I discovered some major abuses of the comment ratings. We're none too serious about ratings around here, more they are used to say, "hey, I agree with you", or "I read your comment" and so on.
Seems some anonymous whatever was abusing and downrating comments. So, if you see a bunch of negatives, just rate 'em up, we were attacked.
Registered users: If you see a gross grammar or spelling error, please use the author contact link (click on the post author to find the secured email form) and let them know.
I don't like it when the spelling and grammar police write comments pointing out some minor flaw in authorship instead of focusing in on the comprehensive content of an article. At the same time, I just found a grammar error in a piece I wrote a week ago.
Sometimes even when one proofs their writings, things go sliding by, especially when a site like this moves so fast.
So, can you all help out by emailing the article author?
Anonymous drive-by's: I let these comments come in with all of their beyond belief inability to write a complete sentence and spell. But serially, don't you realize by not using a spell checker and at least an attempt at grammar you destroy whatever credibility you have and few bother to read what you have to say?
I've seen comments come in where pretty much every word beyond 3 letters is misspelled. Come on people, install iespell or use firefox which has a built in spell checker. Yes, the rich text editor does have a spell checker.
Anyone reading economic statistics, the content and finds a flaw, please leave a comment to enable corrections. I'm a stickler for accuracy but when one gets into this level of analysis, it's very easy to make a mistake. Let's not perpetuate economic fiction, so all of those who see a mistake in the actual analysis or data quotes, please let us know!
The site upgrade will be happening sometime today. If you see the site non-responsive, wait 5 to 20 minutes and try again. I'll update this comment when I get a ETA.
Also, try emptying your browser cache if you still can't get on. The upgrade should be seamless, you should only notice you cannot get on for 5-20 minutes as we migrate to another server.
The good news EP is growing and we've had some world leading experts writing on the site recently, which is great and we want their insights.
Please let me know about site performance issues, such as page load or anything else you experience.
We want to make EP better and thanks for your patience and input!
I have just tested the image function on Mac (Intel) using OS 10.6. Click and drag works, but only using the pane that comes up from the image (graph) button (no need for keyboard command). Guess I should have tried out a graph rather than an image (Eagle Peak, Yelllowstone Park, public domain, National Park Service).
OOOPS! NO IT DOESN'T WORK. AT LEAST NOT YET. TRY AGAIN.
TRYING IT AGAIN WITH CNTL-COMMAND + V
The only thing that maybe isn't working is that I see only the extreme right part of the pull-down menus for "Normal" "Font" and "Size" but it doesn't matter because I can see each entry's detail in the yellow bubbles that come up when scrolling through them.
Haven't tested everything, but it looks great so far.
I was testing the image (graph) function on Mac (Intel) using OS 10.6.
IMAGE (GRAPH) FUNCTION DOESN'T APPEAR TO WORK WITH MAC OS, ALTHOUGH IT WORKS UP UNTIL THE PREVIEW OR POST STAGE. MAYBE IT'S JUST THAT I AM POSTING COMMENTS, NOT ARTICLES, AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN IMAGES OR GRAPHS IN COMMENTS.
Haven't tested everything, but new RTE looks great so far, definitely improved.
and also can you edit your own comment so you can edit one and then put in a real quote using the double quote button?
You have permission to edit your own comments so if you make a mistake or want to reword something, you can.
On images, I just enabled some images for comments. If it doesn't work, try an optimized, small image.
Yes, comments for registered, logged in users can embed youtubes, display images and even upload some documents.
We disabled authoring as a default for too many people were violating the rules and writing posts that truly had little content or merit.
It's also a security issue. But if you want to write an article, request an author account. Bear in mind, we're pretty damn pick on that! We became a Google news source and as a result I am extremely active making sure the data is correct, the calculations are right and the citations are correct. The site motto is "No economic fiction", so it's important to make sure we do not write any. We have Fox News and Forbes for that!
I had images disabled for authenticated users but I just enabled it. Pay VERY close attention to image size, it should stop you from posting large images.
I'm going to turn the comments into a separate twitter feed as well, will post an announcement soon.
Downsized 50%, then clicked and dragged into the window pane that opens from the RTE toolbar button for graphs (icon of a graph). CONTROL-COMMAND + V won't even get the image into what appears for me in the editor.
I'm using Intel Mac OS 10.5 or 10.6
Image that should appear is of Eagle Peak, Yellowstone National Park (public domain, National Park Service via Wikipedia)
I CAN SEE IMAGE IN THE EDITOR, BUT NOT AT PREVIEW STAGE OR WHEN POSTED.
MAYBE I SHOULD LOWER RESOLUTION, NOW SET AT 200 ppi ?
Or maybe it's a Mac problem.
It doesn't matter that much for someone like myself who just posts comments.
The bottom row is the file upload tool. I might reduce the number of buttons to make it less confusing, but like I said, I don't use this stuff but others do, so I have to find out what works for others.
But no for files, images, you have to upload first to a web server or have a URL. Your computer is not a server, so you have no URL on it.
We were front paged by Google news which was giving the site the "Digg" effect. In trying to offload processing we have a PHP Feature called "throttle", but this exposed a major site component bug which gave us the WSOD.
Sorry about that, trying to make the site load for all and ended up crashing it!
The site crashed screwed up anonymous comments and security. It should be working now. Any problem writing comments, please use the contact form and let us know.
Sorry articles have been limited. Literally our region of the country has had such bad weather, connectivity has been down repeatedly, once for over 2 days, and doing research for posting via a smart phone is none too fun.
Hopefully more interesting factoids are coming soon. Thanks for understanding.
comment rating box now only for registered users
I discovered some major abuses of the comment ratings. We're none too serious about ratings around here, more they are used to say, "hey, I agree with you", or "I read your comment" and so on.
Seems some anonymous whatever was abusing and downrating comments. So, if you see a bunch of negatives, just rate 'em up, we were attacked.
Spelling and Grammar Police
Registered users: If you see a gross grammar or spelling error, please use the author contact link (click on the post author to find the secured email form) and let them know.
I don't like it when the spelling and grammar police write comments pointing out some minor flaw in authorship instead of focusing in on the comprehensive content of an article. At the same time, I just found a grammar error in a piece I wrote a week ago.
Sometimes even when one proofs their writings, things go sliding by, especially when a site like this moves so fast.
So, can you all help out by emailing the article author?
Anonymous drive-by's: I let these comments come in with all of their beyond belief inability to write a complete sentence and spell. But serially, don't you realize by not using a spell checker and at least an attempt at grammar you destroy whatever credibility you have and few bother to read what you have to say?
I've seen comments come in where pretty much every word beyond 3 letters is misspelled. Come on people, install iespell or use firefox which has a built in spell checker. Yes, the rich text editor does have a spell checker.
Anyone reading economic statistics, the content and finds a flaw, please leave a comment to enable corrections. I'm a stickler for accuracy but when one gets into this level of analysis, it's very easy to make a mistake. Let's not perpetuate economic fiction, so all of those who see a mistake in the actual analysis or data quotes, please let us know!
SERVER UPGRADE TODAY, NOW
The site upgrade will be happening sometime today. If you see the site non-responsive, wait 5 to 20 minutes and try again. I'll update this comment when I get a ETA.
Also, try emptying your browser cache if you still can't get on. The upgrade should be seamless, you should only notice you cannot get on for 5-20 minutes as we migrate to another server.
The good news EP is growing and we've had some world leading experts writing on the site recently, which is great and we want their insights.
Please let me know about site performance issues, such as page load or anything else you experience.
We want to make EP better and thanks for your patience and input!
SERVER MIGRATION COMPLETE, Report Slow Page Load
The server migration is complete and I'm not interested in how the site is loading for you and any issues.
Sometimes in server migrations you can go from bad to worse, so if you are experiencing slow page load, let me know.
Admin News, NEW RICH TEXT EDITOR
folks, for those who are using the rich text editor, I've updated to a new one. I've configured quite a bit and have a few more to go.
Please leave feedback! I won't know how well it works for you unless you tell me about problems.
If the site looks funky, empty your browser cache.
I don't use those things, I write in straight XHTML and this one is advanced, has a lot of new features...
so if something isn't working let me know.
also, I would not suggest using the Word, unless you do very simple cut and pastes.
I tried it and it keeps image paths local, which creates a mess. But I have Word "Pro" or whatever but 2007 ed.
Testing RTE
Quote function greatly improved because much easier to use:
John Petrie's Collection of Thomas Jefferson Quotes
I have just tested the image function on Mac (Intel) using OS 10.6. Click and drag works, but only using the pane that comes up from the image (graph) button (no need for keyboard command). Guess I should have tried out a graph rather than an image (Eagle Peak, Yelllowstone Park, public domain, National Park Service).
OOOPS! NO IT DOESN'T WORK. AT LEAST NOT YET. TRY AGAIN.
TRYING IT AGAIN WITH CNTL-COMMAND + V
The only thing that maybe isn't working is that I see only the extreme right part of the pull-down menus for "Normal" "Font" and "Size" but it doesn't matter because I can see each entry's detail in the yellow bubbles that come up when scrolling through them.
Haven't tested everything, but it looks great so far.
2OLD4OKEYDOKE
quotes
you click on that double quote button, then paste your quote
then hit enter. See the "" symbol on the button?
and then unclick the double quote.
To put in links you have to highlight the text to link.
So, quotes should look like this:
Notice the indent as well as the lightly colored line to the left that marks it as text from somewhere else.
Then, somewhere else you put, This is the linked reference, maybe integrated into the comment text, on where I pulled the quote from.
Quotes, links, no problem
I was testing the image (graph) function on Mac (Intel) using OS 10.6.
IMAGE (GRAPH) FUNCTION DOESN'T APPEAR TO WORK WITH MAC OS, ALTHOUGH IT WORKS UP UNTIL THE PREVIEW OR POST STAGE. MAYBE IT'S JUST THAT I AM POSTING COMMENTS, NOT ARTICLES, AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN IMAGES OR GRAPHS IN COMMENTS.
Haven't tested everything, but new RTE looks great so far, definitely improved.
2OLD4OKEYDOKE
try a quote
and also can you edit your own comment so you can edit one and then put in a real quote using the double quote button?
You have permission to edit your own comments so if you make a mistake or want to reword something, you can.
On images, I just enabled some images for comments. If it doesn't work, try an optimized, small image.
Yes, comments for registered, logged in users can embed youtubes, display images and even upload some documents.
We disabled authoring as a default for too many people were violating the rules and writing posts that truly had little content or merit.
It's also a security issue. But if you want to write an article, request an author account. Bear in mind, we're pretty damn pick on that! We became a Google news source and as a result I am extremely active making sure the data is correct, the calculations are right and the citations are correct. The site motto is "No economic fiction", so it's important to make sure we do not write any. We have Fox News and Forbes for that!
maybe a Mac OS problem
No problems here other than with images. I'm thinking this is a Mac OS problem, but I'll keep trying later.
Haven't tried embedding a YouTube yet.
images
I had images disabled for authenticated users but I just enabled it. Pay VERY close attention to image size, it should stop you from posting large images.
I'm going to turn the comments into a separate twitter feed as well, will post an announcement soon.
retesting image
Downsized 50%, then clicked and dragged into the window pane that opens from the RTE toolbar button for graphs (icon of a graph). CONTROL-COMMAND + V won't even get the image into what appears for me in the editor.
I'm using Intel Mac OS 10.5 or 10.6
Image that should appear is of Eagle Peak, Yellowstone National Park (public domain, National Park Service via Wikipedia)
I CAN SEE IMAGE IN THE EDITOR, BUT NOT AT PREVIEW STAGE OR WHEN POSTED.
MAYBE I SHOULD LOWER RESOLUTION, NOW SET AT 200 ppi ?
Or maybe it's a Mac problem.
It doesn't matter that much for someone like myself who just posts comments.
that will not work
you have to upload the image using the "browse" button on the image upload tool.
You cannot just copy and paste an image to a server from your computer.
click on the image button, then click to the browse button, then click upload.
Works like photobucket.
Try the double quotes, please.
See the difference? While a copy and paste might work for the display, that's just because the browser and your computer know where that image is.
But EP is on a server, way far away from your computer. You must upload the image first, or put the image URL in, which would be like:
http://www.economicpopulist.org/files/u1/shocknews.jpeg
The image button tool is in the top row.
The bottom row is the file upload tool. I might reduce the number of buttons to make it less confusing, but like I said, I don't use this stuff but others do, so I have to find out what works for others.
But no for files, images, you have to upload first to a web server or have a URL. Your computer is not a server, so you have no URL on it.
site crash 2,26.12 sorry about that
We were front paged by Google news which was giving the site the "Digg" effect. In trying to offload processing we have a PHP Feature called "throttle", but this exposed a major site component bug which gave us the WSOD.
Sorry about that, trying to make the site load for all and ended up crashing it!
It's back now. Won't try that one again.
CAPTCHA/comments fixed
The site crashed screwed up anonymous comments and security. It should be working now. Any problem writing comments, please use the contact form and let us know.
your friendly neighbor author offline
Sorry articles have been limited. Literally our region of the country has had such bad weather, connectivity has been down repeatedly, once for over 2 days, and doing research for posting via a smart phone is none too fun.
Hopefully more interesting factoids are coming soon. Thanks for understanding.
The Economic Populist Comments are Now on Twitter!
The Economic Populist Comments are now on Twitter! @EconPopComments
https://twitter.com/#!/EconPopComments
The Economic Populist articles are also on Twitter @EconPop
We decided to integrate comments to twitter to make it easier to follow and respond to others.
We hope this will encourage more people to comment, discuss, share more information to enlighten us all!