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commenting bugs

  1. roaring40
    Member

    You have a bigger problem that you think regarding the new comments policy. Yes you have fixed the few bugs. But you have yet to see that WordPress is picking up on the blogroll mail addresses and calling it theirs and requiring those that have never had any a/c whatsoever with wordpress or any other ancillary or subset thereof.
    Further, the option of passive comment has been removed and I can find no box to tick that will return it.

    And as I'm at it, I really dislike the notion you want me to 'submit' to you for anything. Why not have the manners to put 'publish' somewhat less servile in tone.

  2. tandava108
    Member

    You will submit .... resistance is futile ;-)

  3. nandobase
    Member

    Matt rules.... lol

  4. thesacredpath
    Member

    That want to make sure that those that actually do comment are seriously compelled to comment and are willing to jump through flaming hoops after being doused in gasoline. Those are the only legitimate commenters.

  5. nandobase
    Member

    CheckMatt.... I mean... Mate.....

  6. designsimply
    Staff

    We're continuously updating WordPress.com and everyone at our company is working with the goal to make the best blogging platform out there. Sometimes we make mistakes! And not everyone agrees with every decision. :) When those things happen, we're around to fix the bugs and we appreciate so much when you let us know about them in a helpful way.

    Further, the option of passive comment has been removed and I can find no box to tick that will return it.

    What has been changed so far is that if you use an email address that is present in WordPress.com and may have someone's online identity associated with it, then you must log in before you can comment using that email address. So, you can actually still leave anonymous comments if you use an email address not present in the WordPress.com system. The idea is to try to help prevent impersonation of people with existing online identities at WordPress.com or Gravatar.com.

    The landing page when you try to use an email present in the WordPress.com or Gravatar.com system to comment is not pretty right now, and it needs some work. Our developers were asked to make the change fast, and so the first step to update it was taken and now we'll work together with them to make it better.

    Online impersonation has been a recent concern for many of our users. Hopefully those users will appreciate these types of updates and chime in with helpful feedback about making it better.

    I'll see what I can do to keep you updated in the forums with progress on this issue.

  7. jennettemariepowell
    Member

    I can't tel you how much I HATE this change, and I don't even have a WordPress.com blog! (Mine is self-hosted.) But I do like to comment on others' blogs, not only to participate in their community, but in hopes that others will click my name and visit mine. But now I have to log in with Twitter or Facebook, or WP - and none of those show my proper name or website link! I don't want people to go to my Twitter page, or worse, one of the other WP.com blogs I'm linked to! If we must log in, PLEASE at least give us a means to choose the name and website (inlcuding non-WP.com sites) we want to display!

  8. nandobase
    Member

    I have an idea. Instead of using the email of the gravatar, we should be able to use the password of the gravatar. That way, only the gravatar owner can use it. And then we may freely choose the blog urls linking to our usernames.
    Off course the blog admin should not be able to see the commenters passwords one way or the other.
    Just a noobish idea. :)

  9. jennettemariepowell
    Member

    Yes to nandobase's idea! Also I want to add, logging in with a different email address isn't a solution for me, because I want my picture to show up when I comment, not one of the generic gravatars.

  10. nandobase
    Member

    @jennettemariepowell, you can easily change your website link.
    Go to your wp.com dashboard > users > personal settings > account details.
    you'll find your website box right there. Change the url.

  11. designsimply
    Staff

    @jennettemariepowell, good feedback! You can do what you're asking. The difference is that if you want to use your email address with your Gravatar attached, now you must log in first. You can still fill in the link you want after that. I think the trouble is that it's just not easy to see that option during the first login step (we should fix that). Try this:

    1. Log in at WordPress.com
    2. Open a comment form on a WordPress.com blog
    3. Fill in your WordPress.com email and whatever link you want for the comment
    * Let me know if you have any trouble with that. I just tested it and it worked for me, so if you have any trouble, let me know your steps.

    @nandobase, WordPress.com and Gravatar.com accounts are the same, once you log in to either one you'll be able to comment.

    Also, here's a thread which you can refer to for future updates: http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/recent-update-to-commenting?replies=1

  12. listlessink
    Member

    Many of my readers self-host and have gravatar accounts but do not actually care that much for a wordpress.com account. After all, why would they? They self-host so they don't have to deal with these pleasant features graciously and forcibly given to us every so often.

    This is totally in line with your design philosophy of keeping reader experience as simple and as intuitive as possible. Now, they have to create an account, change the link from the default wordpress.com site, and log-in everytime they want to comment. But wait, it gets better. No one ever told them they need to do all of that. Instead, they get an error, lose their comments, and understandably leave frustrated. ^ ^

    p.s. I know for a fact that at least a few regular commenters have left my blog (via tweets directly telling me that they're frustrated at all the lost comments and they're done. They are "not going to give a f***" anymore.)

    I guess, in a way, this is super super effective in solving impersonation. Now there's no one to impersonate. :) Happiness, engineered!

    p.s. I would threaten to leave, but I can't unfortunately. I've spent too much time on my blog to just drop it or move to another platform. I think back on that little survey I did a while ago--the one prompted every so often when I log in to my wordpress.com dashboard--and I kind of wish I could change some of those answers. WordPress used to be so lovely and in touch with its bloggers.

  13. listlessink
    Member

    Our developers were asked to make the change fast, and so the first step to update it was taken and now we'll work together with them to make it better.

    What was the huge huge rush that you couldn't work out the kinks first before implementation? Did you guys uncover a plan to mass impersonate wordpress.com/gravatar accounts in blog comments in mid-March and must deal with it... fast?

  14. roaring40
    Member

    @ Designsimply
    I am sympathetic to the security problems, hacking and spam is no fun. But an explanation on that page might have gone a long way to mitigate any ire people feel at being required to find a inactive a/c, or place a clean email on the comment form.
    Further, putting one of those 'captcha' thingy's would have achieved exactly the same result without any of this unholy hassle.

  15. thesacredpath
    Member

    @designsimply,

    Firefox 11.0 Mac not logged in to WP or gravatar.

    1. Enter email address and name and web address are filled in.

    2. Add comment and click the submit button.

    3. Warning comes up that I have to log in and tells me to click the back button.

    4. Back button takes me back to the page with the comment form on it, and I have to look around to find out how to log in. See the tiny WP, fb and twitter icons and click the WP icon.

    5. Enter my username, but login form does not fill in my password for me and since I have very strong passwords that I cannot remember, I have to open my keychain, enter my master password and find the password and copy it and close the keychain.

    6. Enter the password and it takes me back to the comment form. I click the "submit" button and the comment will not post. I can click the submit button all day long and nothing. Zero, zip, nada.

    7. Force refresh the page, re-enter the comment (if I was thinking clearly I copied the comment content, otherwise I have to retype it), re-enter my email address (still logged into wordpress at this point so why should I have to re-enter my email address?) and click submit and then the comment posts.

    Does AutoMATTic really think people are going to go through all this just to leave a comment on a wordpress.com site? Seriously?

    The awesomeness [sic] of this is truly amazing. I can't wait to see what awesomeness the future holds.

  16. shoreacres
    Member

    @thesacredpath - Completely OT, but if you don't know what happened to ellaella, I received this word today.

  17. thesacredpath
    Member

    @shoreacres, thanks so much for letting me know. I'll pass it around to the people I knew who were online friends with her.

  18. timethief
    Member

    @shoreacres
    Thanks for the link (she said through her tears). :(

  19. designsimply
    Staff

    @roaringforties, I agree about having a better explanation on the error page. We're working to make the entire process better.

  20. designsimply
    Staff

    @thesacredpath, the first part of your reply is good feedback, thank you for posting it! We are working to make it better. I'm sorry it's been frustrating!

    Note for blog owners: you can uncheck the "Comment author must fill out name and e-mail" option on your Settings → Discussion page and that will allow anyone to leave a comment without needing to enter their email address. That option might be helpful to some of you in the short term.

  21. designsimply
    Staff

    I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of ellaella last year. Very sad news.

  22. thenewcommentingbugsucksgoodbyewordpressforever
    Member

    dear wordpress,

    because of the commenting issue, i have, to the best of my abilities, deleted my gravatar info, my wordpress info, switched the account email, and then deleted that email. this is no mistake or "bug", this is a poorly executed policy change which lacked the slightest foresight. this issue has prompted me to cancel my account, but the fact that my account cannot be formally "deleted" has solidified my resolution to never return. you're trying to protect my identity while at the same time claiming that it not mine to delete, and i find this to be insulting and dictatorial. good day.

  23. grumpyoldbroad
    Member

    Hmm....I go to a Freethought blog and go to comment.
    1. It states I must be logged in and can do so via WordPress. I enter my user name and password and get "Invalid User Name" (even though it's what I just used 5 seconds ago to sign into WordPress itself). Fine.
    2. I hit the little WordPress Icon at the bottom of the user name/password box and get "enter your WordPress.com blog URL". I do.
    3. I get another pop-up that says, "You need to share your email address when prompted at wordpress.com. Please close this window and try again." Sadly, it doesn't give me anywhere to put my email address. Anywhere. At all.

    So....27 hoops to jump through to post on a WordPress blog and 127 hoops to use WP to post to another blog? What the heck? It was working, after a fashion 2 days ago. Yesterday, I could log in, though it was kludgy. Today, no nada.

  24. listlessink
    Member

    Does AutoMATTic really think people are going to go through all this just to leave a comment on a wordpress.com site? Seriously?

    The awesomeness [sic] of this is truly amazing. I can't wait to see what awesomeness the future holds.

    Exactly.

    I don't suppose the developers would have the humility to recognize that this is a bad change, and go back on it. Instead, I imagine it will continue to get a few clunky "fixes" and then stick around awkwardly once the staff considers the matter resolved--all questions ignored and no more mentions of this. After all, they seem to HATE negative feedback even if those feedback have a point. (I suspect this is happening now since all I see is a closed sticky that implies all issues fixed when dissatisfaction still runs high.)

    As an aside, I would think this is directly in conflict with those using wordpress.org's self-hosted wordpress UI, because it makes them have to go through so much now just to comment on any wordpress.com blog. And if I were them, I just wouldn't. No one has that kind of time or desire these days to make those billion extra steps, and no one takes kindly to lost comments.

    And thanks to that, it's kind of killing my blogging as well. I have no idea whether my readers are still having trouble commenting. Whether they know the gazillions steps they need to take to be able to comment. Or whether they have all left. (By the drop in numbers, I suspect they have...) This is incredibly frustrating and stressful state to be in--always wondering if there is a lost comment or a lost reader. And hence, I constantly hound the forums for new updates... but alas, staff response is near non-existent. We can't even contact support now without paying.

    I've been blogging on wordpress for 4/5 years, and I've loved it for the first 4 years. Absolutely loved the work you do. But it just seems like in the last few months or so, there's all these things that, again, makes it seem like the staff is completely out of touch with their bloggers. There is very little transparency, and there is very little care for our opinions.

    Just like I'm pretty sure not a single fudge will be given to this comment or my issues. I regret not self-hosting way back 5 years ago... And I regret the direction wordpress has taken in more recent days.

  25. thesacredpath
    Member

    I've often suspected that after a certain time period (perhaps 30 days) a bug becomes a feature.

  26. 1tess
    Moderator

    It's like the wall mounted broken floruencent lamp in my bathroom: it doesn't work, but it's a great place to display pictures and shells…

  27. wank
    Member

    I honestly don't think Matt understands how many people are affected every time he makes one of these snap decisions like 'infinite scroll is cool, we should totally add it to wordpress.com!' or 'people are using Matt Cutts's email address to post comments, that blows, let's make it impossible for anyone to comment on any wordpress.com blog without login credentials!'

    I'm not just talking about the users who get hurt by these changes, nor the readers whose experience is disrupted; but the other users who may not even be affected directly by the latest screwup, but are unable to get timely support for their issues because staff are overwhelmed with bug reports, queries and complaints relating to the latest botched 'feature'.

    If wordpress.com is still Matt's personal sandbox, to do with as he likes, then that's fine. However, people should be made aware of this when they sign up, and certainly before they hand over any money.

  28. raincoaster
    Member

    Staff have said they are not going to be offering support to users without upgrades of some kind until they're all caught up. The 'staying on top of things' problem has been getting worse, not better, so I can't see that they will ever get caught up.

  29. thesacredpath
    Member

    You know what cats do in sandboxes don't you?

    Just sayin'

  30. roaring40
    Member

    Without drifting into the realm of conspiracy theories, too far. I do wonder if all this logging in hoohaa has anything to do with the stepping-out W/P is doing with FB. That level of need is part of their psyche but sits rather badly with with the notion of open publishing. FB plays the gated country club 'you're in/you're out' game for the first few years. But it's been a while now since that semi-Masonic, semi-Preppy exclusion has worked in a positive way for them. Nowadays, if you've not your FB password in the auto-fill, you'll never get on to it. Which frankly nullifies the security aspect of the password leaving it as little more than a address.
    And without getting too technical, where the advertising is concerned WordPress could teach FB a thing or two. Are we not, with the 'TAGS' and a few other little doodads, filtering for W/P and the advertisers in a way FB can only fantasise.

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