Please Log In or Register

You are not currently logged in.  Please log in or register to access full site features.

THE HELP DESK

Howdy folks.  This is the place to post technical problems and concerns,  so that we can track them and guide them to resolution.  Please feel free to post any issue you have,  but keep in mind that our staff is stretched rather thin at the moment. 

Comments

I posted a reply to a comment earlier today. It appeared, as far as I could tell, and was there when I loaded the page. Gone now.

Dear "Anonymous,"
Sorry for not noticing your request,  earlier.
You seem to have replied to David's comment re: his USNWR article,  below. 
This comment has been unpublished.
Please note that Eph(b)Log's services are available only to registered users.  Anonymous commenting is provided at this point,  purely as a convenience to new users and/or users who became used to a non-authenticated system.  Anonymous users must leave a valid email address (which you did not) and respond to that address if emailed.  We reserve the right to unpublish and/or delete anonymous comments at our sole discretion,  and without notice.
As well, comments which are abusive,  malicious,  defamatory or just plain ignorant may also be unpublished at the discretion of anyone with moderator status,  for further staff review.  I believe your comment would have been unpublished under this standard.
If you would like to submit your comment again,  I suggest you register for an account and rephrase your comment in a way that raises,  not lowers,  the level of discourse.
Best,
Ken Thomas '93 (qua 'root' pro temp)

David's picture

I created a new post on US News Rankings, but nothing I could find to do --- making the weight very negative, making it sticky --- would cause it to appear on the first page. Advice?

1kenthomas's picture

Hi David,
It's really simple.  You created a "Page" not a "Story."  This is the same as in WordPress,  except that the distinction there was between Pages and Posts (or such). 
Pages are for "static content,"  and do not normally allow comments or show up on the "Front Page."  If you had chosen a Page in WordPress,  it also would not have shown up on the Front Page.  Unlike in WordPress,   there is a function (tab on the content) to convert contents between types,  and in this case I have done so.
I strongly suggest a 'lede image' for posts,  as it provides graphical identification and we are able to control sizing consistency in a way that was not possible in WordPress.
As for weights,  as the explanatory video comments,  our current weight target for the frontpage is -27.  I think we will want to move that to -25 or -20 to provide a more effective tool for ordering.
Best,
Ken

David's picture

When I create a new page, I don't see an option for specifying when it should appear in the main thread. Am I missing something or is this decision handled elsewhere?

 

Requiring word verification for every comment (even for those already logged in) may cause a decrease in the number of comments.

We have two levels of security/spam protection at the moment,  Mollum and CloudFlare.  Both will present a "Captcha" human verification challenge in some cases,  depending on the history of the IP you are connecting from and other factors.

Mollum should not challenge verified (logged-in) users.  CloudFlare's service will challenge users if it detects a security threat from the IP address you are using.  If you encounter this challenge,  you may leave a note and we will periodically review and whitelist IPs,  as well as review security settings.

Note to the personal at Deloitte who left a cute note but no name on June 1st:  you have a spambot running on your machine.

1kenthomas's picture

Whoops-- note that authors were not always able to bypass Mollom protection ("word verification") until now.  This should now be corrected and verified author accounts will not be challenged.

Also note,  in case it was not clear above,  that there are various fine-grained adjustments we can make to both of these services,   in order to respond to concerns.   Our current security level via CloudFlare is a result of previous attacks on the site,  for instance,  and can be adjusted to balance security with convenience.

Hello David,

Look for "publishing options" in the bottom left of the story creation screen,  then "Publish to Front Page."  I'll have some graphics for you shortly,  or you can look at the guide (link in left sidebar).

1kenthomas's picture

HI again David,

Here are some images which may help:

Notes:

1) "Published" means something like "publically available to all users in the system."  Unpublished content will only be visible to a limited number of users wish appropriate permissions.  Unlike other systems,   publishing does not necessarily mean that content will be visible anywhere-- though it will be on the internet.

2) "Sticky at top of lists" is one way to move items towards the top of queues to make sure they are more visible.  Since we're currently promoting a good number of items,  you'll need to use "weights" as well.

3) "Weight" is one system for making more fine-grained adjustments to item ordering.  Lighter items float to the top.  This is just one of many possible systems-- sorry,  I don't have a drag-and-drop reordering system that will work here (yet)l.

Mom '11 reports that the "Eph Planets" feeds seem to contain old items.

1kenthomas's picture

Hi Mom '11,

Many of our 100+ feeds from Eph-related sources were broken or not working. 

Currently,  I am converting these feeds to a system which will allow us to permanently archive the contents.  Instead of scripting the converstion,  I am working manually so that I personally look at and review what each is.  I've made it to the "Bs" !

This means that the "planet" feed system you see on the left sidebar will eventually go away,  to be replaced by a more robust system which will provide a permanent internet archive/backup of all Eph-related content.

As I do this,  I have been correcting and restoring the older feed system,.  As a result,  you may see items on the left sidebar which are quite old.  This reflects that we have not polled these sources in some time,  often,  in years.  This problem should go away as we convert and transition to the new system,  and then make it available.

Please let us know if you have any other questions regarding our aggregation of Eph-related content and future plans.

Best,

KT

Several users have expressed concerns re: the taxonomy & categorization system

An anonymous user has reported issues with text-shadow in our current theme,  via Speak Up!

Mom '11 reports that the WYSIWYG editor is not appearing in Safari on iPads.  This is a known issue that we are working to resolve.

1kenthomas's picture

Unfortunately,  Apple has not provided correct support for WYSIWYG text editors on the IPad.  Apple posted an update to this issue 3 days ago,  so it may be possible to have the editor work in the near future on the iPad OS. 

Until then,  the text input box on the iPad is "plain HTML."  You may enter a paragraph return in "plain HTML" using the <p /> tag.

According to sources at Apple,  this functionality will not be available until iOS 5.x (later this year).

Note that due to recently bringing EphBlog.com back online,  we are experiencing unusually high traffic,  mostly "spammers."  We expect to resolve this issue shortly.

We have made a few changes,  including installing advanced caching mechanisms.  EB/EL seem to be loading quickly from high-speed/low latency internet connections.  We remain under unusually high load (approx. 300 simultaneous users).