It’s a while since we’ve had a post for any and all feedback on the blog. We’re definitely moving to having multiple bloggers, and some other changes are afoot - including making the author of a post more identifiable and solving the problem of the long comments thread by displaying only a certain number of comments at a time with a link to go forward and back. So I’d be interested in hearing from bloggers, commenters and readers about these things, and absolutely anything else - constructive feedback always welcome.
I think you’re onto a good thing, and it clearly facilitates discussion, so be careful pissing around with it.
The site takes a while to load up compared to some, but that’s true for the home as much in my experience as long threads, so I wouldn’t go overboard there. People can use your excellent ‘last comment displayed first’ function (how DO I get this on blogger?) to go straight to the end of a thread.
Waaay too much purple.
I get redirected to a blank page when I post a comment, instead of the comments thread. Does anyone else have this problem?
What browser are you using, EP? And does it happen on all threads or only some? I suspect this is the same problem where people using IE have found their comment doesn’t appear, and then when they post it again they get a “double comment - you’ve already said that” notice. Rob’s trying to work out what’s causing it.
I’m using Firefox.
When I post a comment, I end up at a blank page with the URL http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-comments-post.php
This didn’t happen when you first started this blog, but has been going on for a few weeks at least.
Oh, ok, I misinterpreted what you meant - so the comment gets posted separately?
I use Firefox too and am straight back to the thread after I’ve posted the comment. Could it be something to do with a firewall? I’ve alerted Rob to this thread in any case.
I use firefox and all is ok after posting.
The purple is a bit much I have to say. Especially as it’s not so purple as lavender.
I don’t have any problem loading the comments though. Don’t think they need to be paginated. Unless you got great pagination (not just prev/next but numbered pages and first/last).
I do have a firewall — though I don’t see why it would make a difference.
Does anyone else have this problem, or am I the only one?
Get rid of the goddamn purple. Please.
Keep the purple, it’s great.
Pages sometimes take ages to load but that could be the long posts reason. I’ve only experienced the jammed up ”already posted” stuff twice but my system is iMac with a bastardised Mac Explorer so stuffed if I know.
More identifiable– what happens on that score?
I used to have EP’s comments problem at my blog—straight to a blank page. The problem is almost certainly the comments page template! Fiddle with it until it works, that’s what I did.
…
Images to go along with posts, in the style of opinion columns, would be cute. Threaded comments would also be good, though I know I am speaking an unpopular view. Mark, we want more of you posting. Less of us auxiliary writers.
…
Purple is fine. Ignore the knockers and the purple-haters.
EP - sometimes I get that as well, but if you ignore it and use the back button on your browser usually the comment posts anyway.
Mark - it only seems to happen sometimes. I have commented a couple of times on a particular thread, and then third comment get the blank screen thing happening, and then not at all for a while etc. Maybe it has something to do with site traffic at different times? No idea.
I’m much more attached to the purple than the name.
Purple haters should try the “dark” setting on the sidebar - under “Style” and then thank their lucky stars we provided alternatives!
Sorry, I mean “Themes”.
I’d like the Swedish flags back on the Story Bridge, too.
Aaarrgh! My eyes!!!
Yeah they were groovy, Zoe. When my net went down last week, I turned on my old computer with the dialup modem and the thing had remembered to show me the Swedish Flags over the Story Bridge!
The purple is iconic. The time for changing it has long since passed.
Is it possible to fix the problem of when a quote is made in commnets, it gets displayed at the end of the sidebar and there is a huge gap of white before it?
Nic, use <blockquote> and </blockquote>. If symptoms persist switch to Firefox or another non-Microsoft browser.
Yes, Nic, don’t use IE would be a good recommendation for any WP blog that enables html in comments. And just is, anyway.
Oh but I hate these newfangled tabbed browsers.
Actually, you sort of get used to the purple. I’d miss it if it went. I can never remember the name though. Too many syllables for me.
I definitely think that the site has slowed down a bit over the last few weeks. My browser always seems to have to stop and think when I come here. Maybe some of the large threads are getting too much for the database?
Having multiple bloggers has been a plus, I think. Having a clearer identification of the blogger on the front page though would be a Good Thing. Perhaps having a special guest post from Sopie M. would liven things up a bit more though!
Newfangles, screwfangled, Nic. IE always sucked - I used to use Netscape way back when before IE copied its best features.
So did I. Netscape rocked, until it didnt
The purple is absolutely non-negotiable!
Not being able to remember the name is good, I think. LP is a very memorable abbreviation (an LP generally being longer and better thought out than an EP might be a mnemonic) and I enjoy people’s variations - Larva Rodeo, Lascivious Rodeo, etc.
Andrew, if Nic keeps blogging here I think we’ll all get our Masson quotas.
At least I use paragraphs!
That’s true, much as I hate to disturb that particular spectre again, Sophie’s formatting was utterly appalling for someone who makes a living from writing.
Oh, brother. That shows you as petty beyond petty, Mark.
Whatever, Rob - it’s a reasonable point and I was responding to what Nic said.
Rob’s up for a stou-oush! Rob’s up for a stou-oush!
And Mark’s not bi-iting! And Mark’s not bi-iting!
The last thing I want to do is have another S/M stoush!
Ironic initials, aren’t they…
Oops. Apologies for even mentioning the S word.
Rob, Youie, come and get some stoush if you want it.
Both Sophie and Nic share an adopted profession. For the former, creative authorship; for the latter, journalism.
Neither do their jobs particularly well, and both are over-sensitive to criticism about how they practice their self-proclaimed trades. It’s a shame, though criticism of the same traits need not be personal. Every reader has reasonable expectations both of authors and journalists. Nic, I’m sure, knows how I feel about his ‘journalism’. I never did dip any toes into the Masson Wars, thankfully.
Kim dipped five toes in
I suspect Rob actually doesn’t want to engage in an S/M stoush - he just likes the odd hit and run comment (ie - “what a grim and merciless view you have of x…) whenever the Divine Name is taken in vain, Liam.
Im not actually a practicing journalist, and wont be for 5 years, discounting any internships, so really you havent seen me do anything other than, well, blog.
However, if anyone does want to have an S/M stoush, this thread is not the appropriate one. Please go here should you be so inclined.
Yes, that’s true, Mark, even had I been wearing my prosthetic leg at the time, it doesn’t have toes as such.
I’m against links to traverse the comments threads - I like to scroll up and down. If it’s introduced, I think it should be an option if that’s possible.
Sorry for stoushing out of line.
This is one of the reasons I like threaded comments. Each stoush is itself an island, reducible to its component ideas.
Still, it got the big thumbs down from all three of my readers. Ah well.
Maybe we could have, like, leather masks on our gravvies to indicate when there’s an S&M stoush on? Rob, is it technically feasible?
You started the freaking thing, commissar. Why do I imagine this spectre in the dark rises to strangle you, night after night? You and Kim both.
Rob, you need some serious Freudian analysis of your dream life, then.
What’s this - “you started…” bollocks. One would hope that we could rise above that.
For the record, here is the first mention of Ms Masson on this thread. And see also this comment.
I’m over the Troppo stoushes, Rob. I suggest you get over them too.
This thread is officially declared stoush-free from now on.
Sleep badly, Kim.
Rob, even Popper would agree that’s uncalled for. I refer you to the comments policy:
The purpose of this thread is feedback, not stoushing, and absolutely not discussion of Troppo bloggers. Everyone please note.
Ive always assumed the purple was the chosen hue for iconic Brisvegan reasons, jacaranda haze etc….
I must say LP has been a bot slow in laoding for me lately, but seems better today. Anyway - thats neither here nor there.
Feedback: full marks to Mark! Ive heard of so-called online communities, but this would be the closest thing to it that Ive actually seen.
Why, I even get to encounter RWDBs, who I never see about the halls at Keating Towers, Inner Fitzroy Left.
So delete it, and ban me. You could delete your 9:28 comment while you’re about it.
Calm down, Rob - it’s a divisive matter, and one I think ought not to be raised. My comment was directly responsive to Nic’s and it’s fair comment in my view. If Ms Masson finds it offensive, and it’s not meant to be, I’ll happily take it down.
I recognise that I haven’t been alert and alarmed enough about these discussions in the past. My general view is that people should have their say, and I’ll only intervene as a last resort. I’m also cognisant of the fact that I’m also a commenter here and implicated thereby in the discussion.
But I do think - it’s time to call a halt to these particular discussions - as I think the measured comments by Wendy and Brian on the thread I linked to above indicate.
It’s not particularly easy ensuring civil discourse on a blog, by the way. If you have any constructive suggestions, Rob, or if you think I’ve not been impartial, I’m more than happy to hear them.
I’m good at Freudian analysis and Lacanian too. Happy to help.
Now where were we, ahhh, yes, if my memory serves me well, all sites hosted on redrag load slowly. Or to be precise, more slowly than one would expect.
Rob, I apologise if I caused any offence. My comment was an attempt at catachresis - obviously a failed one.
FXH, you should ask Mark if you can do a guest post on the Lacanian view of blogging insanity!
No offence, Kim.
On the broader subject. Commenting at LP is like dancing with robots: every move pre-programmed, evey position pre-configured, every turn pre-anticipated.
Question is - which side are the robots?
I have a computer programmed leg, Rob, is that what you mean?
I do wonder why you if you have a grim and merciless view of our comments, you continue to grace us with your presence. Not that I don’t welcome your company, mind.
But surely you’d enjoy yourself over at tim’s place, where freewheeling, humorous, flirty, and often intellectual comments are the standard?
I apologised to Evil Pundit earlier this evening, Rob, and accepted that he had a point. I think everyone was as baffled as me.
There was a thread last week, Liam, where Peter Kemp and Rob Corr agreed with EP. Just saying…
This one, to be more precise.
You run a good pub here Mark, as Nabs would say. LP is distinguished by its conversations and, especially, a remarkable gender balance.
As I recall, I also offered my apologies to EP just after you did, and I think that he had more of a grasp of the issue in terms of lines being drawn than many commenters, Liam. Just saying…
Much to the consternation of the American interlopers, cs! But I won’t revisit stoushes past! But yeah, the female contribution to LP right from the start has been just fab.
FXH, if you’re still reading, your psychoanalytical expertise is is needed!
Mrs. Peel, we’re needed!
Best Troppo post ever, I reckon. I’m sure Chris would agree.
No, Kim, I didn’t mean that. That was insensitive and I apologise. I should have said ‘automaton’ or something - the point being about unreflective political automatism.
Indeed cs, I was converted to blogging on back pages last federal election. I went into hiatus (like Latho) until I accidentally happened across LP. Seemed the closest thing to that fine blog at the time, so I hopped in. Now I see it as having its own vibe, but same attractions…
Anyway, compliments all round….
Fair enough, Rob, but actually I think you find something quite different from a party line here. Being “Left” doesn’t mean not thinking.
But, I don’t think at all, but feel quite viscerally, when I see piccies of Mrs Peel in a leather catsuit. Agreed, cs?
NB - see link in Mark’s comment above.
Ah, Mrs Peel!
Just fantasizin’
Miaowwwwwwww.
Kim, I think Mrs Peel may have been my first genuine moment of sexual attraction, round nine. That, or Agent 99. Or sidekick Sarah from Baker Dr Who.
That’s my type all round!
Well (irritated), I’d like to post a divergent view. Every time I see one of the tag-teamers’ headlines, I know exactly what they’re going to say - yeah, I’ve got these incredible telepathic powers. Just about every time Mark posts, I know he’s going to bag John Howard one way or another. Ditto Kim. Ditto et al. Some commenters have a sense of humour, which lightens the ‘grim and merciless’ atmosphere slightly. But most usually, it’s the same old same old.
Not that that’s uncommon on blogs.
Like I said (avec apologies) - we’re dancing with robots. But who is we?
And Kim, I hang around because I get bored easily and I too like to irritate people.
I don’t think that what I say or anyone else says in this forum will make a ha’poth’s worth of difference to the formulation or conduct of public policy.
There, I’ve said it. But you did ask for feedback, Mark.
I dont agree Rob - and Im not having a go - but I find during discussions / stoushes here that I have refined & shifted more than one political position. But, my broad values dont change: they remain within spectrum you would identify as left. Because Im a robot? No, thats genuinely how I see the world. Dont quite know what you expect!
Anyway, its a bit of lefty blog, innit?
Good for you, LE.
And yes, it is (a lefty blog). If it were a righty one, I’d feel the same inexorable compulsion to take the opposite position.
It’s what Edgar Allan Poe once called ‘The Imp of the Perverse’.
Rob, and I’m not meaning to slight you, but get some ideals and fight for them.
cs, Emmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmma!
Lefty E, I think those tv peeps you’ve sighted/cited woke me up as a little girl to the hotness of girls. Sorry, mass culture, you turned me queer. Just saying…
Right, Rob, we’ll see you over at tim blair’s place fighting the good fight for Lefty goodness! No Pasaran! or not?
Or maybe you’ll go round to C.L.’s place and rubbish Pope Benedict and praise Islam? Feel free to draw the links to your comments to our attention here.
Some advice to a young contrarian…
I do that from time to time, Kim, but get lost in the swamp.
And I’m not an idealist. It’s the last thing I’d wish on myself.
Well, Rob, just for you my friend, I’ve put up a post where talking about Left and Right is actually on topic. Never let it be said that LP doesn’t respond to feedback.
And as much as I admire and respect C.L., I have admiringly and respectfully disagreed with him about Islam - on his blog.
Good to see, Rob. We all admire and respect C.L. which is why we’re so disappointed in his one-eyed view of Islam.
He may well be more correct in his appaisal than we are. I admit, purely out of moral cowardice, that this is something I would prefer to step back from.
I doubt it, Rob. There are areas where I will defer to C.L.’s knowledge - but his view of Islam seems only to be a compendium of common derogatory motifs going back 1300 odd years.
Ok, a complaint: Despite my prompts, there’s not nearly enough jibes at Brogden’s expense here at LP.
This is surely the most spectacular and hilarious political self-destruction in recent years, and merits considerable derisive attention.
Might follow flute over to 52nd state & see how the tourette’s angle pans out for laughs….
Yeah, I was going to put up a post, Lefty E, after I saw the 7.30 Report (it was Alex Hawke wot won it for the trogs…)… but I reflected that posts on Qld politics from other states often miss the mark. I don’t even know who the fuck Barry O’Farrell is…
True. Quinceland first.
And now, dreams of Mrs Peel await me….
For the record, my comment was in jest.
Many a true word etc, Nic.
You could say that.
Well since this thread is now cross-referencing itself to the max, let me take this opportunity to say I’ve already said what I’d say about people saying stuff here about people who say stuff like this here.
‘Blogging politics, culture, sociology and life from Brisvegas.’
‘We‚Äôre definitely moving to having multiple bloggers…’
They all from Brisvegas?
I cried in that episode where her random husband randomly reappeared after returning from being lost in the Amazon. And they drive off in that cool car, she looks back. Poor Steed!
Naomi, I’ve been meaning to ask for some biographical material for the “guesters”. Email later today.
It’s great Mark - but I have to agree with changing purple - it’s just too purple - perhaps a light pastel green/aqua/mauve/vermillion. Ok - I just love saying vermillion.
Rob, you can be insufferably smug sometimes. As one of the ‘tag-teamers’ I really resent the implication that I come to my intellectual opinions simply by echoing those of other people.
At least EP sticks to his guns (mostly) and for that I respect him, if for nothing else. You, on the other hand, don’t even come from a good faith position — you just want to be all contrary and difficult. That’s rather post-modern, don’t you think?
If you disagree, then disagree. Don’t be coy about yourself or your actions.
Apologies for going OT. Frankly, I like LP much the way it is. I even like the purple. Well, I’ve become used to the purple.
I’m happy to provide bio info as a occasional guest-poster also.
Rob, you can be insufferably smug sometimes.
I know, Kate. I tend to get a bit irrational After Midnight. Tag teamers was a bit much so I apologise for that.
The thing is, Rob, it’s not the first time you’ve said it and I doubt it’ll be the last. The point of an apology surely only comes from a resolution not to do the same thing again.
<tag in the LP wrestling ring>
Yeah, Rob. Nyaah.
</tag in the LP wrestling ring>
Oh stop squabbling you pair.
To those who don’t like the purple (to paraphrase Cold Chisel)’if you don’t like it what are you reading if for twenty minutes for’
Saturday night do do do do do dode doo doo
I suppose that the important thing is that it’s easy to read, and it can’t be too difficult to read - so maybe the purple’s ok!
Never mind me, I’m just cranky because my one shot at blog superstardom was rooned by some hack at the Age who got the name of my blog wrong.
No, Mark, I have not used the term ‘tag team’ before.
My actual take on LP, from The Review of Blogs:
——————————–
LP is a strong and attractive site which benefits from an innovative implementation of blogging software. Comments are well presented and more readily navigable than many blogs. They are unmoderated, but generally well-disciplined by tacit but understood rules of engagement. Technically the site is of a high standard. Gravatars are enabled.
The general tenor of the site is left-wing, but not aggressively so. Host and lead blogger MB posts often, and his articles, though sometimes open to criticism on the grounds of tendentiousness (depending on the subject matter), are erudite, usually well thought-through and supported by references and links. A welcome recent development is the recruitment to LP of a cadre of appealing guest bloggers who have widened the ambit of headline posts beyond the primarily political focus of the host. The guests share the political views of the host, which contributes to the collective ‘feel’ of the blog, generally to positive effect. Headline posts are lively, well-written (very well-written in a commendable number of cases), and relevant. Obscure and non-resonant topics are generally avoided.
LP has attracted a sizeable corpus of regular commenters, and a reasonable - and apparently growing - number of drop-ins. A range of views and opinions is represented, though the preponderance of opinion is to the left, as is to be expected of a left wing blog. This preponderance is leavened and enlivened by a small number of resident (and occasional) comment box RWDBs, who both annoy and stimulate their ideological adversaries, and serve to counteract any suggestion of site-wide mutual self-agreement. Debate is civilised - certainly so by blog standards - and excessive comments are usually withdrawn without the need for intervention by the host.
Possible areas for improvement include a wider spread of issues for headline posts. For example, bloggers tend to respond to and comment on contemporary developments of political significance, but miss others (Hurricane Katrina, for example) that do not have a strong political resonance. Other blogs have taken advantage of the opportunities afforded for stimulating and effective posting on these issues.
Overall, a lively and appealing site, well above average, and tending to excellence in specific areas of the bloggers’ and commenters’ experience, scholarship and expertise.
Rating: 7 1/2.
From a while back: I too get the problem that EP mentions. And I use Firefox.
I don’t have an issue with the purple either. It’s unique but I don’t like the purple line that divides the various shades of purple. That bugs.
Apart from that, I have no qualms, I like having an informative and interesting place to discuss things from an Australian perspective and this is the best place to find it.
That’s hilarious, Rob! Does this “The Review of Blogs” actually exist? If so, where?
Rob, I’m sure you’ve made a similar comment - but perhaps I’m wrong. Though usually I’ve got a good memory. In any case I can’t be bothered trawling through the archives to check, so we’ll let it go.
What’s the review of blogs?
Nice review, though, Rob - eminently fair except we should rate 4 and a half stars from David and Margaret. I’m sure that Fenella would give us 5!
I’d give Fenella an 11, Mark.
On Hurricane Katrina, I was following what was going on and thought about posting - particularly if there was a link to climate change in the weather event or on the social aspects of evacuating a major city, but I’m pretty uninformed on both and I like to stick to what I know well. I’m always open to guest posts - I’d love to see some more environmental issues discussed, and I really enjoy the science ones from
IrantShaun, and if anyone else has any particular expertise about anything, I’m more than open to talking about guest posts.No, Fyodor, I made it up. Could be something in the idea, though.
I’d give Fenella a 12, but I think Kim’s got more chance with her than us…