JoS comments are now moderated.This will hinder discussions somewhat, but the ability for us to gather and chat without interruption is certainly worth it. (And with a three-game series in New York up next, this is very good timing.)
There should be little lag, if any, in comment approval during games. Obviously, when I'm away from the computer, there will delays.
This is my dilemma at my blog--having to put on the moderation for the sole reason of keeping out a few psychos.
ReplyDeleteBut having had it on for a few months now, I kind of can't believe I used to "leave my blog alone" for so long! You're away from a computer for a day and that could be a day of having some horrible things said about you sitting there for everyone to see.
My .02: I don't really like it - in all my time here, we haven't had this horrible rash of inappropriate posts that ruin our ability to have discussions.
ReplyDeleteThis changes the dynamic of the blog, in that it's impossible to have real-time conversations here unless you're around.
Make the 'security' higher during Yankees series if you'd like, but I don't like it, overall.
I can totally appreciate that, but it doesn't work for me. Readers have discussions on my blog when I'm not there - they reply to each other without me. Moderation would just hinder that too much.
ReplyDeleteI'm always checking my email, so the worst that can happen is an overnight troll.
I work at home four days a week and am often on the computer, so I hope there will be minimal delays.
ReplyDeleteThis is what we have to do from now on -- no one wants hundreds of troll comments in every thread -- and that's what would happen. That was what was happening today before I stopped it.
I refuse to let morans ruin my blog. We will all get used to it soon enough.
What will take a long time for me to get out of the habit of is refreshing a page of comments to see if anything new is up!
ReplyDeleteWhat's nice about the moderation is I don't see the content of the email - I see only the author's name and Bzzt.
ReplyDeleteWow. Maybe I'm stupid......But I would think there would be a way where we could sign up and have preapproval for comments and any new members who would like to post can then do so....and you can boot out after you find they may be trolls.....
ReplyDeleteHey wheres my post.......I learned nothing from the Quik rabbit......:)
ReplyDeleteBut I would think there would be a way where we could sign up and have preapproval for comments and any new members who would like to post can then do so....and you can boot out after you find they may be trolls.....
ReplyDeleteThis is what I was thinking of doing. But it is not as simple as this. If I did this, everyone that I approved of would be a "member" of the blog -- and would have rights to post.
I considered doing that (but telling everyone that they could comment only) -- this was right before Cakey started Threadsox -- but that seemed like it could turn into a headache.
So I'm going with this for now.
If I did this, everyone that I approved of would be a "member" of the blog -- and would have rights to post.
ReplyDeleteIf I did that, I could print up some cards and charge everyone $10 to make their "membership" at Joy of Sox official.
Hmmmmmm .............
redsock said...
ReplyDeleteIf I did that, I could print up some cards and charge everyone $10 to make their "membership" at Joy of Sox official.
Could I get a shirt or maybe a hoodie?????
I'll gladly pimp out Joy Nation....but only if I can be the official JOS announcer and pimp out my shit 24/7 alongside Joy Nation!
ReplyDeleteSo you get an email everytime someone posts........so in the last 2 days you got over a 1000 emails.?
ReplyDeleteSo you get an email everytime someone posts........so in the last 2 days you got over a 1000 emails.?
ReplyDeleteI do usually get an email whenever anyone leaves a comment to any post, but in Gmail, they often get combined into long strings of many emails. Some will have 10 different comments, some will have 65. All of s1c's come in their own long email - only his comments.
Anyway, I delete those without reading them since I see them all in the game thread.
Can I run for President of JoS Nation?
ReplyDeleteOhh here's an idea: JoS Appeal!
I'm telling you, this blog is going places...
Was it that bad? With L running interference too? Are game threads not moderated? I am confused by your comment about s1c's comments being in the game thread already so you delete the emails. please advise
ReplyDeleteCan I run for President of JoS Nation?
ReplyDeleteAs someone noted a few days ago, this is a dictatorship. Benevolent for the most part, but still a dictatorship.
Or a "dongtatorship", if you prefer.
Was it that bad? With L running interference too? Are game threads not moderated? I am confused by your comment about s1c's comments being in the game thread already so you delete the emails. please advise
ReplyDeleteNothing was moderated before today. Everyone's comments come to me as emails, with the text of the comment and a link to the post it was made in.
The game thread emails have the game thread title as the subject line, so if I was refreshing the game thread, I would know that all of those emails were fine -- they didn't need to be read.
Today, the troll was copying and pasting the same message into one comment after the next after the next. Deleting them one at a time was taking longer than it took the troll to post them.
So I turned off comments completely for five minutes, cleaned things up, and enabled moderation.
Btw, my first comment ("I can totally appreciate that") was in reply to Jere's comment.
ReplyDeleteJoe Grav, you are grossly underestimating what's been going on, because you haven't seen it. JoS has been flooded by trolls - obscene, sexist, homophobic posts, one after the next (after the next).
I can understand your feelings, because it does change the dynamics. But we can't let the blog be ruined by idiots.
Was it that bad? With L running interference too? Are game threads not moderated?
ReplyDeleteI moderated the game thread today. I deleted about 30-40 comments. Most came in big bunches.
To those in the game thread today, did it go pretty quickly? Did your comments show up pretty fast?
During the Yankees series, it will be faster, because I'll be home watching the games on TV, so I can just keep the moderation screen up, refresh, publish, refresh, publish. I won't also chat in the game thread, but that's ok.
Today it may have been slower b/c I was trying to follow the game on Gameday, and also post in the thread. Plus it was my first day. :)
That's weird re s1c's comments. I wonder why?!
ReplyDeleteSo you get an email everytime someone posts........so in the last 2 days you got over a 1000 emails.?
ReplyDeleteYou can set Blogger to email you comments or not. You can have the comments emailed to any address.
I suggested setting it so the JoS comments would all go to Trollzapper's address, and I could delete them from there. No moderation necessary.
But Allan (and Jere) convinced me that wouldn't work for this troll's "flooding" methods. It takes too many steps: you get the email, you go to the blog, you delete, you confirm deletion, you refresh. Moderation requires only one step: publish/reject.
This is unnecessary, and I can't approve.
ReplyDeleteThis is unnecessary
ReplyDeleteYou are wrong.
Today's game thread had about 350 legit posts. I have no doubt that trolls could have pushed it to 5,000.
I don't want to wake up to that on several blog posts.
I have a question for those who think the moderation is unnecessary. What is the basis for that opinion?
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming you've read that JoS had hundreds of obscene troll posts in the last few days, including LOTS that came in huge bunches.
Assuming you know that, why is moderation unnecessary?
dongtatorship! that has both dong and tater!
ReplyDeleteL-girl said...
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming you've read that JoS had hundreds of obscene troll posts in the last few days, including LOTS that came in huge bunches.
Are the trolls just pissed off yankee fans or just people who are pissed off at someone in general......i wasn't able to see any of the comments , so i will assume they were either graphic or just very immature...I guess peolpe may not understand because they don't know any of the things that were written.......
Well, after all moderation is the spice of life!
ReplyDeleteBenevolent for the most part, but still a dictatorship.
It's good to be the king, and the king is trying to keep this a fun place to watch games. Trolls, never make it easy on the moderator or anyone else.
7.5 the Sox now have a chance to put the nail in the coffin!
I'm just going to say "thank you" for going through the effort. I'm sure it's ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a big pain to move off of blogger, but there are blog engines that might have a more sophisticated comment/moderation system.
Of course, the price is right with blogger too.
I'd be happy to do a little research into options if you want to find out more. Just something to think about if the trolling keeps up. Maybe the offseason would be the right time to look at options.
Dunno, just thinking out loud.
I'm in support of whatever keeps the site and its hosts healthy. If they can deal with the overhead of moderation and that keeps the trolls away, I'm all for it. If, in the future, the troll invasion gets bored and goes away, I'd enjoy a return to unmoderated, but refer to the first sentence overall.
ReplyDeleteNow then, I'm thinking a JoS spinoff: "The Dong Show" whose theme song would be, of course "Get it On (Bang a Dong)".
Clearly MFY fans. Still hurting over 2004 -- and slowly coming to the realization that they'll be watching the Red Sox romp in October while their boys play golf.
ReplyDeleteI'm good with Blogger. Thanks, chief.
no problem at all.
ReplyDeleteNick, that's very sweet.
ReplyDelete9C, you're right: people didn't see the posts, so they don't know. I don't want to repeat them. I'll just say they were crude (and not in a fun way), worthless, and Yankee-loving.
Redsock, I cannot emphasize strongly enough that you do NOT want to leave Blogger. I investigated that route thoroughly while I was trying to fix all my blog issues. Knowing your blogging needs, I can confidently report that you do want to stay with Blogger, and not because it's free.
Well, after all moderation is the spice of life!
ReplyDeleteAre you sure about that? I'm pretty sure it's excess.
The first one was Mike back on August 11 during the game. He started off semi-assholey and went south from there. The next two (Keith and Bbas) may or may not have been him under different names.
ReplyDeleteSo gamethreaders, how was it today? Did it move quickly? Be honest. I can do better.
ReplyDeleteThe pressure will be on at 7 PM Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteThis Barbara dude is in a class of his own. I'd tell you which class but I don't want to insult mentally disabled people, who are generally much smarter and nicer than Mr Babs.
ReplyDeleteThe pressure will be on at 7 PM Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteI am up for the challenge.
"The game thread emails have the game thread title as the subject line, so if I was refreshing the game thread, I would know that all of those emails were fine -- they didn't need to be read."
ReplyDeleteStill don't get it. Do the game threads post without moderation then?
I don't want to sound like a broken record but this situation is screaming for a forum setup. Trolls can be banned, spam-bots can be blocked.
ReplyDeleteStill don't get it. Do the game threads post without moderation then?
ReplyDeleteI moderated the game thread today. I can do it really quickly through the Blogger dashboard.
I think the confusion is the difference between the emailed comments and moderated comments.
You can set Blogger to email you comments or not. Redsock always does that.
Then, separate from that, you can moderate comments. If you do that, you don't need to use your email, you can do it directly from the Blogger dashboard. It's much quicker and simpler.
Does that help?
I don't want to sound like a broken record but this situation is screaming for a forum setup.
ReplyDeletedeja vu, anyone?
I'm certainly not dissing blogger. As a rule, I'm a big fan of Google. It would be great if they could add an "approved commentor" level though. I know others have done this, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it in the future. Emailing them and explaining the issue might be worth the effort.
ReplyDelete---
I was only around for the first hour, but the delay seemed pretty minor to me, for what it's worth.
Emailing them and explaining the issue might be worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteSadly, no. That's the biggest problem with Blogger: no support. But you can post it to a group, that sometimes helps.
I don't love everything about Blogger, but for various reasons, it's the best alternative - esp if you want web-based blogging. There's great software you can download, but Allan and I both need to be able to blog from anywhere.
I was only around for the first hour, but the delay seemed pretty minor to me, for what it's worth.
Thanks, I'm very glad to hear it.
It would be great if they could add an "approved commentor" level though.
ReplyDeleteIt really would. Really really.
I didn't mean in terms of support. I meant more in the "if they hear it from enough people, maybe they'll make it a priority" sense.
ReplyDeleteNot that I'd expect overnight changes or anything. Like I said, just thinking out loud.
I'm impressed by your dedication, and I was there when the troll attacked.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the fans rivalry is they end up hating each other and hating that other team and those other players, and that's too bad. I pride myself, being an all-around baseball fan is being able to recognize the good players and the good plays even if they're enemy players. It's fun sometimes to do the nicknames and things, and I'm sure you've all had fun getting into a pissing match with a yankee fan at one point or another.
But there is always someone who wants to start something against someone else. So all you can do is change how you go about things a little bit. It's too bad we'll be missing l-girl's comments but I applaud you for taking one for the team.
I'm watching the Sunday Night Baseball, and it is certainly getting interesting. 6-2 Dodgers but the Mets have Reyes at third and Lastings Milledge at first with David Wright batting, 1 out. This leads me to a question: Do you guys have any National League teams you can say you're a fan of? Personally, the two NL teams I like are the Mets and Braves. Makes their head-to-head games fun to watch.
It's too bad we'll be missing l-girl's comments but I applaud you for taking one for the team.
ReplyDeleteThank you, that's very nice of you.
For my own reasons, it's better for me not to be in a Yankees-Red Sox game thread anyway. So next week, it will be fine to just watch the game and moderate.
After that, I'll want to game thread, so probably Allan and I will both moderate. Although I'm not sure how he'll score, moderate, watch and post... But we'll figure it out.
I didn't mean in terms of support. I meant more in the "if they hear it from enough people, maybe they'll make it a priority" sense.
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense. Good idea, I'll do it.
I like the Dodgers, but I don't follow them. I just like to see them when it works out, and to listen to Vin Scully whenever I can.
ReplyDeleteI hate the Mets.
Those are my only NL feelings.
How does he like scoring the games? I score once in awhile, actually right on the computer, but I may start going back to hard copies soon. Maybe this post-season. It certainly keeps you in the game and helps you remember things that happened much better than just watching.
ReplyDelete(side note) It's very nice to see Bill Mueller as the hitting coast for the Dodgers. He's the interim hitting coach. For now. I certainly am wishing him much success in that role.
ReplyDeleteI've scored -- and kept the sheet from -- every game I've watched since the 1986 playoffs. (My earlier stuff, dating back to 1976, is gone.)
ReplyDeleteI agree that it keeps you focused. Now it's so much of a habit, I can't really watch a game seriously with scoring.
Need I remind L who the Dodgers' manager is?
I don't have a NL team. The Mets -- their lead is almost as large as ours -- are fine with me because if they do well, it pisses off MFY fans. And there is the Pedro Factor.
Although I'm not sure how he'll score, moderate, watch and post...
And drink. I'll be a whirlwind of activity.
All those little white boxes!
ReplyDeleteish said...
ReplyDeleteDo you guys have any National League teams you can say you're a fan of?
Only during interleague, when a nl team plays the yankees...Oh, and for a short while I was a fan of the Marlins, and the Diamonbacks....But to actually root for another team .....sacrilege......:)
redsock said...
ReplyDeleteAll those little white boxes!
You are outta your freakin mind...but I think you know that...I am too busy calling pitches and trying to move runners over to be keppin score....:)
I find it hard to focus on a game that the Red Sox (or Yankees for that matter) aren't playing in, but I like watching baseball. So it helps me enjoy the games better when I've got someone to root for.
ReplyDelete"Need I remind L who the Dodgers' manager is?"
ReplyDeleteI boo'd him loudly when I was out there!
But I don't cheer for any other team. I just kinda like the Dodgers.
My wife (as I've said before, but not recently) grew up on Long Island about 45 minutes from Shea. So there is a strong Mets sympathy in the house. Our seven year old son is a bit conflicted, so a Sox-Mets WS will be interesting if it happens again.
ReplyDeleteThere is hope though, she bought a new Red Sox hat for our trip to Fenway on Sept 2.
My computer scorecard, Here
ReplyDeleteNot exactly conventional, but it worked for me. The problem is that there's too much work involved with it. I think for kicks and giggles I'll score Tuesday night's game by hand and see how that comes out.
Jesus, Ish.i was checking out your website...That is some nice work.......I like the good morning citgo sign....and also the snow pics......
ReplyDelete"I find it hard to focus on a game that the Red Sox (or Yankees for that matter) aren't playing in, but I like watching baseball. So it helps me enjoy the games better when I've got someone to root for."
ReplyDeleteThat's cool. When we go other parks, I usually find some reason to root (a little) for one team or the other.
So do you score every pitch? Does anyone but Allan do that?
I'm very sure there are others who score every pitch, but I'm not one of them. Usually I cheat a little bit and get the pitching figures from espn.com.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'll scan and post scorecard some day.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to expand the boxes and put in what kind of pitch it was -- but I have trouble telling that from TV.
You are outta your freakin mind...
ReplyDeleteThis place wouldn't be any fun otherwise.
Re: why my comments might be different as far as e-mails.
ReplyDeleteAbout six months back I was accused of using my site as a spam site. Had to go through a couple of things with google for about a week. It is possible that has something to do with it.
As for keeping score - I always find that hard to do at home. Especially with Butterfly and BH around.
Should be a good series, with Pettitte vs Matsuzaka, Fat Billy vs Beckett and Wang vs Schilling.
Ish, what you have there is somewhat similar to something I've been thinking of playing with: a box score that would include play-by-play.
ReplyDeleteThe current boxes have a lot of info that is unnecessary (or made redundant by a PBP box) and could be cut.
I'd love to have a baseball scoring program that can do a lot of the formating of box scores and scorecards for you. But right now it either costs too much money or is just a wish. I'll guarantee any program wouldn't do what I'd want it to do.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me wonder how they do the scoring on ESPN.com and other websites. That would be a pretty cool job to score the games for ESPN.com
Seattle loses 5-3 to Texas. Their Wildcard lead remains at 2 games.
See... this is the kind of stuff I was hoping to see ThreadSox.com used for. Interesting topic spin-offs.
ReplyDeleteCaKeY said...
ReplyDeleteSee... this is the kind of stuff I was hoping to see ThreadSox.com used for. Interesting topic spin-offs.
Cakey if you back and read some old posts , you will see that Joy of Sox has always been about that......
Larry, the main guy at the Replacement Level blog, inputs games at Camden for MLB, I think. He recently posted about doing the 30-3 game.
ReplyDeleteCakey: I know, but when it evolves over the course of 10-20 posts from moderating comments to scoring games, it's hard to know what will happen.
ReplyDeleteMaybe some of you can copy some of this stuff to Thread.
Roger that.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I thought the posting delays were minimal and didn't detract at all from the experience. Would love to be blogging with you on T-TH, but out of town without computer, except on cell phone. Maybe I'll try from cellphone internet browser. That's likely how I'll be keeping up with the game, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteIsh: outline what you want the program to do (maybe specifically some things you couldn't find). I'm betting there's a half decent option out there. I'll look around when I get back to school in two days. If there really is no decent option, I might do it sometime :)
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I thought the posting delays were minimal and didn't detract at all from the experience.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the feedback, wcsf.
I'm open to negative feedback too, y'all - honest.
A better option would be hosting your own blog.
ReplyDeleteJust about any of these gives you better options and more control.
FYI: I started a discussion at Threadsox about scoring.
ReplyDeleteCakey: Could JoS be moved to one of those blogs -- or would I be starting from scratch?
ReplyDeleteI have wanted my own domain for while, but the obvious choices are already taken. (Stupid sock stores.)
Wow, I posted the first comment to this and figured nobody would further the discussion (for some reason). Now I see 80 comments have gone by before I checked in again.
ReplyDeleteThis was talked about already, but essentially: For the people that think the moderation is unnecessary, if you liked how it went during yesterday's game, you like the site with moderation. You didn't see the spam comments because they were deleted so quickly.
Joy: maybe you could be the stat-stringer for the Jays next season....
I went to that Yankee blog (can't believe I just said that) by the O's stat stringer and about his thing about road attendance: He should note that more fans in visiting cities that go to see the Yanks are going specifically because they hate them, while more road Sox game fans are there rooting FOR the Sox, which is part of the reason there are (nearly as?, a little more than?, doesn't really matter) as many people at Yankee road games as Red Sox road games. Proof: 50,000 people in Chicago chanting Yankees Suck with the Yanks in town vs chanting Lets Go Red Sox with the Red Sox in town. He should know that most cities harbor a decades-long hatred of the Yanks, regardless of how they feel about the Red Sox.
Cakey: Could JoS be moved to one of those blogs
ReplyDeleteI would think so but I'm not sure. I'll do some investigating. =)
Post a comment or two here. I'm gonna see what the options are.
ReplyDeleteJoy: maybe you could be the stat-stringer for the Jays next season....
ReplyDeleteI'd rather watch Red Sox games next year!
Yes. Data can be exported. Notice how my http://thejoyofcake.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteis now at http://www.thirty3.com/blog/
L's comments re staying with Blogger carry a LOT of weight -- she went through hell with wmtc -- but I'll check it out.
ReplyDeleteYou can still use blogger for publishing, nothing needs to change at all really. The basic advantage of hosting it on your own domain is that you can block an IP address or range of addresses from accessing your blog.
ReplyDeletePost a comment on my test blog, you can see that it goes through blogger.
All the admin stuff is through blogger too.
The basic advantage of hosting it on your own domain is that you can block an IP address or range of addresses from accessing your blog.
ReplyDeleteI use Blogger with my own domain, but I don't have that capability. Not that I know of, anyway.
This can also be problematic because most people who use a wireless laptop do not have a static IP address.
I use Blogger with my own domain, but I don't have that capability. Not that I know of, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I meant your own server/hosting.
This can also be problematic because most people who use a wireless laptop do not have a static IP address.
Even if they don't have a static IP, the IP's for a given will generally fall in a specific range which can be blocked.
Even if they don't have a static IP, the IP's for a given will generally fall in a specific range which can be blocked.
ReplyDeleteOh interesting! That's good to know.
"Then, separate from that, you can moderate comments. If you do that, you don't need to use your email, you can do it directly from the Blogger dashboard. It's much quicker and simpler."
ReplyDeletelittle late on this but thanks L I get it now.