Comments

I've started to shut down commenting on posts older than a year, and maybe even just stuff older than a month. It's going to be a piecemeal process because Blogger doesn't seem to have a universal way of updating all the 5,000+ posts on this blog by date, so I can't just reset them all to disallow new comments at once. And with over 5,000 posts... well, I don't like going through and updating one by one, but that seems to be what I'll have to do.

Maybe that will stop the avalanche of spam I get, maybe it won't. A lot of it is posted on older posts. They still won't get through my moderation, but whenever someone attempts to post spam on an older post I'll update that post to reject new comments.

I'm hoping that after almost a year at my "new" job, I can start to re-balance my life and get back to a little light blogging, a little light Aquaman fan stuff and maybe some other stuff that fell by the wayside while I learned how to be a reporter.

Ego Feeding Time at the Blog

I've added one of Blogspot's less useful "features" to my blog. I don't know how long it will remain, because it's a clumsy and poor implementation of a what actually is a pretty good idea. If you have Javascript enabled (which, in general, you shouldn't), you should be able to see a check box at the bottom of each of my posts with the words "Feed My Ego: Click if you appreciated this blog entry." followed by a number in parenthesis.

This is my version of the "Reaction Button" that Blogger added to their blogs a few years ago. I wanted a "Like" button, but didn't want to link to Facebook to get it. So I took the reactions, which are actually designed to allow you to have multiple reactions to an entry, and just put one option instead of 3 or 4 in.

Again, I'm not sure if it will remain on my blog for very long. It doesn't look great, and there's no way to customize it. The counts are a little too easy to reset. And it's javascript, which is blocked by most responsible web browsers anymore. If I find a better way to do this, I'll probably use it. In the meantime, feel free to click it and see what happens.

Comments

I will not pass through anonymous comments that are clearly from spammers. You gotta be more creative than that. And if you don't sign a name to an anonymous comment (or at least an online handle) then it's not happening, sorry.

But it has been entertaining reading some of the garbage that spammers think I'll fall for...

Commenting Issues

I'm aware that some people are having troubles posting comments to this blog. It appears to be a bug in the way Google's Blogger Commenting system works, but beyond that I'm not certain what is causing it. I've adjusted some settings and played with the template a little to see if it helps, so if you've had your comments disappear, please try posting one now.

One suggested fix is for the person doing the commenting to enable third-party cookies in Firefox. That would be under Tools --> Options --> Privacy and click "accept third-party cookies". Apparently Google uses some sort of cookie to check your identity and it'll kaput if you have that disabled.

So. Try to comment. My comments are still moderated, so it'll take awhile to show up, but I could use people testing it. Thanks.

Update: Spammers, I know this will disappoint you, but I *still* won't pass through your comments. You are the reason I moderate them.

Current Spam Attack

I've been getting a lot of comments that have a very generic "I liked this post" type of comment, followed by a long series of periods ......... which are actually links to a spam site. Anyone else getting these right now? I've had to delete them from a bunch of my blogs.

Comments Are Down?

Apparently Haloscan has been purchased by a company that didn't bother to test their new code before converting old Haloscan users against their will (and charging them money as well), so my commenting is apparently down for the moment until I bother to update my code to Blogger's commenting system. All old comments appear to be lost somewhere in the transfer... and even if I could get at them I cannot upload them into Blogger's system, so they are gone.

So if you have something to say... well, it may take awhile before I can get that working again. I wasn't planning on doing any coding over the holiday, but the new owners of Haloscan seem to prefer hitting people with crap just when they haven't got the time for it. All the more reason to finally give in and go to Blogger's comments. Unfortunately, this means I've got to update at least four, maybe five or six, blogs to get rid of Haloscan. *sigh*

UPDATE: I think I've got Blogger's commenting system working now. Please feel free to comment a bunch to see if I'm right. I'm trying to keep moderation on due to the amount of comment spam I get, but maybe the "new" system will keep some of it away. So... comment, people!

On Comment Moderation...

I moderate all of my comments.

Like Chris, I get so much spam that if I didn't moderate, half the comments (or more) on my blog would be spam. I also moderate so I'm sure I don't miss any comments that people post. I don't get a lot of real comments. Most of what hits my queue is spam. After deleting the spam, I look at what's left, if anything... any personal attacks go into the bit bucket, and what's left goes onto the blog.

While I don't always support Valerie's opinions, I support her right to express them in any way she feels, up to and including deleting dissenting opinions *on her own blog*. As long as she doesn't reach across the internet and shut up dissenting opinions everywhere, I'm cool. What each of us does in our own corner of the 'net is up to us. Not to the masses of people who may or may not read us.

Haloscan In-Line Commenting

As many of you know, I've been using Haloscan for my commenting system for many years now. I've survived through upgrades to blogger and various other bits of nonsense, enjoying the control Haloscan gives me (I get a LOT of comment spam).

The newest feature of Haloscan is the ability to put your comments on your page, in-line. I've almost done it on my blog now. Check out this note to see what I mean (If you don't see anything, either you've got Javascript turned off or Haloscan is down for the moment). The only problem I have is that I can't get the comment box itself to work in the in-line post. I have some Javascript on the comments that conflicts with Blogger, I think.

I also finally figured out how to link to the comments even if Javascript is turned off, so even the super-cautious should see a "Comments" link on every post now. No doubt I'm the last person using Haloscan to have figured this one out.

I thought I'd turn this into a blog post, even though it's probably boring you all and driving off the few readers I have, because there are a couple of things I'm not allowed to blog about right now that are eating me up from the inside.

I Get Letters

Wow. I just received a rather irate e-mail from someone who claims to be a "loyal reader" of my blog. With permission, as given in the note itself, I'm going to post some excerpts from it and answer them publicly. What I don't answer here I've answered privately.

First up:

You claim to be a comics blog and you post about all kinds of other stupid stuff and you don't post about the big comic book stories.

Whew. There's a powerful little rant. I'll try to answer all the bits there.

One: I've never claimed this is a comics blog, at least not exclusively. I've accepted the title when it's been given to my blog. But I blog about a bunch of stuff, from Flying Spaghetti Monsters to Politics. It's just that my main interest in life is comic books, so that's where most of my writing attention is. And it's true, I've moved most of my political rants to another blog, where I could shout more freely, but I honestly don't feel compelled to hold back if I don't want to. This blog is about me, a truly egotistical creation, so it will reflect my interests.

Two: I admit to blogging about some stupid things. I like some really stupid things. Like certain comic books. But, again, that's all part of my interests.

Three: "Big comic book stories"? Like what? Again, I post about my own interests. If some story in the comic book world doesn't interest me, why should I force myself to post something about it, especially when dozens of other fans are already filling that need? I don't read every comic book (I probably would if someone sent them all to me, but they don't and therefore I don't). I didn't read Civil War, so I hardly feel right in commenting about it.

And if you are talking about stories about comic book professionals... again, I cover the ones that interest me. I've been interested in, say, the Unscrewed Saga, and reported on it. But just because I don't report on, say, the Friends of Lulu Empowerment Fund fiasco doesn't mean I'm not paying attention. It just means I felt I had nothing to add on the subject.

Moving on:

You are a girl blogger why don't you report about girls in comics?

Excuse me? Just what is that supposed to mean? Because of my gender, I'm supposed to focus on females? Or are you upset that I'm not a feminist blogger who complains constantly about the portrayal of women in comics? I really don't understand this complaint.

Look, this is a touchy subject with me. I care about the portrayal of women in comic books. I care deeply about the treatment of women in the comic book field. But I don't feel I need to spend all my time crusading about it. It often feels like I'm beating a dying horse when I join the chorus of cries about women in comics. It feels, to me, like the right path should be obvious. It pains me to point out the obvious. I know I shouldn't shirk the burden, but I can't help but feel it's sexist for people to expect me to fight that fight just because I'm a woman.

And, frankly, I don't feel like I'm a terribly eloquent person, so I'd rather link to those that are and give a little "me too" than put up inadequate words. I like to think that if there weren't already so many excellent female bloggers arguing those points that I would step into the void. I like to think that if there was no one else, I would take up the torch. I don't know if I would, but thank goodness there are a lot of great feminist bloggers out there in the comic book world already and the point is moot. So, just because I'm a "girl" doesn't mean I'm going to be girly. I'm going to be myself.

I'm going to skip a couple of other somewhat legit complaints to focus on one last part of the note:

Why are you posting Aquaman reviews on the Aquaman site and on your blog?

I consider this a completely legitimate complaint for the handful of unfortunate people who check both this blog and my Aquaman site daily. There are a few solutions to this, and I'm going to ask anyone who has bothered to read this far for your opinions. I'll abide by the majority opinion as posted in comments to this blog entry (in other words, no e-mail on this one).

Should I:

• (Option 1) Continue to post my Ripples Through Time on both my Aquaman site and here, as I've been doing for the last few months.
• (Option 2) Post my Ripples Through Time posts ONLY on my Aquaman site, and post a daily link to that post here on this blog.
• (Option 3) Post my Ripples Through Time posts ONLY on my Aquaman site, and nothing about them here on this blog.

Vote now! Option 1, 2, or 3. After a few days, I'll look at the tally and make a decision based on the votes.

Announcement and Linkages

Well, I've done a lot of behind-the-scenes work on my new domains over the last couple of days, and it's now time to officially announce that I have a new home on the web! Yep, if you visit Gjovaag.com you'll find a list of links to my and Eric's various websites, which will grow as we finish migrating sites to the new host. Heck, poor hubby-Eric hasn't really even had a chance to start migrating his site over yet. In any case, the Aquaman website is now moved to aqua.gjovaag.com, which might be a little easier to remember than the old URL, but harder to spell!

You can also now e-mail me at my name. Heh. That's the most fun bit of all. And yes, I'll be switching over to that e-mail for personal correspondence. My excite.com e-mail will stay active, as will my gmail account, and I'll continue to check both of those daily.

I'm also going to point out the donation link on Gjovaag.com. At this point, with the amount of space and bandwidth we need, if someone donates $10 through that link, they've paid for a FULL MONTH of our web hosting. That's really cool! I'm hoping that once Eric has migrated his Oz website over to the new host and puts up a donation link there that enough grateful Oz fans will donate to keep us up and running for a few months extra each year.

Anyway, that's my news... on to the links at large...

You may have noticed a little link on the bottom of my Haloscan comments. It goes to CoComment.com, which tracks comment threads you have participated in. I didn't think I would be all that interested in the service, but it's come in amazingly handy for keeping track of comments I'm making on other people's blogs (who use Haloscan, at least). Anyway, I thought I'd point it out and explain what it is for anyone who might have missed it.

That's where my boss is at. And Peter Fries gives me the first look at an Aquaman toy to be shown off there. Ooooooh!

Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #89.

Mike Sterling is also a sinner.

Without copying would we have any culture?

Get free sourdough starter. I like sourdough, but I'm not much of a connoisseur, so I'm not sure if I want to go through all the steps to make this stuff work. Still, it's tempting.

Breaking news: Young Woman Dead in her Prime. Another complaint about the news media in this country. Via filkertom.