Showing posts with label
Settings - Posts comments and sharing.
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Showing posts with label
Settings - Posts comments and sharing.
Show all posts
Viewing comments, on some popular blogs, one may get the idea that not as many comments are being published, as are immediately visible.
With a large comment complement, comments are paginated - with some comments hidden behind a link, captioned "Load more". The "Load more" link is JavaScript based - and there is a problem.
The "Load more" link does not always work, on all blogs.
Comments on some blogs may be unreadable - with the "Load more" link not operational.
Some posts never display all comments.
Look at the bottom of the page, below the post.
And there is the "Load more" link.
And the link, as seen when one mouse over it, is shown to be JavaScript based.
And clicking on the link yields the caption "Loading ...".
And "Loading ..." never goes away - and we get no view of the missing comments.
I've seen this problem with blogs using both dynamic and non dynamic templates.
Both dynamic templates, and non dynamic templates, appear to use comments paginated behind "Load more" - and may exhibit this problem. I've seen this problem, reported in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, for both template types.
I have reproduced this problem, using two blogs.
Here are two recently reported cases, reproduced in my testing today. I do not know how long both cases may be active.
http://slifkinchallenge.blogspot.com/2016/05/thank-you-yehoshua-duker-and-yosef.html
https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/RotUfv8AwuU/discussion
http://istanbulkonstantinopel.blogspot.com/2014/03/study-in-turkey-2.html
https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/7Yau3KKR9mo/discussion
Noting that both blogs are (natively) published in countries that are subject to local country codes (Israel and Turkey, respectively), I will deny that to be a simple affinity - since I viewed both blogs from my browser, as "blogspot.com", as I reproduced the problem. That said, that is an interesting coincidence, no?
There are several possible causes of this problem. Adding the above observation, some of these causes may be more or less relevant.
- Comments feed setting.
- Comment feed content / corruption.
- Cookie / script filters.
- HTTPS Redirect.
- Occam's Razor.
- Post template corruption.
Comments feed setting.
Features like the comment reply option, and blogs published to dynamic templates, require a full comment feed. It's possible that comment pagination, behind JavaScript links, is similarly sensitive to the comments feed setting.
This detail will affect everybody - both blog owner(s) and reader(s) alike. And it will probably affect all posts, uniformly.
The solution for this problem would involve checking - and correcting - the comments and feed settings, for the blogs involved.
Comment feed content / corruption.
Similar to the problem with the Blogger blog post published location, it's possible that some unknown detail in the data could interfere with script functionality.
If the problem involves content in one post - or a comment on one post, it's possible that comments for one post could be affected; but other posts could paginate comments successfully.
This detail would probably affect everybody, uniformly.
The solution for this problem will require determining what feed content detail causes the problem. This will probably involve affinity diagnosis.
Cookie / script filters.
Any problem which involves a JavaScript based link, both cookies and scripts are always going to be involved. Any filter that interferes with either cookies (identity) or scripts (link functionality) will always be a possibility.
Filters may affect either blog owners and / or blog readers, uniquely. A problem that involves some owners / readers will likely involve filters.
Thanks to the effect of country local domains, cookie / script filters may affect individuals geographically.
The solution for this problem is to check / open up script filters - and then check / open up cookie filters.
HTTPS Redirect.
Both blogs, identified above, appear to not be using the "HTTPS Redirect" option. It's not impossible that this is another feature, broken by the SSL Rollout.
Occam's Razor.
Considering the most simple alternative, is it possible that paginated comments are simply inoperative? Maybe, because of (or incidentally involving) the SSL Rollout??
Post template corruption.
Comments are part of the post template. It's likely that proper comment functionality also requires a clean post template. This detail will probably affect everybody - though it's possible that there could be code that is sensitive to some owners / readers, but not others.
The solution for this problem is to reset the post template, on the blogs involved.
The bottom line.
This problem, if not incidentally solved by a Blogger code change, will probably not be diagnosed, immediately.
More examples of this symptom are badly needed. Right now, we have seen only a handful of people with blogs that are popular - and generate comments in sufficient volume - and have reported this problem.
Some #Blogger blog owners, who publish blogs with posts that receive large volumes of comments, report inability to display all comments published. Comments, when displayed in large volumes, are paginated behind JavaScript based links - and some links, when clicked, don't seem to work.
https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/7Yau3KKR9mo/discussion
https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/RotUfv8AwuU/discussion
If you publish a blog, and want your readers to comment, you need to decide whether to moderate comments.
Comment moderation, applied properly, help you to keep abusive and spam comments off your blog. If you want to publish a blog, and have real people commenting, you need to keep spam comments off the blog. People won't comment, if they have to compete with spam.
If you want to publish a blog, and allow Blogger Hosted comments, you really should moderate. If you don't moderate, prepare to remove spam comments after they are published. Remember that Google+ Hosted comments are moderated by the community.
You setup moderation, for Blogger Hosted comments, from the dashboard Settings - "Posts, comments and sharing" page.
Under "Comments", you have "Comment Moderation", with 3 settings.
Moderation settings are in the Settings - Posts, comments and sharing page.
Moderate Always.
Every comment, published by somebody who is not an administrator or author, will be moderated.
With "Always" or "Sometimes" selected, moderated comments will be sent to each email address listed in "Email moderation requests to".
Select "Always", "Sometimes", or "Never".
You - or whoever is addressed under "Email moderation requests to" - will have the ability to moderate from the email message received. You, or any blog administrator, can moderate from the dashboard Comments - "Awaiting moderation" page.
Moderate Sometimes.
You can selectively moderate comments for older posts, with newer posts not subject to moderation.
If you select "Sometimes", you provide a moderation threshold.
Here, we are set to moderate all posts older than 14 days.
Every post subject to moderation will receive the treatment, selected for "Always". Every newer post, not subject to moderation, will permit any comment to be published immediately.
Moderate Never.
Any comment, submitted to be published, will publish immediately.
Dashboard moderation offers three options.
With every comment listed in the dashboard Comments - "Awaiting moderation" page, you have 3 options.
Once one of these options is chosen, for any comment being moderated, you'll have similar - but not symmetrical - options.
EMail moderation offers similar options.
With each comment moderated by email, you'll have 3 similar options.
- Publish.
- Delete.
- Mark as spam.
Select "Publish", "Delete", or "Mark as spam".
Besides moderation, you can select CAPTCHA verification.
Besides moderation, you can reduce spam, using CAPTCHA verification. If selected, all non administrators and authors will be subject to CAPTCHA verification.
If not selected, anybody commenting anonymously - and not signed in with a Google account - will still be subject to CAPTCHA verification. The "Show word verification" setting applies to comments posted with the publisher properly authenticated.
Right now, the CAPTCHA used is a word puzzle - and has received mixed reviews.
The bottom line.
As a blog owner, you should choose a comment moderation policy - if you allow Blogger Hosted comments.
If you allow #Blogger Hosted comments on your blog, you need to choose a moderation policy. Moderation is essential, to reduce spam, and encourage comments by actual blog readers.
One of the most visible changes, to the blog display, involves properly setting main page size.
You change the posts count using "Show at most" on the dashboard Settings - "Posts, comments and sharing" page - or "Number of posts on main page" in the "Configure Blog Posts" wizard. Both let you set the main page display limit.
You can limit main page size by days with posts, or by total post count.
Main page size is your choice, for your blog - but think of your readers, waiting for a typical main page display to download.
Many don't have extreme bandwidth, nor are the Blogger servers overly robust. When your blog, or even a single post, takes 2 or 3 minutes to load, your blog may need tuning.
Main page size is one key setting, in encouraging reader activity, and in improving search engine relationships.
- "Show at most" on the dashboard Settings - "Posts, comments and sharing" page.
- "Number of posts on main page" in the "Configure Blog Posts" wizard.
"Show at most" on the dashboard Settings - "Posts, comments and sharing" page.
"Number of posts on main page" in the "Configure Blog Posts" wizard.
There are alternate techniques, for changing main page size - use of a dynamic template, with endless scrolling - and segmenting the blog using pages. And adding Jump Break, to the posts, lets you make the individual posts smaller.
Also, note that only main page size can be limited. Archive retrievals and label searches use a fixed 20 posts / display page.
But for a simple blog setup, just limiting main page size is the first step to showing your readers that you respect their need to view your blog, without excessive waiting.
One of the simplest changes that you can make to a #Blogger blog, to make it easier to view, involves setting a reasonable main page size. This helps your readers view the blog, in main page view, without a lot of waiting.
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Some blog owners would like their readers to view the entire blog in one page.
A small blog, with very limited size, can theoretically fit on one page. If you intend to publish a blog with any future, and page rank, you will have to publish content periodically - and the size of the blog will increase, steadily.
And eventually, thanks in part to main page limitation by auto pagination, older posts in your blog will be forced into archive pages.
For a blog with any future, and publishing activity, there are four possibilities for main page size.
- Segment main page, limiting post count.
- Segment your blog, using virtual blogs.
- Use a dynamic template, and "continuous scrolling".
- Use a non dynamic template, and Jump Break - and accept archiving.
Segment main page, limiting post count.
One of the simplest ways to make your blog reader friendly is to limit main page size, using a post count limit. This won't work as a final solution, however, if you're planning to publish the blog with any regularity.
Segment your blog, using virtual blogs.
If you can break your blog into multiple subjects, you can use a Pages tabbed index to access each different subject. You can fit each different subject, possibly using Jump Break, onto one page.
To complement the virtual blogs, you can have a static main page - providing a "welcome" message, and / or indexing the virtual blogs.
Use a dynamic template, and "continuous scrolling".
For public blogs, a dynamic template, with continuous scrolling, may provide a solution. Dynamic templates, unless you a very comfortable with editing the blog template, will never offer the accessory and customisation possibilities of non dynamic templates, however.
With a dynamic template, you won't be able to use Jump Break - though some dynamic views may provide a summarised main page view.
Use a non dynamic template, and Jump Break - and accept archiving.
Careful use of Jump Break will let you limit the size of the main page. If you continue to publish posts - which is necessary for a blog with any future - you will eventually have posts displayed on archive pages.
For best results, design the blog structure - and the posts structure - consistently, and accept archiving and pagination.
Some #Blogger blog owners would like to display all post content in one page - and ignore page display size. They do not realise that not all blog readers want to read a blog with an unlimited page size, all at once.
Occasionally, we have a blog owner trying to enable commenting, on a blog - and being unsuccessful diagnosing commenting problems.
Checking the per blog comment settings, in the the dashboard menu under Settings - Posts and comments, there's no obvious problem. The problem, in some cases, is in the per post settings, in the Post Editor "Post settings - Options" wizard - but not all posts will have a problem.
The "Reader comments" setting, for any new post, is taken from the setting for the previously published post. If you publish a post today, with "Reader comments" selected as "Don't allow", the next post will also be set to "Don't allow" - unless you change the setting, before publishing. Similarly, if it's set to "Allow", the next post published will have it set to "Allow".That's the choices, for each new post.
If the setting for any post is wrong, according to your policy, it's up to you to change the setting, for that post.
Since the per post setting overrides the per blog setting, any existing posts, with the setting "Don't allow", will not allow comments. To change this, you have to edit each post, one by one, and change the setting.
If the setting is "Allow", and you want to disable comments, you have to change the per post setting, one post at a time. Again, any new posts will then have the setting "Don't allow" - but any existing posts will have to be changed, one post at a time.
If you occasionally disable comments, check this setting before you publish a new post - and make sure that comments are enabled, when appropriate.
If you backdate a post, and publish it before any previously published posts, the setting for the previously published posts won't change. If this creates a range of posts, with inconsistent settings - some allowing comments, the others not allowing comments - you'll still have to change the setting as you wish, for each post, one by one.
If the setting for a post is currently "Allow", and a post has comments, you'll have 3 options for that post.- Allow
- Don't allow, show existing
- Don't allow, hide existing
That's the choices, for each post with comments.
If you're in the habit of changing the comment setting for various posts, you'll want to check the setting, for each new post - and make sure that it's appropriate. Better that, then to have to change a whole bunch of posts, one by one, later.
