persistent issues with commenting or contacting us?
Following our major “problem” last Saturday, when, for unknown reasons, our site was comprehensively disrupted, we are getting reports of issues with commenting and/or contacting us.
If you can, leave a comment here about any issues you are having, OR email us at this address: [email protected], rather than any of those provided on the Contact page.
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The number of comments on this site seems to have declined quickly and severely. Perhaps it is a seasonal thing? Or related to the topics being posted ?
Yes, you’re correct. We usually get between 100-200 comments a day. Over the past three days that has dropped to 89. then 77, then 52. Yesterday it was 57. We don’t have an explanation. Maybe it’s just a natural fluctuation. But we are also getting people telling us they are finding it difficult to comment. So it may be related to whatever happened to us on May 26
It might be helpful if one or more of the regular and enthusiastic commenters who has not been heard from recently explained why. It is likely that because some comments, like mine, still get through to you, there are still means of contacting the site.
It is very alarming, Cde. O’Neill’s doctrine notwithstanding, to see a dampening down of debate in this rapidly emerging forum.
I have long been of the opinion that it is high time for critics of this system, the empire and its suffocating culture, to band together and amalgamate, or confederate, into an on-line journal.
Size and reach matters in these information wars. Perhaps a step in the right direction would be to give a ‘blog roll” of sites in which honesty and critical thought are to be found.
Sooner or later the wheel of association is going to have to be re-invented.
Best wishes from the shores of Georgian Bay!!
Yep, indeed very persistent issues experienced & propagated by pernicious perusal & interceptions , it would seem .. @12.02 am 4/6/2018
I think comments are being seriously targeted everywhere now as they have become real, non-msm/elite controlled information channels and exchanges, real news channels
The guardian shut off its comments on anything remotely ‘difficult’ ages ago. The Indy mods worked hard but there were too many of us, real people, to keep control of the narrative, an absolute necessity in keeping control at all.
The Indy’s new comments system limits the
number of comments shown to a dozen or so and now requires that I give it not only access to my email addresses (plural), but also permission to “manage” all my Google data and contacts !
The last reason to go to any msm news outlet at all, gone.
Simon, I agree with you. I think what is happenning is an extremely well financed multi-pronged attack, on anyone, their name/handle and IP address of any person, who analyses current events, and attempts to publish their own analysis, on any website that uses Automatiic, and associated technologies, that are designed to defeat spam.
I can understand people running blogs such as Craig Murray, wanting to eradicate spam, but these technologies employed by blog owners and even the mainstream media, are specifically designed to prevent, any analysis or critiicism of The UK’s Government agenda.
I find there is far more freedom to comment in The USA, many of who use technologies such as Disqus. There may well be problems with that too, but so far as I remember, Disqus has never banned me, and they also have an edit feature, so you can correct your spelling mistakes.
Tony
This is only a minor gripe – but I still miss the ‘Replies Waiting’ indicator icon, which used to be in the top RH corner of the page. You may perhaps have decided not to return it, as it may provoke infighting, and I could appreciate that approach. However, if someone has taken the trouble to write a reply, yet we never see it (because we didn’t know it was there), the impetus of serious discussion can be lost. Overall, I saw it as a beneficial feature.
I”ve had the problem of posting a comment and it not showing up. Then I try to re-post and it say’s its a duplicate comment and won’t allow me to post. On one occasion I made a small change and tried to re-post but again the comment didn’t show up as posting. I left the site altogether and came back in and “both” comments had posted. I won’t try that trick again. From now I’ll save any comments I make so that if they don’t post initially I can easily go back in and try to re-post a few minutes later. Your comments section remains one of the most sane and worthwhile in alternative media which is much appreciated.
I use Linux- no problems so far…
If you intend to help with diagnostics, quote distro and version.
Robbobbobin,
The version of Linux, is pretty much irrelevant, providing you have learnt the technical skills to configure the security…I could tell you a little story. I said to my son (13) an approved microsoft developer, don’t use Windows, it will get blasted to hell…but he did, and it was. He brought his server back from the data centre, and installed Linux, he only asked me one question – Dad, how do I configure the security?
That was 17 years ago, and they still haven’t taken it down yet, though they have seriously tried. He simply moved Data Centres.
Tony
“The version of Linux, is pretty much irrelevant, providing you have learnt the technical skills to configure the security.”
I, too, find that standing a picture of Stravinsky on top of the piano keeps the Lucy worm at bay.
Until I haven’t had any problems posting or liking a comment.
Links to some articles don’t work. Comes up with a message saying it isn’t available.
Changing the comments system may have had something to do with it. As you now use Automattic I can no longer provide comments as it’s a social tracker and retains comments for 3rd party use. Thank you for publishing my ‘two penneth’ to date.
we haven’t changed the comment system, this must be something to do with WP.
I used to be able to “like” someone’s comment and now I can’t. so ……
also I was having to re register in order to like on the thumbs up but that seems to have righted itself(could be because I let MS send me their latest updates for my Windows 10 which bollocksed everything up as it so often does. WP was also acting up but I think I’ve got that sussed.
Automaticc is WP (online .com division, as distinct from the downloadable server).
Not knowing anything about even the basic workings of the Internet , at least the parts of it that are of direct concern to any radical or even just “unpopular” user group or site operator, and – particularly in the latter case – thinking about and getting some communications continuity measures in place, is riding for a fall. If you don’t know what this means, check out the descriptions of the problems sites like Counterpunch, Chris Hedges’ site, the World Socialist Web Site and others are already having in the intensifying silencing of radical bearers of undesirable (mostly but not invariably left-leaning) points of view.
Cannot comment on recent articles. No comment option.
You just did 🙂
Get a Norge account.. Runbox.com …you pay a little and get a lot
runbox.com runs a supposedly secure email site and server farm. “Supposedly” because its ownbweb site “https” security certificate is not set up properly (though there is nothing unusual about that – around 90% of similarly “secure” sites are incorrectly set up), so eavesdropping on communications with it is a stroll in the park. Are you recommending it because of its pretty front page; its claims of security or for some other reason?
Dear Admin. You must be doing something right if they are trying to close you down. Venceremos