Reading TAE
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I miss the old blogspot scroll-down comments. It was quick and easy to use and, above all, it was more like a group conversation in which participants interrupt, start side discussions, scold each other, praise each other, etc. Would it not be possible to add a tab on the Comments page that would allow us to simply read down the list of all comments from all threads without having to navigate to each segregated thread? Those who prefer the separate threads can use them, those who like the single strand of comments can us that. Any chance?
We’re working on getting a module for streaming the latest comments from all different threads in the forum, which should help.
I’ve been a reader of several blogs that have changed their appearance and/or function over the years. It’s always difficult to get accustomed to a different look and feel.
New TAE is not as straight-ahead as Classic TAE, but I at least don’t have to wade through screens-full of comments about diets to find out what the kewl kidz are saying about herd mentality. (OK, Ilargi mostly put paid to the food-chatter; just stretching to come up with an example.) I didn’t read every comment every day — too many! — so there were times I’d want to add my 2¥ worth on a topic, or ask someone a question. Too late — the comment thread waited for no one. Except when it was troll-slowed.
It will take some getting used to, this new way of doing things. Every change has a learning curve. It seems that the pace of comments has slacked off — for lots of topics that are still high up on the “Latest” list, the most recent comment was days ago. So maybe other people are struggling too.
But like any new thing, people will adapt. Some old eyes might fall away, other new ones might jump in. For the new ones, this look will be natural. If they’re getting helpful info from the essay posts — which was all I usually read, because the reprinted articles and blogposts were a content fire hydrant — they’ll stick around.
And if more fall away than the number who stick, then our hosts have just shot themselves somewhere north of the foot. That’s life — which sometimes includes death. If the changes are so difficult that TAE withers, then Stoneleigh and Ilargi can go back to having real lives, instead of living the bloggous-driven life.
P.S. If adapting to a different blog style seems difficult, just thin how hard it’s going to be for hundreds of millions of people in advanced societies to adapt to different lifestyles when the money and energy run out!
Bukko,
IMHO, there is a trade-off between having all the comments in one place and having all the comments sorted by subject.
In a similar fashion, there is a trade-off between having a totally rational and well-argued position and one where it is more emotional and less boring.
Bukko Canukko post=1808 wrote:
And if more fall away than the number who stick, then our hosts have just shot themselves somewhere north of the foot. That’s life — which sometimes includes death. If the changes are so difficult that TAE withers, then Stoneleigh and Ilargi can go back to having real lives, instead of living the bloggous-driven life.
You always take a risk with a format change. Readers will adapt as long as the content is appealing to them though.
The single thread system is overall very limiting. its good for a small group of people, but once the numbers are large contributing, it becomes a cacophony. People here seem to miss being able to scroll down through all the comments, but when comments run into hundreds or even thousands, this becomes impossible to negotiate.
My Yahoo Group was a small place where a few people could write in basically one long thread, though it is posile on that system to divide up some based on topic. Even so, if more than 20 or so write regularly, it gets very confusing. So in constructing DD, we put up very much the same type of Forum software TAE is using now, though I am not sure it is precisely the same engine.
Multi thread Boards of course have their own limitaitons, but some can be ameliorated. It is possible to run streams of all recent comments, we run the last 10 or so on the homepage of the DD Forum for that. Hopefuly we wll have a widget soon for scanning all comments on the Homepage of the blog as well. Still, it gets ridiculous if many people are writing to read EVERYTHING. Take Zero Hedge for example. Who reads comments past the 2nd page of any article put up there? And that is WITH splitting up the comments by article! Imagine if ZH had all the comments running in one thread! ACCCKK!
This is in many respects analogous to the problems of Goobermint. Past a certain size, you lose that “family” feel and it becomes a “system” rather than a family or communty. I worry about that problem with DD. My friends and I who started it are a Family, a Community of people who all wrote together on a small forum. We jumped up into this much bigger system, and we are rattling around some because of it. Some people dropped out already because of that.
Still, you have to change and adapt to circumstance. It can go well or go poorly. My feeling is if the content is good, you can survive the changes.
RE
Hah — ZeroHedge comments! I sometimes read the first 10 or 20 on posts that I find particularly interesting. Not because I expect to learn anything from those comments. 99% of the time they are not up to the thoughtful standards of TAE commenters. I’ve actually expanded my mind thanks to TAE Classic, and a mention of “Political Ponerology” on a long-ago TAE thread got my wife started on her latest avocation of reading about sociopaths. I work with psychopaths and mentally ill people at a hospital psych ward, and that’s the only reason I drop in for ZH comments — to see what people with antisocial personality disorder and paranoid schizophrenia are yabbering about. I would not want to be their gall bladders — they’re overflowing with bile in ZeroHedge comments…
The trick with ZH is to skip any comment that is less than 3 lines long – that leaves only 5% of the comments. I find that works quite well.
I don’t know much about sociopaths – except that I partly moved to Australia to get away from some of them – but it seems that they find this 3 line barrier almost insurmountable.
Thanks for the three-line tip, Nassim! That will help my speed-reading considerably. And lessen my disgust for humanity, too. It’s depressing to read so much bilious blather by the sub-three set.
*first post* :woohoo:
I miss the busy chatter of the old site, but enjoy how conversations are categorized here. But I can’t understand how it is still so quiet? Why is there no where near the conversation from the old site? I know I can’t talk, as this is my first post… But still!
Alpha Beta Soup,
Like I said, it is only interesting when there are disagreements – and cliques that war with one another 🙂 Climate change was definitely a good one, as was vegetarianism and slimming. When there are no disagreements, it is called “herding”
Frankly, I miss that “lady”, Cheryl, who made comments about the stock market – to everyone’s dismay. If people had listened to her, they would have made money – so far.
My own put options on AAPL went down the drain – I was perhaps 12 months too early. I did the same foolish thing for GS – and have lost 2/3 of my outlay in two months. These options don’t expire until next January so all is not lost – yet.
‘We’re working on getting a module for streaming the latest comments from all different threads in the forum, which should help. ‘
Hey Ashvin, Glad to hear it!
I have 2 related suggestions:
When 3 postings come out from you, Illargi and Stoneleigh on the same day it’s a bit like too much cake. You eat and eat and still there’s more, so you put some of it aside ’cause you can’t finish it and then it gets stale…Time your postings. May of course require sorting according to temporal importance.
On the old site you had a great picture up front from Shorpys and then the article right away. Now there is an article stub of something else first then the Shorpys pic and then something else and something else. I can never make sense of what is the feature article. Prioritize by using those great old pics first!
Oh yeah and do whatever you can to get El G back!! He may have been a curmudgeon but man he was funny and smart! Ask forgiveness. Tell him you’ll wash his socks…whatever it takes. 😛
El G?? Come in….G Spot? Are you there? Miss you.
Bot Blogger post=1878 wrote:
Oh yeah and do whatever you can to get El G back!! He may have been a curmudgeon but man he was funny and smart! Ask forgiveness. Tell him you’ll wash his socks…whatever it takes. 😛El G?? Come in….G Spot? Are you there? Miss you.
Judging from his last postings, I think El G discovered the secret to Tesla Free Energy that would revolutionize the world, so “they” had to silence him. As “they” have done to so many millions of others through the years. Curse “them”!
Bukko Canukko post=1885 wrote:
Judging from his last postings, I think El G discovered the secret to Tesla Free Energy that would revolutionize the world, so “they” had to silence him. As “they” have done to so many millions of others through the years. Curse “them”!I wouldn’t put it past him or “them”. But he was/is one of the most entertaining writers on TAE and there are a few. Of course with the new format we have lost TAE Summary’s postings, ’cause with the new format how the heck would he/she do it?
Nassim: Personally I found Cheryl annoying but when she pulled out her clock to impress us all, that was hilarious. I’m not smart enough to lose money in puts…
Bot Blogger post=1878 wrote: When 3 postings come out from you, Illargi and Stoneleigh on the same day it’s a bit like too much cake. You eat and eat and still there’s more, so you put some of it aside ’cause you can’t finish it and then it gets stale…Time your postings. May of course require sorting according to temporal importance.
I don’t believe that has ever actually happened, since I&S have been busy on the tour. Sounds like one of those good problems to me.
On the old site you had a great picture up front from Shorpys and then the article right away. Now there is an article stub of something else first then the Shorpys pic and then something else and something else. I can never make sense of what is the feature article. Prioritize by using those great old pics first!
What you are seeing is the latest commentary, followed by the latest feature article, followed by a few more commentaries. The reason a single commentary goes above the feature is because they don’t stay up as long, and may go unnoticed if put below the feature that stays up for a few days. You can tell the difference by looking at the tags below the post, which clearly show the author, category and type (commentary/feature).
Oh yeah and do whatever you can to get El G back!! He may have been a curmudgeon but man he was funny and smart! Ask forgiveness. Tell him you’ll wash his socks…whatever it takes. 😛
I have no idea where El G is. Maybe he’s without internet, or maybe he just doesn’t feel like posting here right now. Either way, I don’t consider it my responsibility to bring anyone anywhere.
Nassim post=1877 wrote: Alpha Beta Soup,
Like I said, it is only interesting when there are disagreements – and cliques that war with one another 🙂 Climate change was definitely a good one, as was vegetarianism and slimming. When there are no disagreements, it is called “herding”
Frankly, I miss that “lady”, Cheryl, who made comments about the stock market – to everyone’s dismay. If people had listened to her, they would have made money – so far.
You could start an argument with me. 😉 But I am not anywhere as intelligent as Cheryl, so it would probably sound more like a Monty Python skit. Anyway, I have decided to quit waiting for the lifeboat to get busier, and I am going to attempt to post more. And for what it is worth, I didn’t mind Cheryl et al either. The arrogance was obnoxious, but he/she did have a valid point at times.
ashvin post=1895 wrote:
What you are seeing is the latest commentary, followed by the latest feature article, followed by a few more commentaries. The reason a single commentary goes above the feature is because they don’t stay up as long, and may go unnoticed if put below the feature that stays up for a few days. You can tell the difference by looking at the tags below the post, which clearly show the author, category and type (commentary/feature).I get it. More is more, even when it’s less?
I suppose I’m just reminiscing about the old arrangement. The Archdruid Report and Garth Turner’s blog do the single installment version (though John Michael Greer doesn’t use pictures at all) and they have a very healthy commentariat.
Ashvin, you are doing a bang up job. Your writing here at TAE 2.0 has been fantastic. I’m sure it will all settle down as y’all work out the kinks. Cheers.
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