Calling All Comments

by Hoke Smart on behalf of Murderati

Hello everyone.  For those of you expecting another fantastic insight into the life of Pari Noskin Taichert, I am sorry to disappoint.  However, today’s post is a pressing matter that means a great deal to the Murderati family.

My name is Hoke Smart, and I am the support guy behind Murderati.  I’ve been working with the group for almost a year now keeping things running smoothly on this site and through our social media outlets.  As many of you are currently aware, there have been a litany of issues related to posting comments in response to the threads published by your ‘Rati Authors.

First, I want to apologize for the troubles many of you have had making comments.  I know I speak for the entire group when I say that we enjoy reading the variety of comments and feedback each of you makes on a post.  It livens the discussion and helps promote future ideas for posts.  As a group, we have discussed at length the recent issues and I’ve been charged with trying to resolve this once and for all.

Second, I want to discuss the moderation mechanism for comments.  Most blog engines, including the one that is used by Murderati, employ some sort of moderation script.  This is to prevent an overdose of SPAM comments on blog entries by and large but these scripts sometimes filter out proper comments that are relative to the topic.  In our case, these comments get put in a hold state until I approve them from the backend of the site.  I am working on a better way for this moderation structure to work, but we need your help.

The point of today’s post is rather simple.  If you read this post, leave a comment, please.  The subject matter of your comment doesn’t really matter for this purpose.  Post a link to a favorite author’s site.  Provide a new home cooking recipe for us to attempt.  Offer a good wine selection for your favorite meal.  Today, the comments are the star of this post.

If you receive a notification that your comment is being held for approval, then I should find it when I access the backend of the site.  My goal is to collaborate with our blog engine provider to identify exactly why certain comments are moderated.  If your comment does not post for some reason or you receive any sort of error message, I would like to ask you to take an additional step.  Please send me an e-mail explaining what your comment was and what time you attempted to post.  Our provider can better assist us with this if they know when these issues occur and can review the logs to figure out what prevented a comment from publishing.

My e-mail address is smartacusLLc at gmail dot com and I’ll reply to let you know that I received the notice.

Once again, I apologize on behalf of Murderati for the recent issues and I encourage you to post whatever comment comes to mind so that we can hopefully remedy this problem on a more permanent basis.

Comments will remain open on this post through Sunday, June 17th.  Thanks in advance for participating and we appreciate you visiting Murderati.

Hoke Smart

44 thoughts on “Calling All Comments”

  4. Murderati

    Just as a general note to everyone, I will not likely approve any moderated comments for a while so that I can have them on the backend for our provider to review with me. Just know that they will be posted after further review. Thanks for understanding.

    Hoke Smart

  5. Sarah W

    Here's some links to test the system — no one has to try these, of course:

    My current state of mind set to music by the superlative Lou and Peter Berryman: http://youtu.be/mRaWEOwLveU

    A potato song Ear Worm by Cheryl Wheeler with a different type of link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=q7uyKYeGPdE

    And a tiny-URL to a QueryShark submission that I hope someone grabs and publishes ASAP, because it's so my kind of thing and the writer has it going on: http://tinyurl.com/ckhwmhm

  6. Richard Maguire

    Hello Hoke, and as a regular Murderati fan thanks for all your work.

    It is 16:08 CET on Monday June 11. Have a nice day.

  9. CarlC

    I confess I haven't been lurking here too much since Murderati stripped itself down from the 14 writers that occupied this space when I first learned about it. In my occasional visits since, I haven't noticed any difficulty in commenting, though those have not been frequent. Good luck, Hoke, in fixing the comment mechanics.

  11. Ronald Tierney

    I don't comment often. Sometimes they make it. A couple of times, they never appeared. So, best of luck. It's a great site. I visit five mornings a week.

  12. JJ

    I support anyone trying to deal with computer issues and smooth the way for us all. Love this blog, check it daily. Often too busy to comment but I read it — and recommend it.

  13. Pari Noskin

    Hi there,
    I'm making sure I can comment too. Usually I can't post from work due to, um, work, but am happy to help with the test.

    Hoke, thanks for all the good work you do.

    Everyone who is commenting: thanks for helping us — and for visiting the 'Rati!

  14. Allison Davis

    Hi Hoke,

    I had problems in two areas. One is that it just wouldn't post ("unable to post") and I would try over and over, use the "review" key because that sometimes worked and then maybe it would finally post. Also the time I put the link in one of them and it wouldn't post and you had to "release" it.

    Sometimes I give up and don't comment because I don't have the time to repost over and over…glad you are trying to get this fixed.

    It's 80 degress in SF today, I think they should declare it a holiday. We only get about three of these days a year.

  16. Lance C.

    I can't recall ever being able to successfully post a comment. I've had the same problem Allison mentioned. Let's see if this works…

  17. Schwartz, Stephen Jay

    I'll pitch in by adding a link to one of my favorite sites – TED, Ideas Worth Sharing. We'll see if this makes it through the moderation process: http://www.ted.com/

    Thanks again for all the work you do on the Murderati site, Hoke.

  18. Lisa Alber

    I've noticed that my comments are being held for awhile before appearing. However, last week I noticed that a comment with a link I'd include too forever to appear — not until the next day!

  21. Larry Gasper

    I don't comment as often as I should, but all my comments get thru. Maybe the computer just likes Canadians.:-)

  25. Stephen Jay Schwartz

    Okay, I posted a comment here about two hours ago and it still hasn't appeared. I included a link to the TED sight, so that might have stopped the process in its tracks.

    Sometimes my comments won't post unless I use a different "author" name. So, I'll juggle between "Stephen Jay Schwartz" and "Schwartz, Stephen Jay." Drives me a bit nuts.

  27. Robin McCormack

    Fiddle dee dee. I'll post a question. Did anyone see the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? Did you read the book before seeing it? I didn't read the book first and now feel the need to read itk because either I was really tired when we watched the movied or the plot was just a bit too convoluted.

  28. Robin McCormack

    Mercy, I don't remember putting in all those typos. Forgive me. And no word verification or other such things popped up, it just posted. Kind of refreshing if its meant to do that.

  30. Sarah W

    I posted three links (one tiny URL, two YouTube) this morning around 8:30am CST. It said it was accepted, but nothing so far.

    I'll send an e-mail , but wanted to tell Robin that I've read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (loved it) and saw the 1979 adaption about ten years ago (four words: Alec Guinness, otherwise meh).

    This month, my Hollywood Hype book Club is seeing the 2011 movie version, which I'm told differs even more from the book than the earlier adaption. But I'm only in it for Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy, anyway, so . . .

  31. Hoke Smart

    Thanks everyone for the comments posted so far…25 out of 30 submitted have cleared the moderation filters, so that's a positive sign. I've contacted our provider about the other 5 (including yours, Kristi) and hope to have a resolution soon.

    We appreciate your patience while we get these things worked out on our end.

    Hoke

  32. PD Martin

    Thanks to everyone for posting today! Like Allison, I sometimes get the 'unable to post' message. Sometimes it's fixed by logging in via Safari (I usually use Google Chrome) and sometimes I just copy the comment into Notepad and try again in a few hours!

  34. Stephen Jay Schwartz

    Robin – I read the book but did not see the film. I felt the book was slow and convoluted, as well. There were some wonderful moments and some great characters, but it just didn't stand up to the hype, in my humble opinion. And I'm a huge fan of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – both the novel and the Richard Burton film.

  35. Karen, NZ

    These comments are awesome, I don't comment v often, though really enjoy the posts and especially the comments – though not the very small print in this box.
    Thanks, Hoke.

  36. MitMoi.ItsMe

    I made the most fantastic Flat Iron Steak (also known as oyster blade steak in Oz) with wok fried green beans on Thursday night! … then I repurposed the left overs into a "BBQ Steak & New Potato Pizza"!!!

    It was amazing.

  37. Robin

    Now I'm hungry for eggplant and brownies. LOL!

    @sarah – yes, I definitely prefer the older movies so will be on the lookout for the alex guiness one.

    @stephen – I can handle books that are slow and convoluted, movies not so much especially when I feel like they are leaving something out. Putting The Spy on my to get list as well. I enjoy comparing books to movies. Just generally prefer reading the book first so I'll know what's going on. Which is why I'm making my son read Eragon before we watch the movie. That way I won't spend the whole movie answering questions. 🙂

  38. MJ

    Thank you, IT dude!

    So….I have too many unopened books at home right now and don't know which to start reading. What should I do? Toss a 8 sided die? Throw a dart?

  40. chris

    Recipe: Hearts full of youth. Hearts full of truth. Six parts gin to one part vermouth!

  41. Katherine Howell

    My post yesterday went up fine, and I'd never had trouble before, but now I've tried twice to post on Zoe's interview with Bruce and it keeps telling me I can't!

  42. KDJames

    Sorry to be late to respond! Hi Hoke, thanks so much for all your behind the scenes magic over here. I haven't had trouble commenting for quite a while. Well, not for any technical reason. Mostly it's due to lack of time, but also a definite sense that too few people actually "get" my admittedly too dry sense of humour. Ah, well.

    The times I remember difficulty posting comments was back when you all were using the captcha system. Is that the right term for it? When we had to type in a barely legible password. Since then, I've learned to copy my comment before posting.

    And I agree with whoever mentioned it above — the tiny font in the comment box is a killer. Not that I'm complaining. Just, you know, as long as you're messing around with stuff, what's one more item on the To Do list, right?

  43. flipsockgrrl

    I followed a link to Murderati because I was interested in Tess Gerritson's work. Added the site to my RSS reader. Discovered Zoe Sharp, read a review of her work elsewhere and rapidly inhaled the entire Charlie Fox series. PD Martin is next on my must-read list. Thanks to all the 'Rati for producing blog posts (and novels) that are consistently entertaining and rewarding.

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