee on 11/14 @ 11:41 am

    52. Comment by LBascom on 11/14 @ 11:43 am

    I may stand corrected.

  55. Let’s see if this works.

  56. McGehee says:

    Okay, Ric is right.

    Again.

    <grumble>

  57. cranky-d says:

    And back to normal?

  58. Ric Locke says:

    I see tweaking continues. The name and email-address boxes, leftover from the ancíen regíme, have disappeared, and instead I have a “Logged in as…” line. “You must be registered…” is still visible.

  59. SDN says:

    I’m getting both.

    You must be registered to post a comment. Click here to register or here to login.

    Logged in as SDN. Log out »

    Which is fine.

  60. Ric Locke says:

    …and now “You must be registered…” disappears!

    Success! wooowooo!

    Regards,
    Ric

  61. SDN says:

    And now that I’ve posted a comment the top line is gone.

  62. cranky-d says:

    This is converging to a good state quite nicely. Thanks Mrs. Jeff.

  63. Soiled Sockpuppet says:

    I’m disappointed in all the sockpuppet hate. You’re all a bunch of haterz!

  64. ThomasD says:

    Can you see the real me preacher?
    Can you see the real me doctor?
    Can you see the real me mother?
    Can you see the real me?

  65. Ric Locke says:

    None that the name in the “Logged in…” line is a link to your profile, to make the sockpuppeting process as easy as might be considered reasonable.

    Regards,
    Ric

  66. Ric Locke says:

    “None” = “Note”

    arzfarzin zazzafrazz. Is there a preview option anywhere? [grumble grump d*n new rope is stiff]

    Regards,
    Ric

  67. McGehee says:

    I finally gave up and turned spell-check back on in Firefox. It does me about as much good as it did before I turned it off.

  68. John Bradley says:

    Jeff: Not inconvenienced in the least. Slogging through untold hundreds (thousands?) of posts from the denizens of Murfeesboro, Tennessee — that was inconvenient!

    (As an aside, you’ve now got your own personal in-joke “town where all the stupid people live” reference to use, sort of like Rush uses Rio Linda.)

  69. Spiny Norman says:

    Shazam!

    Couldn’t have been easier.

  70. Spiny Norman says:

    If we behave ourselves, can we post images again?

  71. Pablo says:

    I guess I’ve gotta be me.

  72. Soiled Sockpuppet says:

    Ok, since we’re on the topic of commenting, is there a list of commands I can use for simple commands, such as blockquote, bold, italic, and Giant Case Hoochies?

  73. ThomasD says:

    I’m sorry, there is only one giant case hoochie allowed on this blog…

  74. Ric Locke says:

    Somewhere in the Pub I put a tutorial, SS. I’m too lazy to repeat it.

    It’s just dead-simple HTML.

    Regards,
    Ric

  75. Ric Locke says:

    Here you go, SS: a brief look at HTML at PW

    Regards,
    Ric

  76. serr8d says:

    Same as it ever was. Good times~!

  77. DarthRove says:

    I think it was time for the comment registration change. It’s too bad certain internet cowards had to shit all over Jeff’s virtual coffee table and require this change.

    I’m going to do what I can to return to my recently changed nom de blogge of DarthLevin and remove the taint of that Rove guy. Looks like taking the suggestions above should work, just need to poke around WordPress a bit I guess.

    And just to mention it: while the Turing word doesn’t do to keep trolls of the RD/ST sort out, it sure is a lot of fun.

  78. Bob Reed says:

    Well sdferr,
    When I mentioned sock puppeting, I personally was referring to taking on names like “Barack Obama”, “Howard Dean”, and such so that ironic sounding comments could be made; and wasn’t advocating a name change to go after someone anonymously. I don’t generally do anonymous, aside from my now familiar nom-de-clavier at Dan’s; that name being used at the request of my wife, who has prosecuted creepy internet stuff as part of puttin the crooked civil servants away and asked me to do so.

    I told her she was unduly worried, in my opinion, especially since I’m impervious to retribution so to speak, but promises are just that.

  79. happyfeet says:

    I hope Mr. button navigates the registration process

    he makes the internet better you know

  80. happyfeet says:

    *buttons* I mean

  81. Bob Reed says:

    What is funny, though, is that I first tried to register using my super-secret personal e-mail, and wordpress never mailed me the registration note!

    Afterward, I had to register as some other name, the original callsign bestowed on me when I got to FRS, and set my nickname as my actual name; since the registered name can never be changed.

    And I still haven’t recieved the mail notification for my original registration attempt…

  82. Admin says:

    About to test comment previewing. Please be patient.

  83. Soiled Sockpuppet says:

    Here you go, SS: a brief look at HTML at PW

    Regards,
    Ric

    Thanks Ric. For that, I give you a big ol’ Hoochie.

  84. sdferr says:

    Oh, I didn’t think you were advocating socks as means of anonymous attack Bob, sayin’ jus’ so’s you know. But the simple fact of the matter is, whether used for funning ironically or whatevers, without some marker or direct admission to the use, it can be impossible for us (as opposed to the admin who can see e-mail associations) to have any idea who’s behind a particular polyester-cotton blend critter.

  85. Soiled Sockpuppet says:

    Damn, forgot to close the

    blockquote

    .

  86. Admin says:

    Testing preview. It shows up below the comment form as you type.

  87. sdferr says:

    I wonder if psycho might choose to come back? It’d be a cheery day, I think.

  88. happyfeet says:

    testing to see if I can link the funky funky jams

  89. happyfeet says:

    psycho I have missed more than I can express with my feeble expressing skills

  90. Bob Reed says:

    I can’t recall the episode you mentioned upthread sdferr,
    It must have been while I was off-line and out west for 6 weeks over the summer…

  91. DarthRove says:

    Woohoo! Comment preview!

    It even displays the simple HTML stuff that we can do

  92. Bob Reed says:

    You know what’s amusing is that I can see my usual and customary avatar in the “preview” section. I had half hoped it would have posted with the comment like at other sites.

    But it’s really unnecessary, we all know who we are-so to speak.

  93. sdferr says:

    Didn’t amount to much Bob, even at the time, save conveying the idea of the thing I hadn’t thought to think would happen here.

  94. Ric Locke says:

    Merrily we type along…

    Nope. No preview visible.

    Regards,
    Ric

  95. bh says:

    The real time preview is pretty nifty.

    (Thanks for doing all this, Admin.)

  96. sdferr says:

    I don’t see a “preview” thinger at all. Is I gots to do something to make it come up?

  97. DarthRove says:

    but looks like some HTML allowed in preview doesn’t carry over to the comment. My previous comment had subscript, superscript, red font, strikethru, and large text displayed in preview but not in the final posted comment. Something to remember.

  98. JimK says:

    Well, we’re back. And so it goes.

  99. bh says:

    When I start typing the preview appears underneath the comment box, guys.

  100. McGehee says:

    I approve of the preview.

  101. sdferr says:

    huh, now it’s there, shor’nuff. Neat.

  102. bh says:

    Bold. Italics.

    Blockquote.

  103. sdferr says:

    Trying underline . . .

  104. McGehee says:

    The simpler commands in Firefox’s HTML Formatting Toolbar are supported of course, but for font colors I always used span tags. The word “span” in the previous sentence should appear blue and in sans-serif type.

  105. McGehee says:

    Okay. Span tags are not supported.

  106. paul mitchell says:

    Yeah, the registration process was easy as pudding pie, but you never have to worry about my Troll Grandmother ever again. She’s kinda tech challenged.

  107. sdferr says:

    Nope, no underline.

    How about strikethrough?

  108. Ric Locke says:

    Typing along… yep. It shows.

    There’s a filter; only certain HTML is allowed (pretty much what I put in my short bit). You can’t see it, but in the page code there’s a list of tags that are arbitrarily closed after each post — this prevents the sort of thing that happens at JustOneMinute, where somebody failing to close an italics tag causes the whole page to be italicized. The tags that are allowed are the ones that are closed as a precaution.

    Regards,
    Ric
    [whose computer is slow, causing real-time preview to be jumpy. That’s OK. Preview is better than no preview.]

  109. bh says:

    Superscript. Normal. Subscript.

  110. Bob Reed says:

    Thanks for all the cool tweaks Admin!

  111. McGehee says:

    I’m going to disable Greasemonkey on my browser. The only thing I have it for is TrollHammer, and the only place I ever used it was here.

    I am not, however, going to remove it entirely.

  112. bh says:

    All I ever use is italics, bold, and blockquote anyway.

  113. Bob Reed says:

    But do all of the “trademark” and “copyright” superscript notations work? And if so, can someone refresh my memory of how they’re done?

  114. McGehee says:

    &trade; => ™

    &copy; => &copy

  115. happyfeet says:

    ©

  116. McGehee says:

    Dammit.

    &copy; => ©

  117. happyfeet says:

    alt+0169 did the copyright

  118. Bob Reed says:

    And, does this mean that we can all post at the pub now?

  119. Ric Locke says:

    Trademark: &trade; ™
    Copyright: &copy; ©
    Others as I think of them.

    Regards,
    Ric

  120. happyfeet says:

    alt+0153 gives you ™

  121. McGehee says:

    Also:

    &lt; => &
    &gt; => >
    &deg; => °
    &cent; => ¢

    You get the idea.

  122. Bob Reed says:

    Thanks Fellas for the inside™ information©

  123. McGehee says:

    Double dammit.

    &lt; => <

  124. McGehee says:

    Oh, and &reg; => ®

  125. bh says:

    &#169 is &#*169.

    &#153 is &#*153.

    Remove the asterisks. Reference here.

  126. McGehee says:

    Maybe one of these days I’ll actually look at the preview before I hit “Submit Comment.”

  127. Bob Reed says:

    Hmmmmmm. The “degree” one will come in handy. Is there a list of these online somewhere handy that y’all know of; or what I should “google” to get to one?

  128. McGehee says:

    Remove the asterisks.

    And append semicolons. Very important, as most of my errors above illustrate.

  129. Bob Reed says:

    Thanks McGehee, that’s what I was looking for.

  130. I Callahan says:

    Testing 1 2 3

  131. McGehee says:

    Is there a list of these online somewhere handy that y’all know of; or what I should “google” to get to one?

    I think I figured out ¢ and ° by just trying them. Some of the codes make perfect sense, but it took me some headscratching to figure out why the pointy brackets were “lt” and “gt.”

  132. Abe Froman says:

    Mr. WordPress said my password is weak. But I like living dangerously.

  133. Ric Locke says:

    Angle brackets left &lt; < and right &gt; >
    German quote marks left &laquo; « and right &raquo; »
    Characters with accents &eacute; é &iacute; í (easier to use Alt-keypad if you know the numbers)
    und so wieder…

    Regards,
    Ric

  134. McGehee says:

    And the look of the comment page keeps changing around us. I like that we have avatars now.

  135. guinsPen says:

    Spliff!

  136. Bob Reed says:

    Oh snap! My beloved skull-n-bones has been hoisted! That’s what I’m talkin bout…

  137. motionview says:

    I don’t see little wolverine before commenting, let’s see … ah yes preview is previewing nicely.

  138. sdferr says:

    Hmmm, checkout the count and the disappeary parts (sorry Admin!)

  139. PCachu says:

    Heyyyyyyyyyyyy.

  140. motionview says:

    It’s Wolverine & the Pirates Bob Reed, a funkadelic groove machine.

  141. Ric Locke says:

    Now I need to know how to get me an avatar…

    Most of the ASCII given at the page McGehee referenced is also available as three-digit ALT- sequences. Hold down the ALT key, type in the number, release alt, and (here for some reason, though not elsewhere) type another character. HOWEVER, many of the letters given as unused because they aren’t defined in HTML work fine from the keyboard:

    Alt-127 ? a little bell-like thing
    Alt-128 Ç Capital “C” with that French dangly thing
    Alt-129 ü lower case “u” with umlaut
    Alt-141 ì lowercase “i” with accent grave
    Alt-142 Ä Uppercase “A” with umlaut
    Alt-143 Å Uppercase “A” with Nordic ring (also &Aring; Å)
    Alt-144 É Uppercase “E” with accent acute

    There are more. The nice thing about realtime preview is that you can test and see what you’re doing.

    Regards,
    Ric

  142. happyfeet says:

    go to gravatar.com Mr. Ric

  143. Bob Reed says:

    That does sound like a Funkadelic album title motionview.

  144. cranky-d says:

    I can only see 45 of the comments right now, in firefox and in IE. Sorr if I’m reporting an already known issue.

  145. Bob Reed says:

    Yeah, including yours it’s 47 cranky. It’s like the first 100 are missing.

  146. sdferr says:

    They’re all back for me cranky and Bob. How’s it for you now?

  147. Bob Reed says:

    Now they’re back…

    Dude’s, y’all without avatars should get ye some. It’s the internet version of sartorial flourish, or of one’s bearing.

    Or, you know, just a picture you like, if you’d prefer…

  148. DarthLevin says:

    Ahhhhh. My handle has been purged of the “Rove” that was infesting it. I have an avatar. There is preview.

    Jeff’s journey to the WordPress is now complete. Resume with the death threats!

    Now, I must check on how the ground beef is thawing. The Young Apprentice is expecting tacos for supper tonight.

  149. Bob Reed says:

    Darth, Darth, Darth…

    Ground beef? You mean you don’t slow cook a nice hunk of beef until it’s shredelicious?

  150. sdferr says:

    That gravitar place doesn’t seem to know me from [Adam] my WordPress login stuff, which is odd, given that it says it will. Anyhow, any alternative recommendations for making or acquiring an avatar thingy?

  151. Ric Locke says:

    Ah. I now have an avatar also. Some of you will have seen the original

    Regards,
    Ric

  152. happyfeet says:

    you have to register with gravatar – just your email and a password

  153. Silver Whistle says:

    Now we’re sucking diesel.

  154. bh says:

    Thanks for the heads up on gravatar, ‘feets.

  155. cranky-d says:

    I did the gravatar thingy but no soap yet on it showing up.

  156. cranky-d says:

    Okay, there we go.

  157. Bob Reed says:

    sdferr,
    You can always shrink your fave image down to the acceptable size to be eaten by wordpress, and upload it to your profile.

  158. DarthLevin says:

    Bob,

    Not for kid tacos.

  159. cranky-d says:

    All comments are back now for me, too.

  160. ThomasD says:

    Testing

  161. Joe says:

    Okay, it works. That wasn’t so bad.

  162. Bob Reed says:

    OK, I can dig that…

    I often whip up carnitas on Football Sunday. This week though, only chili…

    But in an intersting rub, I also add chorizo to the chili to make it extra zesty. But because of my lovely wife’s and MIL’s weak stomachs I can’t make it as hot as I like it.

    That level’s reserved for gumbo

  163. cranky-d says:

    Without Sriracha hot sauce, life would be a little less interesting. I go through a large bottle every two weeks.

  164. Ric Locke says:

    My back pasture is suddenly infested with equestrians.

    Later, folks.

    Regards,
    Ric

  165. cranky-d says:

    Can you spray for those, Ric?

  166. Admin says:

    Comments working ok for everyone?

  167. Silver Whistle says:

    The new improved pw is slick and strangely troll free.

  168. Bob Reed says:

    S’aright Admin. Thanks for everything.

  169. sdferr says:

    Say “Cheese!”

  170. bh says:

    Yes, working great. Thanks, Admin!

  171. Blitz says:

    Test…this is only a test. If this had been a real comment, it would have been preceded by a REALLY stupid comment. This has been a test of the emergency moron system.

  172. Blitz says:

    How do ypu put pics in?

  173. cranky-d says:

    Go to gravatar.com for the avatar stuff. Once you register and log in, you can upload an image and it will automagically appear here with no further work.

  174. Darleen says:

    woohoo! it works!

  175. Blake says:

    First test after logging in.

  176. Big Bang Hunter says:

    I’m not seeing any place to click on for profile updates?

  177. cranky-d says:

    Right below the “Leave a comment” thinger there is a “Logged in as” with your username. click that to work on the profile.

  178. Big Bang Hunter says:

    Duhhhhh….never mind – you click on your nick

  179. dicentra says:

    bh chose ceiling cat as his avatar.

    Not sure what to make of that.

    And I’m kewl with registration. I love my distinctive pink bleeding-heart icon.

  180. dicentra says:

    ST/RD was using addresses like jg1@hotmail; jg12@yahoo, etc. Could have gone on forever.

    On another forum, one troll (former insider) created around 100 Yahoo email accounts to torment us: bi-polar, paranoid personality disorder, and a lawyer.

    Can A Certain Troll beat that?

    No, not the 100 identities, but the list of Things That Make You Too Screwed Up To Be In Polite Society.

  181. Blitz says:

    Next test, avatar

  182. Blitz says:

    Nope

  183. Ric Locke says:

    Back again.

    No, I can’t spray for equestrians. It requires professional-grade products, so all I can do is squash them as they come out of the woodwork.

    While out and about I did take a picture. Not Ceiling Cat, but perhaps somewhat worthy.

    The new system seems to work well and smoothly. Kewl.

    Regards,
    Ric

  184. Blitz says:

    as per usual? I spoke before thinking….yup

  185. Bordo says:

    I’m glad you decided to go with this, Jeff. I can’t think of another blogger who has had as many issues with threats against his/her family as you have. This is a great idea, don’t doubt it for a second.

  186. dicentra says:

    I’ve always used the Alt + thing for diacritics and other fun characters because it works in non-HTML settings, such as Microcrash stuff.

    0225 = á
    0233 = é
    0237 = í
    0243 = ó
    0250 = ú
    0252 = ü
    0161 = ¡
    0191 = ¿
    0241 = ñ
    0231 = ç
    0182 = ¶
    0230 = æ
    0181 = µ

  187. Silver Whistle says:

    I think Jeff attracted all the flack because he is consistently over the target. The complete failure of proggy plastic dashboard Jesus in the mid term was just one humiliation too many for this particular troll. Finding out your gods are mortal can be upsetting.

  188. […] there has been a lot of fruitless arguing about crazy stuff that only bloggers care about, so that Jeff G. has decided to resume his career as a murderer of blog-trolls.And that bums me out. Because what I’d really like to be doing now is posting Lingerie […]

  189. Mike LaRoche says:

    Frito bandito here. All clear on the Texas front!

  190. Pablo says:

    There. That was easy.

  191. Mike LaRoche says:

    BTW, that creep timb showed up at Stacy’s blog, right on schedule.

  192. Big Bang Hunter says:

    test

  193. Jeff G. says:

    That’s why Frey keeps timb, EricPWJohnson and Christoph around.

    But seriously, does anyone care anymore? Are people who don’t hang at his place not yet aware of who Frey truly is?

  194. Big Bang Hunter says:

    test 2

  195. Big Bang Hunter says:

    Waldo

  196. Big Bang Hunter says:

    Furgeson

  197. dicentra says:

    Whoa.

    From this vintage link via Insty, dated 14 Apr 2008:

    So the other day, I was having lunch on the patio at Orso’s with a fellow screenwriter, and … this writer leaned over to me and whispered, “Have you heard about the Obamamometer?”

    I won’t keep you in suspense. Turns out that this writer knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who went to Harvard Law with B. Hussein Obama Jr., and, the story goes, such was Barry’s monumental capacity for sucking up to his professors that the “Obamamometer” was established to calibrate and quantify the most egregious, shameless brown-nosing, and it quickly became the gold standard of Uriah Heep-dom in Cambridge, Mass. “That was a 10 on the Obamamometer,” the Harvard men and women would whisper when someone rose to the unctuous level of Barry at his best. Who knows, maybe they still do.
    ….
    It seems that at Harvard our Barry was widely regarded as a person of overweening arrogance and a gold-plated sense of entitlement; not only did the world owe him a living, it owed him just about everything.

    Serious, peeps. Anyone still in doubt that Dear Leader is a clinical narcissist?

  198. DarthLevin says:

    And once again PF is using the “the machine ate my comment (you know, the comment proving that I win the internet and the site host/current target are mendoucheous twatwaffles)” excuse over at TOM.

    You’d think that, when dealing with serial comment-deleting-folks, a clever person would keep a copy so it could be reposted if deleted. Or take a screencap. Or something comprising what people in the legal biz like to call evidence.

  199. cranky-d says:

    The question on everyone’s (okay, maybe it’s just me) mind is which trolls will register to comment here.

    As far as PF goes, I answered one lie he told in that thread about a comment of mind, I’m sure he told more after that, but I didn’t check in again. I imagine he has escalated things as well, since that’s his pattern. He will now declare victory, retreat back to his blog, and go after some other target for a while.

  200. Abe Froman says:

    Not that I especially need an avatar, but does anyone know why I had no problem registering here, but wordpress doesn’t acknowledge my existence when trying to sign in at casa de avatars? Is registering for wordpress a separate process than the localized version here?

  201. CGHill says:

    It’s a Gravatar sort of thing. (WP owns Gravatar, but hasn’t really integrated it into the hive mind, or whatever the hell it is, yet.)

  202. sdferr says:

    Don’t know why the gravatar place doesn’t recognize the wordpress login stuff Abe, but I can say it did the same with me as it seems it’s doing with you. I went with hf’s suggestion and just registered independently with ’em.

  203. cranky-d says:

    This blog uses wordpress software, but it is not a wordpress blog. The latter is a blog that is hosted by wordpress. So, you need to create a wordpress login to get a gravatar, separate from your login here.

  204. Patrick S says:

    It doesn’t suck.

  205. happyfeet says:

    I just feel weird with everyone knowing what I look like

  206. Silver Whistle says:

    Perhaps a bit less heavy on the rouge, happy, and you won’t be so self conscious.

  207. Soiled Sockpuppet says:

    Hey hey.. my gravatar is here! Can you read the fine print? lol

  208. Bob Reed says:

    I’m sure you don’t draw inordinate attention in L.A.

  209. sdferr says:

    Is that a bunny wearing a pancake chapeau Pablo?

  210. Abe Froman says:

    Ah. The sad realization that a “sausage king” looks like a penis with a crown at these dimensions.

  211. Mueller says:

    Well that was a huge pain in the ass.
    OK. You can start the party now.

    I’d use a picture of my ass,It’s my best feature, but the alloted space is too small.

  212. geoffb says:

    Testing

  213. Pablo says:

    Indeed it is, sdfeer.

  214. Stephanie says:

    Woot!

  215. newrouter says:

    test

  216. Pablo says:

    Me likey the preview. Now if I can just remember to look at it.

  217. newrouter says:

    i don’t see no box to put the little pic into on profile

  218. happyfeet says:

    go to gravatar.com Mr. newrouter they will fix you right up

  219. Bordo says:

    Ah. The sad realization that a “sausage king” looks like a penis with a crown at these dimensions.

    Aren’t there days when everything does, though? Or is that just me?

  220. newrouter says:

    gravatar doesn’t think i was sent by wordpress

  221. TmjUtah says:

    No problem here. Wish I could send some sugar now, but it is not to be this month.

  222. cranky-d says:

    This is not a wordpress blog. It has a login unique to this site. You need to create a separate login at wordpress.com to use gravatar.

  223. newrouter says:

    now i knows why gravatar was grumpy

  224. Dana says:

    The registration requirement doesn’t bother me, ‘cept for one thing: I can’t change my handle to stuff like “The Oakland Raiders’ fan Dana” when appropriate.

    But you kind of made up for it by adding the gravatars.

  225. Dana says:

    McGehee wrote:

    Venusian in a Time of Romulans

    [laughter!] Was he the one who was causing all of the problems? He’s a regular at my site!

  226. pdcroutons says:

    i got all pissed off at the time cuz i type w/ one finger and i’m all ‘wtf?’and i had to register and fill out the stuff-and then they gave me this fourteen letter/number password and it wouldn’t kick in
    and i’m like’arrrggh’
    tried to change it, but it wouldn’t kick..
    but i finally figured it out..
    but, u killed pdbuttons today-he’s gone,toast,history
    yesterdays papers etc. but after reading this post and seeing the bullshit u have to go thru,and knowing how this is my fav site-i thought-gee-so i had to type for 30-40 minutes with anger and kept saying [wtf,wtf,wtf] that ain’t nothing compared to what jeff gotta put up with
    Pride is the worst Sin!
    plus now u got the lil correcting comments thing-which might make me look less idiotic [sarc. yeah-right]
    thanks for all ur good work jeff/pd
    how do post a pic next to ur name?
    i’l figure it out/any hints/thanks

  227. happyfeet says:

    Mr. croutons first find your picture you want and put it on your desktop… then go to gravatar.com and click where it says get your gravatar – it’s pretty easy not very much typing

  228. newrouter says:

    now wordpress doesn’t want me either

  229. Spiny Norman says:

    How does one log in to Gravatar? It doesn’t recognize the WordPress username and password I used to log in here.

  230. sdferr says:

    Just register over again there Spiny. They’ll send you an e-mail etc. blah blah blah

  231. Spiny Norman says:

    Oh I see cranky already explained… except the WordPress login and password I created a while back for another WordPress blog doesn’t work, either.

  232. serr8d says:

    I’ve got to change out that rock.

    Something a bit less jarring. Let’s see…

  233. Swen says:

    Sadly, yes, it was time to do something about the trolls. I’d have voted for drawing and quartering, but that’s just me…

  234. Spiny Norman says:

    Oh great. It says my username and email is already used. The username and password from that prior WordPress registration does not work…

  235. vermontaigne says:

    Great. Now I can visit without the risk of bringing my infestations here.

  236. cranky-d says:

    You can always have wordpress.com email you a new password. That’s what I had to do here, because I had already registered years ago but lost the password.

  237. Pablo says:

    Indiana wants me. Lord, I can’t go back there.

    Hi, Dan!

  238. serr8d says:

    Hey, Dan!

    Trying on these new Gravatars is harder than M’Chelle looking for a new dress in which to flop on the world stage.

  239. vermontaigne says:

    Hey, Pablo, serr, everybody.

  240. Soiled Sockpuppet says:

    There needs to be a gravitar randomizer that allows me to post photos of various sockpuppets. That way I can pop a pic of Glenn Greenwald in there with my sockpuppets.

  241. dicentra says:

    Hey Dan.

    What’s this about posting here without bringing your infestations?

    And yet UR avatar is UR face. Not following you.

  242. Spiny Norman says:

    Hmmm. I got my old password and managed to log in, but changing the avatar image does not seem to be possible. (That one is horribly cropped).

  243. ThomasD says:

    Ok, I think I’ve got this gravatar thing worked out.

  244. ThomasD says:

    No, I didn’t want me. Where is the dang critter that shows up in the preview box? That’s what I want.

  245. Spiny Norman says:

    Oh, there it is. Much better.

  246. ThomasD says:

    Much better.

  247. Spiny Norman says:

    I see bh is using Ceiling Cat. Heh.

  248. Jim R says:

    Woot! Long time reader & rare commenter checking in.

  249. ThomasD says:

    One more time

  250. Spiny Norman says:

    Hey, Dan’s here. Shame on me for not paying attention…

  251. ThomasD says:

    Hi Dan!

  252. Jim R says:

    Avatar check.

  253. newrouter says:

    i think the snowman look will be ok

  254. serr8d says:

    OK, back to the Twitter look. Hold out your hand to me, you dirty socialist~!

  255. Jim R says:

    meh, let’s try this one. Homeboy Lysander Spooner.

  256. LBascom says:

    Don’t give up newrouter, you can come up with somt’in good…

  257. serr8d says:

    pdbuttons wins the avatar selector thinger.

  258. serr8d says:

    Tell me what you want to be, newrouter, I’ll fix you up.

    Or, grab a Frank Zappa mugshot. That’d be cool.

  259. LBascom says:

    This might be a good one for newrouter…

  260. newrouter says:

    oh i was looking for a malfunctioning traffic light pic

  261. I’m happy with IntenseDebate or Disqus, so far as outside platforms go. Or, get a tech savvy someone to install one of those cafeteria platforms, with many choices, such as you can find at NPR.org

  262. Hmm, my PW login doesn’t work at WordPress, proper. Now where in the PW dashboard can I upload an avatar?

  263. newrouter says:

    si login to wordpress directly see above

  264. Seth says:

    Do it up. Informed dissent is one thing, trolls are just noise, however.

  265. Lazarus_Long says:

    test test rest

  266. newrouter says:

    #266 is good. ot i now have wp blog at govtsux though i just wanted an avatar

  267. Lewis says:

    This is a test.

    This is only a test.

  268. Swen says:

    Wow! An avatar. I feel so high tech….

  269. Swen says:

    Multiple avatars even. What fun!

  270. Swen says:

    Huh? It’s displaying the second avatar I created in the preview but still posting the first. Stupid computers….

  271. Swen says:

    One more time, the ever popular big hat, no cattle look….

  272. Spiny Norman says:

    Apparently it takes a few minutes to make the switch, Swen.

  273. Swen says:

    Nooooope. Oh well, I kinda like my buffarilla.

  274. Swen says:

    Patience is a virtue I do not possess….

  275. Swen says:

    Hmm.. So when you change your avatar it gets changed across all your previous posts? Okay, that’ll work. I’m feelin’ like a lounge lizard tonight….

  276. Swen says:

    Or perhaps I should just be honest with myself and appear as others see me? Sure, why not.

  277. Lewis says:

    Ah, that’s better.

    An avatar at last.

  278. Swen says:

    Meh, maybe I’d better put the buff back up. Everyone likes a little ass but no one likes a jackass….

  279. davisbr says:

    …reg accomplished. Someday, I’ll even figure out gravatar.

  280. Ric Locke says:

    #281 Swen — at any rate, that gravatar is taken :-)

    Regards,
    Ric

  281. Lewis says:

    Weird.

    Let’s try this.

  282. sdferr says:

    Bobby Jindal evidently gives Obama & Co. a couple of good thwacks. Jesus, Mary and Joseph Bobby, where’s your proper fear man?

    “They’re not connected to reality on the ground,” he said.

    The entire world seems to have read Obama for a punk at this point. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

  283. Ernst Schreiber says:

    ALMIGHTY! ALMIGHTY! PBR STREETGANG RADIOCHECK!! OVER

  284. geoffb says:

    NEVER GET OFF THE BOAT! Ernst.

  285. Ernst Schreiber says:

    So who do I have to screw to get one of those avatar thingies?

  286. geoffb says:

    start at comment #145 and read down a ways to see the problems that were solved.

  287. geoffb says:

    Weekly Standard is thwacking too but dicentra has plowed that ground thoroughly here.

  288. sdferr says:

    The thwacking is going to be coming so thick and fast the next few months I expect a sympathetic backlash on the idiot’s behalf by people who still think him a dweeb but just can’t stand to be a part of any consensus. “Poor Barack,” they’ll say, “he’s a good man.”

  289. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Too late geoff. I got off the boat. All the way.

    You might say I lost my head.

    Purely as a matter of pragmatism though. I wouldn’t want you to think I was one of those purity demogogues who take their orders from the jungle.

  290. geoffb says:

    My avatar looks forward to a jungle meeting.

  291. Big Bang Hunter says:

    – I’ll be out on the Death star, working with 7 of 9 on some ambling pentameter.

  292. pdcroutons says:

    dan rooney, otr the rooney family don’t own the pittsburgh sreelers
    tom brady does
    booyah

  293. Ernst Schreiber says:

    It’ll be a while geoff, gravatar hates me too.

  294. Mike LaRoche says:

    Tom Brady’s on my fantasy team, so I had a great day.

    And the Seahawks won too!

  295. Big Bang Hunter says:

    – NE got lucky. Pittsburgh receivers dropped three very catchable touchdown passes.

  296. alppuccino says:

    Sounds good.

  297. Patrick Chester says:

    Well, my wordpress account still works. That’s good to know.

  298. Yackums says:

    Lessee if this here gravatar thing works.

  299. Golem14 says:

    Testing, testing… let’s see if this woiks.

  300. Swen says:

    291. sdferr posted on 11/14 @ 10:37 pm
    The thwacking is going to be coming so thick and fast the next few months I expect a sympathetic backlash on the idiot’s behalf by people who still think him a dweeb but just can’t stand to be a part of any consensus. “Poor Barack,” they’ll say, “he’s a good man.”

    No. No, he’s not. Anyone who uses the kind of tactics he has and thinks the way he does (to the extent that he “thinks” at all) is not a “good man”. But you’re right, the people who’ve been raging on him — me even — will start feeling sorry for him if he gets the beating he deserves over the next two years. That won’t save him though because the people administering the beating will be from the disillusioned left (hell hath no fury, etc.) and they possess neither compassion, mercy, nor a sense of moderation. They eat their own, but they’ll beat him like a pinata first.

    ***

    Okay, the avatars are way fun. I think I’ll go with the ‘big hat, no cattle’ look today.

  301. alppuccino says:

    I will never feel sorry for Obama, seeing as I think he’s put at least 10 billion from the stimulus in an offshore account. Of course, I also think Obama’s IQ barely crests 99, so you know.

    I’m a dude btw. I just need a haircut.

  302. Swen says:

    It’s starting:

    Although congressional Democrats will control the House for the lame-duck session, the party is frustrated at a lack of direction from a White House still figuring out its own next moves.

    Bets Obama will still be trying to figure it out Jan. 20, 2013, when they hand him his desk set at the White House door? Yet he’s “brilliant” and “talented”. Go figure.

    But come to think of it, what are the congressional Democrats complaining about? Obama let Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, et al. run amok for two years, demonstrating on several occasions that he had little idea what was in the legislation they were writing (of course, neither did they). And now they’re complaining about a lack of leadership from the White House?

    Let the circular firing squad begin! I’m makin’ popcorn….

    [Uhoh, embedded links break the preview thingy? Either that or it’s another HTML FAIL on my part. Here goes….]

  303. Swen says:

    Oh good, it’s the preview thingy. When things don’t work it’s usually me.

    304. alppuccino posted on 11/15 @ 6:46 am
    I will never feel sorry for Obama, seeing as I think he’s put at least 10 billion from the stimulus in an offshore account. Of course, I also think Obama’s IQ barely crests 99, so you know.

    I’m a dude btw. I just need a haircut.

    And a righteous dude at that! But just judging from my savings and investments, don’t you think we’ve all taken enough of a haircut already?

    Or perhaps it’s just that I don’t have much use for haircuts….

  304. Swen says:

    I’m not bald BTW, I wear it all off on the headboard….

  305. Swen says:

    I will admit I gots no neck though!

  306. You can use these tags: Blockquote, Italics, Boldface, Strikethrough, Link

    But not well.

  307. Swen says:

    309. Lost My Cookies posted on 11/15 @ 7:31 am
    You can use these tags: Blockquote, Italics, Boldface, Strikethrough, Link

    But not well.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLso0ZBqOi4

  308. Flynn says:

    Registered; not a deal-killer.

  309. McGehee says:

    I can even log in on my brand new iPod.

  310. mojo says:

    So what’s the deal with Paddyrico, anyway? Did the Dillo hump his cat or something?

  311. Diana says:

    Testing
    Testing

  312. NoisyAndrew says:

    Avatar seems to be working. Huzzah!

  313. rnabs says:

    Hey, what’s up? Word Press must hate me. It took a third email addy to get them to send me a password. Oh well. Here it goes. I think this was a great idea, Jeff.

  314. rnabs says:

    BTW, I’m the commenter formerly known as Obstreperous Infidel. I figured with all the change going around, I’d get in on the action.

  315. sleepygirl says:

    I think I’ve commented a grand total of three times over the years, but I had to show my support and register just on the principle (though I feel very tardy indeed being a day late to the discussion).

    Plus I had to say that the whole comment thread – watching as everyone registered, logged in, and discussed the preview / HTML codes / avatar development – was one of the most entertaining things I’ve read in a long time.

    I love this bar.

  316. Eric in Atlanta says:

    test. we love no trolls.

  317. […] FIVE – 11.13.10Pirates Cove‘The Demagogic Bloggers on the Right’Mind Numbed RobotProtein WisdomProtein WisdomProfessor Palin and the Class of ’12Republican Redefined‘President of the […]

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