Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktSo yesterday Blogger put in place some changes, in particular to the comments section. Unfortunately, they did not add new options, but rather changed existing options, so it is impossible (at least for now) for us to keep the look that we used to have.
The major change they made was to add threading comments, ie exactly what PL has now. The primary downside to this change, as we experienced last night, is twofold. First, there appears to be spacing/font issues in the comments. It doesn’t look quite right, and the comments input box seems to be a bit erratic, sometimes showing up and other times not. Also, on mobile devices (at least the iPad and iPhone) there are some technical problems. For instance, I can no longer copy and paste from the comments.
We can get the comments section to revert back to the way it looked via one of two options, but with one significant exception. The comments input box will not appear on the post page under the comments. Instead, you have to click on “Post a comment”, and you will be taken either to a pop-up window with the input box, or a whole new page with the input box. Currently we have it set to the latter, but in either case, all of the comments are viewable in the new window, as well as on the original post. If you want you can look through last nights open thread to see the comments that some of us have already had about each option.
None of the options are ideal, and each has its drawbacks. We are currently using what is called the full page comments, ie clicking on “post a comment” takes you to a whole new page, with all the comments in a blogger style format, and an input box at the top. There are other options on that page which you may or may not like (ie view blog entry, collapse comments). But I just wanted to give you a heads up. Please post any comments/preferences to this post, and we will have to come to a consensus on which style we should use going forward.
UPDATE: One thing I forgot to mention. When I was trolling around on the Blogger help site last night, I saw one comment which suggests that, when using the threaded comments option, if comments ever reach a total of 200, then the Plum Line method of only displaying X number of comments with a “Load More” button kicks in. And there were complaints about the loading speed of the “Load More”. So it seems that, with threading, Blogger is moving towards the Plum Line style which we all loved so much.
UPDATE 2: I’ve turned the threaded comments back on, at lms’ suggestion, so others can see what it looks like and test it out. Please post any problems here or, if you can’t post at all, e-mail me or kevin or lme.
Filed under: Uncategorized |
All Things in Moderation 
I have not tried the new format since Scott reset it or changed it, but when I was trying to use it on my iPad last night, it was not working well at all. I am writing this on my lap top so I'm still not sure how well this works on a mobile device. Anyway, I don't really see the need for threading and as Scott points out, it can make it hard to find a new comment. But if some people do, I will probably just chose not to use the threading option and post entirely new comments instead.
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I wouldn't normally care one way or another about threading, but when we tried it last night the font style and spacing looked weird and were a little hard to read. Also someone had the bright idea to right align and the words in the line were spread out, like the old word processor days……..yikes. And if it doesn't work from mobile devices that's going to be a non-started for most of you.There are drawbacks to both the pop-up comment box and the whole page with input box but I don't really have a preference between the two. In the pop-up you have to refresh to see your own comment and in the whole page it seems like there's even more scrolling. I suppose if we collapse the comments it might be better. Whatever everyone else decides is fine for me but I vote no on the threaded style.
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If anyone wants to fiddle around with the options to see which they prefer, you can do so by going to the dashboard and clicking on the "Settings" tab and then "Comments" in the sub-menu. Then, next to the "Comment form placement" heading, choose either full page, pop-up window, or embedded below post. Currently we are on full page.I would only request that you revert back to full-page when you get done experimenting, as this seems to be the one that most people preferred as of last night.
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Don't forget that, if you make a change, you have to click "save" at the bottom of the page.
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The mobile interface is largely unchanged, except for the new reply feature. I have to say I don't understand the distaste for threaded comments.
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Silly question time: Once I post this comment (from my laptop) how do I get back to the original post and off the 'commenting' page?
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MsJS:Once I post this comment (from my laptop) how do I get back to the original post and off the 'commenting' page?This is one of the downsides. You have to click on the All Things in Moderation" link at the top, which brings you back to the main page with all posts, and then click on the post you actually want to get into. However, a better option is this: When posting a comment, instead of just clicking thru to "Post a Comment", right click on it, and say "open in a new tab". This will allow you to keep the original post page up, and you can just go back to it after making your comment. Of course, you will have to refresh it to see your comment.BTW, within the comment window, there is the option to "show original post", you just won't see it in our template format. It will appear in the blogger format above the comments and to the left of the comments box.
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MsJsI can tell you what seems to be working best for me this morning, although the whole thing is very clunky and cumbersome.When you first open the site and sign in go to "design" and then click on "posts". You will be able to view a list of all the posts with an option of view at the bottom of the title. Leave this window open. Once you click view the post pops up and you can either view or comment. Once you comment, that window stays open as well. If you want to go back to view for any of the posts, just go back to "All posts" which should have remained open. Right now in my top tool bar, I have "All Posts", this Post (Blogger Changes) and "The Morning Report". I am able to keep all of this open and by hitting refresh frequently can see any new comments or posts. Like I said it's clunky.
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Actually, MsJS, if you look at the very top of the comments box page, you will see a link to "the original post". This will take you directly to the post, without going to the main blog page first.
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Oddly, however, that link only appears after you make a post. If you ever refreash the comments-box page, it goes away. Weird.
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One of the problems is every time you hit the refresh button in the comments (whole page like we have now) it reverts back to the top of the page and you have to scroll down to read the most recent comments. I suppose collapsing comments could come in handy for that.Scott, I'm wondering if they fix the font and disappearing comment box issue, if the threaded comments would work better for everyone. Are we sure it doesn't work from iPhone and iPad? I don't use a mobile device for this stuff as I'm at my desk all day, almost everyday, and when I'm not, usually the last thing I want to do is work on a computer, mobile or not.
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Thank you, Scott. Am I the only one who thinks these new options are more cumbersome rather than less? Do we have any idea why blogger.com chose these 'upgrades'?
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lms:From a PC or laptop perspective, I agree. If they fix the readability problems, I'd rather deal with the inconvenience of threading than this. But it really was a problem on my iPad. Not being able to cut and paste really sucks. It definitely inhibits the way I prefer to post comments. And qb had major issues…he couldn't even get the posts to load under the thread format.
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MsJS:The only real upgrade was the threading. The option we are using now, and the pop-up window, were available before, but we didn't use them precisely because they are cumbersome and our old format was better. Unfortuantely they "upgraded" the old format to include threading, which has created other problems. So we've reverted back to these more cumbersome methods to avoid the problems.Obviously we'll have to assess the situation to decide which is the least worst option.
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I hope they get it working. It works on the iPhone, which is good because the mobile format retains the new elements. I hope they get the new format working universally, I think I prefer it. But it needs to work on the iPad. To Marks complaint, you've always been able to delete other people's comments, just it used to be a trashcan icon.
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ScottLeast worst option…..awesome. I'd like to check out the comments you were looking at last night at the blogger help desk. How do I get there?And the comical thing to me is the only good upgrade at the Plumline was the auto-refresh. You'd think blogger could have at least given us that.
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BTW, my reply to Scott was a Reply in the new format (on the iPhone, which retains the threading). Here, it just posts in stream. Interesting. Again, I hope they get it working, I don't mind the changes (of course, haven't tried it on an iPad yet) and don't like this format for comments. It irritates me. 😉 But, in an egalitarian democracy like this, majority must rule. 🙂
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Kevin…have you tried the threading option on your iPhone? I thought last night that McWing said there were issues, just as in the iPad.
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As I don't have any access problems either way, I'll leave it up to the rest of you to decide which is the better way to go. I'll deal either way, but I hope others don't get too discouraged and give up on us. We're a small group to begin with. I'm going to try a copy, paste and bold from another comment just to make sure that works here.I hope they get it working.Me too Kevin, me too.
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BTW, my only objection to the Plumline interface has always been the glitches, and slowness (prompting them to change it so it only shows 4 comments before saying "Load More", which also stinks–200 comments seems much better. I like the concept of the upgrade (threading, plus hi-lighting posts by the original blog author) but if it's not usable on an iPad, that's no good, and many AJAX interfaces never become usable on an iPad (several Webmail apps I can think of), requiring a separate iPad app to use them properly. Of course, I do believe there is a Blogger app for the iPad. I wonder if they've updated it?
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Yup. My first post here is a threaded one on the iPhone. Have not tried to cut and paste, but I rarely cut and paste on the iPhone. Still too time consuming for me. 😉
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lms:This is the discussions list and this is the discussion where I posted our problems. My post is currently on page 4, titled "New comments look?". Nothing particularly useful in the responses to mine.
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Maybe we should switch back to the new format for awhile and give everyone a chance to try it and see what happens today. We could see if there's a work around for those who are having problems with it. I'll let you guys do that because I'd probably just delete the entire blog or something.
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I'll look into the blogger interface for iPad. That might be useful. As I said to lms, I'd rather deal with threaded comments than this.
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Thanks scottBTW, I really hate the scrolling up and down to the comment box.
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OK…I will turn on threads.
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And it works. Yay! Hope they get the glitches ironed out soon.
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I'm going to play with the fonts for a little bit. So, when the comments explode, it's me, I'll set it back soon. 😉
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So, like qb yesterday (I think), I can't even get a post to load in my browser with the threading turned on. Could be something to do with the environment here at my office. I'm only able to post this comment because I kept the "full page" window up from before I switched it back to embedded. If I close this window, I won't be able to post comments from this machine.
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That's not functional, so we may have to go back. But don't turn back the clock yet. Let me see if I can at least fix the formatting problems via custom css before we go backwards.
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No prob. Just turn it back whenever you are ready. I have this window up, so I can comment here, and I can see new comments in the generic blogger "comments" section on the dashboard. I just can't comment on any new posts.
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I've got something else to try as a stop-gap (not sure what idiot at Google thought justify was the right alignment for comments, or that 1em was a good universal size for comment line-spacing, but the substitute CSS (which is an old feature) doesn't work with the comments CSS. I'm going to check something else, then I'll turn it back for now.
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I really could live with the threaded comments, even the font and spacing issues, but only if everyone else can get in and comment easily. So far the comment box seems to be showing up anyway. And we can skip the reply button if we want. I think the pop-up and whole page formats are going to be too cumbersome for some people, especially since so many comment on the fly, so to speak.
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Comment box gone again. But if you click on reply under the last comment and "ADD Comment" option appears with a new comment box……..weird.
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Could be be messing with the CSS. I'm trying to fix how comments look.
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NP kevin, I'll just wait and see what you come up with.
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How is the spacing now? Obviously, we'll have to revert (for now) if people can't post, and try again later to see if that's addressed.
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I just looked at the Blogger help discussions, and lots of people are having the problem I and qb are having, ie individual post pages won't load with threaded comments turned on. I suspect it may have something to do with my browser, since I use chrome at home and had no problem, but am using IE here.
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Space and font readability much better Kevin.
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Much better Kevin. Weren't people having problems with IE in the previous format? And wasn't there some way around that? Just asking as I don't use IE.
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I'm trying to switch my browser. Obviously not a simple matter when dealing with an IT dept.
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I still think that little icon denoting the author of the post looks like a cigarette…..lolGood luck Scott
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BTW, for any other HTML coders, I'm editing the CSS for comments by going to Template > Edit HTML and clicking on the Expand Widgets option, because apparently the code for editing comment formats is in the widget. Nothing to make it work with IE, but I assume that (eventually) Blogger will address that. But who knows when, I'm sure they all use Webkit/Chrome.
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All right, I'm done, then. Shall we revert to the old blogger system until everyone can comment? Or has Chrome/Safari/Firefox?
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Whatever you guys want….I sure like it better this way with the threaded comments now that you've fixed it….but not if people can't access or comment.Scott, McWing and QB need to weigh in I guess. Maybe someone who understands what's going on should send them an email…..hint, hint. And maybe mark also….he didn't like the old blogger system but I'm not sure about access to the new one.
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BTW, it looks like the comment box shows up when you refresh.
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Either way is fine for now. If you keep it threaded, I can still comment here, and I can forgo commenting elsewhere until I can test a new browser. I think qb is tied up today, so probably not around anyway. Not sure about McWing.
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Posting on iPad, but still no cut and paste.
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So are we leaving it this way for now?
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Yeah, no love on Internet Explorer. I hope they address that.
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And now for some news:WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama was within his constitutional authority to make recess appointments to two agencies even though the U.S. Senate was holding periodic pro forma sessions, Justice Department lawyers said in a legal opinion released on Thursday.The department's Office of Legal Counsel said that the only way the Senate could block such appointments is by "remaining continuously in session" rather than the pro forma sessions "at which no business is to be conducted."Obama last week used his constitutional power to install a new chief at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with three members of the National Labor Relations Board. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been considering challenging the constitutionality of such appointments.
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I imagine we will change it back, but I'll leave that to commentary from qb, mcwing, or Scott can change it. Is indeed worthless in IE.
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Thanks for this respite, KW. Unfortunate about IE, which most of us do not use. But if Scott is stuck with IE, or if anyone else is, then I will suffer for the cause, of course.
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As will I, Mark, I just hope it ends up that we can all use the new format (in-line replies being voluntary, of course).
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One thought, I could use the reply button just to annoy scott….which would add to my fun ;), but only if he can access the comments of course.Actually, I'm with you mark, as a long suffering liberal, I'll always take one for the team.
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Has anyone else been following the story on NPR about Russia? It is very cool. Also, NPR says Indian docs, who do not know shit about TB, have caused the development of totally resistant TB. Also, NPR pretty clearly makes the case that either touting or criticizing Bain is a tempest in a teapot, because Bain has been very successful both as an angel and as a LBO outfit.
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My only real interest in the Bain story is the commotion it's causing in Republican circles. Funny that.I hadn't heard about the TB story. Do you mean there is a strain that is resistant to treatment? We had a TB scare when I was a kid. My mother and I both tested positive after caring for my grandfather who had TB but wasn't diagnosed very early.
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I guess it's ok, just not a fan of threading. I do miss the cut and paste ability w/ my mobile devices. (FYI, I pronounce "mobile" the British way, like "pile."
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Sorry McWing, the other way was really cumbersome though. It's still an open question I think which way we go. "Pile"…interesting.
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I should be able to get Firefox by the end of the day, so leave it with threading. I will check with qb to see what his deal is.as a long suffering liberal, I'll always take one for the team.Funny, it seems to me that the liberal motif is always to force someone else to take one for the team. 😉
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LMS, the totally resistant TB story:http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/01/12/145027086/a-dozen-cases-of-tuberculosis-that-resists-all-drugs-found-in-india
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My team scott. We're like the Hatfields and the McCoys unless we're doing tech and admin stuff, then we work together, "we'll always have Rome"….lol.I guess we'll wait and see if anyone else is having problems. Brent and jnc seem to be okay as they have posted on the previous thread. Mark and MsJS are okay and I'll assume Michi is as well until we hear otherwise. NoVA is out of town and I forget what ash said earlier. Bsimon seem okay also. Everyone else we'll just have to wait until they check in I guess.
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Thanks for the link Mark…looks interesting. We're having some drug resistant issues with our daughter right now so I'm going to read that, even though it's probably an entirely different scenario.
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" FYI, I pronounce "mobile" the British way, like "pile.""…I'm goin' home, and when I wanna go home, I'm going mo-bile…
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I just received an email from Ashot, he can't comment at all from work because of IE. I asked him to check in tonight from home if he can and we'll decide what to do. Bummer, bummer, but I was afraid of this. We'll have to switch I think unless blogger fixes the problem first.
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lms:"we'll always have Rome"….lol.Wasn't it Paris?
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Yes, but I was thinking in terms of Democracy……….lol
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Is any of this pertinent anymore do deal with the IE problems? I don't want to load IE to find out but thought I'd check.Q. The comment box won’t load at all. Don’t you want to hear from me?A. You must be running IE7. Log out, then log back in and UN-click “Stay Signed In”. Log back out, close IE7, re-open, and log back into Blogger. Also check to make sure that you're using the older Blogger interface rather than the updated one.
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Doesn't seem to help, from my testing.
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lms…that was an old problem that qb and I discovered when we first set up, so he and I both have "stay logged in" unchecked. I don't think that is related to this new problem.
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It's working fine for me (and, as I've said, I like threaded comments but can swing either way)(being a good liberal and all)–Chrome browser on two different Windows-based OSs.That TB story was scary, lms and Mark! Only 1 in 20 private doctors knows what and how much to prescribe for TB, so it's growing by leaps and bounds. The only good part is that it isn't transmitted casually.
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Counterpoint to Mark's TB story, I will point out that India is on the verge of being taken off the list of countries that have endemic polio.Polio eradication in India.
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BTW, thanks to Scott et al. for fixing the comment box thing. This current format works fine for me (Firefox, MacOS 10.6).
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Anyone know why so many work environments are wedded to IE?
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Because corporations are evil and so is Microsoft????
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Custom developed software that is IE dependent, or at least spec'ed specifically to IE when in development, so the IT argument is: we developed this tested in IE, and we aren't going to verify it against anything else. So use IE. Custom ActiveX controls are probably also an issue.
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I just learned that running exFAT on a linux server violates MS' rights. So if I ever advised anyone here to do that, don't.exFAT is the only complex file allocation table that is readable and writable in any environment, AFAIK.
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I have no idea what exFAT is but doesn't MS usually just let you pay them for the privilege?
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Haaaaahaaaa………I know.
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If ashot and or qb or anyone else can't get in then we need to go back to the pop-up or whole page I think. Unless someone comes up with a better idea soon.I thought it was funny when I was reading the comments and questions at the blogger help desk that so many people couldn't link to facebook.
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That's a great story. It's a terrible disease. I remember at my "advanced age and blue hair" pre-vaccination and it was not fun. My mother survived diptheria as a child and I thought I was dying when I had the mumps and measles. But polio was always the worst. My husband was in a group that got a bad batch of the vaccine and actually contracted a mild case…..luckily it passed without lingering effects.You guys do good work.
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BTW, I've got a Bits & Pieces scheduled to go up this afternoon; should I re-schedule it for tomorrow and we can discuss comments threads and formatting tonight?
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I think it would be best to keep discussing the formatting for now and see if people weigh in or not. Either just keep this thread going or start a new one pertinent to this subject. We can always throw a news story or puff piece in here for variety…… ;)We'll save your bits & pieces for tomorrow and I'm doing my shrimp scampi recipe for Sat. bites & pieces unless someone has a more delicious recipe.
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qb has a real problem. He is wedded to IE because of work. He tried to work around it before and couldn't, so doesn't look good. ashot also has the IE problem, although I'm not sure if he is as stuck with IE as qb is. I will have Firefox by tomorrow, so shouldn't be a problem for me.Will be away for a bit. Won't be posting until probably 9:30 or 10 est. Will check in then.
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Look, we need QB and we are very close to "turning" ashot. We need to do whatever it takes to accommodate them!
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LMS, Brian and Kevin know more about this, but there are "standard" sorts of file systems called file allocation tables.DOS used FAT16. My late mother thought it was funny that MS would call its operating system "2", by the way. Why not UNO?Then in windows 98, the FAT was 32 bit and called FAT32. Meanwhile, Apple had its own FATs with different names and now with the unix kernel can read the various linux FATs, which have names like "ext4". Windows NT and 2000 and XP and Vista and 7 all run best on a file system called "NTFS". My linux devices can read and write to NTFS and to some MACS. An IBm engineer tipped me to exFAT which all systems read and write to. But I see that MS is vigilant in its proprietary interest in it.Brian, are they going to use exFAT on Windows Server to try to compete with Linux?
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very close to "turning" ashotHaaaahaaaa, I'm not letting you guys get ashot, but we need both of them. Sooooooooo, I think tonight or tomorrow we go back to the weird commenting with the box but everyone better hang in there with us then. No whining…………
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My mother insisted on calling DOS "dose".
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I've got Firefox, and all is good. Guess I have more pull with the IT people than qb.
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why do you have a diagonal pencil after your name?
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That little thing denotes who wrote the original post. And I thought qb was a partner…..shouldn't he have more pull than that. 🙂
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We'll save your bits & pieces for tomorrow and I'm doing my shrimp scampi recipe for Sat. bites & pieces unless someone has a more delicious recipe.Re-scheduled for tomorrow, and shrimp scampi sounds yummy! I could add the world's easiest steamed crab legs on Saturday, also.very close to "turning" ashotHe's a lawyer, Scott–he's luring you in for the kill. . .
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Like medicine or like "dose guys"?
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Mark–he's trying to quit, but those evil cigs keep pulling him back. . .
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Mark, I'm pretty out of the loop with win server. My guess is that they'll go proprietary rather than following a standard. But I'm bitterly cynical about MS.
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Has a court determined that or is it merely an allegation by MS?They sometimes make patent claims that do not hold up under scrutiny.
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New post up for discussing/testing/complaining about new commenting format for Blogger.
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Very close to turning me? Never!!
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ash, if you're still here go to the new post.
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