Free The Animal

[This entry is probably only of interest to frequent commenters.]

I just found a few days back that my blog host, TypePad, has the commenting engine so screwed up it's beyond belief, at least on God's computer platform, by which I mean, the Mac (see here for my initial post on switching). Safari or Firefox, doesn't matter.

Some time back they went to a new platform where, not only do I get an email for each comment, but I can reply right in email and it gets posted. This keeps me real nimble and able to reply to lots of comments -- even on my iPhone, as a quick email reply is far easier than using the web form. So, other commenters also get email notification, they can reply in email as well, and, so, you get the picture. But several days ago, I discovered that my email replies had not been getting posted. This, after more than a dozen replies to your comments.

OK, so I alert TypePad and set about to find which ones had not made it onto the blog -- a chore in itself -- then set about to post them via the web form. Problem number two: the link to the comment provided in email doesn't take you to the relevant comment most of the time, but just to the top of the blog entry. OK, so scroll through and find it, which is difficult because I have (had; I disabled yesterday) the reply nesting set, which means replies to a comment go below that comment (wherever it may be), and not simply at the end of the line of comments. So, for those entries with 10, 20 or more comments, I have to scan to find the one I'm replying to. OK, now click the Reply link and when the form comes up for just an instant, the page immediately reloads and puts you -- once again -- to the top of the blog entry. Then, I must scroll through to find it for a second time. Finally, clicking the Reply works.

So, all this to say that I had to choose the most substantive replies to go through the laborious process and just leave the rest. If you're one of those who was kinda expecting a reply because of my past behavior, I'm sorry. I'm on top of it from here out, however, so comment away. Also, if you wondered why it took 2-3 days for a reply comment rather than in the heat of the exchange, now you know.

I so want to move to WordPress where I can have complete control of customization, but I'm not going to do so until I can do it right. So many people blow up their blogs moving around all the time, employing cheap doofuses to do tech work and hosting on cheap services that go down all the time or hit bandwidth limits. Actually, I'm in contact with the folks who did Mark Sisson's redesign (very pro, excellent), but it's expensive (!!!). I may pop for it in any case, but not in the immediate.

Onward.

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