Site Maintenance

‘Morning to all Juicers and a fond “have a great time” to those going to the LA Meetup later today.

I am performing a few quick updates. I have not yet fixed the Read More function but will check to see if/what the theme support folks have to say if I get a chance later.

More pressingly, valued failed-candidate Baud reported that the mobile site is/has been flaking, and someone else also reported this. I just renewed the license which had just expired, and am going to update it, WordPress itself, and a few other plugins in a few minutes.

This should all go smoothly, but should there be a hiccup or two, please say two curses at Alain, and the site will be OK. I have made some notes from the post late last week, but for anyone else, please feel free to report issues, ask for features, etc. I’m not promising to fix them all but will see what I can do over the next few days.

Here’s praying for a miracle tomorrow and that we somehow avoid the dystopian future rushing towards us all.

Quick Site Updates IncomingPost + Comments (72)

Folks,
I just fixed an issue that made some comments disappear for a user or two. And that made me want to reach out to everyone so that I can improve your Balloon Juice commenting experience.

So – when/if a comment disappears or goes into moderation, please use the contact form to send me a note and let me know:
1) Your nym
2) the time the comment was made
3) the words used
4) the email address you used with your nym for the comment

I’m finding that comments that disappear don’t really disappear – they trigger the blacklist and go into the trash. Which gets filled up with real junk and then emptied. This is triggered by keywords; some made things go to moderation, some to the trash. If you let me know what you said, I can try to fix this annoying issue.

So really, it hasn’t been FYWP some of the time, it’s been poorly-constructed blacklists to stop spam and assholes, mostly assholes.

ETA: Omnes/Steeplejack/Adam, I think I fixed the issue from yesterday but should you re-encounter it, please let me know!

Additional information: I removed sheeple last night; I just removed Watson. So both should work now. Rejoice!

Quick Tech Note Regarding CommentsPost + Comments (40)

Folks, the update hit last afternoon and it was pretty undramatic. There are likely a few issues here and there, so please use this post to report them. I will be working on other things this morning and early pm, but will check this post before I consider my work done.

There is no guarantee that I will fix everything or do what is asked, but I will see what I can do for things that make sense or are truly bad. Thanks to all for your kind words and help in identifying remaining issues.

ETA: Back button is fixed and HTML help hidden for now. I know there are a few small issues to solve on the mobile site too, but since most users access the desktop site, it’s my priority right now.

Update Done: Use This Post To Report IssuesPost + Comments (96)

Folks,
The updates are all done, and there’s still some customizations to apply and some font/design tweaks. Mostly stuff you won’t notice.

So, this post is here for you to report issues. I’ll make another post tomorrow morning to get the day crew’s answers as well.

I have addressed many of the issues reported in the previous posts, but many are not yet addressed. Some will remain unaddressed at this time.

Most importantly, due to the great help of the Hosting Matters team, we’ve now fixed the update mechanism to take care of some pesky file permission issues and built a failsafe so future updates will result in at most a 5 minute permission limbo.

Tonight/tomorrow, I hope to go back in and retro-add Adam’s National Security posts to the new Silverman on Security Quicklink category, and I hope to convert many past recipes into the new widget.

I may or may not respond tonight to comments in this post, but they will most assuredly be read and considered tomorrow!

Updates Done, Please Report Issues You EncounterPost + Comments (62)

ETA: Site was updated with the excellent help of Hosting Matters’ excellent support folks, our procedure is fixed for the next time. I’ve still lots of tweaking to do. Recipe widget coming live soon.

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I’m still puttering about trying to figure out why the Read More links don’t create the anchor like they’re supposed to, but I will be launching the updated files, new plugins, etc. shortly.

I’m using a software repository to apply changes already working on my test server, but last time I did this, there were some permission issues. If they re-occur, I will note them and will have the Hosting company fix it as that is out of my control. Their script, made after the last update/twitch, resets permissions on files, so finger-crossed, there should be no issues.

Worst case scenario, the site is wacky for five minutes.  Hopefully that won’t happen.

Once the new files are all good, and the dust settles, there should be a few welcome tweaks:

1. A recipe plugin to make using them, copying them, finding them, etc. much easier.
2. Adam has his own “Silverman on Security” section from Quicklinks.
3. Bare link issue should be solved.
4. This should mean that editing comments going into moderation is solved. If not, speak up!
5. I made the video add force HTTPS so no more security warnings about mixed content. This may break some work-arounds, so if it is an issue, make sure you’ve adjusted your filter to https
6. Fixed mobile site icons being “vertical columned”
7. Once main site updates hit, I will update the mobile sit and plugin so that will be a bit later this pm.
8. Amazon ad will be added to mobile site and I will make a few tweaks to it.
9. Blogroll opens in same window because if it forces a new window, many devices block popups. So error reports galore, not to mention bad user experience. Deal with it or shift-click to open it in a new window/tab!
10. Looking at adding CAPTCHA or such to Contact FrontPager form; we’ve been getting too much crap.
11. Arrow controls on main site – there are hovering arrow controls to jump to top/bottom and prev/next post on the main desktop site.  They are great tools, so please use them if you don’t already.
12. There are no arrow controls on the mobile site but you can us links to jump to comments, and there are visual controls for next/prev post.  The one thing missing is arrow to jump to top of screen, but for mobile devices, there are simple built in shortcuts:
    1. iOS: double-tap top of screen and it will jump to top of browser page
    2. Android: There is a simple technique. I was wrong, the technique I read about was BS. There is no jump to top outside of some apps that you can get, but I can’t recommend them as I do not know them.  Apparently you can swipe to top of window much faster in Android than iOS. I will get some solution soon for the mobile site.
13. I plan a few slight font tweaks and such, but that’s pretty much it.

Hope the changes are good to you all, but please feel free to use this post to complain, troubleshoot, etc.  I hope to push the changes about 3 Eastern. Be well.

ETA: The site is secured using HTTPS, using an SSL certificate from the Let’s Encrypt initiative. I have one Opera user reporting some errors about the certificate authority, but I am mentioning this in case anyone else gets weird certificate notifications.  We’re legit, and I suspect that the Opera version is old, or that the list of CAs that install is using is outdated but not updated.  Similar issues may occur to users of other older browser versions or OSes without recent builds. But please do report any SSL/certificate issues.

Prepare For Turbulence: Site Update Rolling Out SoonPost + Comments (52)

Folks,

I hit a snag or two (one involving the “reply” button not appearing!) and I don’t have enough free time today to get it all fixed and pushed out. Normally, I’d do it over the weekend, but with family coming into town soon, I won’t have much free time this weekend!

Thanks for your understanding.

ETA: Betty – sorry to temporarily bigfoot you, I put this in the past so as to encourage your post! :)

Site Update Postponed Until MondayPost + Comments (4)

Note: I am reposting this for the night readers.

Folks,

I’ll be updating the site, plugins, and tweaking a few settings later this week.  After last night’s SSL certificate issue, I’ve dusted off the test server and will soon be hard at work.

I’ve not been around much the post couple of months, so consider me out of the loop. Are there any issues, tweaks, suggestions, etc. I need to hear before I begin work? I’m not planning on changing much styling but with the theme update, there might be some slight appearance changes here and there.  So since I’ll be digging into all kinds of stuff, I just wanted to get your suggestions/peeves so I can see what can be done.

Besides the main updates, I’m planning a special area for National Security posts by Adam and his associates, and also hope to get a good recipe plugin going to snazz up that aspect of things a bit.  And snazz in this case means order and standardized layout, not fancy gimmicks!

I’ll be reading the night crew’s feedback tomorrow, and will work on what I can from this, and the earlier, post.

As always, I’m prepared for lots of grousing, but let’s focus on trying to make things better! If you have specific lines of CSS or what have you that you’d like me to  alter, please let me know the specifics and I’ll see what I can do.  The less analysis and thinking I need to do to tweak it and make you happy the better – it will ensure your change gets done.

I will be hitting the hay sometime soon, so don’t expect me to respond to your comments tonight, but I will respond in the morning, so please do check back.

‘Night all, and good day where appropriate.

Site Updates Coming Later This WeekPost + Comments (25)

Folks,

I’ll be updating the site, plugins, and tweaking a few settings later this week.  After last night’s SSL certificate issue, I’ve dusted off the test server and will soon be hard at work.

I’ve not been around much the post couple of months, so consider me out of the loop. Are there any issues, tweaks, suggestions, etc. I need to hear before I begin work? I’m not planning on changing much styling but with the theme update, there might be some slight appearance changes here and there.  So since I’ll be digging into all kinds of stuff, I just wanted to get your suggestions/peeves so I can see what can be done.

Besides the main updates, I’m planning a special area for National Security posts by Adam and his associates, and also hope to get a good recipe plugin going to snazz up that aspect of things a bit.  And snazz in this case means order and standardized layout, not fancy gimmicks!

I’ll be in and out of this site today and will make another one this evening to get the night crew’s feedback. I will definitely refer to both before I get too deep into the mud.

As always, I’m prepared for lots of grousing, but let’s focus on trying to make things better! If you have specific lines of CSS or what have you that you’d like me to  alter, please let me know the specifics and I’ll see what I can do.  The less analysis and thinking I need to do to tweak it and make you happy the better – it will ensure your change gets done! :)

Site Updates Coming Later This WeekPost + Comments (42)

Note: Problem is solved. Sorry for bumps getting there but we future-proofed it and setup Let’s Encrypt.

Hosting Matters, our webhost, are great, so please consider them for your hosting needs. They are responsive, on the ball, and friendly whenever we need help!

Something is preventing Firefox from accessing our site (at least as I’ve heard and tested in Windows). No idea why this issue is suddenly upon us, nothing should have changed. Our certificate is valid for months and works fine on iOS Safari and chrome and Edge. Just Firefox having the issue, for now that I see.

For anyone with Android devices and using Firefox can you access the site, mobile, normal, or both/neither?

Trying to see if this is a Firefox issue related to an updated list of OCSP servers that omits our SSL certificate provider. It is listed, but perhaps some mis-config on their back-end is causing this; I’m still researching.

More soon.

Otherwise, open thread. I’ll be posting a tech thread soon to gather complaints for another round of updated and enhancements.

ETA: I did review your comments in Adam’s thread, so don’t worry about re-posting!

ETA: Firefox won’t work until I get this solved. It’s an issue with the SSL certificate provider, just have to go through the hoops to re-certify. Might go ahead and change to CertBot/Let’s Encrypt, if Host is cool with that since that was in the plan before December.

tl;dr Firefox may be ka-jiggered for a few more hours.

Tech Issues With FirefoxPost + Comments (73)

Anyone out there with any cafepress/graphic skills? We really need to update the Balloon Juice store, which has been languishing for a while now. I thought about working on it in the past, but I would just get upset about Tunch and I am not creative in that way. I would like to update it though, and we need to start on the BJ Calendar for 2017. I will set up an email for pics later today.

I was thinking about adding a Team Walter line, with that picture of him smiling. Might be good for raising some money for MARC, our official charity.

Any thoughts/volunteers?

Call for VolunteersPost + Comments (50)