The "Reply" Option, For Embedded Comments

The option provided some time ago, to the embedded comment form, to allow "threaded" comments, is becoming quite popular.

Unfortunately, the "Reply" link does not always work. Blog owners and readers alike complain.

I click on "Reply", and nothing happens!

This problem appears to have accelerated recently, possibly resulting from the hasty rollout of the new anonymous comments CAPTCHA - but there are other less obvious possibilities, too.

The threaded comments "Reply" feature, a seemingly minor addition to the Blogger code base, can have problems with a number of issues.

• A Full Blog Feed.
• An up to date post template,
• The Google "One account" login, and cookie filtering.
• The recent addition of the anonymous commenting CAPTCHA.
• The threaded comments script, and recent script filter updates.

A Full blog feed is required.

Many blog owners are not aware that the "Reply" option won't be available, without a Full Blog Feed. Go to the dashboard, and look at "Allow Blog Feed", under Settings - Other - Site feed.

For threaded comments, you will need a Full Blog Feed (for both comments and posts) - and this will exclude private blogs.

Any "Allow Blog Feed" selection, other than "Full", will be a problem.



An up to date post template is a good idea.

Threaded comments, like every other post and comment feature, works best on an up to date post template. Any time threaded comments stops working, and you have not changed the blog feed, try resetting the post template. Now, here's hoping that you have not made extensive post template tweaks.

The identity of the person who wants to reply is useful.

Threaded Blogger hosted comments code, like threaded Google+ hosted comments, other commenting scripts, and many other Blogger features, needs access to the login cookie, to identify the person preparing to comment. Because of the use of the Google "One account" login, "third party" cookie filters must be examined.

Anything that interferes with the CAPTCHA will be a problem.

The recent addition of the anonymous comment CAPTCHA, appears to have caused some problems. This may be an matter for Blogger Engineering to correct.

Anything that interferes with scripts will be a big problem.

All Blogger scripts, including the script which services the "Reply" link, are subject to script filtering. Script filters are subject to update, on every different client computer - generally without notice to the computer owner. Always check script filters.

Blog owners and readers, alike, need to be aware of the issues, to use Blogger effectively. Threaded comments are no exception to this requirement.

Two Level Comments, And One Known Post Template Update

From feedback being received about the recent release of two level commenting, and the many different problems attributed to the release, it appears that there is one commonly identified update to the post template. It's possible that adding this one change, to some blogs with tweaked post templates, may eliminate the need for a post template refresh.

This is a simple change - but it must be made in 4 different places. I highly recommend that you backup the template, before and after making this change. Allow 30 minutes, to concentrate properly on the task.

Installation of this one post template patch may eliminate the need for many people to refresh the post template. It's also possible that this change, done in reverse, may let you disable two level comments, should you wish. In either case, please do this carefully, when you are relaxed, and able to concentrate.

1. First, backup the template.
2. Edit the template using the "Edit HTML" wizard, and select "Expand Widget Templates".
3. Carefully search for each instance of
   

   <b:include data='post' name='comments'/>

4. Note that the target snippet (above) is entirely contained in the replace snippet (below). When you identify each snippet found, carefully examine it to make sure that the required code is not already present! Do not replace the target snippet with itself, redundantly!
5. Replace each instance found, if not already present, with
   

   <b:if cond='data:post.showThreadedComments'>
     <b:include data='post' name='threaded_comments'/>
   <b:else/>
     <b:include data='post' name='comments'/>
   </b:if>

6. Save Template.
7. Clear browser cache, and restart the browser. Test your changes.
8. Again, backup the template.

Again, I'll advise you to backup the template, before and after doing this.

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Two Level Comments, And Required Updates To Our Blogs

The new two level commenting feature has been out for a short 2 days - and already there are at least half a dozen separate problems being attributed to the introduction of that feature. Not every blog owner understands how intrusive this new feature must have been, to install, into Blogger.

The previous two Blogger feature releases - dynamic templates, and the New Blogger GUI, required major changes to the Blogger GUI. Two level commenting, while not requiring major GUI changes, was still challenging to develop. Two level comments required a significant upgrade to the content of our blogs, and were activated without the decision of the blog owners involved.

The two immediately previous major Blogger releases - dynamic templates, and the New Blogger GUI, each required a major amount of coding and testing. The bulk of those features, though, involved Blogger GUI code, which was separate from the code in our blogs. Also, both of those features are optional, with various menu selections which allow us to activate, at our convenience - and to deactivate, when we find that either feature is not to our liking.

Two level commenting, on the other hand, was automatically and instantly activated. Owners of almost all blogs which publish a full post feed, and which use the embedded comment form, suddenly found their blogs offering this exciting feature. Installation of this feature was a no brainer - if your blog publishes full posts feeds, and uses the embedded comment form, your blog now has two level commenting.

The automatic activation of the feature, combined with some content and formatting problems attributed to the feature, left some blog owners feeling powerless. People reporting some problems are being told to deactivate the full blog feed, or to change from the embedded comment form, to work around the problems. Neither change is preferred, by some blog owners.

As an alternative to either recommended change, some blog owners may find relief from various problems, by reloading a standard blog template, and / or resetting the post template. For blog owners who enjoyed installing a custom third party template, and tweaking the decorations and layout of the posts, this alternative is even less acceptable than the suggested feature deactivations. Yet if it's productive when tried, this technique should define the base causes of some of the problems being reported.

For blog owners who are comfortable with tweaking the post template, a manual post template update may provide a solution, for some blogs. This manual update, if done in reverse, may allow people to deactivate two level commenting, without deactivating the full post feed, or changing from the embedded comment form.

As Blogger developed and tested the changes required, to make two level comments work, they had the ability to test using the Blogger development environment, and various Blogger provided templates. They had no ability to test using the many blog template custmisations, and post template tweaks, which many of us have installed in our personal blogs. That being the case, many of the observed problems are not entirely the fault of Blogger - we have to accept some responsibility also.

In short, if anybody with a blog that publishes a full post feed, and uses the embedded comment form, finds changes in their blogs which are not to their liking, they need to return their blog and post templates to Blogger standard, before feeling themselves entitled to complain

What did Blogger do, this time?

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Two Level Comments And The Comments Time / Date Stamp

Yesterday, Blogger Support delivered one long awaited improvement to our blogs - two level commenting. It was eagerly awaited - and as soon as the Buzz announcement hit the Blogosphere, people were busy checking out the new feature.

Predictably, problem reports have been rolling in, all day today, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken. One noticed problem report concerns the date / time stamp on the comments.

All of the comments on my blog, even on previous posts, now show an incorrect time. I double-checked my setting, it is correctly set my local time.

The general consensus appears to be that all comments are now posting as Pacific Time (USA), regardless of the blog time zone setting.

This problem, along with several others, has been reported to Blogger Support - and they are now looking into this issue.

Watch this space for updates.

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Two Level Commenting Now Available, For Blogger Blogs

Blogger blog owners and viewers have been asking for the ability to post threaded comments, for many years. Today (slightly late for Christmas 2011), Blogger released it's first answer to that request - two level commenting.

Blogger now supports threaded commenting, which means that it is now much easier to differentiate between whether someone is making a general comment on the thread, or responding to another comment on the thread.

This is not what I would call classic "threaded commenting", but it's a reasonable alternative.



If you want to reply to your readers, when they post comments on your blog, that ability is finally here.

You will need a blog with full feeds enabled, and using the embedded comment form. Since private blogs do not publish newsfeeds, this feature will not be available, on private blogs.

As described in the Buzz post, once the comment form and feed are selected, using the New GUI, there's no additional selection needed. Just surf to the blog of your choice, and look under any comment for a new "Reply" button or link.

You'll note that since this feature is provided as part of the embedded comment form, it's built into the standard post template. If your blog, maybe using a custom or third party blog template, lacks threaded commenting, you'll want to refresh the post template, to enable this feature.

Every "Reply" link, whether under an existing or new comment, or under any reply to a comment, when posted, becomes a reply to the original comment. It's quite simple - you have just 2 choices.

• You can post an original comment.
• You can post a reply, to any comment.

And, that's it.

Since two level comments are part of the embedded comment form, you're going to need to check your cookie filters - people using computers with overly restrictive filtering won't be able to use the embedded comment form, and they won't see the two level commenting option. Beyond that issue, two level comments should be simple to use.