From the backend, it looks like the commenting issues are resolved. This doesn’t mean there won’t be a twitch or two, but I only saw one comment in trash since last night. I know that AL and Adam and perhaps others rescued folks from moderation; that’s different than ending up in the trash! Last night, there were hundreds of recent comments in the trash, so there is clear progress.
I’ll keep an eye on things today as I can, but I think the Great Comment Crisis of Ought-17 is finally at an end! Huzzah!
ETA: FYWP. I’m turning off and on a few things…prepare for turbulence! :)
Open thread, and be sure to check out Raven’s pix tomorrow morning!
Alain the site fixer
this is a test; please someone else make a comment too!
SiubhanDuinne
This is me, commenting.
Alain the site fixer
Good. So turning off the comment-anti-spam tool didn’t block commenting completely.
I’m going to re-enable it; this may cause folks’ first subsequent comment to go into moderation, but once that’s been approved, things should – I repeat SHOULD – return to normal, comment-wise.
Alain the site fixer
Ugh. No joy. Akismet is unhappy. I’ll work on this as I can…opening trouble tickets!
Another Scott
How ’bout them Red Sox?
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
Will this comment go into, she wonders?
edit: apparently not. or if I am in moderation, it’s a secret from me.
Another Scott
Things are still broken in the thread downstairs. I blame Zuckerberg.
Cheers,
Scott.
Quaker in a Basement
How does the truth fare where thee lives?
bystander
@SiubhanDuinne: That was great. Now do the one where you’re trapped in an invisible box and can’t get out.
Another Scott
@Another Scott: The “Open Thread – Standing together…” thread, that is.
Cheers,
Scott.
MattF
Well, since there’s no topic, there’s an opportunity for a very off-topic comment.
The takeaway from this is that Alaska has a law against unlawful dental acts.
SiubhanDuinne
@bystander:
Oh, I hate to compete with the experts. Y’all are so much better at that than I am.
Edit: Ooh, ooh, ooh! How exciting! I’m in moderation with everyone else!
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Scott: They suck. How ’bout dem Cards?
mai naem mobile
I don’t want to sound like a bitch but why would a US citizen travel to North Korea?
schrodingers_cat
@mai naem mobile: They are a sucker for punishment or they are bored or they have NK origins.
MobiusKlein
Lurk
OzarkHillbilly
@mai naem mobile: Probably the same reason they would travel anywhere else: Curiosity.
mai naem mobile
Barack Obama appearing at UChicago today for first post POTUS appearance. Expect twitter meltdown at 3AM from Dolt.
Old Dan and Little Anne
19th!
Alain the site fixer
I’ve got a ticket in now, so hopefully our hosting provider can adjust something. The latest WordPress update I did yesterday afternoon seems to have triggered this, so please bear with us as this issue gets resolved!
Major Major Major Major
@mai naem mobile: @schrodingers_cat: I know a couple honest to god white American sympathizers who’ve been there.
JPL
@mai naem mobile: At this link there is info on how to live stream his speech.
link
JPL
@Alain the site fixer: I’m awaiting moderation. In the olden days, there was a number associated with the post in moderation. It doesn’t say which number but it appears to be 21
Now I’m back.. it assigns a number once it releases you from mod hell. number 22
Aleta
@mai naem mobile: >Expect twitter meltdown<
"two fake news polls released yesterday, while containing some very positive info, were totally wrong …"
(And the next tweet is interrupted, as though someone grabbed him right before he delivered an ultimatum)
Woodrowfan
FIRST!!!
zhena gogolia
@mai naem mobile:
According to the NYT, Melania, by telephone from NYC, is keeping his Twitter finger in check.
Alain the site fixer
@JPL: I’m monitoring the spam, trash, and moderation buckets to free folks up as soon as I can. I had to undo some restoration as I’d restored an asshole’s comments who we don’t like so if you saw some junk temporarily appear before I re-banished it, my apologies.
clay
@mai naem mobile: They’re a former basketball star?
Ohio Mom
@mai naem mobile: I’ve had the same question. There is a young fella from a few suburbs over locked up over there. I also wonder what his parents were thinking. Not nice of me, I know.
I’m not sure about him but I think a few of them go over to give out bibles. They think they can manage that without being caught. So deluded o that account, in addition to being deluded about the importance of giving out bibles.
Alain: good luck! And many thanks!
ArchTeryx
Kind of picking up from the last open thread.
People have the stereotype of the French being unsmiling and cold. They aren’t. What they are is trolls.
…and that’s a GOOD thing!
One of my mother’s most recent experiences was talking to a millionaire friend of my sisters, someone who’s a master floral artists and has done floral arrangements for the Royal family of England. He opens his conversation with, “You Americans are so backward. You have only two political parties and they are much the same!”
He wasn’t doing it to take the classic Nader/Berniebro line. He knew that was the classic Berniebro line – the French have been dealing with purity ponies since the Revolution! – and wanted to get a reaction out of my mother. What followed wasn’t an angry shouting match, but a vigorous debate on parliamentary vs. first-past-the-post systems such as we, the U.K. and Canada has. They both learned from each other. (Parliamentary systems have more parties and better party discipline, but coalitions are as messy as they are here, and as Labour in the U.K. has shown, centrist parties with majority support can still get sclerotic and fall on very bad times).
p.a.
test. check. test.
ETA: looks ok. let’s try dirty words (ht Ball Four) shitfuck. fuckshit.
Alain the site fixer
@p.a.: check. test. check.
ETA the issue isn’t you or a trigger; the service is flaking out and so messages that aren’t checked for anti spam are dumped into moderation, an improvement over auto-trashing as was happening yesterday!
JPL
@Alain the site fixer: Thanks for your help.
Alain the site fixer
@JPL: no worries, just frustrated that I’m effectively sitting on my hands waiting for help! On the other hand, Hosting Matters is awesome and has never failed to solve our issues.
OzarkHillbilly
@Alain the site fixer: You mean to say you don’t hate me after all?
Alain the site fixer
@OzarkHillbilly: Not at all – I love you man! For whatever reason, perhaps because I spent a couple of years living in Columbia and have a good friend who spent many years in and around the Lake of the Ozarks, or perhaps just because I love gooey butter cake and Emo’s Pizza and even Provel, I feel a certain kinship with you.
Alain the site fixer
Issue seems to be resolved. Hosting Matters poked around and found no issues and their test worked and now the backend error message is no longer showing so….perhaps that released the “clog” and so now the pipe is flowing more freely. I’ll keep an eye on things over the day but must run a quick errand as no milk = unhappy wife when she gets home from work and wants her mid-pm cappuccino.
Woodrowfan
So the internet really is a series of tubes!!!
Alain the site fixer
@Woodrowfan: yeah, as I was reviewing that comment pre-publish, I smiled at that realization! And I was also reminded of a Futurama episode where they refer to familiar summations of technical solutions. That show really was brilliant on so many levels.
OzarkHillbilly
@Alain the site fixer:
Wow, you just hit the Holy Trinity of the Church of Ozarkana.
Alain the site fixer
When I live places, I try to explore and learn what the locals like, and for a college student with a car from the East coast, STL was a great escape from pokey Columbia. Which isn’t so pokey any more, I realize.
When my wife drove/moved from Colorado to Virginia a few years ago, I encouraged her to stop and get Emo’s if the timing worked and she did. She didn’t see the magic, but the staff complimented her on listening to my advice and trying it! If only she could have stopped in Columbia for some Shakespeares or KC for Arthur Bryants…
Alain the site fixer
ugh issue isn’t fixed
OzarkHillbilly
@Alain the site fixer:
If Mama ain’t happy, you’re fucked. And not in the fun way.
NorthLeft12
Just read an article on Digby’s Hullabaloo and the final punchlines;
Unfortunately, this is also pretty true for most human beings. I think this is our [not just the US of A] greatest challenge; to push back against all bigoted and hateful propaganda and most importantly, the people who push it. The anti-Limbaugh effort is a shining example of what unrelenting, precise, and widespread pressure can do. Targeting his sponsors and connecting them to the hateful messages he spews is a brilliant strategy. This is a roadmap for how to confront all of these d’bags. Make their financial backers own them and their warped philosophies.
Alain the site fixer
Ok got new service level and new API key. Fingers crossed.
Alain the site fixer
@Alain the site fixer: hopes dashed. Working with support now.
Another Scott
@Alain the site fixer: Naked links:
https://www.google.com
Worky?
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Another Scott: Yay!
Blockquote?
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Another Scott: Yay!
Cheers,
Scott.
Alain the site fixer
Yeah, don’t celebrate too soon. It seems that some comments get processed normally and many don’t.
Alain the site fixer
Perhaps your jubilation appeased the grumpy gremlins. It looks like the issue is resolved, but I’ve been fooled three times so far as it’s somewhat intermittent. I’ll keep an eye on things.
Another Scott
@Alain the site fixer: Heh.
Casino! Watson!! ;-p
Fingers crossed.
Cheers,
Scott.
Alain the site fixer
Issue remains. Still working on it.
J R in WV
@Alain the site fixer:
Good luck, man, as intermittent issues are the worst!! In cars, computers, skulls, everywhere you look, there are intermittent problems that are way hard to solve.
J R in WV
Well, that worked. How about a naked link
http://gizmodo.com/
And some pharma words, like delete, delete. Bet that works, as in bound to get moderated.